Travel Diary: Glasgow

Heyo, it's Ellie here! It's been a while, but I figured it'd be nice to recount my summer travels on my blog. I also thought it might be boring to read, but heck, it's my blog.

University of Glasgow

I've spent the last two days in Glasgow, sightseeing on my own and hanging out with my mom after she leaves the office (she came for a business trip!). It's definitely way colder here than I thought it'd be, and I ended up wearing two of my mom's jackets over my sweater so I wouldn't freeze. (Fun fact: my mom told me I looked like a zong zi because of it).

For all my non-Asian readers, here's what a "zong zi" looks like.

On my first day, I went on one of the hop on/hop off tour buses to get a general overlook of the city. As much as I hate looking like the typical tourist, it was a good way to see and learn about all the sites before deciding where I wanted to go. Plus, I was on my own and really didn't want to get kidnapped on my first day in Europe.

I was pretty cold and tired that day, since I'd gotten about three hours of the sleep on the plane and had an entire day to explore, so I visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and headed back to the hotel. There was a stunning piece there called Christ of Saint John of the Cross by Salvador Dali, and I spent a few minutes staring at it before heading back into the cold.

"Christ of Saint John on the Cross" by Salvador Dali

I also made a short stop at Prêt á Manger, one of my favorite chain cafes, for some soup! Soup is a pretty underrated food, one that I must try more of in the future. I first discovered this while talking to Amy (she could only drink soup after her wisdom teeth surgery), and more evidence has backed it up.

It's a little odd to go to a different country where everyone speaks English and looks American, since it made me feel like I was still in America. After getting in a few Ubers and speaking to some locals though, the Scottish accent definitely reminded me how far away I was from home. I also learned that everyone drives on the left side of the road, the driver's seat is on the right side of the car, and people enter roundabouts from the left! Wild stuff.

Anyways, my mom and I went to Buchanan Street and Princes Square in the evening, where there were lots of shops and restaurants. For some reason, all the shops close around 6 or 7 PM here, but the sun sets at 10! Only the bars and restaurants are open later, which was a real bummer since I'm not allowed in them until I'm 18.

The next day, I woke up around noon, since my mom told me I didn't need to set an alarm. Imagine waking up to the obnoxious ring tone of a hotel phone (one nowhere to be seen, since it was on the floor), checking your phone and seeing no messages (weird, since my mom was at work already and should've messaged me at some point), then realizing your phone was on airplane mode, then seeing messages each successive hour as your mom asks where you are. I was pretty flustered, to say the least.

It's Kelvin! (Absolute zero, 0 + 273 degrees Kelvin!)

My mom came home around 3 PM, and we headed to Loch Lomond, Scotland's national park, to cram in some sightseeing for the day. It was definitely a really picturesque and beautiful place, but we only had two hours there. Our Uber driver, James, was really nice and offered to stay and drive us to each of the small villages, since the park was really big.

A view of the loch, taken from Luss

After heading back to the city, we walked around Finnieston and Ashton Lane, which were filled with eclectic shops and lots of restaurants. We didn't get to go to that many shops though, since (as aforementioned) they all closed around 6 or 7 in the evening.

My mom's coworkers were out for a business dinner, so I met a few of them. I was happily surprised that they talked and joked around with me, though I guess being 17 means I'm (mostly) treated as an adult now. A pretty scary thought, to be honest. Around 9 o'clock, I was politely kicked out of the restaurant for being under the drinking age, so we wandered around the streets.

Overall, I found Glasgow to be a rather interesting city. I wish I had more time to explore here (perhaps I would've if I hadn't slept for half of the day today), but maybe when the weather is a bit warmer. Tomorrow, I'm catching my flight to Hamburg, where I'll have two weeks to explore the city and watch some performances during the Hamburg Ballett Days.

For now, I'm off to have a solid five hours of sleep. Goodnight!