Busy Busy!

Today was Day 3 in Glasgow - and it was just as busy as every other day has been.  Monday was the beginning of International Orientation, and it was the traditional lecture-y orientation that you'd imagine.  It went from 9:30 to about 4 (with a couple small breaks and then an hour or so break around 1).  A lot of information I've heard before but it wasn't so bad sitting there the whole time.  There were a couple "getting to know you" activities that were fairly corny but not so bad when everyone is being forced to do it (if that makes sense).  Met some more new people, and people from other countries too.  After, I made a trip to the college store and bought a University of Glasgow hoodie (yay, hoodie).  I'm thinking it will be even more necessary with this weather! 

Then after a bit, a group of us went out to dinner at a pub (!) down the street from our hall called The Islay Inn.  It was really neat and I was able to eat my first real/hot food in awhile... Gluten-free chips (french fries :) )  Its a little more comforting asking people if a food is gluten free here because I feel like they know it a little bit better than back in the U.S.  But it was definitely a nice environment, I definitely recommend it.

We also went to The 78, a vegan bar restaurant place thats literally right next to our hall (probably would never happen in the U.S.).  I had a pint of some type of hard cider (only finished half of it though), and it was pretty good.

Today there was more shopping, we went back to the shopping place we went to before, for more household-y goods.  It rained for the first time today so I was forced into buying more substantial shoes, and ended up with men's sneakers.  But they're better than my thin slip on shoes, so yay!  Picked up a few odds and ends in various places.  Went to Poundland (the UK version of the Dollar Store), and actually only bought dish soap and small tupperware containers. 

Okay, two surprising cultural (maybe?) differences I experienced today:

1.  Pizza is INCREDIBLY expensive here.  We decided to order pizza, and after looking around and comparing prices, ended up with Papa John's (yes they have that here).  One (ONE) pizza, is £16.99... about $27!!!!! For one pizza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And every place was like this!  All expensive!!  We only followed through with pizza because Papa John's had a deal for Tuesdays of buy one pizza get one free, so it didn't seem as bad.  But if we hadn't gotten a deal, for two pizzas, we would have paid close to $50.  Its crazy!!

2.  We went to a liquor store while we were waiting for the pizza to be delivered.  First of all, I was able to buy one single bottle of Smirnoff Ice.  Not sure if this is weird to anyone but me, but it is.  Second of all, we were not carded.  At all.  Yes, the drinking age here is 18, but technically they say that they card if you look under 25!  I just thought that was so crazy.  Had to share.

Alright thats all for now.  I've noticed that I start a blog post only intending to write a paragraph or two and wind up rambling on and on, so sorry about that, but its just how I am :)   Tomorrow I'm going on a bus trip to Inveraray (I think its like an hour or so north of Glasgow), so there will most likely be a post soon about that, and pics of course!  I'll end this post with a couple of cooler pics that I've taken lately  :)

 My first glimpse of the University!

View of the Kelvingrove Museum from the Park

Bridge on the way through the park

Statue-y thing on the bridge.