Jeff
Music Major

The first time the group and I were in Glasgow, it was with Keith Beebe and it was just a short day trip. I had heard it was a rather industrial city, more "urban" than the other, quieter cities we had visited, like Durham and York. There were buildings, people, and cars everywhere and the streets were all organized into a grid pattern with busy intersections every 20 feet, it seemed. Anyway, what was at first a seemingly impersonal and intimidating megatropolis actually turned out to be quite an enjoyable experience after a few days' stay there. There were some awesome art galleries; I really enjoyed both a Rembrandt and a surrealist piece I saw at the McClellan and modern art galleries, respectively. In terms of spectacle, however, the thing to see was definitely the art and architecture of Macintosh, who did work on the Glasgow School of Art right around the beginning of the 20th century. It was interesting to see the influence the "arts and crafts" art movement had on him; not only was his work extremely beautiful, it was also functional. The way the support struts slice through the room and twist around each other gracefully is truly something to behold. But in addition to my academic experiences, there were plenty of experiences I had just for fun with my friends. On one such occasion, we went to Tesco (a huge supermarket chain) and bought a "snack." Our little snack not only was almost directly after dinner, but consisted of a box of chocolate ice cream and shortbread fingers. After our purchase, we proceeded to eat this wholesome snack down by the river in a manner that can only be described as both maniacal and ravenous. We were laughing at ourselves the whole time, but not even our laughter could prevent the ice cream and shortbread from entering our mouths in frighteningly large amounts. It was hilarious. A few days later, I was by myself and eating lunch on a bench on Sauchiehall Street in the heart of town. There were pigeons. So I thought to myself, "why not feed the pigeons?" So I did. In almost no time at all, there must have been at least 80 of them around my feet, landing on my arms and pecking at my backpack to try to get more of my sandwich. I left the scene briskly while my friends watched, pointed, and chuckled amongst themselves. In conclusion, Glasgow turned out to be both a wonderful academic experience and quite a jaunt in terms of quirky personal experience as well. Honestly, what's better than studying incredible art, eating chocolate ice cream in freezing cold weather, and winning the allegiance for life of a legion of hungry pigeons?

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