I just boarded the Hogwarts express.. on my way to Fort William (I promise I'll eventually stop with the harry Potter's metaphor.. but for now I still find it funny :P)
And it's official.. there is no ugly in Glasgow.. From what I've seen in Europe, the ugliest part of town is always near the train station.. so when you arrive by train somewhere, it's always very depressing and gloomy looking.... but in Glasgow, even the houses right on the tracks were nice looking! In my exploration of the city, I counted about one ordinary building for every 10 blocks. I love this place...
I went to the Museum of modern art yesterday, the exhibition was "Let me show you somethings" all art pieces were based on medias and light.. similar to a project I've done in one of my Fine Art course at Concordia. It was interesting. Saw a couple of short movies made by students too... I'll have to say more about it when I'm back home... Mui, you would have flipped!
Got my first complaint about this lovely city this morning though... I bought my ticket for Fort William Thursday, at Central Station.. so I'd know right away when I had to leave. Got to the information center, got the ticket, itinerary and all. This morning, I decided to skip lunch and arrived at Central station well in advance. On my way there, a couple asked me where Queen Station was... I said, "well right there", pointing the huge sign for Central Station overhead.. they said, no that's Central Station... so I said I'm sorry I have no idea.. I didn't even know there was more than one station in the city...
They left and I got inside.. looked at the departures board.. and couldn't see a train for Fort William anywhere.. or any departure at 12:21pm for that matter... I sat down, and started to doubt... I checked my ticket.. nothing there.. checked the itinerary and whadayaknow... at the top was written Queen st... not as in queen street as I thought.. but as queen station!
Fuck! So I jumped back up, found a map, and saw Queen Station, 6 blocks from where I was! Right pass my hotel! :S With 20 minutes to get there! So I put all my gear back on, speed walked all the way back and got there with 5 minutes to spare.
My complaint... why didn't the lady who sold me the ticket tell me it was at a different station??? You can tell by my accent I'm not from here (and by the fact that every time they say something I look slightly confused and go “huh? what did you just say?") How was I suppose to know that Queen st meant station and not street (there is a Queen street right by central station...that, if you follow it north 6 blocks, will lead you to Queen station :P). Anyway, I got through the brick wall on time and didn't miss the train. And now I'm heading north... scenery getting wilder and wilder as we go... it's beautiful.
Another thing I've realized... I think the Scottish accent is a hoax... I've notice that when people talk amongst themselves I understand perfectly.. but when they talk to me I don't get squat of what they're saying.. Highlanders do not have a weird accent... they fake one when talking to tourists for the folklore or something :P
But, seriously, it's mostly the different expressions that are confusing... like instead of saying “you want it to go?” they say “you want to take this with you?” (which sounds more like you'v wt tuk u?) once i get a hang of the expressions, figuring out what they're saying will be a lot easier :P.
Welcome to the middle of nowhere :P
Fort William is a lovely town, surrounded by mountains, lakes... and that's it! The town center is a pedestrian street, full of shops and restaurants... that all close at 4pm on Saturday and do not open on Sunday... I saw a couple of pubs, all empty... I wonder where everybody is? The town is teeny... but I didn't see anybody that looked like they're divers or studying at the Center... I'm guessing that they all go to Inverness for the weekends cause nightlife here seems...well... non-existent.
I stopped by the Underwater Center to check in. I'll have to stay in a really cool B&B in town for a week... They didn't have a room available for me right away since I need one all to myself cause I wont share with boys :P
I have to go back tomorrow after 2pm to get a tour of the school and know where to go on Monday morning.
I walked around town until sundown. It's lovely and quiet.. daffodils are in bloom and it smells like spring.. but somehow I thought the town would be a bit bigger. It really is a resort place... people come here to climb the Ben Nevis, highest summit of Britain, and to mountain bike, hike... but they do not stay.
So I hope the guys in my class will be ok, or it might get really boring around here... but since I'm the only girl in the whole school (weehee!) I should manage to find one or two to entertain me :P
This is my room for tonight.. I'm moving closer to the school tomorrow
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