Scotland Adventures

Update!

2010-05-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos!! Alrighty, so with exams, writing papers, trying to pack, and trying to get my life here together before coming home in 4ish days, there's no way I'll be able to finish blogging about my spring break adventures and last weeks in Scotland before coming home. Rest assured that once I get home and lose the jetlag, I will blog a bit more and fill ya in! (that is if you're not sick of me by then! ;)

See ya soon, Iowa! Xx

Scotland Movie Teaser

2010-05-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

Meet My "Scottish Mum"

2010-05-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Ailsa is hilarious. And loves to sing. :)

Spring Break Adventures: First stop, Paris!

2010-04-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

The next 8 days finds me needing to write three 2,000 word essays, memorize a piece on my bagpipe chanter and take a final exam. I have TONS to do before I come home, and I am coming home 2 weeks from yesterday! My blog entries will be my breaks from paper-writing. Here is the first one. :) First stop of Spring break travels was Paris. Lizzie and I had an amazing time. We kept a killer awesome budget when we were there-- don't know if it is possible to spend 5.5 days in Paris for less money than we spent. We still saw TONS of stuff-- and were totally content living off delicious French baguettes and pasteries (ok yes, I am exaggerating a bit... we had pasta a few times too... :)

The only big downside of my time there was that I dropped my camera in the fountain right outside the Louvre. It slipped out of my pocket when I was sitting on the ledge. It was emerged in water for about 8 seconds before I noticed that it had fallen. I took out the battery and memory card right away and when we got back to our accommodation, I took my camera apart into as many pieces as I could and gave it 24 hours to dry out. Tried to turn it on the next day.... didn't work. Gave it another 24 hours. Nope, still broken. Finally, at the end of day 3 it turned on but still had quite a bit of water damage and the picture quality was horrible. As the days went on (and when I got into Madrid) the quality improved and now it is almost back to normal.
Here are some pictures from our time in Paris.. mostly from before I (almost) killed my camera.

Flying into Paris. We were welcomed by a rainbow :)

Sacre Coeur at night

At the Louvre

Mona Lisa

Outside the Louvre-- this was right before I dropped my camera in the fountain!

Laduree- AMAZING (expensive!) dessert shop.

Eating a delicious macaroon from Laduree

Notre Dame

Notre Dame on Easter Sunday

I met up with Ally and Allen, two friends from ISU who are studying abroad this semester too! (in France and Wales)

Grave of Chopin

Grave of Rossini

Moulin Rouge

Hellllllo Spring! So good to see you! :)

Adding another kiss to Oscar Wilde's tombstone

Aphrodite statue in The Louvre

If you'd like to take a gander at more of my Paris pictures, here is an album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049102&id=1172700088&l=5eb0836069

just a teaser...

2010-04-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

After 24 days of traveling, 10 of which I was stranded in Salzburg due to our lovely Iceland volcano... I am back in Scotland! :) Spring break was stellar. I won't have a chance to blog about it for a bit, so I will just leave you with a few video teasers for now. Pictures and stories to come later! xx

#1: Metro in Paris

#2: American stupidity in Paris

#3: Easter Sunday mass at Notre Dame

#4: Just a typical day walking around Madrid

Update Numero Dos

2010-04-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hallo! This is blog post #2 from the lovely Austria. My flight scheduled today was yet again cancelled. My next flight is Monday, and I hope I can leave then!! I am missing this week of class but after emailing my professors, it seems there are numerous other students stranded around Europe as well and that the University is being really flexible about everything. If I am able to fly back to Scotland Monday, then I would have spent 10 extra days here in Salzburg. Yesterday I was able to find a bookstore that sold some books in English, so I took advantage of the opportunity and bought a few books to read, since I have an ample amount of free time. :) Today I have been journaling and reading "Little Women" while gazing out at the Alps. I really cannot complain about being stranded here. :) I am becoming totally hooked on the chocolate here. It is dangerous.

I am going to see if I can figure out how to get some of my spring break pictures straight from my camera onto my blog (since I am borrowing a computer while I am here) so that I can blog about my Spring break adventures while I have the time. Keep checking back... I am going to see what I can do!

Slight Change of Plans...

2010-04-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has sure been a while since I have written on here! For a quick update here, I am currently stranded in Salzburg, Austria. As you have probably heard, the volcanic eruption in Iceland has caused massive ash pollution into the air which to sum it up, has caused mass chaos in most areas of Europe. Yesterday (Thursday) alone, there were 7,000 flights cancelled due to unsafe flying conditions. I was due to fly back to Scotland early this afternoon, but my flight from Munich to Edinburgh was of course cancelled. I stayed up late last night, waiting for the RyanAir website to start working again (it was completely backed up due to too much traffic) and was finally able to rebook my flight for the earliest flight with an opening, which isn‘t until next Wednesday. The news stations have been reporting that there is a good possibility things will get worse and possibly not improve for a week or more which would mean I would need to move my flight back yet again. Things in Europe are bonkers right now-- it is impossible to buy train tickets, rent a car or get a taxi, as they are all overbooked. This is the biggest air traffic disruption since Sept. 11, and is anticipated to get worse. People have even been paying to take a taxi from London to Paris/Munich/Turin-- which is thousands of pounds! I do not know how long I will be here in Austria (at least 6 more days), but I do know that I am in the best hands possible for something like this. I have been staying with my friend Hannah and her host family here in Salzburg. They have been amazingly hospitable to me and of course have no problem letting me stay with them for as long as I need. What a blessing in a time like this!!

Good Friends and Birthday Fun.

2010-04-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

This will be my last blog entry for a while, as I'm leaving tomorrow for my two-week Spring break traveling. I wanted to write one more update though before taking off. I turned 22 last Saturday (woo!) and a lot of wonderful things happened! I received some lovely birthday cards in the mail (you know who you are-- THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING MY DAY!!!) Getting snail mail is one of my favorite things here. My friend from Budapest, Georgy, cooked me a homemade (DELICIOUS!) Hungarian 3-course dinner last Tuesday night. She had me over to the home she's staying at and we had an amazing dinner, complete with a candle to blow out! :) It was a wonderful way to start the week!Then, 3 lovely American gals came to visit. My friend Lizzie Koehler, who goes to Uni of Lincoln Nebraska, who has been studying this semester in Madrid, came Wednesday night and has been staying with me. She's actually going to Paris with me tomorrow and we'll be traveling together for almost a week. My dear Morgan Meyers from ISU and her roommate Bethany came and stayed for about 3.5 days last week as well. It was SUCH a treat to have friends here to visit (especially during my birthday). Friday night, literally just about an hour after Morgan and Bethany arrived in Glasgow, we went to Pizza Hut with some of my friends from Uni here. There were 10 of us total and it was a lovely piece of home to have good ol' American Pizza Hut for dinner.

Some friends and I at Pizza Hut. (from left) My Chinese roommate Mel, me, my friend Victoria from N.Carolina, Bethany, my friend Stacy from Virginia Tech, Lizzie, my friend Patricia from Spain, my friend Rebecca from Bible study (from Scotland), Morgan and Jessi, my other Chinese roommate. :)

My good Scottish friend Steph had invited the 4 of us to come and stay with her family in Inverness (the capital of the highlands) so we took her up on it! :) Steph was kind enough to drive us around wherever we wanted to go in the highlands of Scotland. She's such a gem! :) We drove all down Loch Ness and back up (taking random fun stops along the way) on Saturday and then on Sunday we took the scenic route up to Ullapool, a beautiful little harbor town. Below are a few pictures from the birthday weekend roadtrip. :)

Liz, Morgan and I

Spring has arrived!!!! Horray!

Beautiful rainbow. We saw 5 of these on Saturday and it was amazing.

My Scottish "bestie" Steph. She's the best.

Morgan, Bethany and I during one of our random stops at a castle. (Yes, because castles are all over Scotland. Seriously.) Don't ask me what I'm doing because honestly I don't know.... haha

The 5 amigas!

Breathtaking sky Saturday night. (this isn't photo shopped)

Saturday evening in Inverness

Birthday cake! (I seriously wasn't expecting this...)

Morgan enjoying some delicious Scottish fish 'n chips!

There's nothing like driving through the highlands of Scotland enjoying some ring pops! Thanks Mom for the ring pops! :)

Monday, upon returning to Glasgow, Morgan, Bethany and I went to Edinburgh for the day so they could see the castle and we could do some exploring. Bethany, being a fellow Harry Potter fan, wanted to go to The Elephant House (birthplace of Harry Potter!) so we did! It was super fun and was made complete by us having elephant shortbread cookies (pic above).

I had a WONDERFUL time with Morgan and Bethany and was sad to see them leave Tuesday morning but I'm so thankful they were able to come visit! To sum it all up, great friends, great birthday, beautiful Scotland... you get the point I'm sure. :)

I'm off tomorrow afternoon to Paris and will then be going to Madrid, London and Salzburg (The Sound of Music!). I'm excited but am having a hard time fitting 2 weeks worth of stuff into one small carry-on. Guess that's why they call it "backpacking Europe"... wish me luck! Miss u!<3>

Video from Neist Point Lighthouse, Isle of Skye

2010-03-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post this with the blog entry below.

Isle of Skye/Isle of Lewis

2010-03-25T12:49:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!
Haven't blogged in a while. I've been all over the place and don't have much time now, but I know if I don't do an entry now, I'll get way behind, as there has been much going on recently! So there you have it-- me writing to you instead of writing my paper which I've procrastinated.

Two weekends ago, I went with 3 lovely ladies (Liz, Dana and Sara who are all from the States studying in Edinburgh this semester) for the weekend to the Isle of Lewis and the Isle of Skye. We had surprisingly good weather and we all got along really well. We met up in Inverness, the capital of the highlands, and then took a bus together to Ullapool. Ullapool is a really cute harbor town which has the ferry that goes over to the Isle of Lewis. Here are a few pics of Ullapool:

The ferry to Isle of Lewis

Our first night, we stayed in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. The next morning, though ridiculously windy and rainy on-and-off, we decided to go see the Callanish Standing Stones. (google it-- fascinating!)

Below is the view from our bed and breakfast we stayed at in Uig on the Isle of Skye. We took another ferry from Isle of Lewis to the Isle of Skye. We arrived just in time for the sunset.

Below is a picture of Uig. We took a 5-6 mile walk and much of it looked just like this.

Below is a picture of faerie glen, near Uig. It's known for being an area of odd appearance in the midst of northern Isle of Skye. The movie "Stardust" with Clare Danes was filmed here. It's really quite beautiful and mystical.

Below is Portree, another town in the Isle of Skye. These are the 'rainbow houses', which have also been used many times in movies.

Portree at dusk

Meeting up with some German friends who are also studying at Strathclyde and who were traveling to Isle of Skye the same weekend we were.

The Macleod clan castle-- Dunvegan.

Highland cow.

Definitely not in Iowa anymore...

(Below) just a couple sheep taking their afternoon stroll and blocking the road. Ya know, the usual...

Neist Point lighthouse, Isle of Skye

Us four gals and our new German friend Boris who let us share his rental car with him. (And he drove since none of us drive manual!)

Though hard to see in the picture below, do you see a white diagonal line going from bottom left to top right? Those are all sheep that decided to move pastures and go up the stairs at the same time we did. Was definitely one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen.

Kyle of Lochalsh-- the meeting point of the mainland of Scotland and Isle of Skye.

We took a train from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness. It's about a 3-hour trip and it has won countless awards for its scenic views throughout the train ride. It was breathtaking the entire way. Below is just a taste of what we saw out the windows.

It was a wonderful, beautiful trip! I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go up into a few of the Isles of Scotland while I'm here-- definitely worth it! Got used to driving on single-lane roads, having to go get groceries before 5 pm when everything closes down and enjoy the beautiful remoteness of the towns there. I'll try and blog in a few days about this past weekend and my birthday adventures! :)

View all Photos

2010-03-15T17:37:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

In case you're not on facebook and would like to see all the pictures I've put up in albums, I will put the links below. I haven't posted nearly all of my pictures on my blog, so if you're interested in seeing some more, you can look at my albums below! :)

*Highlands/Loch Ness Trip: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040958&id=1172700088&l=268367a6f3

*Edinburgh: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042331&id=1172700088&l=59a028380c

*Scotland Adventures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040537&id=1172700088&l=52d80d84e4

*...Continued Scotland Adventures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042996&id=1172700088&l=fb633b184f

*Ireland Trip: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043852&id=1172700088&l=e00c33b35c

Where in the World is Sarah? Part 2

2010-03-14T14:35:00.001-07:00

Pluscarden Abbey

2010-03-11T15:22:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!
Last weekend I spent Friday-Sunday at Pluscarden Abbey in Northern Scotland near Elgin. There were 9 of us gals that went. It was such a wonderful experience. It's the only remaining medieval monastery in the U.K. and is home to about 24 monks at the moment. They have a women's and men's retreat house where visitors are welcome to come for a time of prayer, reflection or just a few days to get away from the hussle bussle of everyday life. The women's retreat house was just a wee bit down the road from the Abbey and it had 12 individual rooms, quite simple, and then a shared kitchen and living room. The monks have 8 services they do everyday, the first one beginning at 4:45 (yes, a.m.!). Visitors are welcome to attend any of the services they'd like to. Some of the girls that came went to all of them, others like me and my friend Victoria just went to a few. For me, since I'm not Catholic, I wasn't going to this specific monastery for a religious experience per say, but more a time to get away and have my own quiet times and have a break from the crazy city life in Glasgow. The services were a wonderful cultural and historical experience. The monks did Gregorian chant in Latin at all services. Yes, they all wore the long white robes and they do live quite a simple and peaceful life. We were talking to one of the brothers at one point and he said they grow all their own fruits and vegetables and only get a few select things from the grocery store ever. The monastery is nestled out in a fairly secluded area and I'm not quite sure how many acres are included in its land, but it's quite a few.

I mostly journaled, went for hikes in the beautiful hillside area, read and relaxed. We did all drive out to the beach on Saturday afternoon. It was so refreshing to get some ocean air and get the sand beneath my feet. Here are a few pictures from my time at Pluscarden and the beach:

The Abbey from the view of the small graveyard

The countryside literally right outside the women's retreat house

Some monk-made stained glass in the chapel

Pluscarden Abbey

Some of the lovely ladies who came also.

There were beautiful rocks and shells all down the beach

Yes, that's a random dog in the picture...

Had to go for a Titanic pose... :)

Spring is coming!!!! PTL!

A lovely castle we saw on our drive there.

Ireland Trip!

2010-03-04T16:32:00.001-08:00

Hey hey! Alrighty, well I returned late Monday evening from a 5-day trip to Ireland. I won't go into detail of EVERYTHING we did and saw because I don't want to bore you! Some of the highlights though: kissing the blarney stone, cliffs of moher, exploring dublin, galway, killarney, st. patrick's cathedral, etc. I'm going to just walk you through some pics and go about it that way. :)

You may be saying to yourself, "who are these girls?" Good question! Well this world, being small as it is, provided 4 girls from IOWA for me to travel with on my journey to Ireland. I caught a bus at 4:30 am Thursday morning from Glasgow to get to the airport which is about 50 minutes away. There were maybe 6 other people on the bus and these gals just happened to sit right behind me. I had some tea that morning and was surprisingly wide awake, so I just randomly asked them where they were traveling to. They said "Dublin". "Me too!" I said. From there, we realized we were all studying at Universities in Iowa but they were actually studying in The Netherlands and were just traveling through Scotland on their Spring Break. I ended up spending at least 3-4 hours with them while we were traveling. I mean seriously, what are the odds that on a 4:30 am bus out of GLASGOW Scotland I would meet 4 other girls from Iowa who were also on the same flight as me going to Dublin? Crazy.
Our hotel at the Grand Plaza. My friend Liz works at the Holiday Inn in Ames and so therefore gets AWESOME discounts at sister hotels all around the world. What would have been an over 100 euro room a night ended up being 39. Divide that by 5, and you've got some cheap accommodation in Dublin!

They had these fun rent-a-bikes all over the City Centre in Dublin-- you can drop them off at any of the stands you'd like!

Yes, we did the Guinness Storehouse tour in Dublin. Now I have my excuse not to have to visit a distillery in Scotland. Believe it or not, it was pretty fascinating to see how their marketing/advertising has worked over the years and learn the process of making that dark black stuff!

At the end of the tour, we got a free pint of Guinness on the top floor, where there were amazing views of Dublin. First Guinness for me. Verdict: not a fan. Ick.

Just one of the many Supermac's around Dublin. My family started this chain in the 1950's... ;)

The walk to Blarney Castle.

Kissing the Blarney Stone!!

The magical Blarney stone man. He allows the magic to happen.

Iowa Staters! Allen (left) is studying in Wales, Myself in Glasgow, Liz in Edinburgh and Ally (right) is studying in France.

The view outside our hostel in Ennis. It was a lovely city.

MY STORE!!! :)

This was everyone on our tour! There were 11 of us, 5 Americans, 6 Australians and then 2 Irish lads (the bus driver and tour guide! :)

Team IOWA STATE! In IRELAND!

This is a lovely candid shot of me that my friend Dana took. :)

Taking the ferry across the river. We didn't spot any dolphins, unfortunately.

These aren't any Iowa cows... in Ireland they rule the road. Really. It's pretty hilarious.

We saw 3 rainbows within 3 days!

Outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

Liz, Ally and I with our matching Claddagh rings. If you don't know the history behind them, you should google it! It's quite fascinating! :)

I realize I didn't give you much detail, but honestly I could write so much about EVERYTHING, I'm sure you'd fall asleep. Long story short, I FELL IN LOVE with Ireland. Everything was SO blue and green (right up my alley!) I thought I'd try and let the pictures do the talking. I'm leaving Glasgow in just a few hours to spend the weekend at a Monastery in Northern Scotland. It will be a weekend of peace, quiet-- much needed for me right now! Apparently it's a GORGEOUS area the monastery is set on, so I'm looking forward to some walks, enjoying the outdoors and no drunk people to ruin my sleep for 2 nights!! :)

Will write again next week.
<3 Sarah xx

Ireland Videos

2010-03-02T13:17:00.001-08:00

Hey! So I don't have a chance now to fully write about my Ireland experience, but I will post a few videos below of my time there for now. I'll post a blog about it soon enough, so stay tuned! :)

Sarah xx

The video below is from an Irish Traditional Music
"jam session" a few people did for us in County Clare.
If you can't tell, the guy playing the whistle is probably
no more than 16 or so. During the course of the performance,
he played 2 different whistles, the flute and the Irish pipes.
It blew my mind how good he was at all of them!
These guys had never played together before-- they were
playing everything by ear (you'll notice a bit in the middle)
which blew my mind! They have these things memorized and
can change key at the drop of a hat. Made me a bit jealous.. ;)
I fell in love with (traditional) Irish music ALL THE MORE
during my time in Ireland. I can't get enough of it!

Weekly Update

2010-02-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

Alright- here's my weekly update! I had a pretty packed Thurs-Sunday. My friend Liz (fellow ISU student) who is studying in Edinburgh came Thursday and stayed with me through Friday night. We did a lot of shopping, went to Uni of Glasgow, Gallery of Modern Art and walked up to the Glasgow Necropolis, a huge beautiful, old graveyard. We went right at sunset-- what a beautiful place.
Saturday morning my friend from Virginia Tech, Stacy, and I went with a group to go for a walk around a bit of Loch Lomond. The weather was absolutely perfect-- the colors were vibrant and the sky clear. I'm getting fairly familiar with the train system here. Let me tell you, Europe sure blows the U.S. out of the water when it comes to public transportation! Below are a few pictures from my Loch Lomond adventures. (Just to point out-- the colors are all natural. It really was that amazingly blue at the dock we stopped to get pictures at! Breathtaking, huh)
Sunday, I joined some other international students here at Strathclyde to go visit Dumbarton Castle. This is the location where (for you Braveheart fans) William Wallace was betrayed and imprisoned before being taken to be executed in England. Quite a lot of history packed into a little area!Thursday morning (4:30 am!) I'm headed to Ireland for 2 days in Dublin and a 3-day tour of Southern Ireland. I absolutely cannot WAIT. Ireland has been one of my top countries I've wanted to visit since I was very young. Going to be great! I'm going to be traveling there with 3 other ISU students. Woo Ireland!

Have a great rest of your week!! Love, Sarah xx

Where in the World is Sarah?!

2010-02-22T15:22:00.001-08:00

Got this idea from a friend. Take jumping pictures in random beautiful places I go to. Where in the world is Sarah?!? Stay tuned and watch for more of these! It will be a continuing saga! Also, I chopped off my hair today. See pic below. More detailed blog post coming soon!

First Video! :)

2010-02-20T15:14:00.000-08:00

Edinburgh-- the Grand Scottish Capital

2010-02-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

Bonjour blog-reading friends! :) I hope this post finds you well and for my fellow Iowans, I hope you haven't turned into a walking icicle yet. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I do miss the snow!!

I had a great past weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city. A fellow student at ISU, my friend Liz is also on exchange but is studying in Edinburgh so I went and stayed with her for the weekend. I got there on Thursday night, and Friday we got up and upon observing sunshine and a clear day, we decided to go ahead and hike up Arthur's Seat. We were both struggling a bit with colds so we stopped pretty frequently on our way up to blow our noses and catch our breath. It was a BEAUTIFUL day to climb and the views from the top were gorgeous. We brought a sack lunch with us and had our lunch at the top. We also took a few fun pictures, as well as wrote our names in the grass at the top with stones. Here are some pictures from our Arthur's Seat adventure:

Our hiking fun lasted most of the afternoon and so we headed back to her flat where we got ready for a Ceilidh that was happening that night. I hadn't brought any dressy clothes with me, just jeans, but between Liz and her roommates they spiffed me up and we went out to the dance! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO fun, probably the most fun I've had since being here. The traditional Scottish dances are great fun and it was complete with most of the guys there sporting their kilts. :) I can't wait to attend another Ceilidh!

Saturday morning Liz and I went to get lattes at The Elephant House, an established delicious coffee/tea shop made famous by J.K. Rowling going there during the writing of the Harry Potter books. On the front of the shop, The Elephant House bears the slogan "Birthplace of Harry Potter".

We then toured the Scottish Parliament Building, which was quite interesting. This fairly new building holds within it some amazing architecture, and presents a very contemporary look. Went and toured the Edinburgh Castle for most of the afternoon. It is packed with SO much history, it really is an experience.

We also walked the Royal Mile, explored Prince's Street and walked through a beautiful graveyard. Sunday was Valentine's Day and in the evening, they were projecting a Scottish poem across the side of the hill below the castle. It read, "Look to the living, love them, and hold on." by Scottish poet Douglas Dunn. It really was special walking to the train station getting ready to take off and seeing that. Below are also a few other random pics I took while exploring Edinburgh.

Whats Up?

2010-02-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

What's up everyone?
Here are some random updates in no particular order:
1. I'm still jetlagged. Still am unable to fall asleep before 2:30 am. It's not good.
2. I've become totally addicted to having my teatime. It's so great-- tea and biscuits (usually ones with lots of chocolate!)
3. Bought a pair of skinny jeans. I know-- you might want to look out a window right now and make sure pigs aren't flying. They very well may be... ;)
4. I've made some Scottish friends this week! Yay friends! I've found it quite easy to meet other international students, but harder to meet the natives. I've gotten involved in the Strathclyde Christian Union, which has provided many wonderful new friends for me. One of the, Stephanie, already invited me home with her for Easter (in the Highlands! :)

I've been a busy bee lately with many things, one of which was the Interface Arts Conference, which I wrote about below. Also, Friday afternoon I was able to go do some exploring of the city, which included going with my friend Giulianna to the University of Glasgow campus. J.K. Rowling is widely rumored to have based the idea of Hogwarts School on the campus of Uni of Glasgow. Look at the pictures below of the campus and you'll agree-- Hogwarts is written all over it. Diagon Alley is also rumored to be based off of Ashton Lane, which is located right next to the campus as well. Is was great to explore the campus, sneak up into one of the towers, climb the spiral staircase and just feel like I was in Hogwarts for a few hours (yes, I am a Harry Potter fan, in case you didn't catch on... ;) Below are more pictures for you! The first one is me outside of one of the Jordanhill campus, where I have my music and art classes. The rest are from my adventures at Glasgow University. Cheers! Xx

Interface Arts Conference

2010-02-07T16:48:00.000-08:00

I attended a conference this weekend called the "Arts Interface" conference. It was a great experience. I met many new friends and got really pumped up about creating art. Friday evening singer/songwriter Jo Mango performed and it was wonderful. Her music style is right up my alley. Saturday was filled with sessions and seminars. I attended a two-part seminar done by Jo on songwriting. I've dabbled with songwriting but have never given it my full attention before. I realized during the course of her seminar how EASY it is for me to write tunes and put it to words and it really encouraged me to do more of that. I'm going to be trying to find a practice room at the music building to do some writing. One of my favorite things about Jo is that she utilizes unique instruments, such as the kalimba, which I've decided is the coolest instrument of all time. It's already on my Christmas list! Saturday evening movie maker Norman Stone spoke, which was great. Overall, a really encouraging and exciting conference. I was able to speak with both Jo and Norman, which added a more personalized touch too. I'm really glad I went. Below is a picture of Jo and her band performing Friday night and a picture of me and my new friend Kirsty, who is studying the harp at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Doppelganger Week

2010-02-06T17:42:00.000-08:00

This has nothing to do with Scotland. As a break from doing something productive, I decided to join the multitudes of people (many friends) who this "Doppelganger Week" discovered their celeb look-alikes. Pretty shallow, but I did it none-the-less.

I was told these are my top 4 look-alikes:

I have a TON to blog about. Will try to start that tomorrow. :) Happy weekend and enjoy the rest of your "Doppelganger Week"!

Didn't Know Whether I Should Share This or Not....

2010-02-02T05:40:00.001-08:00

Ok, I lied in the last post. Nessie showed up. I was hesistant to show this to ya'll because of the crazy paparazzi around him. We bonded. I know he looks a bit angry in this picture--- don't judge a book by his cover. He's the nicest sea monster I've ever met. :)

Post #2

2010-02-01T16:49:00.000-08:00

I've been having a hard time aligning captions with the pictures. Sorry about that. Alrighty, so Sunday some friends and I went on a trip to the highlands and to Loch Ness. It was quite a beautiful journey-- SO nice to get out of the city for a while and enjoy the beauty of Scotland's countryside. I had Scottish fish and chips for the first time, learned some useful Scottish history and laughed a lot at our tour guide, Tom. We started to keep a tally of how many times he insulted England, because it was happening so often in his commentary. Pretty hilarious! All the cows reminded me of Iowa.... awwwwww! There were many sheep and deer along the way also. When we started to get into the highlands, everything was BREATHTAKING! We proceeded to go to Loch Ness, where we took a ferry across to some castle ruins. Certainly a wonderful experience. (Real) Nessie was busy and couldn't pull off a visit (busy monster, ya know...) but rainchecked and said if I came back, he'd be sure to come say hi. :) Here are some pictures showing you the beauty of Scotland. I was blown away. These pics don't do it justice, but enjoy!

Post #1

2010-02-01T16:01:00.001-08:00

I've had by far the busiest 3 days since I've got here. I've decided to split my blog posts into 2-- one specifically for my trip to the highlands and loch ness. This one will be focused on what has been going on here in Glasgow recently. Saturday night was my Chinese roommate Jessi's birthday. She had some of her friends over and together they made a TON of homemade Chinese food. It was delicious! I got to meet many of her friends and learned some fun Chinese traditions as well. Backtracking a bit, Friday 3 friends and I went exploring and shopping in downtown Glasgow. We discovered places to buy groceries, clothes, misc and everything inbetween. Friday night, my roommates and a few French exchange student friends went out. There are some pics below of just about everything I've talked about!

I tried sushi for the first time at Jessi's birthday party! The verdict: not a big fan...

With my Chinese roommates Mel and Jessi. :)

With Zak and Vincent, my new French friends!

My roommates (Mel) and I getting ready to head out Friday night

My new favorite candy bar. Oh my goodness, it's heaven! Just ignore the calories per bar on there..... ;)

A piece of art on campus. If you were just thinking, "What????", don't worry, I am still thinking that same thing....

Burger King.(Below) Complete with indoor pigeons. Yep.

Someone had too much time on their hands.....

This creek (left) goes right through campus .It's really pretty. And on the picture below-- yep, snow. It decided to follow me.

Above is a video of us singing Jessi Happy Birthday. English and Chinese.

Address

2010-01-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

Some of you have been asking for my address and I don't have your emails, so here it is!

Sarah McClanahan
10D4 Birkbeck Court
105 Cathedral Street
Glasgow, G4 0NP
United Kingdom

Glasgow

2010-01-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

I had to go and re-read my last blog post to see what I had already written-- so much has happened I can't seem to keep up! :) I've been getting settled in. The hardest part still seems to be jetlag. I have continued to wake up in 2 hour increments throughout the night and get REALLY sleepy in the early afternoon. I also wake up starving around 4:30 am here (which is my normal eat a bowl of cereal before going to bed time!)

I was finally able to connect with my advisor yesterday and get registered for my classes. He was very nice and showed me around the buildings and introduced me to several people. I'm taking mostly (or all, not quite sure yet) Music classes, and they are all located on the Jordanhill campus, which is a small portion of campus located about 3 miles West of the main John Anderson campus. The bummer is that my flat is on the John Anderson campus, so I have to take the bus to all my classes. The even BIGGER bummer is that the bus only comes every 2 hours, so I have to get to my classes 1.5 hours early, just to make sure I will get there on time.

I went to my first class today which was music history. Probably about 15 students and it's going to be half about popular music (The Beatles, etc.) and half Celtic music (which I'm super excited for!). I'm the only non-Scottish student, so it's a great class to meet people in! I'm waiting to hear back from my Bagpipe tutor. I'm going to end up going to the Glasgow Piping Centre once a week for my one-on-one lesson. Can't wait to start that!

I've been meeting a lot more people which is great! Last night was an International Student Pub Night and I met several guys from France, a gal from Italy, a gal from Spain, and several Canadians and Americans. Tomorrow I'm going with a few of my roommates (and Mel) to explore the city a bit more and buy some things. I wasn't very smart in packing my coats.... I ended up bring my down coat and a very light jacket. What I didn't realize was what I REALLY needed was something inbetween. :-/ The weather (although much nicer than Iowa right now) has proven to be quite inconsistent, but I really don't mind it much.

I'm SUPER excited for a day-trip I'm taking on Sunday. Some of my roommates, my American friend Mitch, 3 of our new French friends and possibly a few others are all taking a day trip to Loch Ness and the Highlands. It's a 8am-7pm ALL DAY trip. I can't wait to get out of the city for a while and see the true beauty of Scotland! Saturday will also be great because we're going to be taking a walking tour of Glasgow with several Scottish students. Should be good!

Below are pictures of my view from my bus stop, hanging out with Aslan at George Square, and my bedroom. Above is me with my roommate Alex and me and the other is me with my new friend Patricia from Spain and Manuela from Italy. :)

I'm Here! :)

2010-01-25T23:39:00.000-08:00

I've arrived in the great land of Scotand! Upon arriving in the Glasgow airport on Sunday, I was looking for a shuttle bus the university website said they offered for international students. After looking for 30 minutes for the shuttle, I ran into another American girl who was looking for the same thing! We ended up assuming it wasn't coming and we split a cab to the university. Her name is Mel and she goes to Purdue. She has become an unofficial roommate of mine ever since we got here. :)

Getting checked into my flat was another excursion in itself. Lets just say I wish I could have had a Mary Poppins bag that was small and somehow managed to fit EVERYTHING in. Instead, in reality I had my backpack, clarinet and 2 suitcases. Upon registering and getting my keys, I proceeded to haul all my luggage down a big flight of stairs, then up another, then getting to my flat I had to carry all my luggage up to the 4th floor (top floor) of my flat building. Lets just say my back still hates me. :-( I met my roommates that night. There are 3 of us from the U.S., 1 from Canada and 2 from China.

My friend Mel and I did go out exploring a bit late Sunday night. We were both really jetlagged but the excitement of being there gave us a desire to explore a bit downtown and find some dinner. My first sights of Scotland (though it was dark outside by the time we arrived) were beautiful. I love the city. Even better than the city are the people. We had multiple locals help give us directions or recommend where to go. They're so friendly here! We ended up finding a Subway and yes, Subway was our first meal in Scotland. Tasted so good after 24 hrs of traveling! :)

Yesterday besides getting registered, ID pic taken and a few other loose ends tied, some of my roomies and I went shopping. Went to buy stuff like duvee cover, hairdryer, and then me and 4 of my roommates all bought the same cheap pay-as-you-go phone. If any of you have free outgoing international text messages, feel free to text/call me here at 011-44-789-158-1010 (I think that's the correct # you'd need to type in from the U.S. If it doesn't work, let me know and I can send YOU a text first. :) I know that U.S. Cellular has no charge for international texts but other than that, I don't know.

Today's my biggest day since I came here. I'm going to figure out how to take the bus to the other campus, where I'm going to have my music modules (classes). I am going to officially get signed up for my modules and then I have my orchestra audition this afternoon as well. Yikes

Below are a few more pictures. The first one is the view from my bedroom window. The second is the view from our living room. The third is our living room. I'll be sure to put up more pictures of my flat later!

The picture below is of me, Mel and my 2 American roommates Alex and Kate, as well as Noelle, our lovely Canadan. :) More updates coming soon. Take care!

Travel Travel Travel

2010-01-24T02:13:00.000-08:00

Hellooooooooooooooooooooo peeps,

This is my first out-of-America blog post! I'm sitting in the London Heathrow Airport at the moment. I am ABSOLUTELY exhausted! My first flight from Des Moines to Chicago ended up being 2 hours delayed, so by the time I got to Chicago, I ended up running to catch my flight from Chicago to London. Made it 5 minutes before boarding ended. Phew! I then arrived at the London Heathrow Airport, only I was in Terminal 1 (International flights) and little did I know that the London Airport is HUGEEEE and you have to take a subway to the different Terminal #'s. So here I was with 2 suitcases, backpack, clarinet and big winter coat walking about 1.5 miles (literally) to GET to the subway area. I was dreading trying to get all my luggage on the train (it is DARN hard to move all that luggage- even when rolling 2 of them!). Surprise, surprise there was a man who helped me get my bags on the subway and then placed them on the luggage cart for me. We started to talk and low and behold, he was Scottish! Leave it to the Scottish to be the nice ones! ;-)

Anywho, thanks to his help I survived my 10 minute subway trip to the correct terminal that I am now at. ANOTHER thing I didn't realize was that at this airport they won't let you check your bags or go through any security more than 3 hrs ahead of your flight time, so I'm sitting out here on the floor with all my luggage (I did find the ONLY outlet in the area though!) waiting another hour and 45 minutes to check in my luggage. It's 4:24 a.m. Iowa time and I'm so tired. I slept maybe 1.5 hrs on the plane ride here. My flight doesn't leave for another 4.5 hrs. Can't wait to get to Glasgow and collapse on my bed!!! :)

Almost Set!

2010-01-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

Visa received, packing started, Scotland next week!!

Getting Ready

2009-12-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

I've begun the preparations! I applied for my visa, signed up for classes, bought my plane ticket and have begun my multitude of reading!

I'm taking off next month. SUPER excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Here's where I'm going...

www.strath.ac.uk/