now I've been in Glasgow for just over 24 hours...

i remember why i don't like blogs (i had one for a while in highschool). you can check your number of pageviews, but you don't get to know who's actually read it b/c people rarely leave comments. it's like an incredibly one sided conversation.
not a huge deal though. i'll stop my whining and get on to writing my second post.

so, i'm in Glasgow! and it's been great so far. my flight was delayed in leaving Toronto, but somehow still managed to arrive early. i tried to sleep on the plane since it was an overnight flight, but i was largely unsucessful - maybe got in an hour or two, tops. yesterday was good regardless. walked out of the airport around 9am to sunshine (in Glasgow, that is a rarity i'm told.) after deliberating over some transit pamphets in the airport, i stuck to my original plans that i'd researched preflight, and caught the shuttle bus from the airport to the city centre.

i know this is a comment that most people make when they travel, but having cars driving on the opposite side of the road is increadibly disorienting. even for crossing the street - i won't be jaywalking for a while.

i got off at the buchanan bus centre, a block away from where i needed to catch the train to get to where i'd be stashing my stuff. i bought myself a daytripper pass (wore a huge smile while asking for it... i realise that the song daytripper actually has nothing to do with public transit, but nonetheless, the song continued to play in my head for the next couple of hours). this transit pass allowed me to travel for free on subways, trains and most bus routes for the rest of the day. quite handy. then after using the public telephone to confirm that someone was at the flat, i headed to the train station. only, since i took the wrong street, has to backtrack, and then took a while to figure out the train system once i got there, i missed the train i needed by 1 minute. wasn't a big deal though - the ticket man was very helpful, asked me all about Canada, and gave me some advice on travelling in Glasgow as I waited for the next train.

the train was awesome. scenic. went between moss covered stone walls, through tunnels, making me excited about all the beautiful landscapes to be seen and explored. and, there was a man who came up through the cars of the train saying "can i see your ticket please", just like it is in the movies (i know. i sound like a tourist. i'm embarassed to type this sentence. it is probably like this on trains in canada too, but, this was my first train ride ever.)

i feel like i'm rambling. i'll stop the public transit details soon. after stashing my stuff at the flat, meeting and chatting with the lovely lady who lives there, and taking a short (but likely too long) nap, i bussed back into town with my hiking backpack. next goal, get a sim card and plan for my cell phone.

i've developed this bad habit recently of looking at maps to figure out where i should go, looking at the route to get there, and then promptly forgetting most of the streetnames, or at least, the order i should be reaching them. i remember the basic route though, so i end up relatively close, turning when i come to a street name that looks familiar. anyhow. this resulted in about 40 mins of exploring downtown, looking for Car Phone Warehouse (this cell phone place when you can get a plan with almost any service provider.) Finally found one, they were quite helpful. I guess my Canadian accent is a good conversation piece.

After that was accomplished, my next task was to get to take the subway to the house where i would be couch surfing for the next two days. after discovering the discrepancies between the intercity subway station and the in-city subway station, i finally found the one i needed and headed on my way.

the subway carts here are so small! i've been told that the system is 100 years old, and the only thing that they've changed in that time is the tiling in each station. i don't know how accurate that is though. still. the height of the ceiling made me feel as though i am an average height.

after a short walk from the station, i arrived at the house (or flat) where i was greeted with much hospitality. being exhausted, i wasn't great for conversation, but still enjoyed dinner with the house (the way they handle groceries is similar to home street, but they eat together every night), and then headed off to sleep one of their flatmates was in Edinburgh for night, so i got to sleep in her bed. aside from an hour break around 12:30am, I slept fairly well.

Today i explored campus a bit, registered and got my student card, and got as far as using the computer at the library (which i think i have used for far too long. i should post this soon and get back to exploring. maybe i'll grab some lunch first). i had to use my student card to get access to the library - they don't let just anyone in.

sorry that i've rambled on about random things like transit. there is so much more to tell, but i can't fit everything in here. a couple short things before i bring this to a close. the buildings in this city are beautiful. at the centre of the city is George's Square, which hold a block of bricked walkways, and for some reason, a giant ferris wheel. today i saw a man walking, wearing head phones and singing along quite loudly. he was about 50. it was great.

i forgot that the sunsets earlier here. it is just about 2pm here, and i have only a couple of hours of daylight left to explore, so i'll need to end this for now. i apologize for the verbosity of this post.