First Day of Class...sort of.

After standing in line at registration, I finally got my official Glasgow University student ID card with my picture on it. I think after registration I just went back to the flat, met up with Briana, and then walked around a little. I actually don't remember everything that we did...the days here are just getting mixed up in my head because there is so much free time. I don't have a working visa, which would have been nice to get a job and be a little more busy, but I was thinking I might be able to find a babysitting job somewhere.

At around 6pm, Briana and I forced ourselves to go to the gym and we got a pretty good workout in. The gym is so small for the size of this school, but we'll just have to deal with it. (They also have a steam room and sauna that I haven't found yet, but I will definitely be taking advantage of that.) After the gym, we went back to our flat to relax, and get ready to go out for our friend Lorna's 21st birthday. She found a pub in downtown Glasgow called The Horseshoe. Supposedly it has the longest bar in the UK. We took the Underground (aka The Clockwork Orange) to Buchanan Street, and a woman was nice enough to show us where the pub was. I find that just going up to people on the street and asking for directions is the best way to go. Forget about getting lost and trying to find a small alley on a map (even though sometimes it's fun to get lost), just ask someone and usually they are nice enough to help out Americans. We stayed for a while at the pub celebrating Lorna's birthday and then at around midnight we caught a taxi back to our flat and called it a night.

(Left to Right) Briana, Jasmine, Lauren, Lorna, and Laura at the Horseshoe Pub

Lorna with all of her drinks! She is 21 now...

This morning, my roommate, Laura, and I had photography at the Glasgow School of Art. And, YES, I actually did have class this morning. Can you believe it? (Because I really couldn't believe it.) We walked to GSA with a few other people who are in the class as well, and when we got to the Mackintosh Building we filled out forms and then got our own private tour. No photography today (that starts next week) but the tour of the Mackintosh Building was incredible. They just celebrated the 100th anniversary of the building in December.

The foyer of the (Charles Rennie) Mackintosh Building

The Hen Run corridor at GSA

Throughout the tour I saw many stained glass roses in the Mackintosh Building, and I finally realized why there were roses on the pen I was given for Christmas. My parents got me the most beautiful pen for my Christmas gift and it was from the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Collection. I purposefully brought my pen to class this morning so I could fill out my forms with it. Below are pictures of the stained glass rose and my Mackintosh pen.

After the tour and seeing the sculpture building as well, me, Laura, and our other friends hopped on the Underground and went back to our neck of the woods. Laura and I went to a coffee shop called Smug and got an amazing brunch of bagels and hot chocolate. Now I am back in my room, laying on my bed, and I'm really tempted to take a nap since I don't have class the rest of the day. Or maybe I'll take the time to start editing the Top Chef 5 video today. I have no idea what is going on tonight, but tomorrow I have my first bagpiping class from 4-5pm and then we might go see Avatar in 3-D even though all of us have seen it.

Love and miss you all.

Love Always,

Jess