Tip about Pictures

These are three pictures that I took in Paris (the first night) that I didn't really realize I had taken until a couple of days ago.  Well, I knew I took them, but I overlooked them and didn't know they had actually come out well and looked good. 

So I posted this as a friendly traveler's tip:  Unless you absolutely have to, don't delete pictures while you're out on a trip until you're able to go home and make sure they're not good.  I almost deleted these pictures right after I took them because I thought it was took dark for anything to come out, and I really couldn't tell what they looked like on my screen. 

Just my thought for today!  :)

Guide to the University of Glasgow

I stumbled upon this video while searching random videos about Glasgow, and thought it would be worth sharing.  I think its a pretty good guide/introduction to the University of Glasgow, and a bit of the surrounding area.  Yes, I am kind of cheating by using this.  Enjoy!

Sidenote:  While you're preparing to go abroad, it can be a good (or at least, just fun) idea to search on youtube for the country or city that you'll be visiting.  It can help you get an idea about where you're going and what you can expect, and it's also just exciting to know that you're going to be seeing those places soon.  Also, one cool thing is to go on imdb.com and find out what movies have been filmed in the place that you're going, and then watch them, if you can.  However, just be aware that even though a movie may be filmed in a certain place, doesn't mean that the film is depicting that place.  For example, the movie 'Dear Frankie' had parts of it filmed in Glasgow (great movie, by the way).  But the movie itself doesn't take place in the actual city of Glasgow, but in a smaller town kind of nearby-ish.

   That's all for now!

Study Abroad Do Over

My school's study abroad program's Facebook posted a link to an article the other day, and I thought it would be worth sharing.  In it, someone who went to Paris for study abroad talks about what they would do over if they had the chance to do it over.

I don't really think there is anything specific that I regret, but I thought it would be an interesting thing to think about and put out here - who knows, maybe it'll help someone

1.  Theoretically, I would like to have waited, just to be more financially stable before studying abroad.  I had some difficulties with financial aid and didn't realize until about a month or so before I was supposed to be leaving that my study abroad program would not in fact be covered by my regular student loans (which they had basically told me repeatedly that it would), and so I had to rush around and find the money.  So my parents took out a parent plus loan, which I wish hadn't been necessary.  Also along the same line, I made the stupid mistake of not saving my tax return money that I received in the beginning of 2011, thinking, once again, that my regular student loans were supposed to cover my expenses.  (Although even still, I should have saved that money anyway).  And so now, I'm in a lot of debt, and probably will be for awhile.

      I wish that I had realized that studying abroad costs a lot more than I thought it did.

2.  I would have taken more videos.  I took tons and tons of pictures, and I'm really glad that I did - I don't regret the pictures that I have.  But I have a couple of videos from the various places I went (one from the top of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, one by Big Ben in London, etc), but I just wish I had more.  Watching those videos brings me right back to being in those places, and it would have been nice to have more.  Even just for normal stuff like walking down a street in London. 

3.  I would have liked to make more friends who were locals and/or not Americans.  And I do not mean that as an insult to my American friends because I am so glad that I met them and am friends with them.  But I also wish that I had made more friends who weren't Americans.  However, I'm not sure if this is something that is my fault.  I don't think that the University did a very good job at encouraging interaction between local students and study abroad students.  It might sound stupid but, during the first couple of weeks, you pretty much become friends with the people you'll be friends with the whole time, and all of their orientation activities for us kept us completely seperate from local students.  And as much as I enjoyed the fact that we got an extra week to get to know the city before classes started, we were alone in Cairncross House for a week or so before local students moved in.

My last do over is not a true do over, but:

4.  I would like to have eaten all sorts of local cuisine, and I really regret the fact that I didn't eat pastries or baguettes in Paris, couldn't have a pint of Guinness in Dublin or have pretty much any of the other traditional foods.  I do feel like I missed out on something.  I hate the fact that the only food I ate the entire time we were in Paris were McDonald's french fries.  However, there was nothing I could do about that (I am on a gluten-free diet), so its not a real do over.  I only put this out there because I feel like its something that people should make an effort to do when they go to these different countries.  Now I'm not saying that you need to eat the seriously gross sounding stuff, but I think eating traditional food is important.

Thats pretty much it for my do overs.  Anything else is either very specific (and I was trying to look at the big picture), or I consider it as part of the study abroad "learning experience".  For example, while in Paris, we went to the Louvre on a Friday night, when it had free admission for students.  I'm super glad we did that because it saved us money, but we never really got the best view of the outside of the Louvre, because obviously, it was dark.  And none of my pictures came out.  We had hoped to go back at some point during the day but ran out of time.  So I wish I had been able to see that during the day.  I also wish that we had gone up the Eiffel Tower during the day, both because of how cold it was at night, and because maybe we would have been able to see something.  So those are a couple of very specific things. 

And then as far as the "learning experience" ones, there is the whole, missing our flight out of Paris and then wandering around Paris at 2 am, thing.  As much as that sucked and I didn't enjoy it and wish it hadn't happened, I do consider it to be a very important experience for me.  And I know that might sound stupid but... I was basically in an emergency situation and had to try to figure out what to do for myself, without my parent's help.  I hate to sound arrogant or something but I am proud of myself that I was able to not fall down crying, and able to come up with ideas on what to do (even though some of them didn't work).  I'm also happy that my brain knows more French than I thought it did, and I was able to communicate with people in an attempt to fix our situation (even though I don't think THAT helped either).  So yeah.  DISCLAIMER:  I am not advising you to get stranded in Paris at 2 am in an attempt to become a stronger person.  :)

Ok thats all for me.  At the bottom here is the link to the article I was talking about.  I think she's got some very good points but while reading the article it was very clear to me that these do over things are something that are really specific to each person, so don't necessarily take any of these (hers or mine) as being rules or advice you should live by... just something to keep in mind.


  One last thing... All last summer I was thinking about this really cool thing I was going to do during my whole study abroad trip, where I would take pictures of my feet in all the different places that I went (so some would just be me standing on random streets, and some would clearly be places like the Eiffel Tower or something else recognizable).  It's a lot cooler in my head than I'm describing it here, but anywho, I never did it.  I don't know if I forgot or if I just thought it would take too much time or be too silly or something.  But I really wish I had taken the time to do that.  I still think it would be really cool.
        


http://bostinno.com/channels/if-i-had-a-study-abroad-do-over/

Paris and Language Concerns

I've heard many a rumor about what its like to be a visitor in Paris, particularly if you're American, and particularly if you are not fluent in French.  Prior to actually visiting Paris myself, I believed the majority of these rumors.  So I thought I'd do a blog post that addresses concerns that I had about visiting Paris, and the actual experiences - in regards to French.  Obviously, things may be different for different people in different areas, but this is what it was like for me.

I had heard that people in Paris could be very tough on those who didn't speak French, or who weren't fluent.  I had heard that Americans were not exactly well liked (although that is not really a France-specific concern).  When I went to Paris, I went with three others - two did not speak a single word of French and one knew some French.  I have studied French for quite a few years but was not confident in my abilities and so I was concerned.  The friend who spoke some French and I decided to try and teach our non-French speaking friends some French words that would probably come in handy.  My main concern is that I had heard that if you entered a store and didn't say 'Hello, how are you?', that the storeowners may decide to not let you buy from them (or something along those lines).  So that was my main concern for my friends.  I had also been taught in French class that if you didn't ask for help in a very specific way, that a French person may just ignore you completely. 

My experience in Paris was that essentially, it was not necessary to know any French.  Most people visiting Paris are in tourist zones, and most people that we encountered in tourist attractions or surrounding shops either 1) spoke English 2) spoke enough English to get by or 3) it just wasn't necessary to speak, as clearly you were buying what you brought up to the counter, and the rest is just money.

During the regular part of our visit (see my post about coming home from Paris if you're confused), I spoke French once.  To a woman selling food in a cart thing (?) because my friend had a question about the price and sizing. 

I did have to use more French at the end of our trip but it still probably wouldn't have been super necessary.  The fact that I could speak French didn't REALLY help us get out of our situation.  But who knows.  Oh wait, okay, one situation in this part that French helped was in the hotel that we ended up staying at, the guy didn't speak any English.  But after a few minutes, he went and found some guy who did speak English so boo, that was no fun. 

To sum it up... don't avoid Paris because you don't speak French.  A lot of people speak English, and I know that sounds really American or something to expect people in another country to speak English for you, but if they're already speaking it, why not take advantage of it, right? 

However, I do recommend learning a couple basic words because that will make your encounters with people much easier.  Even if you don't pronounce things right or say the "right" things.

6 Months Home, and a random bit of advice

It's been 6 months since I came home, which is a little hard to believe.  Sometimes it doesn't feel like it could possibly have been that long since I was in Glasgow, and sometimes it almost feels like I was never there - until I remember walking down the street to the grocery store, taking the train to go shopping, or sitting in an 150 year old building to take an exam.  It makes me even more grateful that I bought way too many souvenirs.  (Okay so maybe I shouldn't have spent so much money but hey, you only live once right?)

  As far as adjusting back to "normal" life after study abroad, I still don't think that its really that hard... mostly the same as my last update. 

  I'm beginning to really miss Glasgow and the whole study abroad experience.  Not to say that I didn't miss it before but now its more substantial.  I keep wishing that I could live my life here, but then pop back to Glasgow for a little while, before coming home again. 

I'm not sure if this is part of a delayed reverse culture shock or something, but I miss small things about life in Glasgow, like being able to shop at Tesco, which is bizarre because shopping at Tesco isn't really anything spectacular except for the fact that it's British. 

However, I'm still glad that I chose to only go for one semester, rather than the full year (which some people that I was friends with in Glasgow did/are doing).  I think doing a full year may have been too much for me, and I don't just mean financially.  I'm really not sure I would have been able to go back to Glasgow after coming home for Christmas break, because it took me awhile to actually begin missing Glasgow.  That might just be me, so don't just take my word for it if you're trying to decide whether to do study abroad for one semester or two.  Also, keep in mind that according to my school, you can sign up and go for one semester, and then while you're there, potentially choose to stay for the other semester.  I suppose it would be better to sign up for one and stay for two than to sign up for two and "leave early". 

Anywho!  I was randomly thinking about my flight to Glasgow and a couple things about my flight popped into my head that I thought I'd share.  I don't know if this should be labeled as advice - perhaps just a perspective to keep in mind.

    For my flight to Glasgow, I picked a flight that would leave from Albany (basically my hometown) around 3PM, went to Philadelphia, had a 2 hour layover, and then flew to Glasgow, arriving around 7 in the morning local time. 

I chose this flight for a couple of reasons:
1. I wanted to leave at a decent time, so that I wouldn't have to worry about rushing around in the morning, especially when I knew that I'd already be nervous about leaving. 
2.  This one is fairly obvious, to make sure that there was a decent layover at whichever airport I had to stop at. 
3.  There are no direct flights from Albany to Glasgow, so I specifically chose a flight where the layover would still be in the US.  I didn't want to have to deal with immigrations and all of that at some airport in the UK (or wherever.  Iceland?? Eek!) and then still have to fly to Glasgow.  Plus, if I went to another airport in the UK, it would more than likely be Heathrow in London, which (I've heard) is usually crazy busy.  So who wants to deal with that?  I was fortunate enough to fly directly into Glasgow, deal with immigrations, customs, and my luggage there, and then be in my final destination.  I highly recommend doing something like this, if possible. 


So to end my post, I'm going to share a video that was played at the end of our study abroad orientation last year.  Its fairly popular so you may have seen it but I really like it and am sharing it anyway :)

                                                                         Enjoy!

How much money should you bring with you?

Now let me start off this post by saying that I went back and checked out a bunch of my other posts, and I'm almost postive that I never really talked about this topic.  I know I talked about how I got the money I brought with me, but how much I never really addressed.

And obviously the situation for every person is different, but this is just how I worked it out.

I decided to bring with me $300 worth of pounds (which I think was like 175 pounds).  I came up with this amount for a couple of reasons.

One was that when I was leaving for Glasgow, I wasn't 100% convinced that I would actually have a place to stay when I arrived there.  As I previously talked about, I had signed up for "pre-term accommodations", and you had to pay a separate fee for housing for the week before the rest of the students (non-study abroad) students arrived.  However, there hadn't been a way to pay this fee prior to arriving, which concerned me.  So I made sure I brought with me enough money to cover this fee, if they asked for it at Cairncross when I "signed in", and if for whatever reason, they just decided to not give me a room and not let me pay the fee (meaning I would have no where to go), the money would then cover a hotel, at least for the night. 

I then added in a little bit for some of the expenses that I was pretty sure I'd have to pay for right away, like a blanket (I knew I'd have to buy one),  a cell phone.

I also added in a little bit incase I had to take a taxi from the Glasgow Airport- even though I had signed up for the Welcome Shuttle. 

   Incase you haven't noticed, I like to be prepared.

So all of those expenses added together, plus a little bit extra (for food, etc) and I wound up coming up with the $300 (175 pounds) total.

I also had on me about $40 for expenses in the Philadelphia Airport.  I highly recommend bringing some of your own currency with you.  I was able to buy a bottle of water (which I desperately needed), and then the money I had left over, I used on the way back home.

My recommondation is that you 1) bring some of your own currency with you (or at least have access to your debit card or something, even though cash can be more convenient), 2) figure out what type of expenses you may have in your first few days there and try to anticipate how much you will need, 3) add in a little bit extra.

Also, don't bring too much money with you.  Say you were going to have $5,000 total available to you for your entire study abroad program.  I think its fairly obvious to say that its not safe to do so.  Plus I think you may encounter some type of issue at customs but I don't know 100% about that.

If you don't think that you'll have many expenses straight away that you'll definitely need cash for (say you already have a British bank account or already have a debit card that can be used in the UK), just bring a small amount for things like food, taxi rides.  Say maybe... 50 pounds.  Just a guestimation.

Cultural Differences

I thought I'd share an example of cultural differences between the UK and the US -

While we were in Glasgow, one of my friends who is from the UK told us this riddle:

'Throw away the outside, eat the inside.  Eat the outside, then throw away the inside.  What is it?'


She told us this joke at dinner and it wasn't really occuring to any of us right away, so she then gave us a hint as to the answer, which was that it started with the letter 'S'.

   This then completely baffled us.  No idea at all what she was talking about.

She finally had to just give us the answer...  Sweetcorn.

Sweetcorn.

Thats why we didn't get it - in the US, corn is just corn, but in the UK, its sweetcorn. 

Just a small cultural difference, but I thought it was a bit of a funny one

    :)




   (Also, I've just realized that this is my second blog post that is completely devoted to corn... Hmm...)

Review of All-Unied (now currently known as Click 2 Campus)

So I've been saying for probably close to 6 months that I was going to do a review of All-Unied*, the company that I purchased my housewares and such from.

The way the company works, is that you purchase the items that you want on their website (www.all-unied.com)*, and then you choose the date to have it delivered to your University dorm/hall room.  You can either choose a "pack" which contains all the items that they think you'd need... such as the 'All Essentials Pack" which has 63 items (various bedding and kitchen items) and costs 95 pounds, or you can select individual items to make sure you only get what you need.

Then after you pick out the items that you need and want, you select the date for delivery (they don't deliver on Saturdays or Sundays), and tell them what University you are at, and your dorm/hall.  If you know your room number you can list that too, but if you don't have a room number, they will just deliver it to the reception desk in your hall and you can either pick it up there or sometimes they will bring it to your room (apparently). 

I purchased the Essentials Pack for One, which comes with:

(taken from the website)

2 dinner plates: white porcelain, 27cm
2 side / salad plates: white porcelain, 23cm
2 cereal / soup bowls: white porcelain, 17.5cm
2 tea / coffee mugs: white porcelain
2 dining knives: stainless steel
2 dining forks: stainless steel
2 dining spoons: stainless steel
2 teaspoons: stainless steel
2 tumblers: glass mixer (34cl)
2 tall glasses: glass hi-ball (41.5cl)
small saucepan: stainless steel with glass lid
medium saucepan: stainless steel with glass lid
frying pan: black with non-stick coated interior (24cm)
colander / food strainer: 20cm plastic
5 piece kitchen utensil Set: durable black non-scratch nylon (bagged)
- solid spoon
- slotted spoon
- fish Slice
- potato masher
- ladle
3-piece container set: plastic food containers with sealable lids
chopping board: medium sized, anti-bacteria Nylon
paring Knife
utility Knife
chefs Knife
scissors: general purpose
3-way food grater: stainless steel encased in plastic
can opener: stainless steel
multi peeler: durable plastic & stainless steel
measuring jug: clear plastic (2 pint)
2 drying-up cloths: plain cotton

sleeping / night-time
face cloth. cotton, 500gsm (12in x 12in)
hand towel. cotton, 500gsm (20in x 36in)
bath towel. cotton, 500gsm (27in x 54in)
10 coat hangers: plastic with 360° swivel hooks



While I didn't expect to use every single thing that was in the pack, I thought it would get me what I did need at a fairly good price (as far as I could tell, not knowing what would be available in Glasgow and at what price)

This pack was 75 pounds, plus I also got an oven baking tray and two UK plug adaptors.  In total, I paid 83.90, and it includes free delivery. 

There were a couple reasons why I decided to actually buy stuff through All-Unied:
1.  I wasn't sure what would be available in Glasgow
2.  I wasn't sure that the stores that were nearby would have things I would need
3.  If I'd be able to get to those stores soon after arriving to be able to get the things that I would need, or if I'd be able to get to these stores at all. 
4.  I also wasn't sure if the prices would end up more expensive or if I'd have a hard time getting stuff like pots and pans back on public transportation.
5.  I liked how simple the whole thing was - I picked out what I wanted and then chose when to have it delivered to my hall.  I didn't have to worry about getting this stuff.


So!  I arrived in Glasgow on September 4th (a Sunday), so I set the delivery of my order to be on the 5th.  On the 5th, the package was at the reception desk by the time I got home around 4 or so.  Unfortunately I then had to carry it up to the 4th floor but that was inevitable.  They didn't put it in my room (like some of the reviews had said) but 1) it arrived after I had already moved in so I wouldn't have expected them to "break into" my room to leave my box there and 2) I was on the 4th floor.

Everything in the box was packed very well - the box was pretty big but not too horrible to get upstairs to my room.

This is the box before I took anything out - Anything that was somewhat fragile was wrapped in bubble wrap, and everything was in packaging and plastic (for some reason I had been afraid that the products wouldn't be new)

Overall, I think my opinion of this company and this service is good.  I didn't wind up using the majority of the products that I got but thats because my kitchen was really really horrible and I tried to avoid using it as much as I could.  Add to that that some of the kitchen products I never would have used originally - like the fish slicer and a couple other things.

Most of the things that I did use I probably could have found within a few days of arriving in Glasgow.  Not really sure about prices, because I didn't check.  Also, probably still would have encountered a bit of difficulty getting this stuff back to Cairncross using public transportation.  On my first day in Glasgow, we went to one of the main shopping areas and I wound up buying a duvet and duvet cover (and a couple other things) and I had to get everything back on the train.  While it wasn't impossible, it was tiring and a smidge difficult to manage the crowds.

I would say that if you cook and use certain things frequently at home, then there shouldn't be a problem buying them.  If you're like me and basically just cook frozen things and boil pasta, then its probably best to just get the things that you would need for that (maaaybe a couple other things but nothing super fancy). 

I also just want to point out that one of my items arrived broken (the handle was broken off one of the pots).  A friend of mine also had an item arrive broken, and when she contacted the company, they replaced it for her.  I'm sure that if I had gotten around to contacting the company about my broken pot handle, they would have replaced it for me, but alas. 

Also, another thing that I didn't really love about the products, was that all of the dishes that I received had these stickers on them that were extremely difficult to get off.  It took me probably a good 15-20 minutes per item to get the sticker off, and even then, there was still residue from the sticker on the plate.

Two plates - one with the sticker still on, one showing the residue left by the sticker (not sure if you can tell very well).

However, I do think the company is offering a very good service.  It was very comforting to know that I already had these products on the way to me in Glasgow and I didn't have to worry about finding them.

The only thing is that All-Unied* doesn't really offer any type of personalization (in terms of saying what color towels, plates, blankets I'd want).  That probably doesn't matter to some people, but for me, it does - at least in terms of my bed comforter.  I didn't want them to send me some random design or color, so I didn't buy a comforter through them, and had to buy one in Glasgow on Day 1.  That's not really "their fault", but still.

I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the two mugs that came in my package, were not just plain white mugs, but somewhat fun :)

**Edit 6/17/13:  Whilst googling All-Unied to give the link to someone else, I've discovered that the company has apparently changed their name - so now the company is called Click 2 Campus, and the website is click2campus.com.  However, if you google All-Unied, the correct/current link will still come up.  I'm assuming that the company is still basically the same, just with a different name, therefore the way the company works (and my review) would still be the same.  But, obviously, I can't guarantee that how they did things when I purchased from them almost 2 years ago is the same as it is now.**

Email Address

This is just a little post to let everyone know that I've created an email address for this blog.  It's ashleyadventuring@gmail.com

That way if anyone wants to send me a question but doesn't want to just leave a comment, they can do that.  So if you're a visitor to my blog and you have a question, feel free to send me an email and I'd be glad to answer any questions - if I can! 

       

What I Packed

So after all of the logistics have been taken care of and I officially knew I was going, one of the first things I thought about was... 'What am I gonna bring with me... what am I actually going to need' (Who am I kidding, I'd been thinking about that wayyyy before I knew I was actually going).  It may not seem like a major thing but planning out what to bring can be, in some ways, just as important as every other study abroad preparation.

  When I was trying to figure out what to bring, I did countless google searches, and looked at things ranging from general travel packing lists, college packing lists, to camping packing lists (I still don't understand this one but I think I was desperate).  I even tried searching things like "What to pack for 3 months studying abroad in Scotland".  And while I found plenty of packing lists, I never found anything that completely helped me.  Either they were too vague, not specific enough for me, or said to bring or not bring something but didn't give reasons.  So I am going to give my exact packing list (everything that I actually bought with me), and say if I shouldn't have brought something.  There are also a few things that I didn't bring and should have.

A bit of advice first:  Definitely make a packing list, and do it a few weeks in advance.  I edited the list that I made many many times, and because I had time to really think about what I wanted to bring, there weren't TOO many things that I shouldn't have brought.  And it also made it really easy when it came time for packing, because all I had to do was find the things on my list (with a few exceptions). 

Ok so here is my packing list (I'm literally listing everything that I brought, along with my notes about each thing):

Various little things:

Small address book (important for sending postcards while traveling)
Mechanical Pencils (I like a specific type of mechanical pencil... what can I say, I'm a nerd)
Towel
Hand Towel
Twisty Hair Towel
Washcloths (I think about 10 but I didn't count)
Mesh Shower Tote
Laundry Bag
A reusable grocery bag thing (used this many times for grocery shopping)
Small Mirror
Jewelry Box
Battery powered Alarm Clock (This is extremely important - even if you use your phone for an alarm, there may not be a place near your bed to plug in the charger or something - is just better to bring one.)
Photo Album
Ethernet Cable (some people got them from Reception in our hall but it was so much easier just to have one)
Adapter (Bring one with you, don't try to buy it there.  I got mine from Target - adapters for multiple countries for less than $10)
Electronics Chargers (Iphone, Ipod shuffle, Digital Camera, Laptop)
Toiletries (Travel sized shampoo, conditioner and bodywash, Q-tips, Bandaids, Chapstick, Razor, Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Make-Up)
Medicines (Advil, Excedrin, Excedrin PM (small))
Knee support thing (obviously, this is specific to me)
Two small framed photos
Two small knick knacks
Small stuffed elephant
Small stuffed turtle
Three small prints to decorate wall
6 books
Pillow
Oh, and obviously, my laptop, iPhone, Digital Camera, and iPod shuffle


Clothes -
3 pairs of jeans (in addition to the pair I wore there)
1 set of jean shorts
lounge pants
lounge shorts
flannel sleep shirt
lighter sleep shirt
underwear (about 12 pairs), bras (3), socks (I only brought 3 pairs, and I bought some cheap ones there), camis (I wear these everyday, so I brought 5)
6 sweaters - different colors and styles, a couple were thicker
3 button down shirts
7 Long sleeve shirts - once again, various styles, colors
3 short sleeve shirts
UAlbany Hoodie (definitely recommend bringing one if you wear one at home.  Don't feel like you'll be made fun of or something)
Thin hoodie
2 Nicer tops
1 Open front cardigan
Black Jacket
Blue jacket (wore)
Green Hooded Jacket
Swimsuit and Cover-up
Shoes (Slippers, Flip flops for shower, 1 pair of flats, 1 pair of boots, wore slip on shoes on plane)
Two small purses
Regular sized purse
Messenger bag (used for classes and traveling)
Laptop sleeve/bag


So there you have it - everything that I brought with me.  I know some of it is very specific but I wanted to be clear (and honest) about what I brought with me.  Oh, and some of these things went in my carry on, but I just want to say again that everything fit in one 28" bag, with space bags.

Now, here's my list of what I didn't use, didn't need, or shouldn't have brought (sorry if the way this is organized is confusing at all, but the way I had it originally was just way too messy and even more confusing):

Hand Towel (would have been fine without but I still used it a little)

Twisty Hair Towel

Mesh Shower Tote – Tried to use this but it just didn’t work well with the bathroom situation in Cairncross (wasn’t anywhere “clean” to set it, so I had to hang it off of the hook on the back of the door, but then there wasn’t any room for my clothes).  However, it packed flat, and if I hadn’t brought it, I may have wanted one.

Toiletries - since I didn't really know where stores would be and how soon I would be able to get to them, I brought enough toiletries to last me a week.  While it wound up being unnecessary (I found a grocery store on Day 1), I would still do the same thing again - who knows where stores will be or when you will be able to get there.  Also, they can be used if you travel anywhere or near the end of your trip when you're out of shampoo but don't want to buy a big thing of it right before you leave.

Ipod Shuffle – I didn’t use this, but I only brought it because I’ve had problems in the past with my iPhone and I wanted to have a backup for music just in case.  They’re so small that it was no big deal to bring it.

Jeans – I brought 4 pairs total, but would have been okay with fewer… 3 or even 2 pairs.

Jean shorts – I never wore these, as it was too cold, even from day one.  However, it was good to bring these just in case, and they don’t take up too much room.

Lounge/sleep shorts – Never wore these, but 1) a friend borrowed them on a trip, to save space in her suitcase, and 2) always good to have just in case, and like with the jean shorts, they don’t take up much room.

Two sleep shirts – I never wore these, mostly because I wouldn’t have been comfortable wearing it to go out to the bathroom in the hall.  But I definitely overestimated the number of pajamas I would need.  In all, I brought 5 things (2 sleep shirts, 2 lounge pants and 1 lounge shorts) – definitely not necessary.

“Nicer” White button down shirt – never wore it, but mainly because I was afraid of the washer ruining it, like it ruined another one of my white shirts.  General recommendation – don’t bring white shirts.

“Nicer” tops – I didn’t really wear these much.  I think I wore them twice but it was just on days that I felt like dressing up, not because I was going to a formal occasion.  Probably still good to have something nicer though, just incase.

Black Jacket – I shouldn’t have brought this.  It was intended as a “nicer” light jacket, so it was definitely not something I could wear in the rain, and it took up quite a bit of room.

Green Hooded Jacket – Also shouldn’t have brought this, because I intended it to be my rain jacket but it isn’t waterproof.  And once again, took up a lot of room.  However, in my defense, this jacket is my rain jacket at home, and I’ve never had issues with it – it’s just that because it rains so often in Scotland it was constantly wet and so it got saturated and soaked through.  Still shouldn’t have brought it though.  Either invest in a good waterproof jacket before you leave, or plan to buy one as soon as you get there.

Swimsuit and Cover-up – I didn’t use or really need either of these, and when I packed them, I didn’t envision using them, but they didn’t take up much space and they were another one of those “just in case” things.  Unless you can easily buy a swimsuit and have it be the right fit for you – bring your bathing suit.

Shoes – Looking back, I shouldn’t have brought the flats, because it wasn’t something I could wear in the rain, and they weren’t good for walking, which are both things that were pretty much constantly happening.  But, they didn’t take up too much space, and they would have come in handy if I’d had to go to a formal event.  Also, I shouldn’t have brought my boots because they are “suede”.  I really really really underestimated exactly how often it rains in Scotland.  And suede doesn’t like rain.  So I never wore these.  And they did take up some space.  And there was no real purpose to bringing them other than the fact that I like them.  So no suede boots.  Even if they’re really cute.

Things I should have brought but didn't:

You may have gotten the point about this by now but - a waterproof jacket!  The essential point is, to actually be prepared for the weather you are about to live in.  I mean, I knew it rained but I figured that what I had would be fine.

Also, if I could re-do it, I would buy good walking shoes before I left, but only for vanity.  Because I got my walking shoes in the UK, which is apparently unaccustomed to my big feet, I could "only" (I say "only" because I only went to one store, who knows what I would have found at other stores) get men's shoes.  I would have liked shoes for women.  Even if the shoes from Glasgow were only 8 pounds. 

Thats it!  I can't think of anything else that I didn't have but wanted or needed.

A side note on something I read a lot in packing lists (and hear a lot from study abroad websites, including the one from my school)... they always say to bring gifts from the US (or whatever your home country is), to give to the people in your host country.  Personally, I disagree that this is necessary.  If you are going to be living in a dorm or on your own in an apartment, I don't think it is necessary to bring gifts.  This may be a necessity (of politeness) if you are going to be staying with a host family - but otherwise, I would say don't bother.  On the flip side, I guess it would have been cool (?) to give something that I had brought from the US to my friend from Scotland, but only for the novelty of giving her something from the US, not because of politeness or anything.  Just my opinion.  This always bugs me because I see it everywhere.

Ok thats it!  Hopefully this wasn't confusing and that this helps someone (fingers crossed)!

        And, if you're currently in the process of applying for study abroad, maybe for fall 2012, good luck!  I found out first from my school that they had accepted me, on April 8th, and then from the University of Glasgow, that they had accepted me, in the second or third week of May.

6 Months Ago...

I had only been in Glasgow for a little over a week!

6 whole months ago!  Its crazy to think about. 

To me, it still feels like it was only last week that I went to London and Paris and everywhere else - either that or the whole thing was just a dream.

And a year ago, I had just finished submitting my Study Abroad Application, and just beginning the super long (ok so maybe not as long as I thought) waiting process to find out if I was accepted.

If you're in the middle of this process right now - take a breath - try to limit the number of times you check your email ( I know I checked mine probably every minute at one point)

I had my first Taco Mazama craving the other day :(  And I had been doing so well.  And of course, that unleashed the floodgates because now I'm craving chips from the 78, and all sorts of other "UK" only foods.  Darn it! 

In honor of my 6 month anniversary of arriving in Glasgow (give or take a few days) - I'm going to post a couple of pics and videos that I'm almost positive never made it onto my blog (forgive me if some are repeats, I started going through my blog to see if I had posted them before but it was just such a long/tiring process that I gave up - yes, I admit it)

So here we go!

(Sidenote:  My original intent was to organize these pics by general location - all of the London pics together, etc, but my blog is not cooperating with me, so they are essentially random - apologies!  But I will make sure to say what/where each pic is from)

So this is a ... brick, statue... thing?  In Glasgow, right near the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis.  I just thought it was really pretty, and it has a nice message.

Ok so obviously this picture sucks, which is why it didn't make it onto my blog before, but for whatever reason, I just think it looks really cool.  This is from Edinburgh (the second time, right before we went to Paris), when we were on the Ferris Wheel.  Its a building that I'm taking a pic of.

From a park in London - I just like how the swan's bum is sticking up (teehee)

In Edinburgh (the first time we went).  I overlooked this photo before but when I took a closer look, I just thought it was actually a neat pic.  I like the sky, and the building, too.

Incase you can't tell, this is a picture of the changing of the guards in London.  I did not actually see this for myself, I just stuck my camera up above everyone's heads and took this pic.  You can't even really tell whats going on - overall, its just a really crappy picture, which is why I left it out in my London blog, but I figure, hey, its my only picture of the changing of the guard, might as well include it.

This is from Pollok Country Park, when we went to go see the Highland Cows (go read that blog post if you don't know what those are).  "Way Out" is the fancy British way of saying "Exit".  Their way is so much better, I think.

This is in Edinburgh - they have a bunch of these things all over.  The green elephant that I blogged about the first time I went to Edinburgh is part of this "collection", if I recall correctly. 

Once again, in Edinburgh.  I just love everything about this picture - the sky (it was such a beautiful day when we went the first time), the angle, the details in the buildings...

This tree was outside of Hampton Court Palace (which is 'outside' of London).  This tree reminded me of Dr Seuss! 

Ok so this is a pic that is a repeat - its the Admirality Arch in London, and I did include it in my London blog post.  I'm including it now only as context for my next picture, which I didn't post about. 

I don't know if you can see it, but that lump thing in the middle there, is a nose!  Its on the inside of one of the arches of the Admirality Arch (see above).  Its apparently been there since 1997 - I guess that there are some political/social reasons but I'm not 100% sure what those are or if I could even start to explain it correctly.  Anyway, its kind of cool. 

These are part of a display in the Kelvingrove Museum, in Glasgow.  I believe the theme here is against Women's Rights.  If you click on the pic you should be able to read them all clearly.  My "favorite" is the one in the middle on the bottom.

This was taken in the same park as the picture of the swan butt further up (I can never decide exactly what the name of the park is, but we were right in front of Kensington Palace).  Anywho!  We stopped there to have a bit of lunch, and that place is craaaaawling with birds, so obviously they were attracted to our lunch eating activities.  Curiousity on our part and hunger on the birds' part led to the events taking place in the picture. 

Tower of London (London, obviously).  These are wire (I think?) monkeys.  I think they are supposed to be "in honor" of the Tower of London's past as a sort of zoo.

A bench!  From the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.  Its got engravings on it to represent Glasgow, and is just overall neat looking.

That is one funky lookin' cannon - at the Tower of London

At the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow - there is a tiny, cute little chair on the railing!  So unnecessary but delightful!

A really pretty building and sky in Dublin, Ireland (I'm not sure what exactly the building is, but I believe we were on the Trinity College campus when I took this pic)

An Elephant at the Tower of London - also wire - same as the monkeys, above.

Edinburgh.  I posted some of these in my post about Edinburgh but I didn't put them all, and I like this one :)

Edinburgh Castle, (from the first time we went to Edinburgh).  I never got a chance to actually go to Edinburgh Castle.  So now that I think about it, this might not actually be a pic of Edinburgh Castle.

Also Edinburgh.  This is another one of those things like the green elephant and the blue and white patterned Gorilla.  I'm not sure why they were there, but I'm glad they were.

Teehee.  I included this only because its funny (probably only to me and my family, or people like us).  This was in Mallaig, Scotland (that was our destination when we took the Harry Potter train)

This is from one of the rooms in Kensington Palace, London.  Its hard to tell, but this is a bunch of toy soldiers all set up like in a battle (and then on the back wall, there is a mirror, so you can see whats going on in the back).  Like I said, its hard to tell whats going on, which is why I left it out.  But its really cool, so ... yeah.

This is from Stirling Castle.  I know I included pictures that were similar to this but I really like this one.  To me, it looks like pictures I saw from when my mom and brother sky-dived (sky-doved?  went skydiving?)  Almost like falling or something.

I took this picture mostly for my mom.  No idea what this store sells (but based on the stuff in the window it doesn't look like anything special), but its called Pink.  Oh yeah, this is in London.

A Fish & Chips sign in a (duh) Fish & Chips shop in Mallaig, Scotland.  Figured I'd include this because its so traditionally British.

This is a little statue thing of kids (don't know what for) in Dublin. 

London, of course!

I just really like this pic - its from Dublin, when we were on our way to Christchurch Cathedral (the building on the right is actually the "backside" of the Cathedral).  Sayuri, Alissa, and Mikaela.

From Inveraray, Scotland.  I don't know why I never included this in my blog post about Inveraray - I think maybe I was still nervous about putting too many pictures in a blog post, haha.  Anyway, its become one of my favorite pictures, so I just had to share!

A random view from Stirling Castle.  Its not particularly exciting, but I just like it.  Plus, look how far away the cars are!

Same thing :)

A funky shaped door in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin

This is from a little courtyard thing at the Parliament buildings/Big Ben (thats Big Ben on the right).  This is not with any special filters, the light is just like that right there.  Love that little tree.

Tower Bridge (London) - this is the first time we went there.  I posted pics from when we went the next day, cause those pictures came out much better.  The pics from when we went at night were generally not good but I'm putting this one up anyway.

These are some of the costumes from the show The Tudors, on display in the crypt (I think they call it that) in Christchurch Cathedral, in Dublin.  Apparently some scenes from The Tudors were filmed at Christchurch Cathedral.

A pic from the way to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in Northern Ireland.  I like this one because you can see the path ahead of us, curving around.

Another one from the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in Northern Ireland.  I'm including this because that land in the distance may or may not be Scotland.  As we were leaving, our tour guide (aka, our cab driver that decided to go on the rope bridge with us), said that you can see Scotland from here, but I'm not sure if that bit of land is Scotland or not.  So I make no promises (and so thats why I didn't post it the first time).

London at night, from Tower Bridge.  And, if you look a little closer, you'll see fireworks :)

I'm only posting this because our cabbie is in it! 

Just a funny little thing on the ground at Tower Bridge, London.

Paris - the Place de la Concorde is ahead of us to the left.  We were on our way to les Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe.

Metro sign, in Paris!  In the Montmartre neighborhood, on the way to Sacre-Coeur

A cool shot from Inveraray - I use the same excuse as the other Inveraray pic as to why it wasn't included before. 

Once again, Inveraray.  Just a cool little boat.

Inveraray again - I like that the boat has 'Glasgow' on it.

A neat lookin tree - on the road to Inveraray Castle, from the town of Inveraray.

And now, a couple vids that I'm almost positive were never posted.

From the top of Dunadd (the old hillfort) on our Archeaology fieldtrip. 

From Inveraray, Scotland.  Right outside Inveraray Castle.

Another one from our first Archaeology field trip.  In Kilmartin, Scotland.  Not the BEST video but I still thought I'd share.

Also from Kilmartin, Scotland.  A little tour outside of the church and cemetery there.  I wasn't trying to be creepy or anything (lol) - 1) It just looked really scenic and historical and 2) One of my friends who was in this class was sick and couldn't go on the fieldtrip, so I was trying to make sure I documented enough that she wouldn't miss anything.

Parts of this vid aren't the best, but I really wanted to get a video from London - and this is really the only one I got.  Obviously, this is from right near the Parliament buildings and Big Ben.

Another one from London - but its really only just about the birds, lol.  Oh yeah, this is the park outside of Kensington Palace.

I took this video in Mallaig, Scotland (after the Harry Potter train ride).  Its "generic" because its "just" ocean, but I thought it was still nice. 

A quick one from Northern Ireland, from the walk to the Giant's Causeway

Another one from the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.  This one is taken from the very tippy top of a little "Giant's Causeway" mountain thing.  Funny little note, one of my friends was at the top of this thing with me, and as I turned around in a circle, she ducked down.

Standing in the same place, at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. 

Another Giant's Causeway one.  The place is very video-genic (yes I know thats probably not a word)

I may have posted this video before - I'm not sure.  But, I'm on a roll and it goes with the previous theme of videos from Northern Ireland, so voila!  Crossing the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge!

Just a quick video of the view from Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland.

Not the best video - but its the only one I have of the Eiffel Tower, so onto the blog it goes!  I was trying to record the light beam that goes around the Eiffel Tower, so thats why the video is so long- you can just skip to the end to see that...

From the top of the Arc de Triomphe, Paris - I love this!  The sky is so pretty, and so is the city... and come on, its Paris! 

The next couple videos are from Pitlochry, when we went to see the Highland Games:

There you go!  Theres a couple more videos but I'm saving them for a rainy day.

 (Thats a lie, I just got sick of the really slow way that blogspot allows videos to be uploaded - but I will share them at some point)

Until then, enjoy!