Grab your boots and brollie because it's raining.. again!

Another week of my Scottish adventure has passed! It seems as though the weeks just fly by now. I should probably begin this post by touching on the fact that I actually am going to classes and I do love them. The American Studies course has a gigantic enrollment of five people and three professors as well as a series of rotating speakers. That's right there are almost more faculty members involved in my program than actual students. Everyone in my course is very interesting and extremely fascinated with America. At first it was strange to see the great interest that these students took in America. Obviously, I take quite an interest in it myself, seeing as I am enrolled in the American Studies course. However, being from America I believe I sometimes fail to see what foreigners love (or hate) about my home. Certainly one of the greatest benefits of studying in a foregin land is seeing the perspective that others have of your home country. There is a man in my class who has had a picture of the Statue of Liberty hanging on his wall since he was in elementary (primary) school. This really took me by surprise, although I suppose it's the same as the intoxicating impact the United Kingdom seems to have on some particular individuals in the U.S. (Really, how silly were those people that just loved the Royal Wedding... I would never be a part of that!...Fine, I got sucked in, didn't everyone?). This past week we discussed material culture in the United States and this upcoming week our focus will be on Jamestown. Wednesday following our lecture we will be having a social gathering for American Studies students of past and present where we will be drinking wine and dining on appetizers. Yes, my academic life is very hard right now!

                                                                                                                                                                       This lovely building, University Gardens, is where I have class. Yes, my classroom has a firplace!

As usual, I have managed to keep myself very busy outside of classes. There are always plenty of things to do and people to see. I haven't spent a lot of time talking about my living arrangement in Glasgow (except of course to express the pure joy I had upon discovering it had it's own bathroom). I live with four other students. Scratch that, I used to live with four other people now I live with three. There were three students from China and one from South Africa and myself living in the flat. This week Sissy left us all at flat 3.1 to head back to China upon finishing her dissertation. Okay, so what this really means is that I am now the only female presence in the entire flat. I am of course scheming of ways to use this to my advantage or at the very least get them to take the trash out for me by devising a wonderful chore chart.

While I have no major complaints regarding the Maclay residences or any of my flatmates, sometimes you just need to escape.When it comes to pure desperation to escape school, the city and your flat who do you escape with? Why, your flatmate of course! This may not make sense to some of you out there but to us it most certainly does. I have the distinct advantage of living with a very organized, very efficient, very time-managing (is that even a word?) flatmate. When you live with a person with the aforementioned characteristics the following is what you recieve in your inbox.

  
Depart Glasgow Central Arrive Ardrossan Other Cost
08h34 09h25 No changes £7.50*
   
Ferry Times - Outward   
Depart Ardrossan Harbour Arrive Brodrick Harbour Other Cost
09h45 10h40  £10.10**
   
Bus Outward   
Depart Brodrick Arrive Lochranza Other Cost
10h55 11h38 Service number 324 
13h40 14h23 Service number 324 
16h20 17h03 Service number 324 
   
Bus Inward   
Depart Lochranza Arrive Brodrick Other Cost
14h23 16h08 Via Blackwaterfoot 
15h35 16h18 Service number 324 
17h03 18h53 Via Blackwaterfoot 
18h14 18h57 Service number 324 
   
Ferry Times - Inward   
Depart Brodrick Harbour Arrive Ardrossan Harbour Other Cost
16h40 17h35  £10.10**
19h20 20h15  £10.10**
   
Train Times - Inward   
Depart Ardrossan Arrive Glasgow Central Other Cost
18h00 18h52  £7.50*
19h28 20h22  £7.50*
20h33 21h27  £7.50*
   
* - off peak day return   
** - 5 day return             

With this precise schedule you would presume that I would have the decency to be prepared for departure bright and early, this was not the case. After having my door pounded on and greeted by a backpack clad and super prepared flatmate I stumbled out of my room pulling on rainboots and eating a banana. Have no fear, I redeemed myself by having called a cab in advance so we didn't have to hike the streets during the torential downpour Glasgow was pummeled with Saturday morning.  

The following is a picture/word story entitled Arran Adventures (Catchy I know!).   

 The morning began with two train tickets and two cups of coffee to offset the early hour we arrived at the station.

                  Not super happy it's morning or super happy some person is taking random pictures.

 After an hour train ride we took an hour ferry ride. While it was rainy and windy it was not enough to keep us locked inside the ferry. Although, it was enough to completely ruin my straight hair.

 Whenever, you are on a ferry you have to take a picture of the approaching island and of course the Saltire. It makes for a great picture!

                              Yes, of course it's gloomy and rainy, it's Scotland! It's also beautiful.

 We landed in Brodick. The town is a fairly busy port but because it's the beginning of the off-season it wasn't as busy as in the summer.

 This picture was taken for two reasons. 1. the landscape is just gorgeous and I wanted a picture with it. 2. The person taking this picture was insanely jealous of my snakeskin print pancho in a pocket AND my tartan wellies... meaning I was totally prepared for the wet and rain and could wade through water and climb on rocks to capture an image such as this.

 After muddling about the port for a bit we decided to hike on up to the castle and stop at all the local shops. Our first stop? The chocolate factory.. seen here is the first bite taken of Arran fudge. It was pretty tasty.

While wandering through the streets of Arran in the rain I began to wonder why so many of the houses had sun porches.

 I refuse to look like a tourist. Therefore, someone else was on navigation duty... this may also be the time that my picture taking privileges for the day were revoked.  

                                    There were little rivers and streams everywhere. Gorgeous!

  Then out of nowhere this happened, we were approached by a group of ducks. We commented on how excited they were to see us and then we discovered why. For 50 p. you could feed them! We did of course.

                                   The number of ducks grew as the bag of food was ripped open.

                                                  And the numbers continued to grow!

                 After the feeding of the ducks we continued to make our way along the river.

 But, look who followed us! It was shortly after this picture that the ducks tottered dangerously close to the edge of the bridge.. I may have cried out something about suicidal ducks before being reminded that they can fly down safely to the water.. which they did. It was after this observation that it became neccessary to run back to the duck food box to reload and try to get them to jump off the bridge after the food.

 After stopping at such thrilling places as the Arran Cheese Shop and Arran Aromatics we made it to the castle!

 Due to schedule and budget restraints we chose to skip the castle and wander through the gardens instead. Because we hadn't been rained on enough!

                 The gardens were beautiful and gave us a number of great views of the castle.

 The princess that lived in this castle was from Germany so her husband created a number of Bavarian summer houses throughout the Garden. Obviously, "The Sound of Music" had to be recreated. This was halfway through our fantastic rendition of "16 going on 17"

 I was told this grass would be excellent for cricket playing.. although, I really have no idea what that means.

 This was the most elaborate and famous of the summer houses. It is deemed the" most romantic place" on the Island of Arran. The views are amazing but the most impressive part of the small building is the craftsmanship of the ceiling and walls.

 The ceilings and walls are made entirely of objects found in the gardens and surrounding grounds of the castles. Mainly, pine cones.

              This picture is simply to show how ridiculously wet we were. (Sometimes Richard smiles).

 Following the run through of the gardens we had a quick lunch at the castle and dashed off to catch a bus to the distillery. Even though we were five minutes early we somehow missed the bus. Following this tragic event I quickly figured out how to hike to the nearest brewery so someone could drown their sorrows (with a few sips of local beer) over the ruined timetable.

After seeing the brewery, tasting some local icecream, sampling some cheese and wandering up and down the beach (where a seal was spotted!) we headed back to the ferry to catch the train home.

My day spent on Arran was absolutely wonderful and certainly fulfilled my need for a brief getaway. But, after being away from the city for awhile I needed some Glasgow time. Whenever this need arrises I fortunately have my favorite Glaswegian to turn to. After a quick coffee we proceeded to yet another of Glasgow's glorious free museums. This time the museum was on the University campus. I love the hodge-podge-ness of Glasgow's museusm. The Hunterian (the museum visited Sunday) held quite an array of interesting displays, the best being original drawings of and designs for the University.

After a quick lunch we were hoping to wander to an art exhibit but instead were enticed by the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project is a short film competition. 10 short films are choosen and screened in selected theatres worldwide to be voted on by viewers. 10 films for 4 pounds? Sounded like the perfect deal to me. I was slightly concerned that the films were be incredibly artsy and supposed to have deep, controversial meanings that I didn't understand and didn't want to understand. But, fortunately this was not the case! The films were all very entertaining and well done (Although, if you run across a short film entitled "The Forest" you may want to stay away). One of the films was filmed in Glasgow... it was really exciting to see all these places I've come to know and love featured in a film seen worldwide.  In the end, neither my Glasgow bias or my United States bias won out, I ended up voting for the film from Peru about a doctor who moonlights as a taxi cab driver. The winner will be announced on the evening of October 2nd (New York time).

Following the 2 hour and 45 minute movie showing it was absolutely neccessary to partake in a pot of tea and scone deal in the city centre to once again combat the rain that was falling down over the city in sheets.

Scotslish Lesson-Cheers: Not just for toasts anymore you use this phrase for lots and lots and lots of things. Generally, to say thank you/goodbye!

Cheers!