Predeparture Info

I thought I'd sneak in a blog before Di and I head off to Dublin tonight. There are a couple of things I forgot to mention between my War and Peace sized Paris entries and the rushed attempt at summarizing my life previous to them.

Some things of note: My friend Nick celebrated his birthday earlier this month with a "subcrawl," and invited me and Di along. A subcrawl is an extension of the "pubcrawl" concept, where you go from bar to bar, getting at least one drink at each. The subcrawl takes this even farther, so that the party goes to a different pub at each stop on the "Clockwork Orange" (Glasgow's subway system). It sounds like a fun idea, and it was to a degree, but the amount of time between pubs left me feeling ill more than hammered. And it's a lot of liquid to put in your stomach, since there are 15 (or so) stops in all. Probably the coolest part of the subcrawl was the stipulation that you had to "subway surf" to each stop, meaning no one was allowed to sit down or hold onto anything on the tube, you just had to ride the bumps out. And since the subway is so small, and we were all getting increasingly inebriated, this was no small feat. Oh, and we got to see the stadium where the Rangers play, so that was kinda cool. Di and I made it just about halfway before wimping out -- it was a Wednesday afternoon, and under no circumstances could either of us be called a "party girl."

I used way too many quotation marks in that last paragraph.

Di and I did attempt to go out another night to one of the clubs on Sauchiehall St., the Garage. It's supposed to be a major hotspot for Glasgow's student community, but apparently that's not really true on a Monday night. It's probably our fault for picking a Monday night at all, but that's when the spirit filled us, so off we went. The experience was sort of lackluster, and after paying for some expensive drinks we hit the dance floor, to be surrounded by sketchy creeps and a multitude of gay men. We left early, again. :)

As for classes, things have been heating up in terms of my workload. I have two essays due in a week, and I've finally been down to the resource room in the Film and TV studies building. It's pretty nice, and has a good collection for some of the more obscure films that my classes cover, but I still miss Van Pelt Library at Penn. On a related note, I'm starting to wonder if my Scotland, Film and TV professor things I'm a little slow. He keeps coming up to me during the break in our seminar and asking if I understand everything, if I need anything explained. The odd thing about it is he never asks the other American student, Zach, who sits right next to me. I think Professor Goode is trying to be nice, but it generally comes off as condescending. Then again, he's the professor who never makes eye contact when lecturing, instead staring at the ceiling on his left side. So maybe it's him being socially awkward, instead of patronizing.

Oh, I almost forgot -- last weekend Kara, Xixi, Di and I went to the Glasgow Science Centre. I need to put those photos up on Picasa -- for those of you on facebook, they're already up. It was a sort of silly trip, since the Centre definitely targets a younger audience, but we all enjoyed messing around with the exhibits. Plus the Centre is right on the river Clyde, which made for a really pretty view. It's also next to the BBC Scotland building, which made me, and no one else, very excited.

All right, I need to finish packing, but I'll leave you with an account of today. Di and I are taking an 11 PM flight to Dublin because we had already bought tickets to a Celtics match before we booked our flights. So after a delicious lunch at Ashoka (rated one of the best Indian restaurants in Glasgow -- I highly recommend it), we took the subway down to Buchanan Bus Station, and after walking a couple blocks to the correct bus stop, grabbed a bus to Parkhead, where Celtic Park is. It's been very wet for the past couple of days, but today was just a torrential downpour. Di and I were already soaked when we walked down to lunch, but trekking over to the stadium was even worse. My shoes had puddles in them, and my jacket had changed color completely. Thank god it's waterproof.

We finally made it into the stadium, which has overhangs covering the seating, but leaves the pitch open to the elements, so the wind was pretty tremendous. I felt awful for the players, though they put on a great show. The Celtics were playing Hibernian, from Edinburgh, and it was amazing to be surrounded by vociferous fans. Thankfully, the most rabid ones weren't in the nosebleed section with us. We were right next to a pole, but could see around it for the most part, and I don't think we missed much because of our location. The best part was the reaction of the tiny Hibernian-supporters section, who were completely surrounded by security guards. All in all, it was a fantastic experience, and both Di and I will probably try to get tickets again.

When we finally got back to the bus stop, we were probably 102% water, and incredibly cold. The weather created traffic problems, so it took at while to get a bus back to City Centre, but we managed to hop on one that actually dropped us off only a block or so from Murano. Some dinner, a hot shower, and a change into fresh clothes later, and here I am. I think I'm going to buy a Celtics scarf or jersey or something. It was really incredible to be a part of that, and I definitely felt like it was something you don't get in the U.S., although now I kind of want to go to an American football game. Anyway, it was a great prelude to another international adventure.

Now I should go blowdry my hair.