Weather SWAP!! & Movies

There has been a miracle in Glasgow. No doubt about it. What is said miracle....?

SUNSHINE FOR 6 DAYS! 

That's right, there has actually, consistently, been sun, brilliant blue skies and (relative) warmth for the past six days in Glasgow, Scotland. I'm starting to wonder if this is setting some kind of record. Apparently, hearing from my Aunt in Southern California, the weather was sleet, rain and hail- thus, a weather swap!! We took their weather and they too ours, and clearly, I'm getting the good end of the deal!

On a completely different note, last night was the Oscars! And for the first time in quite a while, I did not, and also could not, watch them- a bizarre experience. In the States, I'd typically go over to a friends house, have food, comment on dresses and then stay up way too late because they save all the good awards for last. Here, hardly anybody mentioned them, save my Lithuanian flat mate (apparently The King's Speech swept).

But thinking about the Oscars made me remember my first (and only so far) movie-going experience here in Glasgow, because it was loads different than back home. Two other friends and I decided to go see Black Swan several weeks ago, and there happens to be a cinema really close to campus on that little road called Ashton Lane. That would be the first difference, no movie theaters here- they are cinemas!

Ashton Lane!

Second, even working out movie times was different- the cinema is not only a theater, but owns the café and pub next door as well. So, you can get special deals for a getting a meal and then heading next door for a movie! Because the cinema is so small, there are only two screens, meaning that while the theater might be showing five or seven movies, each one only has two show times. We ended up going to the 6:30pm showing, and buying out tickets was ridiculously cheap. Monday, Tuesday and Fridays students get a discount, and on Wednesdays you can get two for one tickets if you have an Orange phone (which I do)! In general, you pay between £3 and £3 50p for a ticket, around $6. How amazing is that?? Especially considering movie prices are nearly $12 back home. I'm really liking this bit, well done Glasgow.

Right up front where the sell the tickets, you also can popcorn, and drinks. The drinks are what also struck me as strange, because they not only serve soft or 'fizzy' drinks, but alcohol as well! So you can get a glass of wine to sip during the film- bizarre. I don't think you can find that anywhere in the US! When you buy a ticket, you also pick your seat! Unfortunately, the three of us couldn't sit together, so where were all spread out in the theater- lesson learned, get there early!

We made our way back to Screen 2, and at the door were met by an usher, who took our tickets and showed us to our seats. And these were not your typical movie-theater seats. They were like armchairs! Leather, short and squat and comfy, these chair blew my mind a little bit. Between every two chairs were little tables for your drinks and snacks. I felt incredibly posh- and loved my £3 ticket.

Overall, the projection quality wasn't quite as good as back home, but then again I haven't tried Cineworld yet! Cineworld is a huge cinema in the city center, supposably one of the tallest cinemas in the world.

So. Black Swan was really intense. That's the only word to describe it, and we didn't know what to do with ourselves afterwards! Amazing acting on the part of Natalie Portman, and she was accordingly award the Best Actress Oscar last night!

Thats all for now! Just a taste of a small Glasgow cinema trip

Days go by...and Spring is in the air!

Whew what a week. It amazing how quickly things can pile up on you. This week, for all intents and purposes, was a Mara-needs-to-get-things-done week. Specifically French work and an Archaeology paper due this Monday. It's so easy when you are studying abroad to get into the flow of always traveling, and always going out, because it's a different world from back home. And because it is so different, it's easier to just pretend that school work belongs back home on that campus, and not here..


So, when you are sudden confronted with work, it seems to be such a challenge to actually sit down an do it, having to say no to invitations, and go sit at your desk or in the library for hours. For me, this week was kind of a step back into my life back at McDaniel in the sense that I was actually doing work all the time. Which also made me realize that I have a lot more freedom here to choose how to spend my time. Nobody made me spend hours studying, but it made sense for my course, and my eventual exam grade!!


On the plus side, I did discover the AMAZING 3rd floor of the library! Not only does it have a café, but it is a 'social learning' zone, meaning conversation is permitted. Along those lines, there are some really cool study areas set up for group work. There are red booths, just like at a restaurant, which fit about 8 people in them, less if you spread you things out. These have quickly become my favorite area to work! So much table space for books and laptops, and they are really comfy too! Each booth is equipped not only with outlets and internet connections, but also a TV screen you can connect to your laptop. Pretty nifty eh? This also means that I can meet friends there and watch Italian football matches with them! Other areas are these huge round enclosures, with green seating all around the cylindrical walls and a round table in the center. They could easily fit about 10 or 15 people. Dispersed on the outside of these walls are computer stations and these are other wavy desks of PCs on the floor. Basically, a really cool place!


One thing I miss about McDaniel though, is the big iMacs! Probably because I'm a Mac person... but having the large screens is also hugely beneficial for me, whether I'm doing Graphic Design projects, or doing research and have numerous windows up on screen.


While I have been studying all week, and making travel plans for spring break, the days seemed far too short to contain everything I needed and wanted to do. The amazing thing about these days though, and specifically the past three days is that there are flowers coming up!! All around campus, purple, white, yellow and striped crocuses are pushing through the soil and blooming. Daffodils are slowly extending their light green stalks to the sky and revealing tender buds.

Kelvingrove Park near my Uni

Still in the park- see U of Glasgow in the background on the right? The building in the distance on the left is the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

There has even been sun! Incredibly, for the past three days, the weather has been stunning. Sunshine all day and temperatures in the 50s (Fahrenheit)! It was wonderful- it made just walking around a pleasure. Having to go into the city for my Photography class, I went a bit early and just meandered about. Everything seems more vibrant with the sun- and it tempts you to look UP for once. This might not seem like a big deal, but when you start looking up in the city, you suddenly notice all this amazing architecture you didn't see before! Try it sometime.


I did also have the wonderful experience of baking fresh blueberry muffins with my friend Shannon yesterday. Sounds pretty mundane right? Oh no!!
These were heavenly blueberry muffins. All you have to do is look at them....

They were so good, I may have had three..

Muffins and tea- its a brilliant idea. Speaking of tea, I've been converted. Back home, I was never a fan of tea, I only drank it when I was sick because it was supposed to be soothing. But even then, I didn't like it- too watery, no flavor. All of a sudden, I find I really enjoy tea! Maybe it was having high tea at the Willow Tea Room that convinced me, or just the fact that tea is everywhere and very British. Maybe tea just tastes better in the UK. For whatever reason, I love tea now and am a happy convert.

Defenestrations, Deadly Cobblestones, and Doors!

At first thought, this random collection of words: defenestrations, deadly cobblestones and doors may seem extremely unrelated. But it just so happens that these words describe my adventures in Prague rather well...


Once my friend Autumn arrived, we began to explore the city, starting off with a delicious Czech meal- pork dumplings with ham and sauerkraut and some non-Czech gnocchi (equally delicious!). In fact, every single meal we ate was delicious! Probably a combination of sheer luck and good recommendations from the Art Hole hostel owner, Luke who was immensely helpful in giving us ideas of what to do and where to go.

My dumplings and sauerkraut

We took Saturday at the perfect day to explore the city- and it was freezing. In fact, it was even snowing in the morning! We started out the day but getting up early and eating a breakfast of delicious toast, self-created mochas and boiled eggs in adorable egg-cups (a new phenomenon for me), then heading out to one of Prague's markets! There were so many stalls it was impossible to see everything, especially since we had limited time- but the common features were hundreds of scarves, clothes, purses, belts, shoes and random food stalls. The scarves were too beautiful and cheap to resist, so Autumn and I both bought some, and wore them the remainder of the trip! Oddly enough, all the vendors in the market were Asian, and I have no idea why... Also a random market tip- you will bargain. It's expected- and I recommended started at at least half the named price- so you can get the price down from 300 korunas to 130.

Part of Old Town Square

Autumn and I with our new scarves in the Old Town Square!

Czech money, or the koruna (crown) is very bizarre because one US dollar equals about 18 korunas, and 1 British pound equals nearly 30 korunas! So prices can look really crazy, because everything costs hundreds of korunas. Autumn and I realized that we started looking at anything under 100 korunas as cents... which can be a dangerous thing for consumers! Because you think, and generally rightly so, that everything is cheap! It is quite an experience to hold a piece of money that says 1000 on it, whatever the currency.


We then explored the city going on a free tour with this company called NewEurope, and ironically, our tour guide was Scottish! Turns out he's travelled quite a bit and has been living in Prague for some years now. But needless to say, I didn't leave Scotland expecting to find a Scot in Prague! We explored a lot of the famous sights in Prague, the Old Town Square, Mozart's house,  the Jewish Quarter, Wenceslas Square and more. And it seemed that everywhere we went, there was a story of how the Czechs defenestrating people. Also know as killed people by throwing them out of high windows. The city seems strangely proud of it to, as the tour guides note the location of the third defenestration.


I also began to notice these really cool, unique doors all over the city. That seems like a random feature, but it's true. Thus started the door quest- my effort to take pictures of as many cool doors as I could in an effort to create a Prague door collage!

Astrological Clock in Old Town Square, the only one like it in the world! In fact, the Czechs made sure of that by blinding the clocks engineer...

One of the many doors!

There was a tour following this to the other side of the Vltava River, but you had to pay because it included the castle. So, Autumn and I went off by ourselves to explore! The castle was beautiful! We ended up taking 2 days to see the whole thing, it's the largest medieval castle in the world, so no wonder. My favorite part by far though was St. Vitus Cathedral, a structure which dominates the landscape of Prague and the interior of the castle. The gothic architecture is incredible, awe-inspiring in its size, and magnificent with is stained-glass windows.

Inside the Castle complex

St. Vitus' Cathedral- gorgeous stain glass and architecture!

St Vitus' Cathedral

We also, in the tradition of all good explorers, managed to get ourselves a bit lost... but that's part of exploring any city! We were absolutely freezing by this point, having walked around for over six hours, we were numb and it literally hurt to walk on our feet. So back to the hostel we went, heading over the historic Charles bridge, which was still host to artisans selling their wares and a solo violinist.

I think he captured the entire day, the beauty and majesty of Prague in a haunting violin solo (from the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack actually). I still have no idea how he managed to play. My own fingers were numb and I was wearing gloves! But when I heard him, as a fellow violinist, I was captivated; almost pulled into a trance by the beauty of the music and the city at night out across the water, over the bridge.

Our dinner that night was equally delicious, and somehow managed to last three hours! Greek salad with amazingly fresh vegetables to start, then our main courses (sirloin steak and chips for me), and then we each got a slice of honey cake for dessert. I'd been intrigued by this 'honey cake' all day, having seen signs for it outside all the restaurants. It was quite good, and the taste reminded me somehow of honey graham crackers.


Also, worth noting, is that Prague is a city of cobblestones! The streets are made of cobblestones as are the sidewalks, everywhere you go there is no pavement, attesting to the age of this city. So it's enchanting! And dangerous.... I lost count of how many times I nearly twisted my ankle or nearly fell over because of stepping wrong on the cobblestones! So fair warning to all ye who visit- Beware the Cobblestones!!


While I had to leave at 2pm on Sunday in order to catch my plane, we managed to squeeze in a bit more sight-seeing of the castle, and also the John Lennon wall. The Lennon wall is covered in graffiti and Beatles lyrics, all to defy the communist regime that was threatening the Czech people.

Lennon wall door!

Our names are now on the wall!- see if you can find them on the flaming peace sign

Charles Bridge! The sun seemed to be showing it off

While I was sad to say goodbye, I can't wait to see Autumn again over spring break- this time, in Barcelona! Flying back, taking the train and then cab to get home was exhausting and I gladly collapsed on my bed here in my Glasgow flat. So here I am, back to work with essays approaching and planning trips for Spring Break. It's a little bizarre to come back and jump into working after four days of simply traveling and exploring a city! Ah well, back to work. The weekends always bring more adventures!

Protests and Prague!

The past few days have been a crazy whirlwind of events! There has recently been a big scandal at my Uni about program cuts, including nursing, sociology and some languages and other. These cuts would lay off current staff and eliminate the programs for future students, though current students could continue in the program. Needless to say, the entire University has been in an uproar since this was reveal. An article about it got published in the local paper a few days ago, and the campus sprang to arms- groups quickly formed to help save the programs on Facebook and around the campus. I began to see fliers everywhere screaming "CUTS CUTS CUTS!"

The Protest!

As a result of this uproar, petitions were signed against the cuts (thousands of signatures), letters and emails sent beseeching the University, emphasizing how priceless these programs were. Being in the School of Modern Languages myself, I also got loads of emails and Facebook notices to write in- and the grand finale last Wednesday- to march! There was a huge student protest, with banners, flags, megaphones and cheers "No ifs! No buts! No Education cuts!!". The noise resounded all the way to my flat, echoing like a mob. As a precaution, there were police all around the campus, and some buildings near the protest were locked. This I discovered as I tried to go to my French class, I had to tell the man inside that yes, I had a class. Turned out I didn't actually, only 5 students showed up so my professor canceled the lecture!

The protesters marched around the campus to the University court, where they will be making the decision. I haven't heard any word yet about what has happened as I've been traveling, but with such a strong student and staff response, I think the University will retract the proposal. They even marched right pas my window, the line seemed to go on forever. And loads of people were in the march- I even saw the Communist and Socialist parties go by... As I don't have my computer here, I can't upload pictures or video yet, but I will soon! (tadaa here's a bit of video of the protest)

Now though, I'm in Prague! Or Praha as it's called here. I had a ridiculously early start, getting up Thursday morning at 2:45am to JUST catch the 4:30am bus in the city center to the Prestwick Airport (I had to walk into the city to get the bus, and there were several people still awake from last night). From Glasgow Prestwick Airport I flew to London, where I had a 5 hour layover. It's amazing just how many shops and restaurants you can fit in airport. Since I had time though, I think I may have covered them all... I also had like 6 small meals yesterday. It's amazing what waking up a 3am will do to you. But, almond croissants are delicious, just so you know!

Finally it was time for my flight to Prague, only an hour and half long, though you jump ahead an hour to get on Prague time. Flying is one of my favorite things about traveling. You are so high above the clouds that the sun is brilliant, blinding even. Looking out my window, I couldn't tell if there where mounds of snow below me, or still more clouds. I thought it must surely be snow because it seemed so solid and hard. Shadows were even cast upon it by clouds above, hard and dark. and yet, as we descended, the snow became softer and softer until we passed through the once-solid boundary into the realm below. Suddenly the entire scene changes to become gray and foggy as we landed in Prague. 

The airport signs were in Czech and then English, and suddenly I had to find my way around and change my money in Czech korunas. Luckily, my directions to the hostel were easy to follow as the public transportation system is great, only around 1 euro for 75 minutes of travel using the buses, trams and metro. I even met some guys on the bus, one from France, one from Iraq who were living in Prague and they helped me find the hostel. It's amazing how caring people can be. The same thing happened to me when I first arrived in Glasgow, people seem to be worried about a young American girl who has never been to this city before, and just helped me, to the point of walking me to the hostel door. 

The hostel I'm staying at is called the Art Hole, and is nice- funky painting and artsy decorations all over the walls and furniture. Very clean and comfortable, and the staff is nice. I awkwardly got dinner alone in an Italian pizza place, and then meandered around the city, checking out the Palladium, a huge five-story shopping mall before heading back to the hostel. 

The  bedrooms in our hostel- really cool art work all over the walls!

One thing I love about hostels is you get to meet people from all over, so now I'm friends with a group of students from Brazil who just finished studying in Portugal! We all went out together to a Czech bar and tried the local beer, they have crazy flavors including ones with Chocolate, Carmel, Raspberry and Blueberry! Today I will actually get to explore the city, and my friend from McDaniel, Autumn, who is studying in Barcelona, is coming in a few minutes! So we get to meet up and explore together! Can't wait!

SUNSHINE!!!!

Yesterday was possibly the most exciting day of the month. Because there was SUNSHINE!!


Now this might not sound all that exciting, but if you've been reading any of my previous posts then you realize how awful the weather has been lately. Not being a native Glaswegian myself, a solid 2 weeks of rain and wind and constantly being damp and cold can get you down a little bit. I found myself wish for just two hours of sunshine. That's all I wanted- just two hours! Because the weather here has the tendency to trick you- it might be sunny in the morning and you get really excited and then by the time you walk out the door... it's already cloudy.


Which leads me to yesterday! Waking up and getting breakfast in the kitchen, the light was amazing! But despite that little burst of joy, I didn't let myself get too excited- it was only going to get cloudy and rainy again in a hour. But then I left for my first lecture, and it was still beautiful! On to my French tutorial- STILL sunny. What kind of amazing day was this??


After snagging a quick lunch in my flat I grabbed my backpack and nearly raced outdoors, I could stand to be inside when it was this nice! Granted, some people got a little too excited about the sun and warmth- there were guys walking around in shorts and a T-shirt (hey now boys, it's still only in the 40s...). I decided to walk down to the Botanical Gardens again, to see the rest of the building and grounds now that it wasn't pouring rain.


It was, hands down, glorious. It's incredible how a simple change in weather like sunshine can suddenly change everyone's attitudes and actions. Everyone was so cheerful and happy, walking about with smiles on their faces. And everyone was out. Students lounging on the grass doing reading for courses, mothers and the children playing in on jungle gyms, couples strolling hand in hand through the gardens, old men with canes admiring the view, joggers with their headphones in. They all felt the same pull I did- get outside and enjoy the sunshine while you can!


Exploring more of the gardens, I discovered a rose garden that will be absolutely gorgeous in the spring- can't wait to see all the flowers bloom!

Funky cactus inside the Gardens

I love all the flowers inside!

Orchids!

Signs of spring are starting to emerge though, the days are now slightly longer (it doesn't get dark until 5 or 5:30 now in stead of 4:30!! yippy!), and I've seen little white flowers pushing up through the soil. It was definitely a good idea to come in the second semester. Now the days will just keep getting longer and warmer instead of colder and shorter!


A few random things to mention:
-When I tell people I'm from Maryland, some of them automatically say "Oh! Like the cookies?" Apparently there are these 'Maryland Cookies' here, a store brand, and they are basically chocolate chip cookies. We do not have Maryland Cookies in Maryland. Who started this??


-Planners here are called 'diaries', so professors will let you know to mark dates in your diary. So what do you call a diary? ...a diary..


-I go to Uni, not college here


-Cupcakes are made differently here too! I find this hilarious. But the British, or maybe just Scottish way of making cupcakes means that after they are baked you frost them and put a candy on top. Always a candy (a 'sweet' or 'lolly') like a jelly-bean or gummy or something. Don't know why, but I find it amusing :)


-Soda is a 'fizzy drink' or soft drink. I love the term fizzy drink, and it does fit perfectly! Along those lines if you order a lemonade, you will get a Sprite. So I still haven't worked out how to actually get a proper lemonade...




Thats all for now! Feel free to ask any questions you have!

Egypt in Glasgow and other stories...

Last Friday was the first chance I got to experience Glasgow's live music scene! There are venues all over the city, and one that it pretty well known is King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut. A rather amusing name, which sounds as if the place would be Egyptian-themed or something- not at all actually! Just your typical Scottish pub inside, and then upstairs is the stage area and another bar.

My friend Shannon and I at the concert!

The headline band was called Azure Ray, a very mellow and chilled out band. Beautiful blending, and I enjoyed them, but I also got the feeling that I would get depressed and sleepy if I listened to them for too long... My favorite part of the evening wasn't the main band, but this solo guy who goes by the unorthodox name of Beerjacket. Bizarre you say? I totally agree. However, he was amazing live! It was just him playing guitar and doing rhythm with a foot pedal, but he produced this amazing, full sound. He reminded me a bit of Jason Mraz...

You can listen to this video, but not see anything- it's Beerjacket

I also visited the Glasgow Botanical Gardens last Friday! They are ridiculously close to where I live, maybe a 10 minute walk, so I have no excuse not to go more. The Gardens are comprised of pretty extensive grounds, and then several greenhouses. The fact that is was windy and pouring rain when I went meant I headed straight inside! It's amazing how a simple glass building can create another world, and a considerably warmer one too. The Gardens are amazingly peaceful too- all you hear is the tinkling and gurgling sound of the fountain, footsteps and whispered voices. Because they have benches all over, you can easily just come and bring your reading or other work to do, surrounded by beautiful flowers- not a bad idea. Needless to say, I plan on going back just to explore and read for class!

The first area in the palace, with the main fountain on the right

The other adventure this weekend was.... visiting England for the first time! Because I flew in straight to Glasgow International, I had never touched English soil, and so going to Newcastle with the International Society was my first chance! It wasn't too long a drive by bus, maybe 2 or 3 hours, and then we had plenty of time to just explore the city. There are a lot of Scots in Newcastle (surprise, surprise, it being only 3 hours away!) so there was quite the mix of Scottish and English accents. The city is lovely, some incredible architecture on the famous Grey Street, and down by the River Tyne.


My friend Charlotte and I literally just wandered about the city. We had a map in case we got lost, but with only a vague plan in our heads on priorities, we just explored! Going into shops when we pleased (it still feels very wrong to go into and H&M here...), walking along the streets and stopping in a café and random Photo Gallery. The gallery was on a Jewish Ghetto in WWII, and had some incredibly powerful images of Ghetto life. It's absolutely amazing that these people could go through such horrors and still laugh, smile and go on with their life as best they could.


While walking the streets, we also go to witness a great impromptu hip-hop dance performance by a couple of kids dancing to this guy playing bass in the street. I couldn't resist catching a bit on video, so here you go (ignore my random voice comments)!

A special note should me mentioned about the bridges. There are roughly... a hundred bridges over the Tyne. Okay maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but look for yourself, you can see one after another, all different designs and colors!

Really neat iron work on the lanterns!

Grey Street!

101 bridges- or at least 4 are going on here

At first we had no idea what this building is and it kinda looked like a slug. Turns out it's an incredible Concert hall called "The Sage Gateshead" We explored inside a bit too!

The Millennium Bride- this is what we walked over to get to the Baltic Art Gallery, only to discover only 2 floors were open..

The new Castle of Newcastle! 

I cracked up when I saw this sign. Still don't know why it was there.

All in all, a fun trip! We went to this random place called Holy Island for a bit the next day, but it was rather miserable and pouring all day, so after a quick walk to the Castle and exploration of an old church ruin, we went into a pub to get slightly dry and eat lunch. I got a this delicious panini and home-made carrot soup!


I was extremely American on Sunday- and yes I did watch the Super Bowl! Slightly different crowd though- Wisconsinites, Aussies, Canadians and Austrians, which made it really fun.


This week is back to real school, as I actually have a lot of work to do- French studying and getting started on essays. It's so easy to forget about work here, but it also has to be done! Cheers

"Did you bring a sword to class??"

That has got to be the quote of the day for me. In my French tutorial today, our class was going on like normal with grammar reviewing and such, until one of the boys in our class noticed the other had brought in a long bundle wrapped bundle with Japanese symbols on the cloth, and caught the end of his conversation which had the word 'sword' in it...


"Did you bring a sword to class???" he asked, somewhat astounded. 


Yes, as a matter of fact, he did- for some Campus group or club that I suppose does Japanese fighting styles. Definitely a good way to end a French class.


While I had a cool weekend exploring Glasgow, I also somehow managed to catch a cold. I'm blaming it on the weather here- cold and rainy probably isn't the best thing for your heath if you are out in it for long periods of time! On the plus side, I did get to explore the Science Center! And, being a Wallace and Gromit fan myself, greatly enjoyed their third floor exhibit on inventions! For those who have no idea who or what Wallace & Gromit is... go educate yourself.

Wallace & Gromit!! :) designed like their house in the movies

An ironic invention

 (just kidding! They are a BBC inventing duo! From claymation animator Nick Park, Wallace is British inventor who lives with Gromit, his pet dog, who may just be smarter than anyone else... they are both British and consider it a crisis if they run out of cheese and crackers)


Getting to the Science Center just required a subway hop and then a walk, public transportation is so easy over here- I wish it was this simple in the US! 

Inside the subway- unusually empty, so I was able to sneak a picture without being creepy

Outside the Science Center! (building to the right)

There are two things I should mention about Glasgow- the weather, and the nightlife. Today, the weather is CRAZY! In the morning it was bright and sunny and looking like a positive day, so I got optimistic....I should know better by now... It is now intensely windy and cold, with raindrops stinging your face if you go outside.


But that's Glasgow for you- sunny for maybe an hour, then rainy, then maybe just cold- oh look!! sunsh-nope, rainy again. Right now I seriously do not want to leave my flat for fear of getting blown away. Then there is the fog of Scotland, which I've mentioned before. That's it's own category of crazy.


However, despite this weather, the night life makes up for it!! Glasgow always has something on, there are loads of clubs and live music venues, or just pubs if you want to sit and chat with a few mates over a drink all open pretty late. Last Friday I got to go to this place called ABC (for free!! which made it all the better) where they had a huge dance area and a really big stage where the DJ was dead center, and speakers all around. It was a pretty neat venue:

ABC club

So what's a little (or a lot..) of cold and rain, if you can be warmed up by dancing and friends??


On another random note- I have official been in Scotland for over a month now! Hard to believe. Arrived the 31st of December, and it's now February 3rd. I can already tell that my time here is going to fly by, so I aim to make the most of it while I can!