Oh right... I did come here to study

It's easy to forget that I actually came here to take classes. But here, on my second week, I actually realized that I had work to do! Weird.


Classes in Scotland work differently than back home at McDaniel College. The first big difference is size- McDaniel is tiny. The University of Glasgow on the other hand, has some 20,000 students to McDaniels -2,000. This means lectures are big, which is bizarre for me. For example, my Archaeology class has some 100 or so people in it (I can't really be sure, I'm awful at judging crowd sizes..), as does my French Language 2 class.


The schedule for classes is also different, back home we just have the set class times and there you go! Here, it's a bit trickier. You have set lecture times, where you sit with hundreds of others an take notes (luckily my professors for these are quite interesting!), and then you also have 'tutorials' or seminars. These are composed of smaller groups- maybe 15 students in each- plus a tutor, which may be your professor, or other, higher-up students. These times are scheduled separately and you pick one based on your schedule.


For picking these these times, we use this magical thing called Moodle. It's basically the equivalent of McDaniel's Blackboard, only... the guy who invented the name must have been a little tipsy at the time...


So now I have lectures, seminars AND, for French, a fortnightly Oral class to practice speaking.


[yes, over here, the word "Fortnight" is still used, meaning two weeks for all you who didn't have to take English Literature. I don't know about you, but to me, 'fortnight' is old school. As in Shakespeare old school]


So despite having this whole schedule set up, it didn't really hit me until this second week that yes, work is necessary! It's so easy to slip into the mind set of just having fun, hanging out with friends and going out ALL the time. Then I remember, it's called "Study" Abroad. Ah. The study part is in there, isn't it? So there are articles to read and worksheets to complete, grammar structures to review and essays topics to think about.


But despite all this... we have plenty of time still for fun! So this semester will be an interesting mix of knowing when to go out and when you actually do need to stay in and study.

Sometimes you can do both though- like going out for breakfast crêpes! This one is Nutella & banana (my favorite) and hot chocolate from this place call "Crêpe à Croissant" 

My roommate on the left and friend from Australia on the right- it was a delicious way to start the week!

This is Ashton Lane, right next to our Uni, it's basically a street of fun pubs! The lights overhead are my favorite part though. 

This is at the end of University Avenue where you find the main campus, the sign says  "Glasgow: Scotland with Style"

As a study abroad student, I want to always be meeting people and cementing friendships, because I know that is what I will truly carry home with me- the relationship and memories- not studying for courses. However, me being the perfectionist and Honors program nerd that I am, you can count on me still being in the library or in my flat working away!


Guess I'll find that balance between work and play eventually, in the mean time- I'm going out to a free concert. Cheers! :)