Toussaint: Scotland

I spent the second part of my Toussaint trip in Glasgow, Scotland. The journey began early on a Tuesday morning, as I left Amanda's dorm at 4:15 a.m. and boarded a quintessential ruby red double-decker bus headed towards Euston Rail Station. I seriously felt like I was in a scene from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the one in which Harry boards the Knight Bus and finds himself in for a crazy ride. Okay, mine wasn't that crazy, it was actually very smooth sailing and only took 30 minutes. I was proud of myself for managing to arrive with plenty of time to spare before the train departed. Traveling is so much less stressful when you don't have to rush.

The train departed at 5:37, just like clockwork, and I was on my way North. I allowed myself to doze off for the first two hours and then devoted the rest of the time to writing in my journal, listening to music, and gazing out the window at the beautiful English countryside. The scenery was lovely! I felt, again, like I was in a scene from Harry Potter, perhaps this time on the Hogwarts Express.

Rainbow in the English countryside!

An interesting article in a British newspaper...

Once I arrived in Glasgow, I got off the train and made my way towards the main entrance, searching for my friend Roxan who was essentially the reason why I decided to go to Scotland. Roxan was one of my 16 housemates in Manley, the co-op I lived in in Santa Barbara last year. Looking back, I really wish I'd kept a blog or journal about my year living with 16 (at first) strangers. That experience was just as formidable as this year's and I wish I had a series of writings to remember it by. Oh well.

The lovely Roxan in her Scottish element

Anyway, Roxan is originally from Sweden but goes to "uni" (haha I'm catching on to the lingo) at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She spent last year as an exchange student at UCSB (we had three other housemates who were exchange students as well) and now I'm an exchange student on her continent. The last time I saw her was back in June when I moved out of Manley and had to say goodbye to everyone and was sobbing and running around hugging people and taking snapshots with a disposable camera. Needless to say, it was an emotional goodbye. But now, 5 months later, I got the opportunity to see and hang out with one of my former housemates again.

As I scanned the platform for her doe-eyed face, I finally found her and slowly approached her. It was a strange hello because she was looking for me and didn't realize I was standing right there. It was also just so strange to see each other in a completely different environment than we were used to. It was great though, seeing a familiar face and a former Manleyan.

After our silly greeting we spent the day just catching up and drinking tea and walking around Glasgow. We went to this DELICIOUS hippie-ish tea shop and café where we sat on pillows and drank some of the most amazing chai tea I've ever had in my life. I went to one of her psychology classes with her, which wasn't exactly the most interesting class but it was nice to go to a lecture taught in English for once. It was the first (English lecture) I'd been to in 5 months. We also went to a "Tea and Talks" event put on by her school, during which a Pyschology professor talked about the research he is working on. There was, of course, tea, and to my delight, Scottish shortbread cookies. It was really interesting because her professor talked about the psychology and biology behind attraction and how the way we are attracted to people is a product of our biological instincts.

Soup and delicious chai tea

Roxan and I at her Uni

Her school was used to film parts of Harry Potter!

A lovely day in Glasgow

In the evening we went to a concert at the Old Fruitmarket, a really cool venue that, as the name suggests, was once an old market and today hosts artists from all over the world. We saw Josh Ritter, an American folk artist I had never heard of until Roxan told me about him and this concert. I listened to a few of his songs before seeing him live but for the most part his music was unfamiliar. It was a great concert! His lyrics are really relatable and they all seem to tell a story. Roxan and I were both moved by his performance and the opening act as well. Her name was Tift Merritt and she reminded me so much of my sister with her strong voice and powerful lyrics. Overall, it was a fantastic night.

The concert venue!

Glasgow by night

The following day I hung out on the main street near the "uni" while Roxan was in class. I scoured tons of thrift stores for winter ware I could bring back to Lyon but found nothing really worth trying to stuff into my already over-packed carry-on. I did, however, find a used Philippa Gregory novel about Mary, Queen of Scots so that was exciting! Oh how I love reading in English haha. I spent the rest of the afternoon window-shopping with Roxan, popping into cute boutiques and nifty thrift stores. We had afternoon tea and carved pumpkins and made pumpkin pie using the pumpkin filling from our carved pumpkins. Then, Roxan had a brilliant idea, that since it was the night before Halloween, we should go to the main cemetery in Glasgow to look at the view from the top of the hill.

Why of course I will = )

After piling on layers of clothing to bare the chilly Fall Glasgow air, we embarked on our adventure. We had to hop a brick and iron gate fence to get into the cemetery and once in we both quickly realized how scared we actually were. Apparently I was the one who held us together, although I kept imagining a hand ready to pop out of the earth and grab my foot. Finally we made it to the top though and just as I had been told, there was a lovely view of the city lights. We sat and talked for a while before finally heading back to Roxan's cozy apartment where we ate warm pumpkin pie, drank tea, and watched Sleepy Hallow. It was a really lovely evening.

The pumpkin carving process

Roxan hard at work

The finished product

The next morning I had to get to the airport to catch my afternoon flight to Ireland. My trip to Glasgow was brief but wonderful and I'm so glad I had the chance to reunite with Roxan, albeit if only for a short while. I hope to return to Scotland this year because I would really like to see Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands, preferably in the Spring time when it's a little warmer. And of course I would love to see Roxan again this year while we're still on the same continent! Until next time Scotland : )