Why I love Glasfast even more after a trip to Belslow...

So this past weekend AJ and I took the train/ferry to Belfast to see Ashleigh. We left Glasgow Central Station at 4pm on Friday, switched trains in Ayr and boarded the ferry in Stranraer and landed in Belfast port around 10pm on Friday. We headed to the hotel to check in and then joined Ashleigh and her flatmates at a local pub, called Lavery's. We had a good time visiting with Ashleigh and meeting her flatmates, but at 1am when the pub closed AJ and I were ready to go out dancing. Apparently, everything in Belfast closes at 1am, so we were forced to go back to our hotel at the unthinkable hour of 1:30am and be sad.

Glasgow Central Station

On day 2 of our trip to Belfast Ashleigh, AJ and I had scheduled a Belfast Black Taxi tour, which took us to different parts of the city that we wouldn't have seen on our own. We were taken to the protestant side of town which is Shankhill Road (AJ thinks maybe this is where the term "shank" came from) and the catholic side, which is Falls Road and got to look at the murals.

Catholic Mural

Catholic Mural

Protestant Mural

 This mural (^) was creepy. Its called the Mona Lisa of Belfast and they gun follows you wherever you walk and its kind of unnerving.

Protestant Mural

I stole the picture of the Protestant murals from Ashleigh's blog as well. It was intimidating being in that area and I didn't really want to take out my camera -so thanks to Ashleigh for the pictures.

We also stopped at the peace wall, and instead of typing out an explanation I just copy/pasted from Ashleigh's blog:

"Before all The Troubles the Protestant and Catholic areas backed against each other. However, when the troubles began they started blowing up the interior houses, not only to destroy each other’s property, but also to increase the gap of space between communities. Only recently have they started to try to redevelop this empty space, and regardless of filling the empty spaces they have left the wall up.

The wall is called the peace wall, literally keeping the two communities away from each other. There are streets that go through the wall to allow traffic to flow, however, at night these gates close so that there are no night attacks. This is still happening today, and in fact Police used to come down and shut the gates themselves, but there were often paramilitaries there to kill the policemen so now it is automated. 

The city of Belfast has gotten graffiti artists from around the world to come and paint the peace wall with all sorts of bright designs and pictures to try to liven it up, and there is one stretch of the wall where people write messages on the wall." (Hislop, 2010)

AJ signing the peace wall

Ashleigh signing the Peace wall

So after the tour we all went back to Ashleigh's for lunch and then went to a movie with more of her friends. We saw 'Easy A' which was hilarious. We then went for coffee and out for supper before heading back to Ashleigh's for a little party. She lives in a 3 (4?) floor residence hall and the top floor was hosting a party, so we all went up there to join in the festivities. Security showed up at 11:30pm to tell us we had to quiet down, or the party would be shut down. It was ridiculous, we weren't being that loud, there were only 20 people there and we were all over 21.

Sunday morning AJ and I slept in and checked out of our hotel at 12pm and headed over to Ashleigh's for breakfast. We decided we wanted Starbucks with our breakfast, so AJ and I headed into the city to get some. After we got our lattes we wandered around for 15 minutes trying to find a taxi rank, where taxi's line up waiting to be hired. We couldn't find a taxi rank or a taxi with its "for hire" light on anywhere, so we decided to call one. We waited 20 minutes for that taxi to show up, and poor Ashleigh had a cold latte. She made us pancakes and bacon and sausage. The bacon she made was the closest thing I've had to 'normal' bacon since I've been here, so it was a nice treat. Just after we had finished eating the fire alarm in Ashleigh's building went off so we all had to evacuate. The fire drill made me feel like I was in 7th grade again! After the fire drill was over AJ and I headed to the port to catch our ferry back to Glasgow.

After this weekends events we've decided that Belfast has been misnamed and should have been called Belslow. We also thought it would be more appropriate to name Glasgow Glasfast because of how quick-paced it is. After a weekend in Belslow, I really appreciate Glasgow so much more.

Oh! Something I forgot to mention... The trip home was interesting, there were cops on the train and AJ realized that it was because there was an "Old Firm" football game on Sunday afternoon. An old firm game is when the Rangers play the Celtic, which is basically protestant team vs catholic team (yet again religion  rears its ugly head and ruins something for everyone). Both AJ and I have been told by locals not to go out on an old firm night, as there is a lot of violence cause of all the rivalry. When we got back to Glasgow Central Station we walked across the street to the taxi rank where we noticed that there were many people on both sides of the street screaming at each other. One side of the street seemed to be covered with Celtic fans and the other with Rangers fans. AJ saw someone get shoved on our side of the street and 4 police officers came to break it up. It was terrifying and I was positive that if I was going to see someone get stabbed in Glasgow it would be during that 10 minutes AJ and I stood at that taxi rank. Don't worry, we made it home safe.






** Would just like to thank Ashleigh again for 'letting' me steal from her blog and because I am a scholar here is the proper citation:

Hislop, A. (2010) Belslow. Retrieved from www.ashleighrambles.blogspot.com

Halfway There..

I haven’t posted in a while, as nothing exciting has happened, but I thought I would update you all about the little that’s going on in my life.

I had two funny things happen to me this week, both on Monday. I though I would share:

1. It was Monday morning and I was at work, sitting in the office when the phone rang. I answered it, it was the receptionist asking to speak to my supervisor Billy. I said he wasn’t there yet, and she asked if he was up on the ward. I went to respond “I am not sure” but she said thanks and hung up after I said “Iiiiii”. I was quite confused as to what had happened until I realized that she thought I was saying “Aye” which is very common here in Scotland. Apparently I am picking up the lingo and I didn’t even know it!

2. I went to a concert with my friend AJ on Monday night. We were waiting to get in to the venue and had to show someone our tickets. AJ went first, and the woman who took his ticket asked him if he was going to be drinking. He said yes, was asked for his ID and then given a wristband to show that he was over 18. I went next. The woman took my ticket and told me to “have fun” with a pat on the back.  Apparently, I still look 17. Hopefully when I’m 27 I look 22.

Obviously being in Scotland is different than being in Canada. I think I have adapted fairly well and have managed with the accent, the food (British food is terrible) and the loss of personal transportation (yay public transit!). But there are some things I find myself missing on an almost daily basis. Some Canadian things I am really looking forward to:

-          Kraft Dinner. They have this “pasta and cheese” stuff that you can buy here. Its not nearly as good as real KD

-          Yellow Mustard. I can’t find this here, and sometimes I really just want some French’s yellow mustard to go on my sammich.

-          A non-electric shower – Electric showers = weird.

-          Central Heating – Radiators – blah. Especially since the boiler stopped working last night, so Julie and I spent the night freezing, with no heat and no hot water to wash up with. I realize that hot water and central heating weren’t always around, but they are things I have always had in my life and I feel deprived without them. Although, it is kind of nice to get out of the shower and grab the towel that was heating on the radiator.

-          Washer and dryer that work. – Wash a load of laundry (which takes 55 minutes on the fastest cycle.), hang to dry (usually on the radiators). It takes quite a long time to do laundry, we usually do 2-3 loads 2-3 times a week as the washer is itty bitty and the dryer doesn’t dry.

-          Non-instant coffee – Does this even need explaining?

I am not trying to complain here, I realize that none of these are essential to life and that I am managing just fine without them, but I just miss these luxuries is all. So if you want to send me KD and French’s yellow mustard it would be greatly appreciated.

Week 7 of practicum ended today, which means I am officially more than ½ done. It has gone so fast and I don’t think I am going to be ready to leave when its time. My professor came for a site visit this week. He came in, got a tour around the hospital and talked with Julie, myself and our supervisor about our progress and the site having other practicum students, etc. The hospital made us a nice lunch of sirloin steak (delicious, but not as good as home!) and we got to visit for a while. It was nice to see someone familiar after being here and meeting new people for months.

AJ and I are heading to Belfast, for the second time, this weekend to visit Ashleigh. We have a city tour planned so hopefully I will have many pictures to post next week.

A Canadian Thanksgiving in Glasgow

I was going to name this blog "A Glaswegian Thanksgiving" but that would be no Thanksgiving at all...anyways.

Ashleigh came from Belfast on Thursday to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with AJ, Julie and I. We had a pretty relaxing weekend. Ashleigh didn't get in until later on Thursday night so we spent the night at my flat eating pizza and visiting. I stayed up way to late to watch the Calgary Flames season opener - I was very tired and very sad by the time the game was over, although I did nap between periods. Friday Ashleigh and I went into city center and did some shopping -I was trying to put together Halloween costumes for Christy and I, as she is coming up from Cannock for Halloween and we are being Mounties. I found some pretty good stuff at a store here called Primark - its all super cheap clothes in a variety of sizes and styles.

Some local entertainment in City Center

Friday night the 4 of us went to the Queen Margaret Union (QMU) for a cheesy pop night, (which we fondly refer to as Cozy Beat) where they play a lot of 80s and 90s music. The QMU has this special drink called "Pints of Magic" which are 1/2 blue raspberry cooler, 1/2 cider and quite delicious.

AJ and I with the first of many pints of magic. They should be called pints of hangover.

Pints of Magic

Ashleigh and Julie at Cozy Beat!

Saturday was a very lazy day at my flat. Ashleigh roasted a pumpkin for pumpkin pie on Sunday. We spent the day inside, watching DVDs as the weather wasn't very nice. Saturday night we went out for supper at a burger place down the road, called Ketchup. They have many different kinds of burgers - Ostrich, Venison, Lamb, Crocodile and of course, Beef (with the option of getting Kobe beef for an extra £10). After supper we went down the road to a club called The Shed and spent the night dancing and telling people we were Canadian. After we left the club we went to a local chippy to get chips and cheese. AJ met a friend who wanted to talk to him about Doug Gilmore once he found out AJ is Canadian.

Sunday afternoon came early and AJ helped me apply to some grad schools out here (Glasgow Uni and Edinburgh Uni, both for Social Work) and then Ashleigh and I got to work in the kitchen. Despite what little we had for kitchen supplies (1 frying pan, 2 pots, no whisks) I think we did a pretty good job. We wound up with a feast of: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffed chicken breast, more stuffing, salad, buns, cranberry sauce and 100% made from scratch pumpkin pie.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

Nom Nom Nom

Homemade Punkin Pie. Whipped cream makes everything better.

Monday came very quickly, Ashleigh had to go back to Belfast, AJ had to go to class, but lucky Julie and I got Monday off in honor of the Canadian holiday but it did take some convincing. Our supervisor kept telling us that there was no such thing as Canadian holidays and that Tuesday was a holiday on Mars and we could take that off if we wanted to too. After pulling up an article on Wikipedia about Thanksgiving he finally conceded and we got it off.

Its week... 6? of my internship and I can't believe how quickly time is moving. It seems like I just got here and now I'm already trying to make plans to make it back home. I have recently booked weekend trips to Belfast, London, Rome, which are coming up in the next few weeks, so there will be lots to post about those I am sure. Ashleigh and I also used our time together this weekend to sort our Eastern Europe trip - we are going to Prague, Berlin and Krakow.  Should be a great time and I am looking forward to it!

Month 1 Ends

Well its October, and I have been in Scotland for 5 weeks and 3 days today. I haven't blogged in a while, probably because there is nothing super exciting going on since my trip to Belfast. I figured the least I could do was post pictures of the facility I am working at and pictures of my flat.

The Priory Hospital

 

 

My Office that I share with many people

A patient room

The cafeteria with the best food ever

Group therapy room

Pictures of my flat:

Entry way, clothes hanging to dry

Living Room

Living Room, more clothes hanging to dry

Kitchen, Gas stove, washer/dryer that doesn't dry

My bedroom