We actually finished shopping just in time to drop our purchases off in my room and head over to the Mackintosh building. There we mingled with all the other international students. We're from all over. I met people from Ireland, Denmark, Canada and the US directly. That's only a handful out of 40 though, so I can only imagine all the countries represented. There were just light snacks and drinks out when we arrived and the event ran from 5-7. So we were a bit panicked because all of us were starving. The drinks were both soft and alcoholic, so I seized another opportunity to try an alcoholic drink (that I probably wouldn't like) for free. I tried a ginger beer. Nope no good. All of us were relieved when pizza came for dinner, even though it was Dominos :P Afterall, students like nothing better than free food! Overall the event was great, it was really nice to get to know some of the other exchange students. The reception was on the top floor of the Mackintosh building so we had a great view of the city.
As the reception began to wind down we were given vouchers for a free drink at the Student Union. We got there and it's essentially a pub. The idea of them serving alcoholic drinks at the reception was weird but now my school owns a bar?! I don't know if I'll ever get over that surreal feeling. We had a rather large group of exchange students and we managed to find a place in the back for us all to sit together. Now we could make use of our voucher for a free soft drink, free beer, or free glass of wine. I've been wanting to try a hard cider since I'm pretty sure I won't like any of the beers, but that wasn't an option. I don't drink soda and I've had sips of people's wine at home and never liked it. So I gave the free beer a try. Turns out that with the vouchers they don't give you any choice in which beer (not that I know the difference) and with wine you merely get to choose red or white. So Stella Artois it was. I took my first sip....yeah beer is simply not for me. It was awful! I don't know how anyone willing drinks a bottle of the stuff! *sigh* We had some extra vouchers so my new friends encouraged me to use another to try something else. I used another voucher to try a glass of white wine (my dad drinks red and I've never liked my sips of his). Didn't like that either. None of my drinks went to waste though, promise! They were donated to the rest of the table.
Well at least the label is pretty! So I had to document that.
We hung out in "The Art School" for a few hours enjoying each other's company and getting to know each other better. A few times I found myself caught in the middle of a conversation in Danish. They apologized but I couldn't begrudge them. I mean I can't imagine spending a few months speaking something other than my native language. It's quite impressive, so I was more than willing to give them a chance to talk to one another. All of us are just so relieved to have friends! Particularly ones who are in the same boat as us with being so far from home and familiar surroundings. Unfortunately, most are only here for Term 2 rather than Term 2 & 3 like me. But we'll just make the most of the time we have. Fortunately, I've met some great people in my house too who are full-time students here. All the Americans also seem to be here for both terms too.
Photo Credit: Kennedy Dickerson (fellow Philadelphian from UArts!)
Unfortunately, 3 including myself missed the group photo because we were downstairs exploring the live band playing! Oh Glasgow, you are exactly the answer to my love of live music! Definitely looking forward to spending a term in the company of such lovely people!
No comments:
Post a Comment