Greetings from Glasgow! Today is my last day in the city, so I'm taking shelter from the rain in the Mitchell Library to write this post. It seems crazy, but it was 10 times easier to get a library card here, where I'm staying for 4 days, than it was to get on in Texas, where I've lived for 3 years. What gives?
I should start by saying that I don't know why I chose to spend the weekend here rather than in Edinburgh - but I'm glad I did. On Sunday morning, I met a fantastic couple at a Baptist church down the street from my hostel; they are in international student ministry, and who knew, but I'm an international student here ;-) So they took me home for lunch and I ended up staying for dinner. It seemed crazy to find myself having a backyard lunch with a couple from Scotland, a writer from Seattle, and 4 horticulturists from the Czech Republic.
From the exterior, Glasgow seems quite forbidding; it's always overcast, everything seems huge, and it's all too easy to find yourself in a dangerous-looking neighborhood. But I've quite enjoyed my time here all the same. The vastness of the buildings and streets is beautiful as well as daunting; when I finally saw the wide sweep of the River Clyde, I couldn't stop taking pictures. There's a park near my hostel called Kelvin Grove, where I ran for an hour along the river, hardly aware that I was in a city at all. And the best part of Glasgow by far has been the people: the couple that took me in and the Australian and American friends I've made at the hostel. The other night, four of us stayed up drinking and talking until 3 am like we'd known each other forever. It's crazy and unexpected - but that's Glasgow.
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