Glasgow: Some Final Ruminations

So my hours left here are ticking down (it’s 3:00 in the morning and my plane leaves in six hours), and I figured I would write one comprehensive review that glanced over my experience here in Glasgow. Up until now, I’ve really only provided anecdotes and tongue-in-cheek complaints. But there’s obviously a lot more to this city than the airports and train stations to other places. So I’ve got a few final notes on Glasgow before I hop on my plane back to Boston.

School

The University classes I’ve taken here have been a blast. Granted, I took two classes that were unaffiliated with my program, so I had more liberty to choose subjects that I loved than most. But even without Animation and Creative Writing, there were times when I just felt like the system worked. Granted, you aren’t held as consistently accountable for your work as you are in the States. I only have one paper that counts for my entire grade in one class. And in total, you only meet for about six to eight hours of class every week, in many of our cases four days out of seven. But sometimes this opens up your experience to make it your own. Yeah, you spend a lot of days on your ass watching Youtube videos. But sometimes you get up and really look forward to taking a day trip to Arran, or walking into the city, or even sitting in a café and just reading. Sometimes you even look forward to going to class. I looked forward to every animation and writing class here, for the record. They were some of the best courses I’ve taken since starting college.

Music

This place is a melting pot of musical talent. Oasis, Bloc Party, Mumford & Sons, The Beta Band, and many, many more got their starts touring around Glasgow. This tradition has continued through the past few decades and has made for a consistently impressive live music scene. I managed to get to nearly half a dozen concerts here—Chiddy Bang, Big Boi, Blitzentrapper, Titus Andronicus, and LCD Soundsystem, to name a few. The venues tend to be small and impersonal, and all have some sort of history or reputation that precedes them. The music scene in Glasgow is something you won’t find in Edinburgh—maybe not anywhere else in the world. King Tut’s, Barrowlands, The Arches, even O2—these are places I’m going to miss.

Student Life

There is always something to do in Glasgow. If you’re feeling restless, you can go for a run (or a walk) in the park along the river—it stretches in either direction for miles and is frequented by friendly dogs and their owners. You can take a loop and head back into town, or follow the path until you get tired and have to turn around. If you’re lost, you can always look around and spot the university tower—that’s your north star.

If you fancy reading a book somewhere quiet, you can go to one of the Wi-Fi cafes at the bottom of the hill like Offshore or Sonny and Vito’s, and hang out with a book and a latte, or a scone and jam, or a bowl of museli. If you don’t have something to read, you can head to Voltaire and Rousseau’s, an old shop packed wall to wall with piles of used books, and find some gold-leafed classic there for a couple pounds.

     If you’re looking for a night out, you can take a cab or a ten-minute walk to Sauchihall Street, where you can find a deal on drinks at Nice N Sleazy’s or Fire-Water—and maybe if you’re lucky you can convince your friends to come with you for some late-night stir fry at Wok to Walk. If you’re not feeling too ambitious, you can stick around and check out the scene at the Union clubs, or even at Oran-Mor (the church bar) or one of the places on Asthon Lane (see Vodka-Wodka). And if drinks aren’t your thing, you can head back toward Voltaire and Rousseau’s for tea around the corner, or see a movie at student rate (4 pounds) on Ashton.

     If you’re feeling especially intellectual, you can take a quick walk to the Kelvingrove Museum, where you’ll not only find [free entrance to] a gallery full of Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Dali, but also a taxidermy exhibit on the ground floor. If you’ve got time, you can take the train to the park to see the House for an Art Lover, or take the bus to the east side of the city for some theater. If it’s the weekend, the Barras Market will be in full swing, and you might find a deal on something nice, like a leather coat or a kilt suit. If your hungry, there’ll be a guy auctioning off raw meat somewhere.

     Of course, if you need to finish that paper, you can always spend the day in the library. You might consider one of the top floors if it’s going to be a long day—on a clear morning, you can see the whole city through one of those big windows.

People

Glasgow gets a bad rap back in the States for being dangerous, full of drunks and criminals. The former may well be true—maybe even the latter, but that’s not what most sticks out to me about Glaswegians. People are not only polite here; they are genuinely friendly, outgoing, and extremely tolerant of tourists. Living near the university probably helped our reception, because people usually assumed that we were students once they heard our American accents. But even in the more sketchy areas, like outside Barrowlands at one in the morning, people still introduce themselves and ask how you are liking your stay in their city. It’s incredible. One night a few weeks ago a man sat down with Jon and Joe and I in a late night food place to talk with us while he waited for his friends to leave the club. At first I was suspicious—was he after our wallets? Was he drugged out? No—he had recently returned to his city after a long time away, and was so happy to be back, he just wanted to talk to people. That’s what it’s like here. I still don’t know what a Glasgow smile—at least, not the violent version.

We’ve also had a great time getting to know the other students living near us, both American and international. It’s incredible how many countries are represented in our one building—Scotland, England, America, France, Bulgaria, Ireland, Lithuania, Canada, Germany…the list goes on. For the most part, we’ve had a really positive experience getting to know our floor mates. They’ve cleaned up after us, leant us their dishes (usually unknowingly), and put up with our loud music late at night. We owe them some thanks for a great term.

I can’t really think of anything else, so I guess I’ll just say thanks for following along. I hope you’ve found some of this stuff enjoyable. Even if no one’s been reading, I’ve enjoyed posting stuff just for posterity’s sake. Some day I’ll type in ruminationsfromglaswegia.blogspot.com and reminisce a bit. It’s been a fun term.

The rest is in Jon’s hands. Until next time.

Henry

Dublin!

Hey Folks,

The following destination was my last trip out of Glasgow. As my stay here is drawing to a close, I figured I would get this last travel post in before I start some more reflective ‘ruminations’ about my time studying in Scotland.  I know that Jon has another solo-trip or two to write about, but I’ll let him do that on his own time. Meanwhile, I’ll get all my stories out while I still can.  Only five days left, and I’m out of here!

A closer look at Edinburgh castle

This time I was lucky enough to be joined by my girlfriend, Hannah, who managed to make it out here for her Thanksgiving break. Her first 24 hours here must have been pretty overwhelming.  First, I picked her up at Glasgow International around 7:30AM (2:30 AM Hannah-time). Then we came back to the apartment and I went to a class at 10. Immediately afterwards, I woke Hannah up from her short nap and we headed into the city, where we grabbed a bus to Edinburgh. We spent the afternoon there, enjoying the sites and checking out a few more places that I had missed on my first visit (the inner walls of the castle, the parks below, and some of Newtown). At 4:30, we hopped on the Airlink bus and headed for the airport, where we caught a seven o’clock flight to Dublin.

One last trip to Calton Hill

Dublin is a city which is currently in some economic turmoil. Tremendously buried in debt, they just recently avoided bankruptcy with the help of generous EU loans. Still, many are pessimistic that the money will stimulate the economy enough to crawl back into the black.

As a result of Dublin’s struggle with the euro, everything is quite expensive. We avoided a lot of the financial hardships by booking accommodations outside the city and using five-day bus passes that our friends had (so generously) given us.

We were staying at a B&B ten minutes outside the city—or we hoped so, anyway. After emailing the man in charge three times to check for a booking confirmation, I still had received no reassurance that we would have a roof over our heads that night. We walked through the dark suburban streets of Dublin, shivering, hoping that this man named Martin was more organized than he seemed.

I should pause here to make an observation about Dublin: EVERYONE is friendly. We first experienced this on our way in from the airport—the shuttle driver not only told us where we were going, but offered to pull over for us when he got there, even though it wasn’t a bus stop. After looking for our B&B for a couple minutes, a police officer stopped us and asked where we were going. When she heard that we weren’t sure of the street number, she not only led us directly to the B&B, but also told us of other places we could stay if our room hadn’t been successfully booked.  This brings me to our accommodations, which turned out to be nothing but a pleasant surprise.

Abbington House B&B is owned by a wonderful couple named Audrey and Martin. They are cheerful, funny, and out-of-their-way helpful. When we arrived, Audrey came out and let us into our room. ‘Are you already booked?’ she asked us as we entered our room. We told her that we thought so, but that we hadn’t heard from Mr. Tynan. ‘That sounds like Martin!’ she said.

Not only was our room clean, neat, and perfectly stocked with everything we needed (TV, full bed, full bathroom, coffee machine, wi-fi), but it was cheaper than most hostels. Audrey wasn’t sure what the price was at first, but she trusted us to tell her what we remembered, and even asked us ‘if we thought it was reasonable.’

After a very restful sleep, we came down to the kitchen the next morning to a full Irish breakfast which Martin had prepared for us (bangers, beans, bacon, sausage, eggs, toast), plus an unending supply of cereal, yogurt and coffee. Martin then offered to drive us into the city, and we eagerly accepted his offer.

 The city along the river

We picked up some money next to the tourist office on O’Connell St., then walked along the river looking for a bus to take us to the west end of the city, where we hoped to find Kilmainham Gaol, our first stop of the day.

Kilmainham Gaol is an old prison that was built in 1796 to replace the old prison system in place. Bulit in the Victorian style of the period, it was more efficient, secure, and architecturally impressive than anything before it. The main chamber where most of the new cells were built has been used for everything from filming movies to concerts for U2. From any point in the chamber, you can see every other cell on all three floors. Pretty amazing. The tour itself was history-heavy and a bit long, but we were glad we went.

 Kilmainham Gaol

The next destination was Dublin’s number one tourist attraction, the Guinness Storehouse. There, we got a full tour of the process behind making the delicious Irish beer, a free taste-test, and a pint at the top of the building with a panoramic view of the city. And all for eleven euro. It’s no wonder the place is so popular.

A view from the Gravity Bar

After the storehouse we took a bus back into the main city, where we checked out Trinity College, almost saw the Book of Kels (we passed it up because of the 10 euro price tag) and had a leisurely walk through the National Gallery. Then we got a bus back to the B&B, where we took a break and got ready for dinner.

Trinity College

Our meal that night was one of the best I’ve had since crossing the Atlantic. My parents were gracious enough to treat us to a meal (and ONE drink!) for my 21^st birthday, so we went to the hopping Temple Bar area and settled on a nice-looking Irish restaurant with a “3 courses for 15 euros” deal (thanks, Ann!). We each had a nice pint of Irish ale, Irish and Murphy’s stews to start, and then platters of potato pancake-wrapped filet mignon and corned beef with cabbage. Dessert was Bailey’s cheesecake and a banana-chocolate-walnut crepe. Man, it was good.

We finished off our stay with a little bar hopping and then came back to the B&B to pack up for our flight. As if the trip hadn’t been nice enough, we discovered a box of chocolate and a birthday card waiting for me when I got back. Now THAT is a good stay!

So overall, Dublin was a quick trip. But I think we got a good sense of it, given the time we had. I highly recommend it. And if you’re looking up places to stay, google “Abbington House, Dublin.” Those guys are the best, and I owe them the plug.

Ben Nevis

A couple weeks ago, our professor took us on a weekend trip to Fort Williams, which is known around the world because it is at the base of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the U.K. Unfortunately, Henry couldn’t come because he has class on Saturdays. But the rest of us woke up bright and early that Saturday and head out to Fort Williams, which is about 3 hours away from Glasgow.

It takes about 7 hours to climb the mountain, so there was no way we could do it before the sun went down after our train ride. Instead, we spent the rest of the day walking around Fort Williams (it isn’t very big) and ended up taking a cruise on Loch Linnhe, where we got to see salmon jumping out of the water and a couple of seals.

View of Ben Nevis from the lake

Loch Linnhe

After our lake cruise, we walked to our hostel (which was supposedly a youth hostel but was inhabited by no one under 40), where we settled in and hung out with the rest of our group. Joe and I went to bed before the rest of the group because we wanted to get up early (the girls decided not to climb the mountain). We woke up right after the sun rose, packed our bags, made some sandwiches, bought some water and granola bars and headed toward the mountain. This was the first mountain I had ever climbed, so I was relying on Joe’s boy scout knowledge to make sure we didn’t die up there. I had no idea what to expect. There were a bunch of signs illustrating all the things you would need to have to climb up the mountain (all of which Joe and I did not have). On the walk leading to the mountain, we saw the other hikers decked out in hiking boots, windbreaker pants, matching jackets, walking sticks and a whole bunch of other cool professional hiking gear. Joe and I had on jeans, a t-shirt and non hiking boots (Joe had vans and I had worn down timberlands). So needless to say, I was a bit worried about our preparedness. Add in the little caveat that more people have died climbing Ben Nevis than have died climbing Mount Everest and I was a little terrified. But, we hiked up our jeans, tied our shoes tight and started our ascent.

A lake that is about half way up Ben Nevis

View of the valley from Ben Nevis

I had no idea it would be as tough as it was. I mean, I figured it would be hard, but I wasn’t expecting the intense workout that I ended up getting. It amazed me how high up it really was. Every time we thought we had made it to the top, we realized we had about another 30 minutes left of hiking to do. When we found out what the record was for going up and down the mountain was, we were astounded. Someone made it to the top and back in an hour and 40 minutes. It took Joe and I 6 hours to do it and we were moving relatively fast while also making sure we didn’t slip off the edge and die. When you start to get up really high it gets a bit scary because the path is not very big and it’s very easy to slip. The temperature change is also pretty astounding. We went from drenching our clothes in sweat to having to put on every layer of clothing we had because it got so cold at the top. But the best thing about climbing it (aside from the grand feelings of accomplishment) was the view. At certain points, you could see all the way to ocean and got a great view of the valley and Fort Williams area. Of course, both Joe and I forgot our cameras but that’s nothing a little google image search can’t fix. Enjoy.

The Summit

View from the summit

View from about half way up

View of the Valley

Top 5 Reasons I’m Thankful We Won the Revolutionary War

This is a post overdue from Thanksgiving. Yeah, Glasgow is great. But still, there are just times when I think, God bless America.

Here are Scotland’s unforgivables:

1.  Bathrooms

Bathrooms here just make a lot less sense. First of all, the sinks always involve two separate faucets for hot and cold water, so your hands are always either freezing cold or covered in first-degree burns. Apparently the idea is that you can put the plug in and make a washbasin for your face. Which is a good idea, since the bottom of sinks are dirtier than toilet seats.  Can’t you make a washbasin with one adjustable faucet anyway?

Also, the urinals don’t have walls. Which is fine—it boasts confidence in the Scotsman’s ability to pee in the presence of another man without freezing up. But are they really that confident? I’ve seen lines queue up with the middle stall open. Really, Scotland? You’re going to waste that middle stall? I’d take it, but there’s no wall. And believe me, I freeze up next to kilts.

2.  Hydration

People don’t drink water here. They drink beer and whiskey. But that’s not my gripe—my gripe is that sometimes you can’t afford anything more than tap water. And here’s the thing: nobody refills your tap water. You know those guys in America whose only interest—whose only job, it seems—is to hover over your shoulder, shaking that ice-filled pitcher until you sip just enough of your water to call your glass half-empty. Why is there never a happy medium here?

And this reminds me—nobody believes in ice here. And tea? It’s flavored water, folks. You want a break or a chance to wake up, drink some coffee. Jeez.

3.  Weather

What’s with the weather in the UK, anyway? It’s like the place where all the rainclouds come to relax. Even the sunny days are bookended by drizzle. The UK is more northern than New Hampshire—and yet this rain never turns to snow. And the wind...unbelievable. My mother once said that when it rains, God is peeing on us. If this is true, I don’t doubt he’s also breaking wind in Glasgow.

4.  Everything is smaller

And I mean everything. Cars, buildings, streets...the one that really gets me is food.  Why such small portions, folks? You eat just as much crap as Americans do—why not embrace it?  SUPERSIZE those fish & chips, will you? Bring me seconds of those eggs and bangers!  And for God’s sake, make my buffet all-you-can-eat. I’m paying twice as much; I might as well leave full.

It’s part of this ‘Green’ obsession over here—this holier-than-thou, let’s conserve everything mentality. Must be some leftover royalist sentiment.

I don’t want switches on my outlets—I want constantly flowing, uninhibited rivers of energy flowing through my wall! I want all my electronics fully charged, at ALL times! I want the pressure of my showerhead to scratch my body, it’s so strong. I don’t want to walk up stairs!  I want to be taken everywhere by an elevator, or an escalator, or a moving sidewalk…something.

    

And where are all the drivethrus, speaking of food??

5.  The pedestrian culture

Let me explain something that has been really irking me lately. You’re walking down the sidewalk, minding your own business, when you see someone coming your way on the same side. It’s pretty crowded, and you’re a reasonable, liberty-loving individual. So when you see this guy coming, you move over a little bit to the left side of the walk.  As you get closer, you continue to wait for some sort of reciprocation. THERE NEVER IS. I don’t know how people don’t constantly walk into each other here—they simply refuse to move, more content to ram their shoulder into your sternum than to move two lousy feet to the right.

And you gotta watch the edge of that sidewalk, because cars here don’t stop for pedestrians. And don’t think you’re going to see them coming, because THEY’RE DRIVING THE WRONG WAY! Yep, that’s how they get ya. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. One false step without a look, and you’re human haggis.  And let’s be honest folks, nobody likes haggis.  Not even the Scottish.

I’m putting this out there for YOU, Scotland.  It’s for your own good—these aren’t unreasonable gripes. And it’s not like you’re not watching all of this happen twenty-four hours of the day through the millions of cameras you’ve installed everywhere. You know what’s going down.

Americanize a little bit, guys. It won’t hurt.

* * *

Phew.  That felt good.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving.

The Isle of Arran

Hello All,

So I thought I’d share another trip of ours with everyone.  This one isn’t quite as grandiose as our reading week odyssey, but it was fun and worthwhile just the same.

Jon, Joe and I decided last minute to make the journey to one of the famed Scottish isles.  Because we only had time for a day trip, we decided to go with the one that was the closest—Arran. 

Arran is the seventh largest Scottish island, weighing in at 167 square miles. It has been inhabited since the early Neolithic period (according to Google) and has been colonized by the Irish, the Norwegians, and the Scottish. On the west side of the island there are mysterious rock pillars that date back to the Viking age. We read in the tourist pamphlet that there are also large quantities of dinosaur remains and footprints.

 The ruins at Lochranza

We took the subway to the train station and the train station to the port town of Androssan, where we boarded a ferry and made the forty-five minute float over to Arran.  All in all, the trip took about two hours—not bad compared to the near-seven hour trip to Mull.

 Androssan

It was a beautiful day when we stepped off the ferry at around 10:30. We went to the tourist office and got a map of the island, complete with descriptions of a few tourist attractions and a bus schedule.  We hopped on the bus and road about forty minutes to the northern tip of the island.  Once there, we explored the vacant (closed) Arran distillery before being kicked out by one of the workers and checked out the wildlife around the small ruins of a castle. 

Jon sneaking up on some wildlife

When we discovered that the bus schedule was less than regularly frequent, we contemplated exploring some caves and a “fairy garden” a couple miles inland. Luckily, we decided to check the bus stop once more before venturing too far, and happened to catch a bus by accident. Right as we stepped in, a torrential rainstorm passed over.

A quick snapshot of the Arran distillery

We rode the bus back towards the port town of Brodick, stopping off a half-mile outside to find food and investigate the Arran brewery.  We didn’t find any food, but we did find a cheese shop and an aroma factory (what??). The brewery was pretty cool—the tour was pretty short and disappointing, but the lady in the shop gave us plenty of samples afterward.

The Arran Brewery

We walked a little further past the brewery and came across the (also closed) Castle of Arran. This time we decided not to break in.  We walked around, exploring the outer walls, the gardens, and the strange foliage nearby that was straight out of a rainforest. By this time, we were getting drenched with rain, so we headed back to Brodick and got ourselves a meal at a local pub before heading back on the ferry.

The Castle

All in all, it was a good day. Arran is a quiet place during the off-season—lots of elderly locals and a few younger inhabitants continuing their respective family businesses. Our server at the pub complained that Arran was the most boring place in the world. But it does make for a great day trip!

Some Scotsmen (and Scotswomen) You Might or Might Not Recognize:

Let’s take a break from traveling and focus on some Glasgow-related news. You might have thought that Scotland is a B-side England, or that it’s just a mythical place that Mel Gibson made up so that he could film Braveheart.

Think again.

Scotland is more than kilts and bagpipes. It is more than golf and Sean Connery. In fact, I’ll bet that a lot of the people and characters on this list are people and characters you know and love, and that you assume are from your side of the pond. Well I’m writing to tell you that you might be surprised by some of the following.

Let’s look at some influential characters you might or might not have known about.  I’m not talking about Mary, Queen of Scots, here guys.  I’m not talking about Willian Wallace or Robert the Bruce.  That’s too obvious.  How about:

Robert Louis Stevenson

He wrote “Treasure Island” and “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” In the top 30 most-translated authors of all time, just below Charles Dickens (according to Wikipedia).

Alexander Graham Bell

This guy not only invented the telephone, but also National Geographic. ‘Artistic’ pictures of naked women? Text messaging? This guy.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Wrote all the Sherlock Holmes stories—credited for the first crime novels. Also the expression “No shit, Sherlock.”

Captain Kidd

The famous pirate rumored to have buried the treasure that inspired numerous stories, including “Treasure Island.” Probably the most frustrating mapmaker ever.

Robert Burns

Known by some as the “Ploughman’s Poet,” “The Bard,” and even “The Greatest Scot,” this guy wrote stuff about farmers speaking to mice and some big battle called Bannockburn.

Honestly, though, who am I kidding? Nobody cares about that stuff anymore. Here are the people that ACTUALLY made Scotland famous (if you don’t believe #1 is Scottish, look him up).

10. Susan Boyle

9. The guy from 300

8. ‘Fat Bastard’ from Austin Powers

7. Scrooge McDuck

6. Shrek

5. Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)

4. Nessie

3. Willy from the Simpsons

2. Scotty from Star Trek

1. Chef from South Park

 

There.  Now wasn’t that enlightening?

Barcelona!

After our amazing trip to Palma, we made our way to our final destination, Barcelona. From the time we got off the plane, I got the feeling that Barcelona was a lot different than the other places we had been. For one, it was crowded. Everywhere. Once we got off of the bus from the airport, we were immediately thrust into the middle of a crowd of tourists. We made our way down Las Ramblas, the main avenue of the touristy part of town and eventually got to our hostel, the lovely Kabul.

Kabul was a bit different than the other hotels we stayed at during our trip. Kabul resembled a bar more than a hostel (their lobby looked more like a night club then a reception desk). Once we dropped our bags off, we met up with some of the other Dartmouth people and got some food.

Barcelona is the 6th biggest city in Europe and is the capital of the Catalonia, an autonomous state in Spain. Here they speak Spanish and Catalan, which (like Brussels) made reading a map and getting around pretty difficult. But after a couple days we got the hang of the city. Our hostel was in the middle of the Old City, which gave us access to many of the best monuments in the city.

Las Ramblas

After getting food at an amazing little bistro, our first stop was the Cathedral, which was beautiful but not as cool as the one in Palma (to me at least). From the Cathedral, we made our way to the Pablo Picasso museum, which he himself had sponsored in honor of his long time friend and assistant. While the museum didnt have any of his really famous works, we got a good look at a lot of his lesser we walked down Las Ramblas to the Jardines de la Ciudadela, which is a huge park fit with a zoo, an aquarium and lots of palm trees. Along with some beautiful t-shirt weather, Barcelona couldn't get any better.

A painting from Picasso's Blue Period

After we left the park, we made our way to the beach, which like everything else, was beautiful.

Once we had our fill of the beach, we walked around a little bit more and saw a couple more monuments, including the Christopher Columbus monument (which we found out was supposed to be pointing west, towards the Americas, but had been built wrong and actually pointed South. Fitting seeing as how Columbus' sense of direction was completely off).

Columbus!

With a days walking under our belt, we decided to get some food at a restaurant one of our Dartmouth friends had looked up. After waiting in a really long line for about 30 minutes, we finally made it in and had the best meal we had had in a while. Spanish food, aside from the extremely small portions (tapas is essentially getting a babies portion of food) is amazing. The paella we had at this restaurant was amazing and was well worth the long wait.

Paella!

Once we finished our meal, we walked around and looked for a bar. Barcelona is full of these long, endless alleys that eventually connect to the main avenues. In these lovely, but sometimes sketchy alleys, there are tons of guys trying to sell you cans of beer and other, more illegal things. Its a bit unsettling at first how open and forward they are with you but after a while you learn to wade through the crowds of these street salesmen. After hanging out at a small bar for a while, we met up with Joe (who had just gotten off a flight from Dublin) and went to a couple more bars before heading back to the hostel and getting to bed.

One of the small alleys

The second day, we saw a couple more monuments, including the Sagrada Familia and a gorgeous fountain built by Gaudi, a Spanish artist whose architecture is all over the city (and who died by getting run over by a tram. ouch).

For dinner, we got mexican food, which like everything else, was amazing (although Henry's daiquiri was full of rind). Henry, Joe and I decided that because our flight was so early (and because they only had room for one of us at the hostel), it would be better to just stay up the whole night and then get to the airport around 6 am. This proved to be a lot harder than we had planned. By about 4 am, we got really tired and by the time we got to the airport, we were struggling to stay awake. Somewhere along the way, it became my job to make sure we didn't all just fall asleep and miss our bus or plane. I accomplished this mission with a little loud techno bumped up to 100% volume. Once we got on the plane, I was able to give my ears a break, but it didn't do much because after another Ryanair flight, I couldn't hear out of one of my ears.

The ending to Barcelona was fitting. It was kind of like sprinting at the end of a marathon. We made it to 3 countries, 4 cities and somehow made it without missing a flight, getting pick pocketed or having any other awful thing happen to us. Overall, it was a pretty amazing trip. It was the kinda trip I hope i'll remember in 20 years. But as amazing as our trip was, it felt good to get back to Glasgow, and back to my small, but comfortable bed.

Overall Rating

4/5

Pros:

- Great Food

- Beautiful Monuments

- Amazing food

Cons:

- Expensive

- Transit system is not very good