My flight home is on Tuesday, Dec 20th (8:15). Picking this date was a somewhat random thing for me, as I had no idea how to even begin to decide which day to fly home. Especially as I was booking both of my flights at the same time, in August. So how do you decide, months before, which day would be the best day to fly home.
I still don't know 100%, but I will share a couple of things that I've learned, particularly dealing with finals, the end of the semester, and the knowledge that I have about when everyone else is leaving.
Our last day of finals is tomorrow, Friday the 16th. That date is given to us as the "you must be here for at least that long" day, and you are allowed to fly out any day after that. I picked the 20th for a couple of reasons. I figured that with the possibility of having a final on the 16th (which I do, by chance), there a) wouldn't be a lot of time to prepare for leaving before the final, and b) there would probably be a little bit of time for saying good bye to people that I'd met.
So my original fly back date was going to be Monday (the 19th), but I decided to push it back one more day, just incase I had things that would need to be done that could only be done on a weekday (such as possibly closing a bank account, or something).
Right now, as far as I can tell, this won't be necessary. I don't seem to have anything that will need to be done on a weekday. But how do you know beforehand, right?
It seems to me, based on when everyone else is leaving, that the best day to leave would either be Sunday the 18th (two days after the last final day), or Monday the 19th (three days after).
My reasons for this are:
- You still get time to say good-bye to whoever is still here
- A lot of people are leaving or have already left to go on either last minute trips, or are starting "Christmas in Europe" types of trips. So its not like everyone is here anyway.
- Like I said, theres nothing that I really need to do on Monday that couldn't be done between Friday and Sunday, if that had been what was necessary.
- By the time I leave, there will be pretty much nobody here. I can't actually think of anyone (of my friends) that will be here on Monday.
- Gives an extra day to get home, especially with Christmas being so close.
- As most people are leaving the 18th/19th (as far as I can tell), its been very easy for them to find someone to share a taxi with to get to the airport (sidenote: a taxi from the city centre to Glasgow Airport is listed as being around 20 pounds)
I know one or two days might not seem like a big deal, but when this last week has been dragging, it really makes me wish that my flight was even 24 hours earlier than it is.
Obviously don't just completely take my word for it and book to leave right after finals and get mad at me or something - I'm just adding my two cents, and my view from over here, in case anyone is looking for some sort of opinion to help in their decision making. I know that if I had read ANYTHING that gave me SOME sort of clue as to what day to leave, I probably would have left a day earlier, at least.
(side, sidenote: Accommodations contracts - at least for Cairncross House/University of Glasgow - go up until the 31st of December, so technically, you can stay that long. Just putting that out there. I know plenty of people that are technically "in" their rooms until the 31st, but are traveling around Europe, and just using their room as a place to keep most of their stuff)
And theres still time to vote in my poll - which of the places that I went to was your favorite? Just a quick click is all it takes, and I'm really curious to know which one is your favorite (I know which one was mine... and I also know which one wasn't :-\ )
Also, I reuploaded my walk to school video at 2x speed instead of 4x speed, so hopefully that is a little better (its still bumpy but... you can only do so much) You can find it here: Walk to School!
Only a few days left (and one more final :( )
See you soon!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Is a UK bank account necessary?
This is another one of those posts where I feel the need to put a disclaimer at the beginning. Obviously, anything that I say here is just my opinion, and based on my experiences. It can be (and is) different for different people, so don't take my opinion as a 100% correct response to this question. I'm only putting this out there because once again, prior to coming here, the question of whether or not to get a UK bank account was very confusing and I couldn't find any information to help me out. So here we go.
When I arrived here, it was my intention to go the the bank (The Royal Bank of Scotland, to be exact... I wanted to have a bank account there because it said Royal and Scotland, haha) and open up a bank account. This was because basically everything I read was both vague, and somehow also made it sound like it would be a good thing to open a bank account in the UK. I had also heard (from actually reliable sources, this time) that there can be difficulties using our swipe debit/credit cards abroad (where pin & chip cards are the norm).
However, I eventually decided that I didn't need to get a UK bank account, and here are the reasons why:
1. My bank (a local credit union), made it so that I didn't have any fees for using my debit card over here. I only had the 1% ISA fee for using it in a foreign country, and then the non-bank ATM fee (less than $1) when I went to the ATM. It might sound like a lot but it really wasn't that bad.
2. I never had a single issue using my swipe card in the UK. The biggest "issue" I had was that once, a cashier had to run my card through a couple times because she wasn't used to swipe cards. Thats about it.
3. Apparently, in the UK, getting a bank account is not as "easy" as it is at home. It seems (now this is just how it appears to me because obviously I've never tried to get a UK bank account) that you have to 'apply' to get a bank account in the UK, similar to how we apply for credit cards. They even tell you to not 'apply' to two banks at the same time as that could ruin your chances for being 'approved'. That just didn't seem worth the hassle. I was also told it could take a few months to actually get approved, and what would be the use of that?
Also, as far as paying accommodation fees, I was concerned that the only way to do it would be to pay with direct debit (and a UK bank account), and while this is the most common and easy way to do it, they do accept credit cards (but there is a fee to do so).
So yeah, overall, I think that getting a UK bank account is fairly unnecessary. Definitely talk to your bank beforehand, though, and see if they'll waive the fees for using your card abroad (and also just in general, make sure they know you'll be traveling abroad so they don't freeze your account the first time you use it).
Once again, just my opinion, hopefully it helps! :)
When I arrived here, it was my intention to go the the bank (The Royal Bank of Scotland, to be exact... I wanted to have a bank account there because it said Royal and Scotland, haha) and open up a bank account. This was because basically everything I read was both vague, and somehow also made it sound like it would be a good thing to open a bank account in the UK. I had also heard (from actually reliable sources, this time) that there can be difficulties using our swipe debit/credit cards abroad (where pin & chip cards are the norm).
However, I eventually decided that I didn't need to get a UK bank account, and here are the reasons why:
1. My bank (a local credit union), made it so that I didn't have any fees for using my debit card over here. I only had the 1% ISA fee for using it in a foreign country, and then the non-bank ATM fee (less than $1) when I went to the ATM. It might sound like a lot but it really wasn't that bad.
2. I never had a single issue using my swipe card in the UK. The biggest "issue" I had was that once, a cashier had to run my card through a couple times because she wasn't used to swipe cards. Thats about it.
3. Apparently, in the UK, getting a bank account is not as "easy" as it is at home. It seems (now this is just how it appears to me because obviously I've never tried to get a UK bank account) that you have to 'apply' to get a bank account in the UK, similar to how we apply for credit cards. They even tell you to not 'apply' to two banks at the same time as that could ruin your chances for being 'approved'. That just didn't seem worth the hassle. I was also told it could take a few months to actually get approved, and what would be the use of that?
Also, as far as paying accommodation fees, I was concerned that the only way to do it would be to pay with direct debit (and a UK bank account), and while this is the most common and easy way to do it, they do accept credit cards (but there is a fee to do so).
So yeah, overall, I think that getting a UK bank account is fairly unnecessary. Definitely talk to your bank beforehand, though, and see if they'll waive the fees for using your card abroad (and also just in general, make sure they know you'll be traveling abroad so they don't freeze your account the first time you use it).
Once again, just my opinion, hopefully it helps! :)
Saturday, December 10, 2011
From Cairncross House to Glasgow University
Today, on my way to my final exam, I decided to finally videotape my walk there. This video will be from the entrance of Cairncross House to the main gates of the University (where I had my exam).
Warning, the original video was extremely bumpy - its apparently hard to walk at a normal pace and keep a camera steady, who knew? - and then in order to not bore anyone to death, I had to speed the video up to 4x speed. So get ready, its definitely a bumpy ride. Possibly vomit inducing. But on the plus side, I added some cheerful music to make it a little better. I hope you like it!
Warning, the original video was extremely bumpy - its apparently hard to walk at a normal pace and keep a camera steady, who knew? - and then in order to not bore anyone to death, I had to speed the video up to 4x speed. So get ready, its definitely a bumpy ride. Possibly vomit inducing. But on the plus side, I added some cheerful music to make it a little better. I hope you like it!
So there you have it! And for anyone who has no idea what just happened or how I actually got to school, I'm including a little Google Earth image of my path. For all future Cairncross residents, this is the best way to get to school. Don't be fooled by any of the maps that show what looks to be a little cut through, it is NOT a short cut. Or fun.
Also, as there are various reports of how long the walk actually takes... my walk, according to my video "proof", took 12 and a half minutes. But, I do tend to walk fast. I've heard everything from 15-20 minutes (as advertised by Residential Services on the Cairncross website thing), to 5 minutes (from the girl in the Welcome Committee who picked us up at the airport).
Classwork
Since I've finally started getting some of my papers and other work back (yes, finally, in December, I'm getting my first graded assignments back), I thought I'd do a post specifically about the kind of work that is expected here. Just a little disclaimer first that: 1) I don't know if this is how it is everywhere in the UK 2) I don't know if this is how it is for every class, even at the University of Glasgow. This is just the setup for the three classes I am taking - I hope it helps (I know I was freaking out about what we would have to do before I got here... not sure if it'll help with that part).
Ok, so for all three of my classes, the coursework was faiiiirly similar. Its definitely not like the US where we'll have different little assignments and all sorts of things that get factored into our final grades. However, its also not as bad as what was told to me by UAlbany before I left.
Just to put us all on the same page, I was told that: You'd be given a huge reading list, with 100 books on it, and you'd have to look at the list and decide which books you thought would help you write the essay that you decided you wanted to write. Before class even started - just generating your own essay topic, on a subject you hadn't taken before. Freaked me out. Also, it was noted that generally, local students will have already read everything there is to read before term even started. Still don't know if this part is true but I never saw anything that jumped out at me as being this.
In reality, it was somewhat similar but definitely no where near as horrible. In my politics class, for example, he had a "course guidebook" that listed everything you'd ever want to know about that class... when the essay was due, what format, what type of stuff we'd be talking about in class, plagiarism... basically a giant syllabus. But it also included a week by week breakdown of the lectures. And for each week, he would put the lecture topic, followed by his "essential reading", and then more "recommended reading" (the recommended reading, he told us, was for if we did our essays on the topic he lectured about that week). Even the essential reading was still a bunch, but at least it was clearly marked out as such. AND like I said, it was done on a week by week basis. Not just, 'read as much as you can before the end of the term'. Also, when essay topics were given out, there usually were a bunch of recommended books for each topic. The same for my other classes.
As for what makes up the final grade, it was more than just a final exam, like someone had told me before I came here (just a side note, I have heard of people where their only grade for the entire semester comes from their final exam, but that isn't a "normal" situation).
For Archaeology, the grade is made up of two worksheets (25%), our essay (25%), and the final exam (I'm assuming 50%, but then I'm not sure where tutorial participation comes in... so 50%... or so)
For Politics, its the essay and the final exam (ooh, scary). By the way, I just had my final for this class today (yes, today, Saturday). I'll add a seperate section about that at the end.
And for History of Art, we had a test in November, an essay, and our final. For all three of these, tutorial participation comes in somewhere but I'm not sure how.
Personally, I don't like the classes here for multiple reasons. 1) I find the lectures to be useless and so after awhile stopped going. They don't give you information in any type of logical order, and they're only supposed to be "supplementary". Also, I get messed up because there are different lecturers. I don't like it. 2) Similar to online courses in the US, you're expected to learn everything on your own. But honestly, I just can't learn like this. I mean, I can wander around wikipedia and "learn" stuff, but I can't just go learn archaeology by myself. If I could, I wouldn't be paying money to go to college. Simple as that. There was something else but I seem to have forgotten it at the moment.
Well thats all I can think of right now that might possibly be helpful to someone who, like me, is freaking out about book lists with 100 books on them. Cheer up! Its not [as] bad! If anyone has any more specific questions, please, feel free to leave a comment and ask! Seriously! :) I'll do my best to answer but no guarantees.
Ok so about my final. My mind is still boggled over the fact that I had my final today, on a Saturday, but... apparently thats normal so. Quick side note about finals: They do in fact tell you where and when finals are... I was told prior to coming here that finals could "be anywhere at anytime and no one will tell you about it, you just have to find out!". Not true. The school releases the info in mid-November or so. (Also, by the way, all of these times that I'm saying 'I was told prior to coming here...', this is information I was told by my school, during orientation. So, not just some random dude on the street. Thanks UAlbany, for freaking me out!)
They take finals very seriously here, I guess. I know that sounds stupid, like we don't take them seriously at home or something, but honestly, I was a little taken aback. It was a somewhat similar setup to how high school Regents exams (that might just be a New York thing so, sorry for the obscure reference). Each exam is assigned a hall - and in cases of large classes (or assumedly, small halls), they will split up the class based on last name. My exam today was in Hunter Hall East. It was a big room with a ton of individual desks. You wait outside until right before the exam start time, and then they let everyone in. You have to leave your bag at the front of the hall - so have pens in hand when everyone starts filing in. We were allowed to have a bottle of water, so I'm assuming this is normal procedure. We also had to have our school ID cards ("matric cards"), and yes, they checked them. We even had to fill out this weird "attendance" form, with all of this information about ourselves, even what desk number we were sitting at. Then the rest is somewhat similar to the US. You have a sheet with the exam questions on it (this one was an essay test), and then two exam booklets. They do this weird thing where you have to sign your name under this thing and seal it (they're big on not having your name visible near your work so that whoever is grading it isn't judging your work based on who you are). The Invigilator (yes, thats what they call them! Scary!) explains all the rules and such. The professors/TAs from the class are not there. Another weird thing is that you can't leave for the first hour of the exam (its 2 hours long), and then you can't leave for the last 30 minutes. Barely anyone left in that little 30 minute window. Then at the end, they go around and collect all the papers - no passing papers forward. And then the Invigilators counted the papers. They even had to make us all sit there while they recounted because they thought someone hadn't turned in a paper. And then, we could leave. Phew. Intense. Anyway, just thought it would be good to get the procedure for finals up here.
Two more and then I'm done!
Almost time to go home!
Ok, so for all three of my classes, the coursework was faiiiirly similar. Its definitely not like the US where we'll have different little assignments and all sorts of things that get factored into our final grades. However, its also not as bad as what was told to me by UAlbany before I left.
Just to put us all on the same page, I was told that: You'd be given a huge reading list, with 100 books on it, and you'd have to look at the list and decide which books you thought would help you write the essay that you decided you wanted to write. Before class even started - just generating your own essay topic, on a subject you hadn't taken before. Freaked me out. Also, it was noted that generally, local students will have already read everything there is to read before term even started. Still don't know if this part is true but I never saw anything that jumped out at me as being this.
In reality, it was somewhat similar but definitely no where near as horrible. In my politics class, for example, he had a "course guidebook" that listed everything you'd ever want to know about that class... when the essay was due, what format, what type of stuff we'd be talking about in class, plagiarism... basically a giant syllabus. But it also included a week by week breakdown of the lectures. And for each week, he would put the lecture topic, followed by his "essential reading", and then more "recommended reading" (the recommended reading, he told us, was for if we did our essays on the topic he lectured about that week). Even the essential reading was still a bunch, but at least it was clearly marked out as such. AND like I said, it was done on a week by week basis. Not just, 'read as much as you can before the end of the term'. Also, when essay topics were given out, there usually were a bunch of recommended books for each topic. The same for my other classes.
As for what makes up the final grade, it was more than just a final exam, like someone had told me before I came here (just a side note, I have heard of people where their only grade for the entire semester comes from their final exam, but that isn't a "normal" situation).
For Archaeology, the grade is made up of two worksheets (25%), our essay (25%), and the final exam (I'm assuming 50%, but then I'm not sure where tutorial participation comes in... so 50%... or so)
For Politics, its the essay and the final exam (ooh, scary). By the way, I just had my final for this class today (yes, today, Saturday). I'll add a seperate section about that at the end.
And for History of Art, we had a test in November, an essay, and our final. For all three of these, tutorial participation comes in somewhere but I'm not sure how.
Personally, I don't like the classes here for multiple reasons. 1) I find the lectures to be useless and so after awhile stopped going. They don't give you information in any type of logical order, and they're only supposed to be "supplementary". Also, I get messed up because there are different lecturers. I don't like it. 2) Similar to online courses in the US, you're expected to learn everything on your own. But honestly, I just can't learn like this. I mean, I can wander around wikipedia and "learn" stuff, but I can't just go learn archaeology by myself. If I could, I wouldn't be paying money to go to college. Simple as that. There was something else but I seem to have forgotten it at the moment.
Well thats all I can think of right now that might possibly be helpful to someone who, like me, is freaking out about book lists with 100 books on them. Cheer up! Its not [as] bad! If anyone has any more specific questions, please, feel free to leave a comment and ask! Seriously! :) I'll do my best to answer but no guarantees.
Ok so about my final. My mind is still boggled over the fact that I had my final today, on a Saturday, but... apparently thats normal so. Quick side note about finals: They do in fact tell you where and when finals are... I was told prior to coming here that finals could "be anywhere at anytime and no one will tell you about it, you just have to find out!". Not true. The school releases the info in mid-November or so. (Also, by the way, all of these times that I'm saying 'I was told prior to coming here...', this is information I was told by my school, during orientation. So, not just some random dude on the street. Thanks UAlbany, for freaking me out!)
They take finals very seriously here, I guess. I know that sounds stupid, like we don't take them seriously at home or something, but honestly, I was a little taken aback. It was a somewhat similar setup to how high school Regents exams (that might just be a New York thing so, sorry for the obscure reference). Each exam is assigned a hall - and in cases of large classes (or assumedly, small halls), they will split up the class based on last name. My exam today was in Hunter Hall East. It was a big room with a ton of individual desks. You wait outside until right before the exam start time, and then they let everyone in. You have to leave your bag at the front of the hall - so have pens in hand when everyone starts filing in. We were allowed to have a bottle of water, so I'm assuming this is normal procedure. We also had to have our school ID cards ("matric cards"), and yes, they checked them. We even had to fill out this weird "attendance" form, with all of this information about ourselves, even what desk number we were sitting at. Then the rest is somewhat similar to the US. You have a sheet with the exam questions on it (this one was an essay test), and then two exam booklets. They do this weird thing where you have to sign your name under this thing and seal it (they're big on not having your name visible near your work so that whoever is grading it isn't judging your work based on who you are). The Invigilator (yes, thats what they call them! Scary!) explains all the rules and such. The professors/TAs from the class are not there. Another weird thing is that you can't leave for the first hour of the exam (its 2 hours long), and then you can't leave for the last 30 minutes. Barely anyone left in that little 30 minute window. Then at the end, they go around and collect all the papers - no passing papers forward. And then the Invigilators counted the papers. They even had to make us all sit there while they recounted because they thought someone hadn't turned in a paper. And then, we could leave. Phew. Intense. Anyway, just thought it would be good to get the procedure for finals up here.
Two more and then I'm done!
Almost time to go home!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The ISIC Card
Ok so I decided to do a blog post about the ISIC (International Student Identity Card)... which is, obviously, an identity card for international students that can be used for discounts basically around the world.
I had heard about this card through various sources while preparing to come here, and now that I've been here, I've decided to do a post on my opinion of the card.
In order to get the ISIC card, you have to buy it, for $22 (or at least, thats the only price I could find for it, who knows if I got ripped off). My reasoning for buying the card despite the somewhat high price was that I really had no idea if it would be a good value to me (maybe it would be), and it would be a one time thing and I could find out for myself if it was worth it. Plus, I figured it would help to have an internationally recognized student ID card, with an added bonus of having an emergency help line that could be called from anywhere.
So in August, I paid the $22 for my card, and received it around 2 weeks later. After ordering - at which point you give your name and your University - you have to email the company and submit proof that you actually are a student. Its not hard, I just sent a copy of my schedule. Once you receive it, you add your own picture onto it, and then use the plastic covering thing over it.
Overall, I don't like this card. You have to look ahead of time to see if there are discounts for the ISIC card in any town you may go to. And generally they're not even fantastic (it can be hard to tell how relevant some of these discounts will be when you've never been to that town). Places that give a discount for the ISIC card won't advertise it.
In the end, if I could go back, I would not buy this card. The only time I've ever been able to successfully use it is in the US, at Uno's (If I remember correctly, its a 10% discount).
Plus, a lot of places give student discounts, just with a student ID card (which you will be given by your University - even though you're only a study abroad/exchange student). AND they advertise that they give it, so its much easier.
I couldn't really find a lot of info about the card prior to when I decided to buy it, or actual students reviews of it, so I hope this helps someone and saves them $22.
I had heard about this card through various sources while preparing to come here, and now that I've been here, I've decided to do a post on my opinion of the card.
In order to get the ISIC card, you have to buy it, for $22 (or at least, thats the only price I could find for it, who knows if I got ripped off). My reasoning for buying the card despite the somewhat high price was that I really had no idea if it would be a good value to me (maybe it would be), and it would be a one time thing and I could find out for myself if it was worth it. Plus, I figured it would help to have an internationally recognized student ID card, with an added bonus of having an emergency help line that could be called from anywhere.
So in August, I paid the $22 for my card, and received it around 2 weeks later. After ordering - at which point you give your name and your University - you have to email the company and submit proof that you actually are a student. Its not hard, I just sent a copy of my schedule. Once you receive it, you add your own picture onto it, and then use the plastic covering thing over it.
Overall, I don't like this card. You have to look ahead of time to see if there are discounts for the ISIC card in any town you may go to. And generally they're not even fantastic (it can be hard to tell how relevant some of these discounts will be when you've never been to that town). Places that give a discount for the ISIC card won't advertise it.
In the end, if I could go back, I would not buy this card. The only time I've ever been able to successfully use it is in the US, at Uno's (If I remember correctly, its a 10% discount).
Plus, a lot of places give student discounts, just with a student ID card (which you will be given by your University - even though you're only a study abroad/exchange student). AND they advertise that they give it, so its much easier.
I couldn't really find a lot of info about the card prior to when I decided to buy it, or actual students reviews of it, so I hope this helps someone and saves them $22.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Two weeks to go... again
It is officially now two weeks until I leave to go home. Technically, I'm pretty sure I'll already be home by then. My flight leaves Glasgow at 8:15 (local time)... then I fly to Amsterdam, and then to Philadelphia (getting there at 3:30 or so, EST). I would then fly to Albany but my wonderful parents have decided to spare me the panicky horribleness of the tiny regional jet from Philadelphia to Albany, and are picking me up in Philadelphia. Yay parents!
Right, so, feelings about leaving. I think by now I've made it clear (or perhaps I haven't, who knows), that I am ready to go home. I definitely don't want anyone to think that I dislike it here or that I hate Scotland or anything like that. Its just, you get to a certain point, and as nice as it is here, and as much as I'll miss a ton of things about being here... I just want to be back. It doesn't help that everything around is Christmas-y, so I'm not only excited to be back home, but I'm excited for Christmas, too.
Part of me is a little bit apprehensive that once I'm back (or maybe after Christmas is over), I'll be super sad that I'm not here anymore. I mean, thats normal, I suppose, but its making it very hard to want to be home right now. All part of the "trying not to wish away my time here" thing. I feel bad for wanting to be home when its quite possible that in a few weeks time, I'm going to seriously miss Glasgow/the UK. Its a very strange feeling to try and balance.
I wanted to do a post about culture shock (and then one about reverse culture shock), but I'm not 100% sure that I ever experienced culture shock, so I don't know how I'd blog about either one of those things. I never got to a point - even now - where toothpaste made me really angry. Just incase you're wondering, thats how they explained one level of culture shock to us. Where you get so mad at the country you're staying in that even THEIR toothpaste not being YOUR toothpaste would make you super super angry. Maybe I'll look up the actual levels and try and see if MAYBE I did have some of that...
I'm not really looking forward to the actual week that everyone is leaving. Everyone is leaving on different days so its going to be A) very long and B) very confusing, with the possibility of accidently missing someone and not getting a chance to say goodbye because they left at a different time than you thought they were. Hopefully it'll go smoothly, though.
I've already "started" packing. By which I mean that my suitcase is open on the couch and there are a couple of things sitting in it. I'm not really looking forward to this process, partially because I think I'm going to do very very badly at it.
I had to purchase a second suitcase - which I figured I would have to. My suitcase here weighed exactly 50 pounds (50.5 when they put the tag on it)... so obviously, even if I threw out some toiletries or a shirt, thats not gonna be much room at all for souvenirs or gifts. Even still, with this second suitcase, I'm leaving with less than some people came with. Crazy. Super big study abroad tip... seriously, one suitcase. You can make it the biggest one there is and pack it with 50 pounds, but... try your hardest to only have one suitcase. MAYBE 2, if you HAVE to. But I saw people with 3 or 4 actual huge suitcases, coming for only one semester. And its totally not necessary. (*Side note: Either right before I leave here, or when I get back, I will be doing a 'Packing List' blog post... showing exactly what I brought with me, and saying if I needed it, if I shouldn't have brought it, what I should have brought, etc.)
Anywho, back to leaving...
I'm feeling a little... pressed for time in terms of things that I wanted to do before I left Glasgow that I'm afraid I will never get the chance to do. I still haven't been to the Kelvingrove Museum or the Transport Museum. And they're up the street from me. I still want to do a video of my walk to school, of getting up to my room. Still want to do a video (or at least pictures) in the grocery store. And then I still want to take pictures of all the stores/restaurants that I go to and like. Jeez, so much to do. AND theres still finals (ugh, finals). Well, I'll leave it at that, for now. :)
Right, so, feelings about leaving. I think by now I've made it clear (or perhaps I haven't, who knows), that I am ready to go home. I definitely don't want anyone to think that I dislike it here or that I hate Scotland or anything like that. Its just, you get to a certain point, and as nice as it is here, and as much as I'll miss a ton of things about being here... I just want to be back. It doesn't help that everything around is Christmas-y, so I'm not only excited to be back home, but I'm excited for Christmas, too.
Part of me is a little bit apprehensive that once I'm back (or maybe after Christmas is over), I'll be super sad that I'm not here anymore. I mean, thats normal, I suppose, but its making it very hard to want to be home right now. All part of the "trying not to wish away my time here" thing. I feel bad for wanting to be home when its quite possible that in a few weeks time, I'm going to seriously miss Glasgow/the UK. Its a very strange feeling to try and balance.
I wanted to do a post about culture shock (and then one about reverse culture shock), but I'm not 100% sure that I ever experienced culture shock, so I don't know how I'd blog about either one of those things. I never got to a point - even now - where toothpaste made me really angry. Just incase you're wondering, thats how they explained one level of culture shock to us. Where you get so mad at the country you're staying in that even THEIR toothpaste not being YOUR toothpaste would make you super super angry. Maybe I'll look up the actual levels and try and see if MAYBE I did have some of that...
I'm not really looking forward to the actual week that everyone is leaving. Everyone is leaving on different days so its going to be A) very long and B) very confusing, with the possibility of accidently missing someone and not getting a chance to say goodbye because they left at a different time than you thought they were. Hopefully it'll go smoothly, though.
I've already "started" packing. By which I mean that my suitcase is open on the couch and there are a couple of things sitting in it. I'm not really looking forward to this process, partially because I think I'm going to do very very badly at it.
I had to purchase a second suitcase - which I figured I would have to. My suitcase here weighed exactly 50 pounds (50.5 when they put the tag on it)... so obviously, even if I threw out some toiletries or a shirt, thats not gonna be much room at all for souvenirs or gifts. Even still, with this second suitcase, I'm leaving with less than some people came with. Crazy. Super big study abroad tip... seriously, one suitcase. You can make it the biggest one there is and pack it with 50 pounds, but... try your hardest to only have one suitcase. MAYBE 2, if you HAVE to. But I saw people with 3 or 4 actual huge suitcases, coming for only one semester. And its totally not necessary. (*Side note: Either right before I leave here, or when I get back, I will be doing a 'Packing List' blog post... showing exactly what I brought with me, and saying if I needed it, if I shouldn't have brought it, what I should have brought, etc.)
Anywho, back to leaving...
I'm feeling a little... pressed for time in terms of things that I wanted to do before I left Glasgow that I'm afraid I will never get the chance to do. I still haven't been to the Kelvingrove Museum or the Transport Museum. And they're up the street from me. I still want to do a video of my walk to school, of getting up to my room. Still want to do a video (or at least pictures) in the grocery store. And then I still want to take pictures of all the stores/restaurants that I go to and like. Jeez, so much to do. AND theres still finals (ugh, finals). Well, I'll leave it at that, for now. :)
Monday, December 5, 2011
Getting home from Paris
Ok so I've been putting off this blog post for awhile now... both because of not wanting to think about it and schoolwork stress, but essay is done, so nows the time. I'm going to make an extremely long story short for now becaues I still don't really feel like dealing with (read: remember) what happened.
What I'm talking about is how we got home from Paris. You may or may not have noticed that my Paris post conveniently left off at Versailles and makes no mention of returning back to Glasgow. And this is why. (Forgive me if its not as short as I'm going to attempt to make it).
After Versailles, we were supposed to head back to the bus station to get the 1 hour and 10 minute bus to the Beauvais airport, for our flight back to Glasgow. A couple of small issues added up to a big issue and we missed our flight. And then after trying to figure out what we should do, we wound up booking another flight home for the next day from the airport in Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG). 110 Euros ($148!!!). So my dad gets us a hotel in Paris because neither the Beauvais airport nor CDG are open 24/7, so we can't even stay in the airport like we did in Prestwick to go to Dublin. We go back to Paris, but when we walk down the street that the hotel is supposed to be on, we can't find the hotel. Its like 11 pm by now so we're getting a bit nervous. I tried to call my mom (yes, at home) to maybe have her look up the phone number but I get voicemail. I leave a voicemail so she'll call me back, and call my brother's cellphone and then my mom's cellphone but no answer on any. And my cellphone dies. So we walk back up the street hoping we maybe missed the hotel the first time. Halfway up the street, we spot a hotel. It doesn't have the same name as the one I booked but we knock on the door anyway - maybe its still the same place, or they'll know where it is. The guy inside says its not the hotel we're looking for, doesn't know where our hotel is, and doesn't have any reservations for us (after I asked him to check cause I still thought it could be our hotel). So after awhile of looking online, we leave that hotel, with directions to a police station in hand. We walk along some streets for awhile. I talk to some guys in a pizzeria (in french) who try to give us directions. Still not sure if they were sending us to the hotel I was telling them about or if they were just sending us to ANY hotel. But we followed those directions until they didn't make sense. Then we saw a McDonald's that was open, and we go in to sit. But it closes at 2 am (yes, 2 am) and its 1:45, so after a few minutes we have to leave. As we're walking back to that hotel we saw before (we're going to break down and just pay for rooms there), we see a hotel sign on a side street. We go to this hotel, theres someone there, and we get rooms for 35 Euros ($47) each. Ouch. But, its like 2:30, and we're off the Paris streets, so its fine. Next morning, after some trouble with the metro, we make it to CDG airport and get our flight back to Glasgow. And I eat a lot of tacos.
But then I learn what happened after I made that phone call to my mom. I knew she would be freaking out, so immediately after I called her I kept trying to find ways to contact them again. But payphones only take pin & chip credit cards (US cards are not pin & chip cards). Nobody else's cellphones can make calls in France. We can't find a place to get wifi because its really late (early?).
But my mom tells me that after I called them, and then they couldn't get ahold of me, my parents left the concert they were at (cue me feeling horrible), randomly found a french lady, who called the hotel that I was supposed to be at. The reception person said that he had seen us! But that we didn't have a reservation. He calls back a few minutes later and says, oh hey, they did have a reservation, oops, tell them to come back. He says that when we left we were heading towards the police station so he calls the police station looking for us - but we never went there. I might be forgetting something else here but it doesn't really matter.
Point is, we wandered around Paris at 1 in the morning because this guy didn't realize that he worked at the same hotel that I was asking him about. And because he couldn't find the reservation that I KNEW we had. And because my phone died :(
Yeah. I'm definitely missing a couple of things because I've been trying to forget about how awful that night was.
TRAVEL TIP:
I always give my mom an itinerary of my trip (flight numbers, departure/arrival times, airports, hotel name, etc), but this other part I never even thought of.
- In your itinerary, give the phone numbers of the people you'll be travelling with. If I had done that, my mom would have been able to call my friend's phones (because they could receive, just not send), and A) she would have known I was 'okay' and B) we would have found out what the problem was and that we could go back to the hotel.
And if you are travelling to Paris via Ryanair and Beauvais airport, don't listen to them when they say to be there 3 hours and 15 minutes before your flight, you should try to be there 4 hours before your flight. Sucky, but what would you prefer?
A few other blog posts coming soon about 1) Schoolwork/finals and 2) Thoughts on being almost time to leave.
Oh! And if you haven't noticed, I have a new little poll up. Just curious to know which of my trips people liked the most! Its nothing serious, so just pick a place and let me know! (And don't let my awful trip home ruin your opinion of Paris... that part doesn't count)
See you soon! :)
What I'm talking about is how we got home from Paris. You may or may not have noticed that my Paris post conveniently left off at Versailles and makes no mention of returning back to Glasgow. And this is why. (Forgive me if its not as short as I'm going to attempt to make it).
After Versailles, we were supposed to head back to the bus station to get the 1 hour and 10 minute bus to the Beauvais airport, for our flight back to Glasgow. A couple of small issues added up to a big issue and we missed our flight. And then after trying to figure out what we should do, we wound up booking another flight home for the next day from the airport in Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG). 110 Euros ($148!!!). So my dad gets us a hotel in Paris because neither the Beauvais airport nor CDG are open 24/7, so we can't even stay in the airport like we did in Prestwick to go to Dublin. We go back to Paris, but when we walk down the street that the hotel is supposed to be on, we can't find the hotel. Its like 11 pm by now so we're getting a bit nervous. I tried to call my mom (yes, at home) to maybe have her look up the phone number but I get voicemail. I leave a voicemail so she'll call me back, and call my brother's cellphone and then my mom's cellphone but no answer on any. And my cellphone dies. So we walk back up the street hoping we maybe missed the hotel the first time. Halfway up the street, we spot a hotel. It doesn't have the same name as the one I booked but we knock on the door anyway - maybe its still the same place, or they'll know where it is. The guy inside says its not the hotel we're looking for, doesn't know where our hotel is, and doesn't have any reservations for us (after I asked him to check cause I still thought it could be our hotel). So after awhile of looking online, we leave that hotel, with directions to a police station in hand. We walk along some streets for awhile. I talk to some guys in a pizzeria (in french) who try to give us directions. Still not sure if they were sending us to the hotel I was telling them about or if they were just sending us to ANY hotel. But we followed those directions until they didn't make sense. Then we saw a McDonald's that was open, and we go in to sit. But it closes at 2 am (yes, 2 am) and its 1:45, so after a few minutes we have to leave. As we're walking back to that hotel we saw before (we're going to break down and just pay for rooms there), we see a hotel sign on a side street. We go to this hotel, theres someone there, and we get rooms for 35 Euros ($47) each. Ouch. But, its like 2:30, and we're off the Paris streets, so its fine. Next morning, after some trouble with the metro, we make it to CDG airport and get our flight back to Glasgow. And I eat a lot of tacos.
But then I learn what happened after I made that phone call to my mom. I knew she would be freaking out, so immediately after I called her I kept trying to find ways to contact them again. But payphones only take pin & chip credit cards (US cards are not pin & chip cards). Nobody else's cellphones can make calls in France. We can't find a place to get wifi because its really late (early?).
But my mom tells me that after I called them, and then they couldn't get ahold of me, my parents left the concert they were at (cue me feeling horrible), randomly found a french lady, who called the hotel that I was supposed to be at. The reception person said that he had seen us! But that we didn't have a reservation. He calls back a few minutes later and says, oh hey, they did have a reservation, oops, tell them to come back. He says that when we left we were heading towards the police station so he calls the police station looking for us - but we never went there. I might be forgetting something else here but it doesn't really matter.
Point is, we wandered around Paris at 1 in the morning because this guy didn't realize that he worked at the same hotel that I was asking him about. And because he couldn't find the reservation that I KNEW we had. And because my phone died :(
Yeah. I'm definitely missing a couple of things because I've been trying to forget about how awful that night was.
TRAVEL TIP:
I always give my mom an itinerary of my trip (flight numbers, departure/arrival times, airports, hotel name, etc), but this other part I never even thought of.
- In your itinerary, give the phone numbers of the people you'll be travelling with. If I had done that, my mom would have been able to call my friend's phones (because they could receive, just not send), and A) she would have known I was 'okay' and B) we would have found out what the problem was and that we could go back to the hotel.
And if you are travelling to Paris via Ryanair and Beauvais airport, don't listen to them when they say to be there 3 hours and 15 minutes before your flight, you should try to be there 4 hours before your flight. Sucky, but what would you prefer?
A few other blog posts coming soon about 1) Schoolwork/finals and 2) Thoughts on being almost time to leave.
Oh! And if you haven't noticed, I have a new little poll up. Just curious to know which of my trips people liked the most! Its nothing serious, so just pick a place and let me know! (And don't let my awful trip home ruin your opinion of Paris... that part doesn't count)
See you soon! :)
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