Wrote a letter to Eunice yesterday night asking her to give me the rent back, as I'm going to neet it all for the other . Haven't gotten any answer from her yet.
New Vocabs:
-perky
-spider veins
-friendly fire
-quill
Dienstag, 17. August 2010
Sonntag, 15. August 2010
August 16th
Yes, definitely ill. Caught a cold. Baught Beechams tablets in the pharmacy nearby. Will definitely move out if I get permission from my future flat mates.
Vocabs:
-cootie
-tick
-precursive
YES! Moving out! I've gotten kind of excited toward the end of waiting for the decision of my future flatmates.
I'm having Lauren, a couchsurfer from Australia over this evening. She wants to come despite my cold. Only days later I expect two Polish girls and a couple from Czeck Republic. Realised that I haven't got enough pillows or blankets... What am I going to do?
Vocabs:
-cootie
-tick
-precursive
YES! Moving out! I've gotten kind of excited toward the end of waiting for the decision of my future flatmates.
I'm having Lauren, a couchsurfer from Australia over this evening. She wants to come despite my cold. Only days later I expect two Polish girls and a couple from Czeck Republic. Realised that I haven't got enough pillows or blankets... What am I going to do?
August 14th and August 15th - Highland Games and - 'The other flat' or: Pros and Cons of moving out
Hi guys,
sorry I missed writing an article yesterday, was very tired so there was no use doing that.
New Vocabs of the day:
-swab
I've just been out to see the other apartment. Starting to cough and my nose is blocked up, feels like a little illness might be announcing itself. I hope not, but it'd be all the more reason to move out of this place, as I've asked Eunice yesterday to turn the heating on and she simply didn't do it (I'd like to think she simply forgot about it, because any other explanation would be worse...I think she had a man over last night, but she could have done that in a split second, immediately after I asked her to...I really don't get it) and I don't like the idea that she's the one in charge of that, because she's proven unreliable before. I also realised that my flatmates let the swab stand in the hallway in a bucket of water, the wooden handle has already soaked up all the water from the bucket and, well, there's chewing gum on one of the window frames, plus a tiny spider (which I generally don't mind, as it's taken care of my fly problem, but it's spun its net in a fairly dusty corner), plus all the cardboard boxes sand other things standing around in this place, plus mold in the bathroom which they've only removed after I asked them to, which suggests to me that my flatmates are not really 'experts' on the hygienic part. I had a much better feeling about Damisha and given what she's told me about the other, Nigerian, flatmate, they're both very clean people. That's good. The kitchen and bathroom looked very clean and tidy. So here's my Pro and Con List on that matter:
Pros:
-clean flat mates and apartment
-clean and well-equipped kitchen, clean oven
-very nice, educated and sociable flatmates with whom I can identify more and who speak a good English I might learn from
-double-glased windows
-warm water in the bathroom
-double bed
-warm bedroom on my own with door you can shut properly
-literally no more than 3 minutes away from City Centre by bus
-very good swimming pool and Glasgow Green within reach
-rent still cheaper than initial rent for Onslow Drive
-flat mates go jogging
-flat mates seem very reliable
-landline included in bills
-huge wardrobe
-I might have a desk
-no one has ever broken into the apartment
-might have a printer
-no drinkers, smokers ...Damisha is a Pakistani Muslim
-there is a deposit (meaning I wouldn't be tempted to take the money and use it otherwise, but it'll be set on the side) plus a signed paper
Cons:
-desk not included in the rent, I'd have to pay for it
-the surrounding area does not look very inviting
-the room is realy small compared to the one I have at the moment
-the hallway is very small
-there is no public living room (but we don't have any here either, just that I have the living room and I could accomodate more people here, like the couchsurfers that are coming soon)
-no room to accomodate other people
-smaller bathroom with 'only' a shower (but one that apparently works well, plus I won't use the bathtub here anyway, as there's only cold water and you feel a little squeezed in the shower, due to the bathtub...plus, I'm used to having only a shower. For this short amount of time it should suffice.
-distance to Glasgow Uni seems pretty much the same
-it's effort to move out
-I'd have to contact the BaföG-Amt and my University to tell them I've moved to a different place (there's still plenty of time to do that, however)
-I wouldn't have a guitar to practice anymore
sorry I missed writing an article yesterday, was very tired so there was no use doing that.
New Vocabs of the day:
-swab
I've just been out to see the other apartment. Starting to cough and my nose is blocked up, feels like a little illness might be announcing itself. I hope not, but it'd be all the more reason to move out of this place, as I've asked Eunice yesterday to turn the heating on and she simply didn't do it (I'd like to think she simply forgot about it, because any other explanation would be worse...I think she had a man over last night, but she could have done that in a split second, immediately after I asked her to...I really don't get it) and I don't like the idea that she's the one in charge of that, because she's proven unreliable before. I also realised that my flatmates let the swab stand in the hallway in a bucket of water, the wooden handle has already soaked up all the water from the bucket and, well, there's chewing gum on one of the window frames, plus a tiny spider (which I generally don't mind, as it's taken care of my fly problem, but it's spun its net in a fairly dusty corner), plus all the cardboard boxes sand other things standing around in this place, plus mold in the bathroom which they've only removed after I asked them to, which suggests to me that my flatmates are not really 'experts' on the hygienic part. I had a much better feeling about Damisha and given what she's told me about the other, Nigerian, flatmate, they're both very clean people. That's good. The kitchen and bathroom looked very clean and tidy. So here's my Pro and Con List on that matter:
Pros:
-clean flat mates and apartment
-clean and well-equipped kitchen, clean oven
-very nice, educated and sociable flatmates with whom I can identify more and who speak a good English I might learn from
-double-glased windows
-warm water in the bathroom
-double bed
-warm bedroom on my own with door you can shut properly
-literally no more than 3 minutes away from City Centre by bus
-very good swimming pool and Glasgow Green within reach
-rent still cheaper than initial rent for Onslow Drive
-flat mates go jogging
-flat mates seem very reliable
-landline included in bills
-huge wardrobe
-I might have a desk
-no one has ever broken into the apartment
-might have a printer
-no drinkers, smokers ...Damisha is a Pakistani Muslim
-there is a deposit (meaning I wouldn't be tempted to take the money and use it otherwise, but it'll be set on the side) plus a signed paper
Cons:
-desk not included in the rent, I'd have to pay for it
-the surrounding area does not look very inviting
-the room is realy small compared to the one I have at the moment
-the hallway is very small
-there is no public living room (but we don't have any here either, just that I have the living room and I could accomodate more people here, like the couchsurfers that are coming soon)
-no room to accomodate other people
-smaller bathroom with 'only' a shower (but one that apparently works well, plus I won't use the bathtub here anyway, as there's only cold water and you feel a little squeezed in the shower, due to the bathtub...plus, I'm used to having only a shower. For this short amount of time it should suffice.
-distance to Glasgow Uni seems pretty much the same
-it's effort to move out
-I'd have to contact the BaföG-Amt and my University to tell them I've moved to a different place (there's still plenty of time to do that, however)
-I wouldn't have a guitar to practice anymore
Samstag, 14. August 2010
Freitag, 13. August 2010
August 13th
Oh yeah, another Friday 13th. So far everything went fine.
-tan line
-whimsical
-scummy
-popsicle
-idiosyncracy (knew it before, but need to keep that one in mind, really)
-tan line
-whimsical
-scummy
-popsicle
-idiosyncracy (knew it before, but need to keep that one in mind, really)
Donnerstag, 12. August 2010
Spent almost the entire day skyping, mainly with Ziran, but also with my family and friends. Went jogging for half an hour and taking a walk for another half, then decided I should go back, create a homepage for my translator's career, pracitce my HTML.
Eunice spontaneously invited me to go to the gym with her. It was a fitness course that cost me about 4 pounds. It was one hour of 'torture', but even though I felt nauseous, I gave my best and I think if I'm doing it two or three more times, it's going to start feeling good and it might really be worth it. I felt it was realy necessary. The half hour of jogging plus another half hour of walking really wasn't enough for today. I'm now really tired.
Btw, I've figured something out I was never taught at my chemistry classes: water that smells and tastes like chlorine won't stop doing that, just because you boil it. I've boiled it, then let it cool down, put it in a bottle, put the bottle in the fridge, waited several hours..and it still smelt terrible. What works though: holding your nose closed, so you don't smell it. That reduced the 'taste' of chlorine by a considerable amount.
-buzz (Begeisterung)
-trout (Forelle)
-snapper (Schnapper)
-whiting (Wittling)
-kingfish (Königsmakrele)
-remnant
-boccachini
-sauce Romesco
-kumquat
-cloves of garlic
Eunice spontaneously invited me to go to the gym with her. It was a fitness course that cost me about 4 pounds. It was one hour of 'torture', but even though I felt nauseous, I gave my best and I think if I'm doing it two or three more times, it's going to start feeling good and it might really be worth it. I felt it was realy necessary. The half hour of jogging plus another half hour of walking really wasn't enough for today. I'm now really tired.
Btw, I've figured something out I was never taught at my chemistry classes: water that smells and tastes like chlorine won't stop doing that, just because you boil it. I've boiled it, then let it cool down, put it in a bottle, put the bottle in the fridge, waited several hours..and it still smelt terrible. What works though: holding your nose closed, so you don't smell it. That reduced the 'taste' of chlorine by a considerable amount.
-buzz (Begeisterung)
-trout (Forelle)
-snapper (Schnapper)
-whiting (Wittling)
-kingfish (Königsmakrele)
-remnant
-boccachini
-sauce Romesco
-kumquat
-cloves of garlic
Mittwoch, 11. August 2010
August 11th
Made an appointment to see the other flat on Sunday. I've seen so many people say 'thank you' to the bus driver for no apparent reason that I felt quite bewildered. Such things just hardly ever happen in Germany. I like this, makes me have a warm feeling about Glasgow being full of cool, easygoing and friendly people. So I've been trying to do the same, and it worked out fairly well for a coupla days, but at some point I simply I couldn't keep that up, which made me feel a little ashamed maybe, but most of all ... very German.
I LOVE TESCO for having customer toilets in a very easy-to-find place. And I've been watching an online stream with Australia's Next Chef (basically works like Germany's Next Topmodel) ExploreFood http://de.justin.tv/explore_food#/w/309557168/2. Right now they're making something that looks like boiled egg with toast, salt n pepper, but in reality it's ice cream, mango cream and sugar + something else. So cool.
The cucumbers are really unexpectedly high-priced in Scotland. Interestingly enough though, they do sell half a cucumber all packed up as well. I guess it's because there are less Turks here than in Germany, therefore there are other ethnic groups, but those don't usually include that much cucumber in their food. See what kind of philosophing is going on in my head when I haven't got that much to do. I even forgot which day it was today. Just went jogging for a short time till it startet raining and skyped half the day.
Finally bought a kettle that's working at Tesco and on the bus back home there were a bunch of Glaswegians that finally hat such a strong accent (and seemed to be understanding each other just fine, while I was sitting between them, thinking that maybe it was the noises of the bus that made me have a hard time understanding. Finally, I completely felt like a foreigner in a strange country. Before it'd just been English and I thought, nah, well, how hard can that be? I'll understand the people, I usually do understand English when talking to Americans or reading English or watching English films, listening to music...but Glaswegians...are a whole different thing. Reminded me of why I came here in the first place. The accent's so gorgeous, and so wonderfully complicated. I'm gonna need much more practice. Hopefully, that couchsurfer Chris is going to teach me. He seems to be a real funny n interesting guy, though he's got the hell of a boring job. By the way, he did explain to me why things here are so expensive.
Quote:
Eunice and I had a little chat just now. It seems like she'd be rather happy I stayed, simply didn't tell me to not put pressure on me. To be frank, I'd feel better staying myself, just going to see the other apartment, in case it's a real hidden treasure and just so my Mum feels relieved. But I think I'm safe to say I'm going to stay, and not the stubborn sort of staying that had initially been on my mind, but the: 'I feel totally good about this place and extremely happy about the low rent too, so why should I go?' sort of staying. :-P
New Vocabs:
-Cloche
-Rhubarb
I LOVE TESCO for having customer toilets in a very easy-to-find place. And I've been watching an online stream with Australia's Next Chef (basically works like Germany's Next Topmodel) ExploreFood http://de.justin.tv/explore_food#/w/309557168/2. Right now they're making something that looks like boiled egg with toast, salt n pepper, but in reality it's ice cream, mango cream and sugar + something else. So cool.
The cucumbers are really unexpectedly high-priced in Scotland. Interestingly enough though, they do sell half a cucumber all packed up as well. I guess it's because there are less Turks here than in Germany, therefore there are other ethnic groups, but those don't usually include that much cucumber in their food. See what kind of philosophing is going on in my head when I haven't got that much to do. I even forgot which day it was today. Just went jogging for a short time till it startet raining and skyped half the day.
Finally bought a kettle that's working at Tesco and on the bus back home there were a bunch of Glaswegians that finally hat such a strong accent (and seemed to be understanding each other just fine, while I was sitting between them, thinking that maybe it was the noises of the bus that made me have a hard time understanding. Finally, I completely felt like a foreigner in a strange country. Before it'd just been English and I thought, nah, well, how hard can that be? I'll understand the people, I usually do understand English when talking to Americans or reading English or watching English films, listening to music...but Glaswegians...are a whole different thing. Reminded me of why I came here in the first place. The accent's so gorgeous, and so wonderfully complicated. I'm gonna need much more practice. Hopefully, that couchsurfer Chris is going to teach me. He seems to be a real funny n interesting guy, though he's got the hell of a boring job. By the way, he did explain to me why things here are so expensive.
Quote:
Britain is expensive and did you know scotland is more expensive than england? it's becausue it's better!
Eunice and I had a little chat just now. It seems like she'd be rather happy I stayed, simply didn't tell me to not put pressure on me. To be frank, I'd feel better staying myself, just going to see the other apartment, in case it's a real hidden treasure and just so my Mum feels relieved. But I think I'm safe to say I'm going to stay, and not the stubborn sort of staying that had initially been on my mind, but the: 'I feel totally good about this place and extremely happy about the low rent too, so why should I go?' sort of staying. :-P
New Vocabs:
-Cloche
-Rhubarb
Dienstag, 10. August 2010
August 10th
Went jogging for half an hour in Alexandra Park today. It's really an exceptionally small park, but very hilly. Topped up my Virgin-Card (Virgin's the brand name of a phone company, fyi). Finally sent all my papers for my BAföG as registered mail AND express mail. Let's cross our fingers everything works out quickly. Finally managed to withdraw money from a counter with my visa card. It's so helpful that you find counters everywhere. Though it's a little annoying that they apparently charge fees - at least it says so on the counter's display (and I haven't figured out how much that is yet).
New Vocabs:
-indorse (bestätigen)
-turnip (not: tulip, Steckrübe)
-kettle (not: water boiler)
-squash (speisekürbis)
-crockery (Geschirr)
-cod roe (Kabeljaurogen)
-Taramosalata (tastes good)
-Down! (dog command)
-booboo (Aua/Wehwehchen)
-treat (Leckerli)
-chives (Schnittlauch)
-zest
New Vocabs:
-indorse (bestätigen)
-turnip (not: tulip, Steckrübe)
-kettle (not: water boiler)
-squash (speisekürbis)
-crockery (Geschirr)
-cod roe (Kabeljaurogen)
-Taramosalata (tastes good)
-Down! (dog command)
-booboo (Aua/Wehwehchen)
-treat (Leckerli)
-chives (Schnittlauch)
-zest
Montag, 9. August 2010
August 9th - My first visit to Glasgow Uni + Bus Ticket
The police sirens in Glasgow keep going. I hear them pretty much every day, at least once a day. Glasgow seems to be more dangerous than I thought. Luckily the police is rather quick to reply, as I have found out two days ago, when I sent them an e-mail, thinking there was a sprayer outside (and I might get a reward - i. e. a financial boost - for telling on him), and they came minutes later. Turned out it was only some china that had been sprayed and that it was a very legal activity going on outside (I'd only heard the rattling noises of a spray can and had difficulties breathing due to the strong aerosol rushing in through my window). I hadn't dared going outside showing my face in case it had indeed been a sprayer, because I wouldn't have wanted the sprayer to get mad at me and later seeking revenge for me telling on him... it was all very adventurous in my mind. Besides it was my first encounter with the police. Very exciting...and finally some more English I could speak, so it was worth it. They weren't mad at me for contacting them without there being an emergency either.
Looks like I've made the best deal possible. I've talked to Eunice again and managed to negotiate a lower rent. So now it's only 200 pounds and the heating works, I get to keep the wardrobe. The mattress is not too cozy, but sleeping on the couch will do as well, ... there's two couches, and very comfortable ones too. I told her she would've probably found no other tennant who'd be willing to sleep in the living room. So a lower price would only be fair. Especially since the odds of me finding another apartment at this time and for such a short term are ... well, really, I've replied to several adds on Gumtree after Eunice told me about moving out of the room. So far, there's been only one response, telling me that the lease would be for 12 months only. So it seems very unlikely that I'll find a better place to stay, ESPECIALLY because the rent is so low now, and both my flatmates seem okay with me staying, ... so there's nothing for me to complain about anymore, really. :-) I'm quite happy I get to keep so much of my money... That might come in handy, once I want to go out with friends here. :-)
UPDATE:
It'd been a real mess again finding the acutal Buchanan "Bus Station", but I made it! And I even got my Student FirstCard (i. e. bus ticket) for Zone 1 for an entire 10 weeks, though on the website it says you actually need a valid student ID to prove you study at one of the universities in Glasgow. And I tell you why that worked out so easily, because Glaswegians prove to be somewhat easy-going and tend not to complicate adminitrative matters. So the man on the counter was perfectly happy seeing a letter from Glasgow Uni confirming that I studied there. I didn't even want to see my passport. There wasn't even a date on the letter. It could've been from four years ago. Jessica, by the way, told me she hasn't been a student for 4 years but still shows her student ID around everywhere and gets discounts. ... xDDDD
And thanks to Rebecca, who's been a real help again (gotta make up for that somehow), I easily found Glasgow Uni today. And I've fallen in love with it right away. It's situated in such a beautiful area. Listened to Travis' 'Why does it always rain on me' on the way and the sun was shining, but it was drizzling a little, which contributed even more to the British atmosphere...it was great. And the architecture of the buildings, the academic atmosphere and the people there...really helpful and, again, easygoing. I had my paper for the German BAföG-Amt signed in no time and without any additional problems I was handed it back with a friendly smile. Whenever do you get that at MY university in Germany?? I LOVE THIS PLACE!
I've also received a reply from a woman named Damisha who told me her flat was still available and I could come check it out. So that's what I'm going to do, as soon as she tells me when and how to get there. It seems to be a bit closer to the City Centre. That's all I know so far. In case it's not much more expensive and the room is actually nice, I might in fact reconsider staying here... but we'll see. I actually don't feel like telling the BAföG-Amt that I've moved to another place. Not to think of all the other people I might need to inform. But that'll sure be no big problem, it's just that I'm usually a bit phlegmatic about administrative and organisational work. Guess it's nothing compared to some of my friends though. ^^ Right, Tom? :-P
Looks like I've made the best deal possible. I've talked to Eunice again and managed to negotiate a lower rent. So now it's only 200 pounds and the heating works, I get to keep the wardrobe. The mattress is not too cozy, but sleeping on the couch will do as well, ... there's two couches, and very comfortable ones too. I told her she would've probably found no other tennant who'd be willing to sleep in the living room. So a lower price would only be fair. Especially since the odds of me finding another apartment at this time and for such a short term are ... well, really, I've replied to several adds on Gumtree after Eunice told me about moving out of the room. So far, there's been only one response, telling me that the lease would be for 12 months only. So it seems very unlikely that I'll find a better place to stay, ESPECIALLY because the rent is so low now, and both my flatmates seem okay with me staying, ... so there's nothing for me to complain about anymore, really. :-) I'm quite happy I get to keep so much of my money... That might come in handy, once I want to go out with friends here. :-)
UPDATE:
It'd been a real mess again finding the acutal Buchanan "Bus Station", but I made it! And I even got my Student FirstCard (i. e. bus ticket) for Zone 1 for an entire 10 weeks, though on the website it says you actually need a valid student ID to prove you study at one of the universities in Glasgow. And I tell you why that worked out so easily, because Glaswegians prove to be somewhat easy-going and tend not to complicate adminitrative matters. So the man on the counter was perfectly happy seeing a letter from Glasgow Uni confirming that I studied there. I didn't even want to see my passport. There wasn't even a date on the letter. It could've been from four years ago. Jessica, by the way, told me she hasn't been a student for 4 years but still shows her student ID around everywhere and gets discounts. ... xDDDD
And thanks to Rebecca, who's been a real help again (gotta make up for that somehow), I easily found Glasgow Uni today. And I've fallen in love with it right away. It's situated in such a beautiful area. Listened to Travis' 'Why does it always rain on me' on the way and the sun was shining, but it was drizzling a little, which contributed even more to the British atmosphere...it was great. And the architecture of the buildings, the academic atmosphere and the people there...really helpful and, again, easygoing. I had my paper for the German BAföG-Amt signed in no time and without any additional problems I was handed it back with a friendly smile. Whenever do you get that at MY university in Germany?? I LOVE THIS PLACE!
I've also received a reply from a woman named Damisha who told me her flat was still available and I could come check it out. So that's what I'm going to do, as soon as she tells me when and how to get there. It seems to be a bit closer to the City Centre. That's all I know so far. In case it's not much more expensive and the room is actually nice, I might in fact reconsider staying here... but we'll see. I actually don't feel like telling the BAföG-Amt that I've moved to another place. Not to think of all the other people I might need to inform. But that'll sure be no big problem, it's just that I'm usually a bit phlegmatic about administrative and organisational work. Guess it's nothing compared to some of my friends though. ^^ Right, Tom? :-P
Sonntag, 8. August 2010
August 8th - Edinburgh Fringe Festival
How're ye all doin`?
I'm exceptionally fine today, though a wee bit tired and exhausted due to the trip today and due to me moving out of the other room. But I'm gonna tell ye one after the other.
So this morning, woke up at ... 6:30 ...then, as usual, turned the alarm clock on snooze and gave myself another one and a half hours to sleep, till it was about time to get ready. Luckily, I'd figured out yesterday, on my way home, where Queen Street was, approximately. Because I almost immediately fell asleep after the couchsurfer meeting and had no energy to look anything up on the internet.
But when I arrived at Buchanan Bus Station, which I figured should've been close to Queen Street station, at least with the bus I was taking, I found myself puzzled and not knowing how to get to Queen Street Station after all. I talked to several people, among them two police officers, who all gave me a very complex descriptions, one of which involved getting on the subway to get off right at the next station. Interestingly enough though, after that last explanation, I'd not even walked 10 metres and turned my head left, when I saw "Queen Street" in huge letters. Don't know why the locals explain things in such a complicated way.
So next thing: I bought a ticket at 9:35, because we were to meet at 9:45 and I didn't know when our train was going to leave exactly. Turned out we had enough time, but it hadn't been necessary for me to buy the ticket, because that one was £10.70 and there was a group ticket for 4 people which would've cost each of us less than £6. We were 6 people though, one of us already had a ticket too, and I quite liked the idea of having the freedom to leave the group at any time anyway. However, in the end it wasn't me who left the group early, but Sébastien (the guy on the right with the blue shirt), so I gave him my ticket. He said he'd pay me part of it back, as soon as we see each other again, which is rather likely, as I'll sure turn up on the couchsurfer meetings and he'll stay in Glasgow longer than I, plus we're Facebook friends now. He's really nice, actually. From Lausanne, Switzerland.
Our motley crew was made up of me, Sébastien, Jessica (Canada), Bert (Ohio, red McDonald's shirt), Lewis (yellow shirt in the middle, from Leeds and a professional Ballet dancer - never met someone like that before, really exciting and nice personality too) and Enrico (next to Lewis, from Italy, studies Design, but it's so hard to understand him, due to his Italian accent and his rather weak command of the English language).
The train on our way to Edinburgh was so crowded, it reminded me of our class trip to Rome, if any of you guys who reads this has been on it with me. It was really hot, we had to squeeze in tightly and couldn't sit down...I stood next to a gay couple, one of which looked like he'd been a member of the Village People, with an interesting growth of hair on his arms and shoulders - never knew they actually grew in a place like this. Pretty much all passengers got off the train at Edinburgh Waverly (last station). The ride seemed like hours. On our way back, however, I forgot all my manners and was the first to rush into the train without letting out the children and their mother first, as they were about to get off with their little bikes, but moved too slowly for my taste and all I wanted was to make absolutely sure we were to get seats on this train. However, the train back to Glasgow was nowhere near as packed as the one from Glasgow to Edinburgh. So we could sit, very comfortably indeed.
In Edinburgh there was the Fringe Festival. Very noisy, colourful and just great. Street performers, artists, acrobats all around...the photos and videos tell you a better story than I can.
Enrico with the (allegedly) most pierced woman alive. This was actually a really cute sight, because they behaved like a newly wedded couple. She told him that she liked him very much and he said the same to her and they were both flirting wildly. XDD
We had lunch in a restaurant that served mainly Scottish specialities. I've had my first real Haggis, and, tell you what, it actually tasted very good. I was surprised. It was served with mashed potatoes and mashed turnips. I also had my first ice cream sundae with Butter Scotch Sauce - which also tasted very delicious.
We went on a guided tour with a Welsh tourguide who had a very cool way of telling us the historic stories that evolved around the places we went to see.
This is our guide, reciting a poem on Haggis by Robert Burns. Very funny, given that I'd just had my first Haggis myself.
This is not the entire poem though. Check out the source.
The tour was great and completely different from the one I'd been on last year about the same time, though I liked the last one better, because the Canadian girl we had as a tour guide was simply funnier and more lively and because there were 2 for 1 burgers at the end of the tour - this time there was no special discount offer nor a proper break inbetween to catch one's breath after 1 and a half hours walk. So our feet were all aching at the end of the tour and we went to the closest pub to have a seat and a drink. We'd also gone to a free stand up comedy, but the small bar was so crowded that pretty much all of us left, one after the other, very soon. I'd gone to the Hula restaurant for dinner, where I'd eaten before. They've got really tasty stuff, it's just a little expensive, so I first went away without buying anything, but returned after several minutes, thinking I might not get back to Edinburgh too soon anyway, so I ordered a smoothie and a wrap - both great. And again the waitress asked me 'How are you?" ... and I really was just 'fine! Thanks!" :-)
Vocabs of the day:
-germinate
-Barley
-impart
-perfuse
-rad (http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/rad)
Too tired to go on or to properly sort the pictures now, I'll tell you everything tomorrow.
I'm exceptionally fine today, though a wee bit tired and exhausted due to the trip today and due to me moving out of the other room. But I'm gonna tell ye one after the other.
So this morning, woke up at ... 6:30 ...then, as usual, turned the alarm clock on snooze and gave myself another one and a half hours to sleep, till it was about time to get ready. Luckily, I'd figured out yesterday, on my way home, where Queen Street was, approximately. Because I almost immediately fell asleep after the couchsurfer meeting and had no energy to look anything up on the internet.
But when I arrived at Buchanan Bus Station, which I figured should've been close to Queen Street station, at least with the bus I was taking, I found myself puzzled and not knowing how to get to Queen Street Station after all. I talked to several people, among them two police officers, who all gave me a very complex descriptions, one of which involved getting on the subway to get off right at the next station. Interestingly enough though, after that last explanation, I'd not even walked 10 metres and turned my head left, when I saw "Queen Street" in huge letters. Don't know why the locals explain things in such a complicated way.
So next thing: I bought a ticket at 9:35, because we were to meet at 9:45 and I didn't know when our train was going to leave exactly. Turned out we had enough time, but it hadn't been necessary for me to buy the ticket, because that one was £10.70 and there was a group ticket for 4 people which would've cost each of us less than £6. We were 6 people though, one of us already had a ticket too, and I quite liked the idea of having the freedom to leave the group at any time anyway. However, in the end it wasn't me who left the group early, but Sébastien (the guy on the right with the blue shirt), so I gave him my ticket. He said he'd pay me part of it back, as soon as we see each other again, which is rather likely, as I'll sure turn up on the couchsurfer meetings and he'll stay in Glasgow longer than I, plus we're Facebook friends now. He's really nice, actually. From Lausanne, Switzerland.
Our motley crew was made up of me, Sébastien, Jessica (Canada), Bert (Ohio, red McDonald's shirt), Lewis (yellow shirt in the middle, from Leeds and a professional Ballet dancer - never met someone like that before, really exciting and nice personality too) and Enrico (next to Lewis, from Italy, studies Design, but it's so hard to understand him, due to his Italian accent and his rather weak command of the English language).
The train on our way to Edinburgh was so crowded, it reminded me of our class trip to Rome, if any of you guys who reads this has been on it with me. It was really hot, we had to squeeze in tightly and couldn't sit down...I stood next to a gay couple, one of which looked like he'd been a member of the Village People, with an interesting growth of hair on his arms and shoulders - never knew they actually grew in a place like this. Pretty much all passengers got off the train at Edinburgh Waverly (last station). The ride seemed like hours. On our way back, however, I forgot all my manners and was the first to rush into the train without letting out the children and their mother first, as they were about to get off with their little bikes, but moved too slowly for my taste and all I wanted was to make absolutely sure we were to get seats on this train. However, the train back to Glasgow was nowhere near as packed as the one from Glasgow to Edinburgh. So we could sit, very comfortably indeed.
In Edinburgh there was the Fringe Festival. Very noisy, colourful and just great. Street performers, artists, acrobats all around...the photos and videos tell you a better story than I can.
Enrico with the (allegedly) most pierced woman alive. This was actually a really cute sight, because they behaved like a newly wedded couple. She told him that she liked him very much and he said the same to her and they were both flirting wildly. XDD
We had lunch in a restaurant that served mainly Scottish specialities. I've had my first real Haggis, and, tell you what, it actually tasted very good. I was surprised. It was served with mashed potatoes and mashed turnips. I also had my first ice cream sundae with Butter Scotch Sauce - which also tasted very delicious.
We went on a guided tour with a Welsh tourguide who had a very cool way of telling us the historic stories that evolved around the places we went to see.
This is our guide, reciting a poem on Haggis by Robert Burns. Very funny, given that I'd just had my first Haggis myself.
The Address to the Haggis (1786)
Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thaim:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang’s my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
our pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o’ need,
While thro’ your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.
His knife see Rustic-labour dight,
An’ cut you up wi’ ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin’, rich!
This is not the entire poem though. Check out the source.
The tour was great and completely different from the one I'd been on last year about the same time, though I liked the last one better, because the Canadian girl we had as a tour guide was simply funnier and more lively and because there were 2 for 1 burgers at the end of the tour - this time there was no special discount offer nor a proper break inbetween to catch one's breath after 1 and a half hours walk. So our feet were all aching at the end of the tour and we went to the closest pub to have a seat and a drink. We'd also gone to a free stand up comedy, but the small bar was so crowded that pretty much all of us left, one after the other, very soon. I'd gone to the Hula restaurant for dinner, where I'd eaten before. They've got really tasty stuff, it's just a little expensive, so I first went away without buying anything, but returned after several minutes, thinking I might not get back to Edinburgh too soon anyway, so I ordered a smoothie and a wrap - both great. And again the waitress asked me 'How are you?" ... and I really was just 'fine! Thanks!" :-)
Vocabs of the day:
-germinate
-Barley
-impart
-perfuse
-rad (http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/rad)
Too tired to go on or to properly sort the pictures now, I'll tell you everything tomorrow.
Freitag, 6. August 2010
August 7th - Couchsurfer Meeting
Went to the Couchsurfer Meeting today. It wasn't a big problem finding it, fortunately. We met at a bar in the CCA - Centre of Contemporary Art - which I liked very much. In the evening they started screening colourful and artistic cartoons at the wall that fitted the music. I met really nice people. For example Paul and Jeneva, who met on a discussion board on the internet and fell in love, so Jeneva moved from Canada to Glasgow. Enrico, a guy from Italy (he's been all over the place, so I can't decide where from Italy he's actually from) found that very romantic. There were a bunch of other people, from Canada, France and Italy. No Germans, fortunately, I may say, I guess. :-P Wanted to stay away from them as far as possible, so I'd have to speak more English. It all reminded me of the English converation evening. Hardly any English Native speakers and especially, hardly any locals. Only Paul was a Glaswegian and sounded like it. No other Scots. :-( But a lot of people from Canada. I'm going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the Canadian Jessica and the American (Ro)Bert.
New Vocabulary:
-constipated
New Vocabulary:
-constipated
August 6th - The Big Shock - Moving out again?
Morning everyone,
Anabel studied Languages applied to Commerce and Translation in France. She showed me her GUITARSSSS, meaning she's got two, one electric and one acoustic. She also showed me how to use the washing machine.
New vocabs of the day:
-washing detergent, washing powder
-tchotchkes, bric-a-brac (Nippes)
-badger (hetzen)
-spunk
Twinings Breakfast Tea is also very good. Watching the IT Crowd as the washing machine goes. :-)
UPDATE:
I really hate to admit it, but again my Mum was right to urge me to sign a contract before paying money. On the other hand, I thought the tenancy letter from my University which Eunice had signed already, should suffice. Eunice just told me with a very remorseful face that she'd been feeling very uncomfortable since she's moved into the living room. As far as I can tell, she simply doesn't feel "at home", with all her stuff crammed there and it being a little colder than in this room and she's sleeping on an inflatable mattress. Besides, she still hasn't moved all her things out of my room. So she told me, she'd come to the conclusion that it's been a very bad idea of hers to ask me to move in here. She said she'd been desperate for the money, because she needed it for her studies, but now she was thinking maybe she should get a better job instead. So she declared that she'd rather I got myself a different apartment. She offered me help in finding one. This reminds me of the couchsurfer I'd asked before, who'd first agreed on sharing a flat with me but then had second thoughts. Only that Eunice told me while I'd already moved in. At least she realised it was very unfair to have me move out so early without any help in finding another place to stay, so she said she wouldn't badger me and I could stay another month.
Now I've been trying - successsfully, I think - to talk her into letting me stay, because the rent really is cheap and I don't expect to find another flat for that money within this short time and for the short time that I'm staying; the flatmates might be worse too. I told her that it'd be very unlikely we find a place as good as this for the same money, especially not now that university is about to get started, even if we both looked for one together. Besides it's time-consuming and a lot of effort. And she can't make me take an apartment that's worse than this one, now that she's agreed to have me here, can she?
I really refuse to move out. I have no problem moving out and going back after December 17th already - after the term's finished - I can book my flight very early, so they can rest assured I'll be out at that time - and I think that was a little comforting to her. I also told her that the living room's fine for me too, I don't really need much anyway, just a wardrobe and some boxes/chests...so I offered to sort things out, check if there's free stuff on Couchsurfing.org (they have a group for free stuff in Glasgow which I've only found yesterday) and see if I can get those things for free. I told her she needn't get all of her stuff out of this room, if she didn't need it urgently and we could just move her stuff back in, once I've found things to make myself comfortable in the living room. Maybe I can even talk her into letting me stay in this room till December if I can make her feel more comfortable in the living room, because I really like the room I'm in now as well and for the short time I'm here, I don't see why she shouldn't be able to bear some small concessions. I mean, I'm not the one who's caused all this trouble. I don't want to be complaining all the time and I don't want the atmosphere to be hostile for the next few months, so I'm trying to solve the problem as diplomatically as possible, while obtaining as many advantages as possible out of the situation.
I've also brought up the issue with the deposit again, because she still hasn't signed anything to assure me I'd get it back, once I'm out of here. So she now gave me the deposit back and told me I could hold on to it, till she's spoken to our other flatmate and asked her if she's fine with all this, because she hasn't done so in advance. I generally agree that this is only fair to Anabel, but first it didn't seem as if she'd mind, second I think Eunice should've done so long ago, third: Eunice is the only tenant for the flat that's signed the lease, so she's responsible for everything and has the power to decide that I can stay, even if Anabel didn't want me here. I'm sure Anabel won't threaten to move out, simply because I'll be staying here for 5 months. I think till December there really shouldn't be a problem.
This situation makes me wonder if I trust people too easily or if I hadn't taken enough precautions. I guess I really had taken some risks, but they didn't seem too high. I really don't want to walk through this life mistrusting everybody all the time. I think I don't trust people too easily anyway, and I really don't want to end up all grumpy, complaining all the time. If I'm not able to trust, I won't get much trust in return, right? I really wouldn't have wanted to agree moving in to other people's flats simultaneously, just to have some sort of "security back-up" and then having to turn the others down last minute. Besides, Eunice told me after I'd already moved in, so it wouldn've helped having a back-up, because I would've already turned them down by the time I was told I couldn't stay here. I don't know if it would've helped knowing more about Eunice beforehand. Really, I couldn't have told just by her nationality, by what she studies or her hobbies if she's generally trustworthy or not, because I don't want to live with prejudices and clichés either. And speaking to her in person I would've been convinced she's more trustworthy. She really is a nice person after all. Seems tidy and polite and everything. I couldn't have known. Not with any person.
I really don't want to be prejudiced, but I wonder if this is more of an African mentality sort of thing, not planning properly, doing things on short notice and not informing other people about it. I've experienced this with German people as well, so one cannot generalize it...but there may be tendencies, due to conditions in the society she came from. No idea. I know she didn't mean any harm, but this was certainly most inconsiderate. Eunice also told me there'd been some emails which had bounced back, so she wasn't so sure anymore if I'd really be coming, or else she would've moved out earlier and may have realised sooner that she was feeling uncomfortable in the living room - but then if she had done so, she may have told me on very short notice that I couldn't come stay with them and that would've been even more irresponsible, because I would've had to find another flat for this very short time. So I'm glad that I'd kinda surprised her after all.
UPDATE 2:
Went to Alexandra Park. When you go in it looks quite impressive, but the biggest part is just golf court. Sometimes reminded me of Final Fantasy X - the plains where you could ride Chocobos.
Anabel studied Languages applied to Commerce and Translation in France. She showed me her GUITARSSSS, meaning she's got two, one electric and one acoustic. She also showed me how to use the washing machine.
New vocabs of the day:
-washing detergent, washing powder
-tchotchkes, bric-a-brac (Nippes)
-badger (hetzen)
-spunk
Twinings Breakfast Tea is also very good. Watching the IT Crowd as the washing machine goes. :-)
UPDATE:
I really hate to admit it, but again my Mum was right to urge me to sign a contract before paying money. On the other hand, I thought the tenancy letter from my University which Eunice had signed already, should suffice. Eunice just told me with a very remorseful face that she'd been feeling very uncomfortable since she's moved into the living room. As far as I can tell, she simply doesn't feel "at home", with all her stuff crammed there and it being a little colder than in this room and she's sleeping on an inflatable mattress. Besides, she still hasn't moved all her things out of my room. So she told me, she'd come to the conclusion that it's been a very bad idea of hers to ask me to move in here. She said she'd been desperate for the money, because she needed it for her studies, but now she was thinking maybe she should get a better job instead. So she declared that she'd rather I got myself a different apartment. She offered me help in finding one. This reminds me of the couchsurfer I'd asked before, who'd first agreed on sharing a flat with me but then had second thoughts. Only that Eunice told me while I'd already moved in. At least she realised it was very unfair to have me move out so early without any help in finding another place to stay, so she said she wouldn't badger me and I could stay another month.
Now I've been trying - successsfully, I think - to talk her into letting me stay, because the rent really is cheap and I don't expect to find another flat for that money within this short time and for the short time that I'm staying; the flatmates might be worse too. I told her that it'd be very unlikely we find a place as good as this for the same money, especially not now that university is about to get started, even if we both looked for one together. Besides it's time-consuming and a lot of effort. And she can't make me take an apartment that's worse than this one, now that she's agreed to have me here, can she?
I really refuse to move out. I have no problem moving out and going back after December 17th already - after the term's finished - I can book my flight very early, so they can rest assured I'll be out at that time - and I think that was a little comforting to her. I also told her that the living room's fine for me too, I don't really need much anyway, just a wardrobe and some boxes/chests...so I offered to sort things out, check if there's free stuff on Couchsurfing.org (they have a group for free stuff in Glasgow which I've only found yesterday) and see if I can get those things for free. I told her she needn't get all of her stuff out of this room, if she didn't need it urgently and we could just move her stuff back in, once I've found things to make myself comfortable in the living room. Maybe I can even talk her into letting me stay in this room till December if I can make her feel more comfortable in the living room, because I really like the room I'm in now as well and for the short time I'm here, I don't see why she shouldn't be able to bear some small concessions. I mean, I'm not the one who's caused all this trouble. I don't want to be complaining all the time and I don't want the atmosphere to be hostile for the next few months, so I'm trying to solve the problem as diplomatically as possible, while obtaining as many advantages as possible out of the situation.
I've also brought up the issue with the deposit again, because she still hasn't signed anything to assure me I'd get it back, once I'm out of here. So she now gave me the deposit back and told me I could hold on to it, till she's spoken to our other flatmate and asked her if she's fine with all this, because she hasn't done so in advance. I generally agree that this is only fair to Anabel, but first it didn't seem as if she'd mind, second I think Eunice should've done so long ago, third: Eunice is the only tenant for the flat that's signed the lease, so she's responsible for everything and has the power to decide that I can stay, even if Anabel didn't want me here. I'm sure Anabel won't threaten to move out, simply because I'll be staying here for 5 months. I think till December there really shouldn't be a problem.
This situation makes me wonder if I trust people too easily or if I hadn't taken enough precautions. I guess I really had taken some risks, but they didn't seem too high. I really don't want to walk through this life mistrusting everybody all the time. I think I don't trust people too easily anyway, and I really don't want to end up all grumpy, complaining all the time. If I'm not able to trust, I won't get much trust in return, right? I really wouldn't have wanted to agree moving in to other people's flats simultaneously, just to have some sort of "security back-up" and then having to turn the others down last minute. Besides, Eunice told me after I'd already moved in, so it wouldn've helped having a back-up, because I would've already turned them down by the time I was told I couldn't stay here. I don't know if it would've helped knowing more about Eunice beforehand. Really, I couldn't have told just by her nationality, by what she studies or her hobbies if she's generally trustworthy or not, because I don't want to live with prejudices and clichés either. And speaking to her in person I would've been convinced she's more trustworthy. She really is a nice person after all. Seems tidy and polite and everything. I couldn't have known. Not with any person.
I really don't want to be prejudiced, but I wonder if this is more of an African mentality sort of thing, not planning properly, doing things on short notice and not informing other people about it. I've experienced this with German people as well, so one cannot generalize it...but there may be tendencies, due to conditions in the society she came from. No idea. I know she didn't mean any harm, but this was certainly most inconsiderate. Eunice also told me there'd been some emails which had bounced back, so she wasn't so sure anymore if I'd really be coming, or else she would've moved out earlier and may have realised sooner that she was feeling uncomfortable in the living room - but then if she had done so, she may have told me on very short notice that I couldn't come stay with them and that would've been even more irresponsible, because I would've had to find another flat for this very short time. So I'm glad that I'd kinda surprised her after all.
UPDATE 2:
Went to Alexandra Park. When you go in it looks quite impressive, but the biggest part is just golf court. Sometimes reminded me of Final Fantasy X - the plains where you could ride Chocobos.
Donnerstag, 5. August 2010
Title of this Blog
Ah yeah, should you guys be wondering what "Aye, nae bawlur hen" means. It's "yes, no problem". Got it from a couchsurfer who wrote all his messages in Glasgow patter. Here's a sample:
"Oi Amina
Aye nae bawlur hen.
If am still in Glesga len aye but am no sure wit am
daein yit coz am hinkin a gawn abrod agayn. Mibae...
Wit ur ye studaein? Inglish? A red yir profile in it
seems yir Inglish iz pritty good. Ye mite hiv truble
wae le accent lo. Wen a wiz in NZ a met lowdza Germans
in nun ay lim cood get lir heeds roon ma accent. Evin
le Kiwis coodnae understawn may.
Lers a Scotish comedae telly program calt 'Chewin' the
Fat'. Its faymis heer in sum ay it is quite funnae but
it kin be hit in miss. Also look it 'Still Game'. Ye
shood check it oot fur le accent. Mite be handi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk0sS4IFGXA&feature=PlayList&p=CA5816486A32CC68&index=23
'Neds' ur wit we call trublemakurs heer. Lay spoil
Glesga.
"
"Oi Amina
Aye nae bawlur hen.
If am still in Glesga len aye but am no sure wit am
daein yit coz am hinkin a gawn abrod agayn. Mibae...
Wit ur ye studaein? Inglish? A red yir profile in it
seems yir Inglish iz pritty good. Ye mite hiv truble
wae le accent lo. Wen a wiz in NZ a met lowdza Germans
in nun ay lim cood get lir heeds roon ma accent. Evin
le Kiwis coodnae understawn may.
Lers a Scotish comedae telly program calt 'Chewin' the
Fat'. Its faymis heer in sum ay it is quite funnae but
it kin be hit in miss. Also look it 'Still Game'. Ye
shood check it oot fur le accent. Mite be handi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk0sS4IFGXA&feature=PlayList&p=CA5816486A32CC68&index=23
'Neds' ur wit we call trublemakurs heer. Lay spoil
Glesga.
"
August 4th and 5th, 2010 - Arrival in Glasgow and my 1st day here
Hi everyone,
I've finally gotten around to creating a blog for my Glasgow adventure... because I am now in Glasgow AND I have internet access! Yesteraday started out alright. I had spent several hours packing my suitcase, till maybe 2 am, ...guess I started a little late by any means... went to sleep, got up again at 6:30, wrote an e-mail to my future flatmate so she'd know I'd arrive today. I'd told her the time of my departure and arrival several weeks ago, so I thought it should be alright. I also wrote messages to those couchsurfers who'd assured me months ago that I'd be welcome to crash at their place or to be shown around the city once I'd arrived in Scotland. Had no time to check out their answers, of course. All happened a little late. That's because I'd been busy seeing friends and moving out of my former apartment every day of the past two weeks.
So, this is what happened when I got to the airport: my flight was supposed to depart at 11:20, but it was delayed by one hour, for security reasons. There'd been one piece of luggage that hadn't been recognised by the system, so it seemed like there was without owner - could have been a bomb. Due to the delay I missed my connecting flight by a split second and my flight had to be rebooked. Thanks to the nice lady at the service desk at Heathrow, I got a £5 coupon for lunch and I could choose where to eat. There were three restaurants: Giraffe, Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food
and Wagamama.
Wagamama served Japanese food which sounded interesting and I thought I'd get the most out of my money there from looking at the menu, so I ordered the Tori Kara Age ,
(that's what it looked like - haven't taken a pic in the restaurant) which was great, and got three glasses of still water (which tasted like chlorine) for free (btw, the water here seems to have that taste anywhere, ...my tea this morning tasted a bit like that as well). The waiters were all nice, one greeted me with "Hi, how are you?"- unusual for German standards.
Here some pics of Heathrow Airport, London:
Harrods (below, super expensive fashion)
The next flight was delayed by another hour because of the weather conditions. So I arrived in Glasgow at 7 pm. I was supposed to arrive at 3 pm - and the shift due to the different time zone is already included here, so in Germany it was 8pm. Food on a British Airways flight: - Cookies (with fruit, nuts n chocolate), black tea, potatoe crisps.
I like flying...all those happy, fluffy, cotton candy clouds. Sometimes they look like beds of foam, sometimes like waterfalls...*dreamy*
London is HUGE compared to Glasgow, when you look at it from above. I could see the Thames and Big Ben + the Parliament n stuff. Really cool - I'm so easily impressed.
Glasgow, on the other hand, is really lovely. A little industrial, yes, but around there are beautiful mountains and so much green. And I love the way the sun shines on the landscape. You can even see mountains from the airport. The airport, btw, is very small, compared to Heathrow, very cozy and unpretentious, with carpet on the floor and some cool extras like a Ben'n'Jerry's Ice Cream vending machine.
I was exhausted and had a heavy suitcase (luckily it was 22 kilos only - maximum weight allowed for my luggage was 23 kg), so I ordered a taxi, though I actually didn't want to spend too much money on my first day. I paid £27 and didn't find my address right away, because I had put down 278 Onslow Drive though it was actually 287. And 278 apparently didn't exist. I wasn't able to reach my flatmate Eunice on the phone. It was constantly occupied.I'd almost panicked, being alone in a foreign city, not having anyone I could ask for help. So I called my family to check my mails for messages by couchsurfers and my flatmate. However, in the meantime my flatmate had texted me. I texted back and in the end we managed to find each other. It turned out she actually hadn't expected me to be coming anymore. Probably, because we'd only been in contact online and I'd been writing from Germany (you never know with foreigners, right? ^^). Anyhow, she told me she had checked her mailbox around 3 pm, before going out, and that she hadn't received my mail from this morning. She was probably also unsure whether the information on my flight that I gave her last time was still up to date.
The flat is really big, light and pretty actually. There's strange beep noises coming from the living room from time to time, but one can get used to that and I'm gonna find out what it is. This is my room (sorry I took the video in a weird perspective, I didn't know the camera captured it like that - next time I'll tidy up my room and make a better one when I'm done):
Strangely enough, I even got the biggest room (apart from the living room). Got my keys for the apartment now, paid the rent and deposit and getting a written agreement as a security to get my deposit back when I leave. Eunice is very nice. She's from Kenya, very sporty and studies accounting. She's going to show me around the place today. I also have another flatmate, her name is Anabel or Anna Belle, dunno how its spelt, but she's half Argentinian, half Italian, plays the guitar in a punk band (cool, this means I can borrow the guitar and pracitce^^) , has a lot of tatoos and piercings. Really interesting. She's lived in France for some time too. Moved to Glasgow for a man and stayed because she loves Glasgow. Now she's working in a call centre. She's studied something as well, just can't remember what right now - I'll have to ask again. I think we're gonna get along well.
Hope this stay is going to be fun. But I'm sure it's going to be at least interesting. Had a good night's sleep, got up early this morning and it was freakin' cold, but when I got out it was much warmer and I realised quickly that I'd put on too many clothes. Thank goodness I have a heating, window blinds and I can open the window just in case.
I'm watching "Jennifer's Body" while I'm writing this. The film is so crappy that it's almost funny. Best quote so far: "Rumor? It's true! It's on the Wikipedia." Best song on the soundtrack: Florence and the Machine "Kiss with a fist"
UPDATE:
So, I've now come back from a short trip to a bigger supermarket called Tesco.
That's Eunice in the front.
The first supermarket I'd seen when we got off the bus, though, was LIDL - of all supermarkets there could have been :-).
So, as I said, Eunice was going to show me around and she decided to take me to the supermarket first, so I could buy anything I needed. And for that purpose a bigger supermarket seemed the better idea. There is a smaller one called co-operative food to which I can easily walk from my apartment, but Tesco is where Eunice works and she knew where everything was, so that was really helpful and she helped me carrying. Since we went by bus, She even paid the additional 75 pence for my bus ticket, because you need to pay the EXACT amount of money for each ticket and I only had 1 pound coins. I still need to get used to buses driving on the left side of the street, by the way.
Ah, fyi, you need to hold out that ticket when you want to get on the bus and show it to the driver all the time before entering.
So here's what I need to remember so far: I can take pretty much any bus that goes from the bus stop near my apartment (Alexandra Parade close to co-operative food) to Castle Street. From there I need to cross a street to get to another bus stop where I can take the 56 or 12. I can get off the bus almost immediately after one station to get to the super market, but it drives over a longer distance and crosses some streets that are not particularly pedestrian-friendly, so it's generally worth taking the bus.
There's a nice cemetery right next to the supermarkets, by the way. I love cemeteries, always been very agreeable places to me. Ziran, my boyfriend, will probably agree. Miss him.
I've bought a whole lot of food (mainly fruit, veggies, cereals, milk, noodles and rice) for £18 something, I think. That's really okay for the amount of food, because it should help me survive at least one week, if I use it right. Luckily I'd exchanged enough money. £480 (that's the rent plus deposit) in Germany and another £60 pounds at Heathrow.
Oh yeah, and there is a pharmacy right next to our place, and a swimming pool and fitness centre and a park where I can go jogging in the morning. That's really cool, more than I could've hoped for. But it's 30 minutes away from university, by bus! So I hope I won't have to get up too early. So that's that. I was hoping I could go to Glasgow Uni today using my all-day-ticket (£3,75) and get my student ID right away, but that may not be possible. I wrote an e-mail to Ms Antoli from the ERASMUS office, asking her to call me or reply to my mail, in case I can come and she's available, but she hasn't called yet. Hopefully she replies to my mail soon. Guess, I will just drive to the city centre and check out some more of Glasgow and then tidy up and organise my room when I'm back. I already have an appointment for Saturday. It's a couchsurfing meeting. Two of the couchsurfers I've mailed to have already replied and one asked me to come to the meeting on Saturday. Eunice offered to show me the street where the CCA (the restaurant we're meeting at) is. So I'm hoping to get to see at least a bit of the fringe festival and the Highland games this month, but it's so much to organise and I hope I'll have enough money left to do that.
I know it's not very reader-friendly to write this much, it's probably too much information for you guys anyway, but it helps me remember things when I need them. So I'm writing this blog for myself as well. Besides, I probably won't have that much time to write such long blog entries all the time and take pictures of everything, so I do it right now and we'll see how things develop over time.
I need to remember to ask which doorbell to ring to get in - our apartment is the ground floor, so this shouldn't be too difficult.
Cheers!
2nd UPDATE:
I thought I'd better use the bus ticket once more. Eunice had gone out earlier and still hasn't returned, so there was no use waiting for her to show me the city centre today. So I went back to the supermarket. Yay! Managed to do it all by myself. And though I was in a hurry, because I was worried it'd have closed once I'd arrived, it turned out Tesco is open 24/7... you'd never have this in Germersheim... I love this place! Especially, becaue there's such a great selection of things I've never tried before. I will try as many new things as I can over time. By the way, at Tesco you needn't pay a deposit to take a shopping trolley. They simply stand around and you can suit yourself to one.
Anyway, so I went there, because I'd figured we didn't have any can opener and I'd bought 3 cans. So I bought one (and some other stuff, which added up to £10.64). I now hardly have any cash left to buy another bus ticket, which means I will have to figure out how to find a bank or where to get cash from in the near surroundings. Or I'll have to borrow some money to get into the city centre and exchange money. So far there's been lots of good things about living in a shared flat. I couldn't even have thought about borrowing even small amounts of money just like that if I'd lived alone. And I can use all their dishes and other important stuff that I wasn't able to bring along with me and that would've been useless and expensive to buy, like cooking pots.
Bought the selection of Twinings Tea: very good advice, Rebecca, thanks! I liked the Lady Grey. Cooked Chicken Masala and added fresh Zucchini, Onions, CHICKPEAS (ooh, new word, that's good!) and rice.
Very delicious and inexpensive, because the Chicken Masala was reduced to £1.35 and I wouldn't have gotten a better one in any Indian Restaurant I know in Germany.
There've been so many people speaking Glaswegian in the streets and the supermarket that I've finally realised where I am and I feel really good about it and keep smiling. Seen a mum play peek-a-boo with her baby and even saying "Peek-a-boo!", sooo cool, English children's games. In my kitchen there's a small book by Roald Dahl. I'm in the UK! Finally!!!
Ah and I found out that, in the busses,there are stop-buttons for normal and for disabled people, the latters are placed lower on the bars to which you can hold on to, and when pushing the ones for disabled people, it makes a different sound than for those with normal stop buttons. Unfortunately, I found out by accidentally pushing it myself. Luckily the bus driver seemed to have known there was no disabled person on the bus, so he ignored it and didn't lower the ramp for wheel chairs.
Going to finish watching Shaun of the Dead now (Finally, I hope, after 3 failed tries!)
Nighty night!
I've finally gotten around to creating a blog for my Glasgow adventure... because I am now in Glasgow AND I have internet access! Yesteraday started out alright. I had spent several hours packing my suitcase, till maybe 2 am, ...guess I started a little late by any means... went to sleep, got up again at 6:30, wrote an e-mail to my future flatmate so she'd know I'd arrive today. I'd told her the time of my departure and arrival several weeks ago, so I thought it should be alright. I also wrote messages to those couchsurfers who'd assured me months ago that I'd be welcome to crash at their place or to be shown around the city once I'd arrived in Scotland. Had no time to check out their answers, of course. All happened a little late. That's because I'd been busy seeing friends and moving out of my former apartment every day of the past two weeks.
So, this is what happened when I got to the airport: my flight was supposed to depart at 11:20, but it was delayed by one hour, for security reasons. There'd been one piece of luggage that hadn't been recognised by the system, so it seemed like there was without owner - could have been a bomb. Due to the delay I missed my connecting flight by a split second and my flight had to be rebooked. Thanks to the nice lady at the service desk at Heathrow, I got a £5 coupon for lunch and I could choose where to eat. There were three restaurants: Giraffe, Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food
and Wagamama.
Wagamama served Japanese food which sounded interesting and I thought I'd get the most out of my money there from looking at the menu, so I ordered the Tori Kara Age ,
(that's what it looked like - haven't taken a pic in the restaurant) which was great, and got three glasses of still water (which tasted like chlorine) for free (btw, the water here seems to have that taste anywhere, ...my tea this morning tasted a bit like that as well). The waiters were all nice, one greeted me with "Hi, how are you?"- unusual for German standards.Here some pics of Heathrow Airport, London:
Harrods (below, super expensive fashion)
The next flight was delayed by another hour because of the weather conditions. So I arrived in Glasgow at 7 pm. I was supposed to arrive at 3 pm - and the shift due to the different time zone is already included here, so in Germany it was 8pm. Food on a British Airways flight: - Cookies (with fruit, nuts n chocolate), black tea, potatoe crisps.
I like flying...all those happy, fluffy, cotton candy clouds. Sometimes they look like beds of foam, sometimes like waterfalls...*dreamy*
London is HUGE compared to Glasgow, when you look at it from above. I could see the Thames and Big Ben + the Parliament n stuff. Really cool - I'm so easily impressed.
Glasgow, on the other hand, is really lovely. A little industrial, yes, but around there are beautiful mountains and so much green. And I love the way the sun shines on the landscape. You can even see mountains from the airport. The airport, btw, is very small, compared to Heathrow, very cozy and unpretentious, with carpet on the floor and some cool extras like a Ben'n'Jerry's Ice Cream vending machine.
I was exhausted and had a heavy suitcase (luckily it was 22 kilos only - maximum weight allowed for my luggage was 23 kg), so I ordered a taxi, though I actually didn't want to spend too much money on my first day. I paid £27 and didn't find my address right away, because I had put down 278 Onslow Drive though it was actually 287. And 278 apparently didn't exist. I wasn't able to reach my flatmate Eunice on the phone. It was constantly occupied.I'd almost panicked, being alone in a foreign city, not having anyone I could ask for help. So I called my family to check my mails for messages by couchsurfers and my flatmate. However, in the meantime my flatmate had texted me. I texted back and in the end we managed to find each other. It turned out she actually hadn't expected me to be coming anymore. Probably, because we'd only been in contact online and I'd been writing from Germany (you never know with foreigners, right? ^^). Anyhow, she told me she had checked her mailbox around 3 pm, before going out, and that she hadn't received my mail from this morning. She was probably also unsure whether the information on my flight that I gave her last time was still up to date.
The flat is really big, light and pretty actually. There's strange beep noises coming from the living room from time to time, but one can get used to that and I'm gonna find out what it is. This is my room (sorry I took the video in a weird perspective, I didn't know the camera captured it like that - next time I'll tidy up my room and make a better one when I'm done):
Strangely enough, I even got the biggest room (apart from the living room). Got my keys for the apartment now, paid the rent and deposit and getting a written agreement as a security to get my deposit back when I leave. Eunice is very nice. She's from Kenya, very sporty and studies accounting. She's going to show me around the place today. I also have another flatmate, her name is Anabel or Anna Belle, dunno how its spelt, but she's half Argentinian, half Italian, plays the guitar in a punk band (cool, this means I can borrow the guitar and pracitce^^) , has a lot of tatoos and piercings. Really interesting. She's lived in France for some time too. Moved to Glasgow for a man and stayed because she loves Glasgow. Now she's working in a call centre. She's studied something as well, just can't remember what right now - I'll have to ask again. I think we're gonna get along well.
Hope this stay is going to be fun. But I'm sure it's going to be at least interesting. Had a good night's sleep, got up early this morning and it was freakin' cold, but when I got out it was much warmer and I realised quickly that I'd put on too many clothes. Thank goodness I have a heating, window blinds and I can open the window just in case.
I'm watching "Jennifer's Body" while I'm writing this. The film is so crappy that it's almost funny. Best quote so far: "Rumor? It's true! It's on the Wikipedia." Best song on the soundtrack: Florence and the Machine "Kiss with a fist"
UPDATE:
So, I've now come back from a short trip to a bigger supermarket called Tesco.
That's Eunice in the front.
The first supermarket I'd seen when we got off the bus, though, was LIDL - of all supermarkets there could have been :-).
So, as I said, Eunice was going to show me around and she decided to take me to the supermarket first, so I could buy anything I needed. And for that purpose a bigger supermarket seemed the better idea. There is a smaller one called co-operative food to which I can easily walk from my apartment, but Tesco is where Eunice works and she knew where everything was, so that was really helpful and she helped me carrying. Since we went by bus, She even paid the additional 75 pence for my bus ticket, because you need to pay the EXACT amount of money for each ticket and I only had 1 pound coins. I still need to get used to buses driving on the left side of the street, by the way.
Ah, fyi, you need to hold out that ticket when you want to get on the bus and show it to the driver all the time before entering.
So here's what I need to remember so far: I can take pretty much any bus that goes from the bus stop near my apartment (Alexandra Parade close to co-operative food) to Castle Street. From there I need to cross a street to get to another bus stop where I can take the 56 or 12. I can get off the bus almost immediately after one station to get to the super market, but it drives over a longer distance and crosses some streets that are not particularly pedestrian-friendly, so it's generally worth taking the bus.
There's a nice cemetery right next to the supermarkets, by the way. I love cemeteries, always been very agreeable places to me. Ziran, my boyfriend, will probably agree. Miss him.
I've bought a whole lot of food (mainly fruit, veggies, cereals, milk, noodles and rice) for £18 something, I think. That's really okay for the amount of food, because it should help me survive at least one week, if I use it right. Luckily I'd exchanged enough money. £480 (that's the rent plus deposit) in Germany and another £60 pounds at Heathrow.
Oh yeah, and there is a pharmacy right next to our place, and a swimming pool and fitness centre and a park where I can go jogging in the morning. That's really cool, more than I could've hoped for. But it's 30 minutes away from university, by bus! So I hope I won't have to get up too early. So that's that. I was hoping I could go to Glasgow Uni today using my all-day-ticket (£3,75) and get my student ID right away, but that may not be possible. I wrote an e-mail to Ms Antoli from the ERASMUS office, asking her to call me or reply to my mail, in case I can come and she's available, but she hasn't called yet. Hopefully she replies to my mail soon. Guess, I will just drive to the city centre and check out some more of Glasgow and then tidy up and organise my room when I'm back. I already have an appointment for Saturday. It's a couchsurfing meeting. Two of the couchsurfers I've mailed to have already replied and one asked me to come to the meeting on Saturday. Eunice offered to show me the street where the CCA (the restaurant we're meeting at) is. So I'm hoping to get to see at least a bit of the fringe festival and the Highland games this month, but it's so much to organise and I hope I'll have enough money left to do that.
New Vocabs of the day:
-duvet cover
-cleavage
-bedclothes
-coat hook
-furnishing (not furniture)
-can opener
-magpie (Elster, Plappermaul)
-sanitation facilities
-shopping trolley (not cart, AE)
-emit (actually knew the word, but had been looking for it all day)
I know it's not very reader-friendly to write this much, it's probably too much information for you guys anyway, but it helps me remember things when I need them. So I'm writing this blog for myself as well. Besides, I probably won't have that much time to write such long blog entries all the time and take pictures of everything, so I do it right now and we'll see how things develop over time.
I need to remember to ask which doorbell to ring to get in - our apartment is the ground floor, so this shouldn't be too difficult.
Cheers!
2nd UPDATE:
I thought I'd better use the bus ticket once more. Eunice had gone out earlier and still hasn't returned, so there was no use waiting for her to show me the city centre today. So I went back to the supermarket. Yay! Managed to do it all by myself. And though I was in a hurry, because I was worried it'd have closed once I'd arrived, it turned out Tesco is open 24/7... you'd never have this in Germersheim... I love this place! Especially, becaue there's such a great selection of things I've never tried before. I will try as many new things as I can over time. By the way, at Tesco you needn't pay a deposit to take a shopping trolley. They simply stand around and you can suit yourself to one.
Anyway, so I went there, because I'd figured we didn't have any can opener and I'd bought 3 cans. So I bought one (and some other stuff, which added up to £10.64). I now hardly have any cash left to buy another bus ticket, which means I will have to figure out how to find a bank or where to get cash from in the near surroundings. Or I'll have to borrow some money to get into the city centre and exchange money. So far there's been lots of good things about living in a shared flat. I couldn't even have thought about borrowing even small amounts of money just like that if I'd lived alone. And I can use all their dishes and other important stuff that I wasn't able to bring along with me and that would've been useless and expensive to buy, like cooking pots.
Bought the selection of Twinings Tea: very good advice, Rebecca, thanks! I liked the Lady Grey. Cooked Chicken Masala and added fresh Zucchini, Onions, CHICKPEAS (ooh, new word, that's good!) and rice.
Very delicious and inexpensive, because the Chicken Masala was reduced to £1.35 and I wouldn't have gotten a better one in any Indian Restaurant I know in Germany.
There've been so many people speaking Glaswegian in the streets and the supermarket that I've finally realised where I am and I feel really good about it and keep smiling. Seen a mum play peek-a-boo with her baby and even saying "Peek-a-boo!", sooo cool, English children's games. In my kitchen there's a small book by Roald Dahl. I'm in the UK! Finally!!!
Ah and I found out that, in the busses,there are stop-buttons for normal and for disabled people, the latters are placed lower on the bars to which you can hold on to, and when pushing the ones for disabled people, it makes a different sound than for those with normal stop buttons. Unfortunately, I found out by accidentally pushing it myself. Luckily the bus driver seemed to have known there was no disabled person on the bus, so he ignored it and didn't lower the ramp for wheel chairs.
Going to finish watching Shaun of the Dead now (Finally, I hope, after 3 failed tries!)
Nighty night!
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