I've been to Hogwarts!

So yeah, um... this is my school:

Better pictures to follow :-\  Have yet to be able to actually stop, when its daytime and I'm not rushing somewhere and get a good picture.  But its wayyy overdue so be on the lookout!  Its definitely worth the wait though, so beautiful! 

Yesterday, a group of us went to the Botanic Gardens, which is kind of on the other side of campus (like campus is the halfway point between Cairncross House and the Botanic Gardens).  It was a beautiful "fall" day, so it was very enjoyable.  I wasn't a huge fan of the inside of the gardens, just because I'm not extremely interested in random plants, but it was really nice on the outside.  Like a nice park.

   It definitely seems like it might be a nice place to go chill out - assuming the weather is nice... and/or you don't mind going inside the buildings.

Then last night (Thursday) was an International Social hosted by the University.  There was traditional Scottish dancing and music - the whole thing is called a ceilidh (pronounced like the name Kaley).  I didn't dance, myself, but it was sooo much fun watching everyone else do the dances.  And it was held in Bute Hall on campus, which is beautiful, too.

Bute Hall (its really hard to tell how pretty it is in there... I'll have to get a better picture if I can)

Its kind of a culture shock though because with the ticket to get into the social, you can get a free drink - either like a soda, or an alcoholic drink.  And thats definitely not something you'd find in a University sponsored event.  I don't even think they were checking to see if people were over 18.

Today we went on a bus tour of Glasgow, and I'm really glad that I did.  I got to see a lot of places that I had been looking forward to visiting when thinking about coming to Glasgow.  I mean, we just saw them briefly from the bus, but it was nice seeing them and thinking "yes, I do actually want to make a trip back here for this".  I'm looking forward to going to all of these places again.  That was the last of the 'International Orientation' trips/events, so now I think we're on our own.

I did join the International Society at the social last night.  It was 5 pounds to join, and they tell you about all these events and parties (I think they might host them?).  I'm not too interested in the parties, but they also do weekend trips, and I am interested in that.  The guy from the International Society said they had one coming up to Edinburgh, and I think I might go.  It costs like 50-60 pounds, but they organize everything, and the price includes travel and food and museum fees and all that.  Sounds like a good deal to me.

Well, the "freshers" have started moving in.  I think my hall is going to be a little less quiet from now on - not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing.  I guess I'll just have to find out :)

Missing everyone from home... It almost still doesn't feel like I'll be here for the next three months.