I took off on a little trip to Aberdeen to visit a friend who goes to uni there... but I met her in Oklahoma! Jenny was on a study abroad/exchange program in Oklahoma last year, and when I decided that I'd be studying in Glasgow, I knew that I'd have to visit her.
Jenny and her friend Michelle (? sorry, my memory's fuzzy), picked me up and we drove to stunning Dunnottar castle. It was not the best weather, but hey, it's Scotland. Dunnotar is essentially in ruins, and I really loved this aspect of it. Perhaps even cooler, it is literally surrounded by ocean on three sides. None of my pictures quite capture the beauty, so I'm linking another here.
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| Dunnottar Castle |
I think this is my favorite castle to date. After, we drove back to Aberdeen.
A quick note about Aberdeen: as my blog title implies, Aberdeen is quite grey. This is primarily because of the granite that many of Aberdeen's buildings are made out of. Also, the oil industry has played a large part in Aberdeen's more recent history. I noticed, almost immediately, the many (large) ships that were in the harbour.
Anywho, I told Jenny about how Glasgow Uni looks like Hogwarts, and she told me that she thought the University of Aberdeen looks a lot like Hogwarts!! (Do all universities in Scotland look like Hogwarts?) I got a campus tour from Jenny. She's a campus tour guide and told me that I got the condensed version without all the boring bits.
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| Hogwarts? |
Interesting note about the library: it's new, and apparently students either love it or hate it. It doesn't quite fit in with the architecture of the older part of campus, but I liked it nonetheless. I think my architecturally inclined brother might have had more insight into the building itself, but nonetheless, it looked cool to me. I loved the way the floors were done. See the photos below to know what I mean.
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| Library! |
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| 7th (?) floor and looking down. Love it! |
We also visited the student halls. I loved them. They seem so much nicer than where I am staying in Glasgow. For one, they have a bar pretty much on site. Jenny was friends with the guys who worked there, and I had a pint before heading back to Jenny's flat for dinner and then a night out. I really also was glad I got to meet Jenny's South African flat mate, Amy. She was so nice, and I enjoyed talking to her.
I was late to rise the next day, but once I was up, we went to a little seaside town who's name I can't remember and had some ice cream. It was so quaint, and I enjoyed pretending that it was actually summer and not cold/drizzly.
Jenny gave me a car tour of Aberdeen, which unfortunately I didn't get good pictures of....
All in all, a wonderful weekend spent with a wonderful person. Thanks so much for being such a great host Jenny! I'll have to see what I can do about getting some Sweet Tea to Aberdeen. :)
Real time update: Next week I have exams. :( But the good news is there is snow on the ground in Glasgow! And I love snow. The most perfect, beautiful snowflakes were falling earlier. I am so sad I am spending my last couple of weeks in Glasgow studying for stupid exams. I just need to pass, but I think if I go in with that mentality, I won't pass. I am going to miss so many people here...
Oh, and I almost forgot. I haven't really written about it yet.... but I'm kinda obsessed with old graveyards. I think they're really cool and I just like them. I can't exactly put my thumb on why. I would love to know more about the people buried in all of these places, and the history behind them... And of course, I visited the graveyard surrounding a church in Aberdeen.
On that happy thought, here's what's to come: blog about Isle of Skye, a Santa Dash!, and then travelling around Europe with the fam bam
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