Glasgow- It's Not Alllll Bad...

Apparently Glasgow was named the city with the highest stabbing rate in western Europe, but also the friendliest city in the UK all in the same year. And that's where I spent my weekend.

Museum in Glasgow and a view of the River Kelvin

Let me start by saying, I really didn't know what to expect from Glasgow. I heard about the violence and poverty there. I knew it was a rough town. But that's all I had. My opinion has completely changed though. Glasgow is gorgeous (in the right parts) and full of really interesting architecture (both in good and bad ways). My only complaint was that it smells weird. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it does. I still prefer Edinburgh.

I stayed the weekend with my friend, Silvana from AU, who's been there for 4 months already. She's studying the whole year in Glasgow, and so she already knew her way around and could show me some cool parts of the city. University of Glasgow has, for the most part, a really cool and old campus. It is one of the oldest universities in the UK so that just tells you how cool it is. Sadly, I forgot to bring my memory card with me on this trip so I was limited to only a few pictures the whole time. It was also really foggy on Saturday, but I think it gave a really cool and eerie effect to the picture of the museum in particular.

University of Glasgow- one of the courtyards

We spent most of Saturday walking around the city. First we went to see her campus, which really was quite lovely. We also went to the city center and walked all over that. There were a lot of shops and restaurants which all looked nice. There was a lot of walking involved on Saturday, but we also went to Primark, which is a fantastic and cheap store in the UK that I now want to shop at all the time. I got a cute minty cardigan and a going out top there for a total of £20. Fantastic.

At night, there are lights above this street that light up. Super cute

Sunlight!

We went to the Glasgow Botanical Gardens which would have been much more exciting if there had been more flowers, but it's winter. The green houses were open, so we adventured in those for a while. We saw "Killer Plants" which really weren't that exciting. Silvana and I felt like we were at the zoo trying to see if the snake would kill something. The only thing is- snakes are at least more exciting than plants. We did enjoy the tropical plants and the fern that moved when you touch it. The Orchid Room was also really neat and it smelled fantastic!

These kids were at eating ice cream even though it was like 2 C outside

 Saturday night Silvana, her 2 friends from Uni, and I went out to the Glasgow University Union (GUU) for the club night. Let me tell you, it was smelly and gross, but I had a good time. Bloc Party was DJ-ing (they're an English band for those who don't know), which was interesting to say the least. The girls seemed to be dressed a little bit more conservatively here than at clubs in Edinburgh but I'm not sure what that means exactly. It might just have been because it was at the union.

I just liked the name of this club. It's a little ridiculous haha

Today we went to a museum, and I learned about Glasgow and ancient Egypt all at once! It was an interesting experience, as all of my experiences in Glasgow were. Apparently Glaswegians really like country-western music. Silvana and I found that out today. We also went to some thrift stores and some charity shops (like Salvation Army or Goodwill but for specific causes like breast cancer or heart disease). My train left at 5:50 for Edinburgh, so we didn't really do too too much today. Overall it was a really good trip, and I would suggest that anyone go to Glasgow at least once.