I promise there will be a longer post after this weekend chronicling the first couple of weeks here at Glasgow and my weekend in Paris (which I should probably pack for...) but right now I'M TOO DAMN NERVOUS TO THINK ABOUT ANYTHING BUT THE GAME ON SUNDAY!!!!! All these articles about "how could anyone root against the Saints?" make me laugh but at the same time, if the rest of the country knew what a Superbowl win would mean for us, they'd let us kick the Vikings' asses and the asses of whoever wins the Jets/Colts game. It sounds silly, I know, that a sport means that much but if you need any proof about how important this game is to the people of New Orleans look no further than the more than 3 dozen songs our newspaper gathered together that have to do with the Saints... and the comments just keep adding more:
http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2009/12/new_orleans_saints_tribute_son.html
My personal favorite is still Kermit Ruffins. Gotta love 'em.
So I'll be watching the game in Paris this weekend and I hope everyone who reads this (i.e. Malin) will be cheering for the Saints as well!!!
WHO DAT?!
Katherine
(please excuse my relative silliness in this post, like I said, we've all gone crazy)
Friday, January 22, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Welcome to Scotland!
OK this is going to become a serious thing this semester, I'm serious. Or at least, as serious as I can be when it comes to keeping up with things like blogs and journals. I hate that I lag, but I guess that's just something I've got to keep working at!
Anyway, I've been in Glasgow for 1 1/2 weeks now and so far I'm loving it. Granted, the weather could be a bit more forgiving, especially the ice that was ever-present the first four or five days, but it's been slowly warming up and I'm starting to get used to it! The University of Glasgow campus is gorgeous, exactly like an old European university should be. The main building was built around the same time Healy was built on Georgetown's campus so it reminds me a lot of being in DC. Add to the fact that there is a nearby Dumbarton Road and that the university is commonly referred to as GU and I have deja vu all the time!
I got ridiculously lucky with housing as far as location goes. A bunch of international students are stuck in the dorms that are far away and face at least a 20 minute walk to the main section of campus every day whereas I am next door to the library and a couple minutes walk from the main gatehouse and all my classes. We live in what's referred to as a flat here, although it's really just like a regular dorm in the US: some doubles with shared bathrooms and kitchens. The only difference is that there's only about 10 rooms on this floor and that's the most I've seen in any of the similar buildings. We also have 2 different kitchens in our flat, and laundry as well, so it's pretty darn nice.
As for classes, they started this week and it's taken a bit of adjusting to the way they do things here. The most obvious difference being that participation/attendance counts for nothing. That's right, NOTHING. Instead, all that matters for most classes is the final paper and/or exam. My Italian class is a little different but since it's a language class, we have regular homework and stuff. So for this semester I'm taking two Junior Honours art history seminars, Methodology of Art History and the Making and Viewing of Sculpture in the 18th and 19th centuries, Italian 2 and a bi-weekly seminar called Exploring Scottish Culture. The two seminars are going to be pretty tough because of the final papers and tests, but they're ridiculously interesting as well. Italian will be ridiculously easy, on the other hand, and the Scottish Culture class should be interesting. I'm glad I'll be learning something more about the history and literature of the country while I'm here.
The weirdest thing I've encountered so far is the scheduling as far as the semester goes. We have classes for 11 weeks, up until our 3 week break that starts on March 26th. We come back from that and have absolutely nothing except studying and exams and paper due dates until the end of May. So basically, starting from March 26th I'm done with classes and will just be writing papers and lazing around. Hopefully the weather will be nice by then!
Glasgow itself is nicer than I thought it would be. I was picturing a city with nothing to do but things on the campus, but the city center itself is very lively and interesting. There seems to be a lot of stuff to do, and it's already started to seem more lively to me than Florence, although not quite as old-looking! The University is in the West End and this area is very student-geared, which is nice. The center of Glasgow is about a 20-25 minute walk away or there's buses or a big circular metro that you can take down there. They call the metro the Clockwork Orange because all the trains are orange and it runs in a big loop... oh, the Glaswegians are oh so witty. So far I've been downtown a couple of times, and I've also been exploring the area around here, trying to find the best pubs (I had a bottle of Stella for 1 pound the other night), the best grocery stores & the best (i.e. cheapest) food.
So so far, life is good. I've got a lot more free time this semester so hopefully that'll lead to both more blogging and more adventures to blog about. As for tonight, I'm staying in the warmth and planning on going to an art museum or two tomorrow and finding a pub to watch the Saints/Cardinals game! Wish me luck!
Katherine
Anyway, I've been in Glasgow for 1 1/2 weeks now and so far I'm loving it. Granted, the weather could be a bit more forgiving, especially the ice that was ever-present the first four or five days, but it's been slowly warming up and I'm starting to get used to it! The University of Glasgow campus is gorgeous, exactly like an old European university should be. The main building was built around the same time Healy was built on Georgetown's campus so it reminds me a lot of being in DC. Add to the fact that there is a nearby Dumbarton Road and that the university is commonly referred to as GU and I have deja vu all the time!
I got ridiculously lucky with housing as far as location goes. A bunch of international students are stuck in the dorms that are far away and face at least a 20 minute walk to the main section of campus every day whereas I am next door to the library and a couple minutes walk from the main gatehouse and all my classes. We live in what's referred to as a flat here, although it's really just like a regular dorm in the US: some doubles with shared bathrooms and kitchens. The only difference is that there's only about 10 rooms on this floor and that's the most I've seen in any of the similar buildings. We also have 2 different kitchens in our flat, and laundry as well, so it's pretty darn nice.
As for classes, they started this week and it's taken a bit of adjusting to the way they do things here. The most obvious difference being that participation/attendance counts for nothing. That's right, NOTHING. Instead, all that matters for most classes is the final paper and/or exam. My Italian class is a little different but since it's a language class, we have regular homework and stuff. So for this semester I'm taking two Junior Honours art history seminars, Methodology of Art History and the Making and Viewing of Sculpture in the 18th and 19th centuries, Italian 2 and a bi-weekly seminar called Exploring Scottish Culture. The two seminars are going to be pretty tough because of the final papers and tests, but they're ridiculously interesting as well. Italian will be ridiculously easy, on the other hand, and the Scottish Culture class should be interesting. I'm glad I'll be learning something more about the history and literature of the country while I'm here.
The weirdest thing I've encountered so far is the scheduling as far as the semester goes. We have classes for 11 weeks, up until our 3 week break that starts on March 26th. We come back from that and have absolutely nothing except studying and exams and paper due dates until the end of May. So basically, starting from March 26th I'm done with classes and will just be writing papers and lazing around. Hopefully the weather will be nice by then!
Glasgow itself is nicer than I thought it would be. I was picturing a city with nothing to do but things on the campus, but the city center itself is very lively and interesting. There seems to be a lot of stuff to do, and it's already started to seem more lively to me than Florence, although not quite as old-looking! The University is in the West End and this area is very student-geared, which is nice. The center of Glasgow is about a 20-25 minute walk away or there's buses or a big circular metro that you can take down there. They call the metro the Clockwork Orange because all the trains are orange and it runs in a big loop... oh, the Glaswegians are oh so witty. So far I've been downtown a couple of times, and I've also been exploring the area around here, trying to find the best pubs (I had a bottle of Stella for 1 pound the other night), the best grocery stores & the best (i.e. cheapest) food.
So so far, life is good. I've got a lot more free time this semester so hopefully that'll lead to both more blogging and more adventures to blog about. As for tonight, I'm staying in the warmth and planning on going to an art museum or two tomorrow and finding a pub to watch the Saints/Cardinals game! Wish me luck!
Katherine
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