glasgow

glasgow! what a party! i spent over a week here partying with karen, a friend i met in singapore. wednesday through sunday the two of us went out on the town every single night, and generally stayed out til the sun came up. then we would sleep in until around 1:30pm, get up in time to do a little shopping or sightseeing, then come home to get ready for another party. if ever i thought that europe was going to be monotonous/tame/healthy in any way, glasgow has proved me wrong. so quick recap:

wednesday: arrive by train at 11am. karen and i do some much-needed catching up before going to the subcity radio studio at glasgow uni to do her radio show. i get to announce the contact info! meet karen's friends jenny and robin who also have cute scottish accents. after the show, we all come back to karen's flat for fajitas and wine. we go to a little pub down the street to watch the manchester united vs. chelsea football game, then split up to get ready for going out. robin ditches, but karen, jenny and i go to the arches and dance the night away.

thursday: get up late and go to the glasgow art gallery and museum. see about half of it before the place closes, but manage to see some ancient egyptian stuff and some famous paintings first. take a walk through kelvingrove park on the way to the cheese shop (which i have begged karen to take me to) where we buy some delicious top quality cheeses. eat almost all of cheese. go see a performance of macbeth, which is done with authentic scottish accents! try some irn bru, then get ready for more partying. meet up with new friends dannii and john to go to the "art school". dance the night away. spend early morning hours searching for after hours party, which does not pan out.

friday: get up late again. john comes over for some gossip and youtube. after he leaves, karen and i make chicken tikka masala and get ready for yet more dancing. this time it's the subcity party we're after, which is held on the glasgow uni campus. dance the night away.

saturday: get up late, go to st. mungo's cathedral just before it closes. beautiful! go to the necropolis - a giant cemetery on a hill behind st. mungo's. gorgeous! walk around for quite a while, just enjoying the day. intend to have a night in, but dannii calls and tells us that friend alex has a friend whose band is playing at king tut's (kind of a big deal). we rush home, reheat leftover curry, and meet up with friends before the show. show is totally righteous. afterwards, we all go to band member's parents' home on the west end for the after party. long chats about USA and chocolate vs "crisps" ensue. watch sun come up, go home.

sunday: shopping for a flash drive (need somewhere to keep all my photos!) and shoes. end up spending £30 at a store called primark, which buys me a pair of shoes, a pair of jeans, a shirt, and tights. go to kelvingrove park again since it's such a beautiful day. cook up some salmon and potatoes for dinner, then go out to optimo with a girl named jane. go home relatively early (1ish?) so that we can get up early in the morning.

ok so that wasn't all that quick. anyway, that's how things went for my first five days in glasgow. it was prodigal and indulgent and everything one could expect from a party city.

manchester

manchester is a great city.  everywhere you look, people are dressed in the industrial/punk rock style.  i saw tons of mohawks and unnaturally dyed hair.  i felt like a loser since i didn't bring any huge boots or snazzy "trainers".

my first day in manchester i didn't do that much.  khoa met me at the train station (i had wandered there from the bus station while i was waiting for him to get done with an exam) and we took a bus back to his dorm.  one thing you don't think about as being a major expense while you're travelling is bus fair around a city, but it definitely is.  each bus trip was at least £1 each way, which means at least $4/day if you go to the city centre just one time.  adds up.  anyway, we bought some tikka masala sauce and chicken at the grocery store, and i cooked us dinner since he was so kind as to put me up for two nights.  unfortunately, that was all he was able to do since he had to study the whole time.  in fact, khoa left his dorm only once during the entire time i was in manchester, and that was to go to the convenience store across the street.  poor kid.  so since i was on my own, i decided to just go to the city centre and have a look around.  on the first day i got in late enough that it was too late to go to any museums, so instead i just walked through the streets looking at buildings and people.  i've been doing that a lot since i got to the UK, and it's actually a pretty nice way to spend time if you ask me.  i was really jonesing for a cup of coffee but most coffee shops were already closed.  finally i found a bar called panama hatty's that advertised "coffee any time," so i went in.  i spent the better part of the evening drinking cappuccinos and reading "robinson crusoe" while occasionally pausing to watch beautiful british people drink their cocktails with friends.  my server asked me where my friends were, so i explained that i was from the USA and thus on my own here in manchester.  he only made me pay for one cappuccino.

the second day i wandered around the city centre again and went to the urbis museum. there was a really cool exhibition there about how manga has infiltrated so much of our culture. i also did a little bit of shopping at a mall, and had a baked potato with beans for lunch (baked potatoes are quite popular here). before heading home in the evening, i picked up some burgers stuffed with gorgonzola, salad, and lemon artichoke dressing from marks and spencer. i cooked dinner for khoa and i, then spent the rest of the evening watching silly british tv shows since khoa was too busy to go out and i didn't really have anything better to do.

on my last day in manchester, khoa made me a traditional english breakfast of eggs, toast, and back bacon before i went out to meet my friend alicja (also a friend from singapore, but a different university there) for a drink. i wasn't sure how fun it would be since alicja and i didn't get much opportunity to get to know each other in singapore, but we ended up having a really good time together. i find that i rarely regret putting effort into old friendships, even weaker ones. after having a pint with two of her friends, alicja had to get back to studying for her own final exams, so i went to the manchester art museum to waste some time. when it closed, i went to a coffee shop for a mocha and more "robinson crusoe." i knew there wasn't much point in going back to khoa's flat since he'd surely still be busy studying. when the coffee shop closed, though, i had no other options. i intended to spend the rest of the evening there, much like the night before, but khoa's neighbor down the hall took pity on me and decided to take me out on the town. we went for drinks at the top of a skyscraper hotel (i think it was a hilton...) which was expensive but totally worth it. chris was really friendly, and i was so glad to be able to finally go out for once. one drink in that place was really all we could afford, so after that we moved on to a tapas bar for a pitcher of sangria. we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves to the point that time slipped away from us, and we had to make a mad dash back to khoa's flat so that i could get my things and catch my bus to edinburgh. chris was kind enough to walk me all the way to the bus station and help me find a quick snack before i departed. i was so incredibly grateful, but at the same time a little sad knowing that i'd never see this guy again. i guess that's just part of the rhythm of travel.