I'm So Lazy

I keep telling myself to do a blog post, but the minute I sit down at my computer all energy seems to rush out of me. It's basically a miracle that I'm writing this right now. :)

So much to catch up on, I'm going to have to be pretty selective. First off, classes. The semester finally started here on Monday, and after all the anxiety and finagling of enrollments last week, I'm surprisingly very happy with my classes. I've managed to take film classes I'm actually interested in, and at the moment I'm only in class 3 days a week. I could get used to this UK system thing.

The two film classes that I'm so excited about are both in non-American cinema, which is a requirement for my cinema studies major at Penn. I'm taking Australia in Film and Television, and Scotland, Film and Television. A somewhat humorous aside -- both of my professors are named Ian, and their last names are Craven and Goode. Kinda weird. The classes are relatively small seminars, meet once a week for five hours each (screening time included) and in both cases I've had some great discussions. The themes and issues of Scottish and Australian cinema actually seem very similar, and I'm interested in seeing if the similarities continue throughout the semester. Both of my professors are very accommodating and the native students seem welcoming and friendly. So far, so good.

The last class is Scottish Literature 1A, which is the most introductory class you can take. It's a large survey with probably about 100 kids in the class (which is smaller than some of the lectures I've had at Penn), and our seminars/recitations/tutorials or whatever you call them start next week, provided we actually get assigned them before next Tuesday. I really wanted to take Celtic Civilizations 1A, but the cinema classes screwed with my schedule. I'm not totally into the Scot Lit class so far, but it's high time that I took an English class, and hopefully this one will prove more enticing as we get into the material. We're looking mainly at the 19th and early 20th centuries, with texts from Sir Walter Scott, James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Hugh MacDiarmid, and Lewis Grassic Gibbon. Unfortunately, not all the books are available in the book store, so I have to go hunting for "Sunset Song."

Oh, yeah, the book situation. My film courses have way too long a reading list for me to actually purchase the books, and I wasn't particularly interested in lugging them home after the semester, so earlier this week I headed over to the library to survey the situation. The Glasgow Uni library is a pretty nice place -- 12 floors, too many computers to count, and a lot of little study cubicles. Unfortunately, there's no Mark's Cafe, only vending machines, and you're not allowed to bring coffee or tea in, even if there's a lid on the container. There's a "eating and drinking" section right by the entrance that made me feel like I was in the cordoned smoking section of a restaurant. But I digress.

The library has a significant "short loan" section immediately on the left as you enter. There you can take out books for 4 hours, 24 hours, or a week, complete with self-service check in and return. I found the books I needed for this weeks Australian reading, and then went to the regular lending desk to find out about the photocopies my professor had said he'd made for us. What I discovered was that each article had its own folder, with the article literally taped down to the folder, so you can't feed it into the copy machine. No two-sided copies for me. You also can't take more than two folders out at a time, regardless of the fact that my professor assigned five readings. So I took out the first two, went upstairs to the photocopy room on the third floor, and went back down to return those two and take out new ones. God, do I miss bulk packs.

Other exciting news from the week? On Wednesday I went to Edinburgh for the Scottish-students meeting of the Penn-Cornell-Brown UK Centre. They reimbursed me for my bus ticket, which was under 10 pounds, and bought me a cup of hot chocolate from The Hub, where the meeting took place. It was a lot of administrative stuff that I don't need to go into, but the women running the meeting were very nice, and they'll be back up the week of Thanksgiving for another meeting, this time stopping by Glasgow. If I want to get reimbursed for my cultural bonus (75 pounds provided by Penn to do some culturally British things) they'll pay me back in cash then.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with Xixi, walking around Olde Town and the campus of the University of Edinburgh and wishing I had brought my camera along with me. I didn't remember much of Edinburgh from my previous trip 10 years ago, but when I went this week I really noticed the difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh. They just have a very different tone from each other, something that I'm not sure I can really describe. Anyways, we went to a neat little cafe called Chocolate Soup for dessert after dinner, and then I boarded back on the bus to Glasgow.

A random anecdote from my travels: Wednesday was the first time in my life that I've had to pay to get into a bathroom. It was 20p to get into the Buchanan Bus Station "w.c." (water closet), and at first I was pretty annoyed that I had to pay. But when I thought about it, I realized that the bathroom was much cleaner than the bus/train stations I've been to in the States. The bathroom in Penn Station is utterly ridiculous, and several times I've wondered if bums run in there during the day to have toilet paper fights or something. I'm not sure whether it's worth it to pay -- what do you all think?

As for my evenings, I went to Jewsday Tuesday, which was awkward, but fun. At least I sort of know some of the people I'll be walking to schul with next week for Rosh Hashanah now. I also went to the Student Cinema and Television Society (SCATS) social yesterday, but I'm currently battling a cold, so I didn't hang around that long. Tonight Di, Kara, Kristie and I are heading down to Buchanan St. to see the new Liam Neeson movie, Taken. It looks pretty mediocre, but I love Liam Neeson, so I'm still excited.

On final random note. In the library I found that all of the toilets say "for sanitary use only." Does anyone else think that is either highly unnecessary, or highly confusing?