Should've brought my sunglasses on this trip . . .

Yesterday was the most beautiful day I have ever experienced in Glasgow. After working in the morning I headed out to the park to read around 3 and it was glorious. Glasgow in sunshine is very much like Portland in sunshine--people frantically getting outside to revel in the vitamin D and warmth--except Glasgow takes it to a whole new level. Thousands of people emerge into the park with bbq's, picnics, troops of teenagers rove around and there are adorable infatuated couples wherever you look shamelessly making out on the grass, the whole thing is quite a scene. I have rather a penchant for people watching, so this whole situation is rather agreeable with me, though rainy Glasgow is just as good for people watching. The delightful people combined with the wonderful books that Voltaire & Rousseau have been allowing me to discover are a wonderful combination.

Most of the summer I have been pretty disappointed with how little time I have really had to read, and thankfully while I've been here I have been averaging a book every 1-2 days which is giving the bookworm in me an extra and needed boost. I couldn't help feeling yesterday, sitting on a park bench intermittently reading my Phillip Roth book and imagining stories for all the people around me, just completely and effortlessly happy. And thankfully because Glasgow is far enough north I was able to stay out in the park until 7:30 reading comfortable until my need for dinner finally overwhelmed me.

Now back at the same cafe again today after a delightfully long walk early this morning. It gets harder and harder to think about leaving this place every hour!

3 days 'til lift off.

I am sad to say that my time back in Scotland is rapidly coming to a close without any sure estimate of when I might be back again. The last week has been wonderful and has introduced me to even more that I love about this city and the people here.

a bit of an update on my research-
Thankfully I seem to have managed my time well so I am entering my final day of research on monday with a pretty open schedule as to what I need to see. I was pretty worried that I was not going to have enough hours to complete all my research, but I even ended up taking part of friday off of researching after getting to the end of my 'must read' list of documents. As much as I have really enjoyed using the special collections it does get a bit sad going there every day for 8 hours and not talking to anyone and only being in the company of 5 other really old dudes doing research and the occasional Uni student who wanders in. By yesterday lunchtime I was in huge need of social contact after being just a little bit too pent up in the world of 19th century manuscripts and stories about dead people (though granted I now have some dirt on Wordsworth if I ever need to do some blackmailing, its a shame I am not taking the Wordsworth senior seminar!), so after deciding that I was certainly on if not ahead of schedule I wandered downto Voltaire and Rousseau where I inevitably ended up buying 4 books (I've recently been on a Paulo Coehlo spree and I conveniently found his next 3 books I want to read!) and then headed to Artisan for some caffeine and reading.

Later in the evening I journeyed across the park to my old pub of choice, Lebowski's, and thanks to being friends with the bartender got a world tour of gins including a spanish gin with olives--yum! I also got to taste some excellent tequila which apparently has some story with the Mexican Government changing some laws about liquor for, Greig (bowski's bartender friend) told me the whole story and it was all very intriguing at the time but that's all I remember. Who knew tequila could be good enough to sip on?? All in all it was an excellent evening and just the cure I needed for my socially deprived, early to bed self of the last week.

Today is for the last planning of my Monday research and then tomorrow I am headed to Asia Style (basically the only asian restaurant in Glasgow and its pretty damn good) with Greig for a last hurrah, then Monday is researching and packing for early wake up call to get to the airport! Can't believe I'm on this end of the trip already, I'm pretty sure time just moves quicker in Glasgow.

Must get work done now and get back to my Chai Latte!

Writing, Writing, Writing, Reading, Reading Reading . . .

Today I found myself with a bit less energy and motivation with the researching. I was so on top of things yesterday and so energetic but today was a much different story. It started with arriving at the library this morning right as everyone was pouring out for a fire alarm (good thing I didn't arrive 5 minutes earlier or I might have been stuck in the lift), which ended up in having to wait outside for 45 min. This made me start the day off considerably off-schedule which was fairly frustrating with only 3 days of research left.
So I got to it for 3 hours until my stomach was grumbling loud enough for everyone to hear. So first I stop by my favorite bookshop in Glasgow, Voltaire & Rousseau, which is basically a hole in the wall with gigantic piles of books everywhere. You have to creep your way through the main aisle and pray that you don't find a book you want at the bottom of the stack! I ended up finding a contemporary edition of one of the books I was just looking at in the Collections (The Altrive Tales, by James Hogg), and another book that I've been wanting to read for a few months called "The God of Small Things" (no idea what it's actually about!).

Naturally I end up spending 40 min there (way longer than I really had time to), before running over to Artisan for food only to find that they don't know if their soup is gluten free, and naturally it's the only non-sandwich/bread item on the menu, sooo Chai Latte for lunch! I return to the collections somewhat discouraged, and unfortunately the rest of the day did not go as well.

Artisan Roast

I decide to to wander home via Byres road (ahem and their wonderful vintage stores) and end up much more cheerful by the time I get back to my guest house.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow being much better!

Hello tendonitis.

Today has been a wonderful day.
It started off last night (yeah, I know, that's not today) when I was exhausted at 7 pm and finally gave in to going asleep at 8:30 after falling asleep repeatedly on my book. From then to 7:15 when my alarm went I off I woke up once to my bathroom buddy waking into the bathroom because it sounds like someone is walking straight into my room which can be pretty unnerving, but luckily I fell right back to sleep. Then when I opened my eyes I was looking straight at my skylight which was filled with perfect blue sky, absolutely crystal clear, the clearest I have ever seen in Scotland. I promptly thus leapt out of bed and stuck my whole head out the skylight (which must have been a pretty funny view to my neighbors in the block--my room faces the inside of an enclosed block with a hollow garden-filled center), upon which I saw an entire sky filled with perfect blue . . . well, sky! Besides being an amusing start to my day it was wonderful to wake up knowing Glasgow would be out in full force like the day before.

I even had an amusing breakfast at my guest house which was filled with eaves dropping on 4 older British tourists who were a hoot. They were going on and on about how they went to the greatest pub last night and it took them forever to remember the name, which made me laugh when they said it was Oran Mor (a pub/art venue/concert venue/locale of 'play, pie and a pint all in an old reconverted church). It was pretty interesting picturing them there. They then went on to plan their day in which all the 2 women wanted to do was visit small quaint villages and find knit shops (lulz for stereotypes), and the 2 men wanted to go find castles and visit the pubs in said small quaint villages (lulz #2 for stereotypes). The 2 men spent a fair amount of time talking about this epic castle on the water that they couldn't figure out the name to (they kept thinking it was some silly name of a random loch which they kept pronouncing with some Portuguese accent thinking they were clearly in the know with the locale pronunciation). It might have been a bit mean of me not to lean over and tell them the castle's name is Eileen Donan, but they won't have any problem finding that out from anyone they ask, so I figured I could indulge in some entertainment at their sake (sorry random elderly--not really, like 60's, they more just acted quite old--tourists).

Anyways, by the time I walked outside it had naturally gotten quite overcast (lame! but it promised rain, yay!). I then proceeded to have the most successful day at the Collections. I spent a good 6 hours on one book which I thought was going to be a total bust. I have learned that I have to withdraw each edition of Hogg's publications which include a note/memoir because each one contains different versions with different edits (though they all clearly come from the same initial manuscript). Unfortunately while this was such a gold-mine of a find it still only contained about 5 lines on Confessions, but it had already become clear that I am going to have a hard time finding specific material on the novel. I wrote probably 40 pages of notes on this one book (yeah, that's not an exaggeration, props for over-eager lit-nerd me!). I won't share everything as my wrist is hurting (yes, unsurprising to some I definitely brought back the tendonitis in my right wrist, you can only use pencils in the Collections and I apparently grip/press on pencils extremely hard, oops!), but here is one terribly heart breaking passage from Hogg (I have found he is a major sweet heart, kind of a bumbling country boy at times and incredibly humorous, though it definitely cost him many times), ok ok here it is--

"For my own part, I know that I have always been looked on by the learned part of the community as an intruder in the paths of literature, and every opprebrium [sic] has been thrown on me from that quarter. The truth is, that I am so. The walks of learning are occupied by a powerful aristocracy, who deem that province their own peculiar right; else, what would avail all their dear-brought collegiate honours [sic] and degrees? No wonder that they should view an intruder, from the humble and despised ranks of the community, with a jealous and indignant eye, and impede his progress by every means in the power." 

As far as I have found Hogg was completely self conscious of his lack of education (he mentions it all the time) and felt he had to work three times as hard to make up for it.

Besides the researching/tendonitis getting I had a lovely lunch at a favorite cafe of mine/all my Scotland girls from the fall- Kember & Jones. I had a smoked salmon and potato and chive salad which was delish, just hit the spot. And now I am sitting in a new find that I must admit I am a bit sad I didn't find last fall, it is called Bibliocafe and is part bookstore part cafe part awesome. It has gluten free snacks, big comfy leather chairs on the second floor, books everywhere and giant windows look out partially onto the park--perfect.

Ok before I make this any longer I'll say goodbye. Sorry no pictures today, I promise tomorrow!

Sunny Glasgow = Sunny Portland

I didn't really believe I would see sunshine in Glasgow when I landed to flood warnings and ridiculous rain, but that's exactly what we got here today. And I managed to miss the one bout of rain by escaping into the Kelvingrove. Most of the day was taken up with reading/planning for the next week of research, but my mid-day wander through the Kelvingrove was wonderful. And apparently everyone and their mom had the same idea as me as I have never seen it so packed. Strangely enough when I was leaving they were setting up for some kind of ballroom exhibition presentation in the main lobby (weird!). On my walk back to my guest house from the studying and picking up dinner I succumbed to stopping to read in the park in the beautiful sunshine for a half hour or so. It was actually the first time I have ever done that (thanks glasgow rain!) and it was pretty fun to watch everyone flitting about enjoying the sunshine, it definitely had the same feel as Portland in the sun.

While waiting for my take away (to-go) dinner I managed to walk over to my old flat and the surrounding blocks and it was kind of surreal walking about there again. Everything was clean and neat since most students aren't here but I could see some occupants of what used to be my friends' rooms, sad! Speaking of food, it has been an interesting day for that. I started off completely forgetting that minestrone soup has noodles in it (wooops!), and then treated myself with my favorite indian restaurant for dinner but apparently no one there understands what gluten is because I am pretty sure both dishes I ordered had gluten in them. So it will probably be an interesting evening of recovery, and a BIG reminder to pay more attention to that!

Instead of boring you with more gluten talk here are some pictures from today.

Don't remember who painted it but I easily starred at it for ten minutes.

Ah Margaret MacKintosh how I love you.

The Kelvingrove with blue sky overhead! (kind of, this was right after the rainstorm)

Blue sky in the skylight in my room!

Back in Glasgow 8 months later . . .

Hello again!

For those who haven't heard me blab in crazy excitement about it, I am back in Glasgow thanks to a grant from my school to study Scottish author and Robbie Burns/Sir Walter Scott contemporary James Hogg. For those of you haven't heard of him go buy his book (Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner) on amazon right now! Besides my obvious bias this guy really was a genius, incredibly before his time and unfortunately shadowed by the literary heavyweights he called friends, and limited with a reductively imagistic name as 'The Ettrick Shepherd' (cue images of rolling hills bah-ing sheep and whistling shepherds in the Scottish lowlands). SO. m-f 9-5 I get to have my literary nerd-attacks on the 12th floor of the glasgow library in the special collections thinking 'OH MY GOD I am touching something famous writers (and the less famous that I also love) touched!' I have read some pretty awesome and hilarious things (like that Hogg thinks the most dangerous prospect for young women is love before marriage, BIG no-no in his book--and yes, he actually wrote a book on the three perils facing young women, and alternately a partner book on the three perils facing young men, ha!), but have also gotten a ton of interesting research done already. Some of my initial research questions I have had to scrap after the first few readings, partially because it turns out Hogg was insane in terms of his writing process. In my poetry classes my Prof has always reassured us that no famous poets/writers EVER really just spit out a poem, and we have looked at countless first drafts for poems that end up epic and begin as, lets say, potential cast-offs. BUT, to my surprise and slight insecurity on my first day of research I am reading this letter Hogg wrote to a buddy talking about how the only way he writes is by composing the poem in his head before-hand line by line while herding the sheep, writes it down and BAM he's done. He went on for paragraphs about his biggest patron in his small town insists that he must revise and draft, but his response is basically, "mehr, the more you read something the less the weaknesses are apparent.' HA! I was pretty shocked by this first of all as a writer, and second of all as a researcher because that was partly what my research questions were focused on--the growth of his work through drafts given the influence of the major literary world's stereotyping him as 'The Ettrick Shepherd.' But, there is enough un-published or published only once work for me to now look at the progression of his work from piece to piece throughout the years, so this is not at all a case of oh crap, what do I do now??

A pic of the Uni Library that is REALLY trying to make it look good--it actually looks like a building from Communist Russia. I would put up a pic of the Collections, but you can't take pictures in there and I can't find any on the internet, sad!

A view from the 12th floor (actually the bathroom, ha!), but basically the view from the Collections

View from the 12th floor of the Uni library (well, the bathroom actually) but basically the view from the collections!

It has been pretty interesting traveling by myself, definitely a first time experience. While I can't say that I believe I am really the best solo traveler, I am enjoying some parts of it. I am a lovely dinner partner and I am excellent and reading quietly at a cafe, and I am a superb people watcher. And, the best part is that I am always agreeable in terms of food choices, it makes it so much easier!

Besides the research which I could blab on and on about it is great to be back in Glasgow. I am staying in an area that I actually never really got to explore while I was here before, which is odd because it's just on one side of the Uni. But, I am loving it! There are some great restaurants and funky grocers and vintage shops (which I love), so it's nice to get a taste of more Glasgow while obviously visiting all my favorite cafes and shops from before.

Alright, must get back to my fine meal of chicken kabobs and 3 pound wine, delish! but here are some pictures until next time-

The lovely river with some high-class park front neighborhood in the background.

The Kelvingrove Museum--my Scotlanders notice anything different about the foreground?

An awesome apartment/storefront building right on the river. May I live here please?

By the river front

5 more days . . .

My time here in Glasgow is very sadly running out. This semester has been very much a teaser for me, I am in no way ready to leave this city. I can't wait to get home and see my family for the holidays, but I wish I were returning to Glasgow afterwards. It will be wonderful to be back in Portland, but there is something about this city and Scotland in general that just feels like home. I just have to be patient and wait til it is time to return for grad school here . . . I hope I don't lose my scottish accent, I have just been told recently that it is starting to appear (wahoo!). All that is left until I jump on a plane Saturday morning is an essay, a final, and a whole lot of goodbyes to all my favorite places and the wonderful people.

Some pics from the last week or so:

Frightened Rabbit at the iconic Glasgow venue, the Barrowlands

The outskirts of city center Christmas lights

More city center lights

This weekend we celebrated two birthdays. Both nights were spent at our hands down favorite pub, Lebowski's. They have amazing food, great music, pub quizzes, and some of the nicest bartenders. It has been our go-to pub for an afternoon pint, quality American style burgers, amazing chips, and crazy nights--definitely a place that we will all miss.

The ladies at Lebowski's