First Week of Classes

1.16.2009

So it’s Friday and I have just finished my first week of classes at the university. The week started off somewhat confusingly, for Monday I didn’t have classes and I didn’t really know what to do with myself, so I joined the gym and went around to the different departments to make sure I had approval for my classes. After doing that, I thought I would go for a walk around the city just so I could get to know it a little better. From our campus to the city center is about a 20 minute walk, so I took the long route, weaving in and out of different streets to try to get a feel for the surrounding area. There were two things that really stuck out to me about Glasgow on that walk. One was the sheer number of American food chains that are present in the city (either a starbucks, subway or pizza hut every couple blocks). The other thing I noticed was how young the city seems to be. Everywhere around the city there are tons of little kids running around, or being pushed in strollers. Random thing to notice but I thought it was worth noting.

Tuesday was my first day of class. At 9am I had “International Relations”, a politics class with mostly 2^nd year students. That class runs three days a week at 9am, and has a discussion section for one hour every week. Then at 10 I had a class on European History, but because that class won’t count for credit at BC, I chose to drop the course and find something that would be less challenging so I can enjoy being in Europe! That led me to a little class called bagpiping… I’m not kidding, I’m actually taking bagpiping!!! There are 25 of us in the class which meets every Thursday afternoon for 2.5 hours at the National Piping Center in the city center. During that time we learn about the history of the pipes, their significance to Scotland and other countries, and the role they play in Scottish society today. Then once a week we go to the piping center for an hour lesson on the chanter, an instrument which looks a lot like a recorder. My other courses are “Environmental Impact Assessment”, which meets Tuesday and Thursday, and “Scottish Literature: Exploring Scottish Culture” which meets on Wednesdays. (Not sure if you noticed but my classes are only on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, perfect for weekend trips!)

As far as the week goes aside from classes, it was a lot of fun! I’ve been hanging out a lot with the other international students at the university, so it’s been good to get to know them. Monday night we went to a pub called “Curlers” with about 40 of the international kids. That was a lot of fun and relatively cheap because every Monday the bar has a student night. Tuesday night we went out to dinner with our BC Coordinator, Kirstin Heggie, so that we could get to know her better and see what she has planned for us this semester. Already she told us we’ll be going to the Scottish National Rugby team’s match against Italy in two weeks, and then we’ll continue getting dinner every couple of weeks with her. I think we’re also going to do a trip to Inverness in the highlands later this spring, and maybe go to a couple shows and performances in Glasgow or Edinburgh. The best part about it is that BC is paying for it all! Wednesday we went to a bar called Radio, which also has a student night that night, and met some Scottish kids while getting more chances to connect with fellow internationals. Thursday night the International Society had a pub night at a place called “the primary”, with nearly 200 students there. It was more of a relaxed setting, and I was able to get back to the apartment relatively early to rest up for our trip to Edinburgh this weekend!