Scotland!

This past weekend I went to Glasgow, Scotland! It was incrediby cool, but rainy. My friend Patrick is doing a semester there at the University of Glasgow, which gave me a good excuse to go visit Scotland.

The flag of Scotland. For those of you who don't know, it's a white X on a blue background. It makes of the blue and white part of the union jack.

This is Patrick's school. He giggles every time he gets to say he goes to school in a castle. So do I.

FRIDAY:
When I first got into the airport Patrick wasn't there to meet me. But I had a strange feeling that he wouldn't be there for some reason. So I was prepared to go it alone. Since I only had Patrick's address and no idea how to get there, I decided my first task would be to find a hostel. After getting some cheesy chips (one of the best things I've found in Ireland).

This is me enjoying some delicious non-cheesy chips. The first chipper I found in Scotland was out of cheese, what a disapointing introduction to a country!

I proceeded to look for the only hostel I could find in Glasgow using a map that didn't include the hostel's location. Eventually I got there, booked myself for two nights, and took a nap on the comfy couches.

The lounge of my hostel. This is really nice as far as the hostels I've been in. If I got to 7 more Scottish Youth Hostels I become a member!

After that I got my key, took a shower and got ready to go out exploring. Lucky enough there was a large park, called Kelvingrove Park right outside my door, so that's where I started. It was pouring buckets of rain though and became rather unpleasant. A nice Glasweigan was kind enough to give me ideas for things to take pictures of and even showed me down through the part to the art museum. There I saw Salvador Dali's "Christ of St. John of the Cross" which was really cool because I love Dali. I also hung out with Elvis.

Chilling with the King.

I got a cup of tea and a sandwhich as well to tide me over until I met up with Patrick. While at the hostel I checked my facebook and Patrick had messaged me his very legitimate reason for not meeting me at the airport (he missed his own flight and was still in London at the time). So I met up later that evening with him and his girlfriend Jessica who was over visiting for a few weeks. We ate dinner at Mother India's, a delicious Indian restraunt where I had my first real Indian food experience. It was delicious! Spicey, but delicious!

Indian beer isn't bad either!

After feeling fat and sassy we went to a local Scottish pub where I sampled a malt of the month. We then went to a house party where we hung out with loads of international people. The thing about studying abroad is that I've met an incredible number of people from all over the world, not just from Ireland/Scotland.

SATURDAY:
The next morning I explored more of the park and found the skate park and playground. Scottish grafitti is better than Irish grafitti, which isn't saying much. But at least it's not complete crap.

The art museum is in the background. Quite the fancy building for a skate park backdrop.

Being a child and climbing on the rope pyramid. Like my new-ish shoes?

Patrick, Jessica and I set out for city center to go try the Willow Tea rooms, which are based on the designs of someone named Mackintosh. He was a famous architect and made some fancy chairs.

Enjoying a refined cup of tea at the Willow Tea Room.

Jessica and Patrick having some tea.

Then we wandered around city center and saw cool buildings and stuff. Patrick then showed us around his castle of a university and I got all jealous because UCD is all concrete and... concrete. After that I went back to the hostel to get all fancy for a cocktail party at Patricks, and fell asleep for an hour. The party was sweet, I got to meet loads more international students which is always fun.

George's Square is really cool with Patrick and I.

SUNDAY:
My last day Patrick had to work for awhile so Jessica and I explored the Botanic Gardens, which were beautiful! There was a path going through the woods along the Kelvin River and all the trees had turned colors. Just as it started to rain we went into the greenhouse and saw some awesome plants. Some palm trees have leaves bigger than me! That was a really cool experience.

Making kissy with the pretty flowers in the Botanic Gardens greenhouse.

After we got hungry and went past this church-looking building which turned out to be a restaurant. We of course had lunch there for the novelty of it, and it turned out to be really good. In Scotland they put mozzarella on their cheesy chips instead of cheddar in Ireland.

It looks like a church but it's much more tasty!

We finished lunch and went to the bar where Patrick works for some delicious drinks and fun with random people who played football (soccer). Then it was time for me to go back to Ireland after a wonderful weekend in Glasgow. All in all I really liked Scotland, the scenery is gorgeous and the people are really nice. Someday I'll explore more of the country. For now I'm very satisfied with what I saw and experienced.