SCOTLAND.

I finally made it! I flew into Amsterdam yesterday morning at 7 a.m. local time after the 8-hour plane ride from Minneapolis. The plane I flew in was absolutely massive! Possibly the largest I've ever been on. There were 45 rows with 2 seats on either side of the rows of 4 seats in the middle of the plane. The man I was sitting next to decided to move to one of the many open seats to give us both more room to sit, which was nice. The flight was calm and uneventful; I watched 500 Days of Summer and most of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on my seat's personal little screen system. The most exciting part of the flight was when we were flying over Ireland and I could see all the cities lit up in the night. It was awesome and exciting knowing that I was finally arriving! Finally we landed in Amsterdam, and after waiting in the airport for about 3 hours I finally flew to foggy, rainy Glasgow and arrived at my hostel at 11:30. I checked in, found my room, and promptly fell asleep on the nearest bed. 3 hours later I woke up and one of my roommates was walking in the door. Still a bit sleepy, I said hello and got to know him. His name is Javier and he is from Seville, Spain. My first friend abroad! He's studying architecture at Strathclyde for the spring semester, so we'll probably see each other around campus. He had been in town since Tuesday, so he has been meeting people and having a blast all week. We decided to walk around downtown Glasgow to find somewhere to eat supper, and I wanted to find a Scottish pub. We wandered into one and realized (after we ordered) that it was a karaoke pub, so we had constant entertainment while we ate our burgers and "chips." We chatted some more and Javier invited me to a party he heard about from his friend, Antonio. I figured there was no better way to meet a lot of people, so I tagged along. The party was in the Strathclyde dorms and it was a going-away party for a few girls from Spain that Antonio knew. We got there around 9 and eventually about 35 people showed up, which was pretty crowded in the small flat! Lots of different countries were represented at the party; it was awesome! England, France, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Germany, and Denmark, just to name a few. After a few hours at the apartment we headed downtown to a club for a few hours of dancing, which was great, and then Javier and I headed home to our hostel and crashed to sleep for the night.

It was an adventurous first 12 hours in Scotland, but I am having a great time already. People are friendly and the city is active. I can't wait to move in, meet my roommates, and start classes! Although the dorm I'm living in has the reputation of Burge (you Iowa kids know what I'm talking about), I still think it will be a great semester! That was day one. We'll see what day two has in store tomorrow!