Miriam's Semester in Edinburgh: I have a feeling we're not in Edinburgh anymore... and Edinburgh at its finest

On Thursday, I crossed three things off my semester bucket list! 1) If there's something better to do, don't go to class. 2) Have high tea. 3) See a concert in Glasgow!

Alex and I caught a morning bus out of Edinburgh to the lovely(?) city that is Glasgow. Glasgow is Scotland's second largest city, which isn't saying much. But if you spend an entire semester in the country, it's at least worth a visit. Glasgow is a lot more urban than Edinburgh- grittier and less touristy. But there are definitely exciting things happening. It's got tons of shopping, decent food, and a huge art and music scene. We stopped into two modern art museums, which were theoretically interesting. I did like some of the exhibits, like the 20-minute long video of a guy setting different stuff on fire, basically. But overall, I really just didn't get it! Lots of people in Glasgow are ultra-hip, or else they're just incomprehensible. (The Glaswegian accent is notoriously thick because it mixed with Irish when lots of people left Ireland and immigrated there.) But we had fun browsing different stores and pretending to delve into the depths of strange paintings and sculptures. We also found a museum with a free foosball table. Alex creamed me, like always. It seems like such an American game, but they have "football" here too, so maybe not.

Us in TK Maxx (it's not TJ here). Cruella Deville and a dalmatian. Real items for sale. No wonder they're on clearance.

Overlooking the River Clyde

Arggggh- a pirate ship playground in Glasgow Greens

High tea was lovely. I made a reservation at a famous tea room that I'd read about in the travel books called the Willow Tea Rooms. In addition to our tea, we got a 3-tiered rack with scones and clotted cream! And sandwiches with the crusts cut off! And then our choice of pastry! Chocolate cake and carrot cake! If you couldn't tell, we really enjoyed it.

That night, we saw a great band called Imagine Dragons perform. It was an amazing concert. Best concert I've ever been to, definitely.

On Friday, back in our Edinburgh, I went to the Magic Flute opera with Tom and the rest of the Pomona crew. My first opera wasn't exactly what I'd imagined from everything I've heard and seen about opera, but I really enjoyed it. The story is a bit goofy, but the costumes were stunning, and most of the voices were really great.

And to top off a string of adventures, we went to a rugby match today! A weekend of firsts. The entire city was transformed for the match-- swarms of people flooded the streets and paraded down to the stadium, both there and back. There were drummers and bagpipers lining the streets for miles, with vendors selling scarves and flags, and stalls with cheeseburgers and beers as we neared the stadium. It was seriously freezing the whole time and we couldn't feel our fingers or toes, even through layers of clothing. But I'm so glad we went. I more or less figured out the game with the help of a friendly Scotsman in front of us, and it was awesome to chant "SCOTLAND!" along with the huge crowd. The stadium was practically filled! Bagpipers covered the field before the game started and played the Scottish national anthem (which I heard for the first time today), and the whole place vibrated with people singing. It was surreal, as Alex put it. Although Scotland unsurprisingly lost, because apparently our team is not very good, we did get a few impressive points.