THE BIG FRESHERS WEEK ROUNDUP

14/09-21/09

Hello! We’re back! This one’s also going to be a chunky one, so strap in! I’ve never actually experience a Freshers week before, so I really made sure to make the most of it (spoiler alert: I need to be hospitalised). I’ll try to keep these days as abridged as possible, especially because I’m writing this and semester has officially begun so I’m even busier now than Freshers, but I couldn’t not do a Freshers recap, so here she finally is. Enjoy 😊

14/09

Technically Freshers doesn’t start until Monday but in true Glaswegian fashion the festivities must start as early as possible.

During the day, I actually had a really wholesome day. It started at 1pm with a campus walking tour, which I had booked the week before. I wanted to do one as early as possible to try and get familiar with the campus layout, especially since I don’t have the benefit of living there. I was so glad I did do the tour, because I met one of the loveliest people so far in my adventures; Leïla. Initially I was a bit shy to say hi, she looked so gorgeous and put together I was scared she would think I was scum of the earth. But turns out she’s a massive sweetie, and we hit it off immediately. She’s also on exchange, but for the full year, from Normandy in France. I was internally thanking my lucky stars that the universe just inadvertently gave me a private French tutor, and we chatted for the whole tour. I was meeting up with McKenna (Ken) and Danielle (Dani), 2 American girls I had met through an app set up by Strathclyde to connect international students, but I introduced them to Leïla and we promised to catch up all together soon.
For Ken, Dani and I, we decided some city explorations were in order during the afternoon. We walked from the student union past the southern end of the campus where we finally find some of the cuter buildings. I was a bit disappointed in how modern most of the campus is, especially because the uni itself is over 100 years old, but there is a section that’s really beautiful, hopefully I’ll have some classes there!

It was a gorgeously overcast day in Glasgow, which suited the city centre perfectly. We walked towards George Square and Buchanan Street to explore further. Though we were all trying to save money on the food front, we were all craving some decent Thai food, and in the fresh weather it sounded like the only good idea for lunch. The restaurant we found was called Panang, and the food was absolutely divine! And for UK prices, not too expensive. The inside was also really cute, and it was a great opportunity to get to know Ken and Dani better. By the end of our lunch it felt like I had known them for years, not only a couple of days! I was only hoping they liked me as much as I liked them, cause from my perspective they’d be stuck with me from now on. (Writing this a week later, I can confirm they feel the same, we’ve had some great times together). From what I remember of the afternoon we popped in and out of some shops, got a cinnamon hot chocolate from the Café Nero near the subway station, and I found 2 gorgeous jumpers from a vintage store nearby.

I walked back to my apartment to wash my hair and get ready to go to the first Freshers event at the Union. It felt right to wear my hair natural for that night, and I was pleasantly surprised it still remembered it should be curly! If I wear it curly more often I know it’ll look better overtime, but it is annoying to style so we’ll see.

We got to the Union just after 9pm, had a couple of drinks, and met a couple of Leïla’s roommates who were also lovely. For some reason no was dancing, but a big green flag for the friend group was that as soon as the DJ was set up, we were the first people on that dance floor.

And to be honest, no one really joined us until like 11pm which was a bit rude. Luckily for us we really didn’t care at all and had a little 5 person party right in the middle of the bar, it was great!

That night they were also doing Ceilidh lessons in another room off the Union, as soon as we found that out we were there immediately. It was so fun! I didn’t realise there were so many different types of Ceilidhs, ones in partners and groups, but the band playing would explain each one before we started, and everyone else there were Scots so they took us under their wing and showed us how it’s done. It took no time at all to pick up the steps, and soon we were hopping and prancing our way around. Leïla and I made an incredible pairing, at some point we were teaching other people what to do! Honestly iconic behaviour, we were having a blast.

The only downside was that we were dripping in sweat half an hour after we got there. The room was small, packed with people, and the Ceilidh itself isn’t exactly a relaxed activity, it was a full cardio workout. Eventually it was either head back into the bar or have an asthma attack, and although I was not bored whatsoever with the Ceilidh lessons, a break, a drink, and some air seemed like a good idea.

That plan didn’t last too long though, we met other international students and Scottish freshers babies (I forget Freshers week is really for the first years not us!) The dancefloor was finally getting a little more lively, and we made sure everyone was out, and there to stay. Honestly it was a great time. The DJ was playing honestly not too bad music, and I don’t think I’d been in a ‘night out’ environment where there was actually room to dance, so I was having a great time.

Eventually I went home when I was physically exhausted, I think I walked home around 1:30am. That was the first time I walked home by myself from the union, and I was a little apprehensive about how much of a good idea that was, but I had no issues. The walk in cool air was actually really nice, and I was home in 15 minutes. I think I’m going to like Freshers!

15/09

After the events of the day before I made myself take it easy today. I wasn’t even hungover, I was genuinely just exhausted. If I remember correctly, I cleaned my room, took out all of IKEA packaging to the bins, and walked around the corner to Tesco to buy some ingredients to make chocolate chip biscuits. I’d been craving them for quite literally months, and it sounded like the perfect, lowkey activity to keep myself awake during the day.

Once I figured out how to work the oven, everything went smoothly! Except when I forgot just how many biscuits the recipe makes! There’s only one of me, and I made at least 200 biscuits. Luckily I had good sized containers that were freezer-safe, so now the freezer looks like I’m storing biscuits in case of an apocalypse. But my roommates now know they’re welcome to them, if anything I genuinely don’t think I can get through them in 3 months anyway.

I couldn’t completely go into chill mode though, tonight Chapell Roan would be in Glasgow! And yes, I did try to get tickets, but they had sold out immediately (as expected). However, luckily for me, Ken and Dani are Chapell girls, and there just happened to be a gay club (Polo Lounge) 10 minutes away from uni that was hosting the afterparty. Though we knew it wouldn’t be busy until the concert had finished, it was free entry until 11pm, so we made sure to get there reasonably early. Also because a really cool bar was attached to the club, so we arrived just after 9pm and had some drinks and caught up.

On the walk over we ran into some Scottish girls who were clearly going the same place we were. We decided to adopt them on the way, and ended up spending most of the night with them! They were Keira, Tamzin, Rowan and Emily. And they were so lovely! If anything we just felt really old, cause they were all freshly 18 and starting at Strathclyde this year. I did the maths, and turns out they were born in 2006! In my mind, anyone born after 2005 is still 12 years old, and you can’t convince me otherwise.

We had a dance all together in the entrance bar area, and the space filled up quickly once the concert finished. I think it was around 11pm that the club part opened downstairs, and oh my god I need to go back there. The music was so fun it was like they had found all my guilty pleasure clubbing songs and hit shuffle.

It was such a fun night, everyone we were with were down for a good solid groove, so I couldn’t complain! One by one the clubbing amateurs left, and eventually it ended up just being Keira and I in the club, and it was at least 2am before we finally decided to call it a night. She ended up walking back to the bus station with me and got an Uber back to where she lived (I genuinely have zero idea to this day where that is).

16/09

I have no clue how I survived today, I remember being more hungover than I expected to be, but knowing there was another day to have fun, so I mad myself an extra strong iced latte in the morning and got going.

Today was a really chill day, which I think was exactly what I needed after last night’s events. The only thing we were planning on going to today was the Freshers Fair, which was being held at the Student Union for most of the day. I can’t remember what time we ended up arriving, but we spent a good couple of hours wandering around, checking everything out. All the social and academic societies were represented there, and there was a really cute mini vintage sale on the ground floor that we also checked out.

Outside the union itself there were stalls up both sides of the street with local businesses, with bars and restaurants advertising their freebies and student discounts. Leïla decided she needed a discount from a grocery delivery service (that she’d probably never use) so we went and she did a great job of fishing for ducks. They had little numbers on the bottom that you had to add to 15, and we ended up sneaking her a couple extra tries so her 3 ducks would add up to what she needed for her discount. It then ended up in the bin as soon as we walked away

17/09

Today we decided there was no other option than to make the most of another beautiful day, as Glasgow couldn’t seem to let up with this incredible weather, and I missed hanging out at a park like I would do everyday in Europe, so a picnic was the only possible plan for the afternoon.

We walked from campus past an Aldi to get some supplies for a mini charcuterie board (difficult as cutlery was absent, but we made do). I believe we got some grapes, cheeses (we had a Frenchie with us so that was imperative), lemon cake, orange juice, salami and probably some other things I can’t think of.

The walk to Glasgow Green was absolutely gorgeous. We were headed south towards River Clyde, passing a beautiful old clock tower and apartments that made me want to move in that day. The walk itself was probably only 20 minutes or so, and when we reached the old High Court, we knew we were at the right place. Also it was green. Such a relief, that makes sense.

The space itself was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, it felt like that random space I found in Bonn at the botanical gardens, just tucked away from the rest of the city. But I really do love city parks, it’s on my list to go back with my rug and my Kindle and just hang out for a couple of hours and finally get some reading done.

But for now we had to find a good spot for a picnic (which could’ve been anywhere). We chose a spot in the sun, and laid out all our goodies. I remember being so relaxed and happy that afternoon. I felt like for the whole year I was waiting for a day like this when I was finally in Glasgow with people I actually liked, and we could just hang out and have fun. I wasn’t overthinking or stressing about anything. It was just my friends and I in a city park and it was great.

I remember learning a ridiculous amount about ASL (and serial killers, don’t ask) that afternoon which was also very cool. Dani and Ken are way too smart for their own good, and went so far as to be able to bitch about people in silent, which I think is not only a very cool, but has also proven to be very useful. I think the part of ASL I like the most is how you get your sign name, which is probably the sweetest thing I’d heard that week. Someone Deaf has to give you your sign name. Ken got hers from her ASL Professor during a class, and Dani got hers when she volunteered at a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Camp. I remember thinking that would be such a special and validating experience to be accepted into the community in that way. I’m used to learning a language that people seemed annoyed about you learning or getting things wrong, so I love that this is an aspect in the culture of learning ASL. I’d love to keep picking up bits and pieces of the language when I’m around them, but it’ll be so frustrating to then come home and not have anything understood (I think Ausan classes are on my horizon).

We also yapped for ages about serial killers, because if you put a bunch of girls together in their 20s, we’re probably going to talk about serial killers at some point. I was a bit worries they were going to think I was weird for liking true crime, but if anything compared to them I’m completely sane in this aspect. Turns out I’ve got a lot of studying to do in the area, but I’ve got a great group of people for recommendations, so that’s something.

We decided after food that we needed to explore more of the park itself. My mind works very simply when this idea comes up; walk towards the nearest cute building. And we had several great options of where we should wander. We explored the area around the People’s Palace and Doulton Fountain, which were right in the park and beautiful to see. Unfortunately the Palace isn’t open at the moment, but the building and greenhouse were still amazing to see from the outside. All I could think of was how beautiful it would look in the snow. Everyone manifest with me for a good couple of days (at least) of snow before I leave, seeing the Palace in snow would actually make my entire year.

Some of my favourite photos I’ve taken in Glasgow so far were of Ken, Dani, Leïla and Daphne in front of the fountain, they were just so cute! From the park it wasn’t a far walk to the River, so we ventured down that way next. The bridge crossing the River was a suspension bridge (my fav kind) and walking back along it towards the centre was beautiful in the late afternoon.

When we arrived back on campus I went home for a couple of hours to have some introvert hermit crab time, then walked back down to the Union in the evening to play some pool with Ken and Dani, as well as Leïla and her roommates Tom, Daphne, Christian and Stacy, and we met Alex over there. It was a relatively chill night, we just played some pool and went home really, but I had such a good time. Everyone was in a great mood and the vibes were just so right, I remember having a really good night that night. And I actually surprised myself with my pool abilities, turns out having a pool table back home is helpful in some very specific cases (this being one of them).

What topped off the great night was the walk back home from the Union at 12:30am the next morning. The walks home are honestly almost always some of my favourite parts of the day. The air is always fresh, the roads quiet, and I’m always listening either to a podcast or my music. It’s such a good way to wind down after the day, and though it is a bit inconvenient to have to walk to and from wherever I want to go, I do end up loving the walk.

18/09

This morning we started our day by going to the Sports Fair, which was also being held at the Union. I was actually more invested about this event than I was with the Society Fair, and we stopped to speak to quite a lot of the clubs. For me, it was mainly the netball, dance, cheerleading and karate stalls I visited, although I couldn’t seem to be able to tell people I didn’t want to join their club, and I ended up getting harassed by the softball, handball, waterpolo, rowing, literally all of them. There’s 0 chance in hell you’ll catch me playing waterpolo (mostly because I would definitely drown) and close to 0 chance in hell you’d catch me at rowing practice at 5am in Scottish cold. No thanks.

The weather was just as divine today as it had been for the last couple of days, so the 4 of us walked over one of the grass spaces on the side of a hill near campus and lay in the sun for a while.

Our afternoon activities were what I was really looking forward to though, because you can find Swifties literally everywhere, and there was a bracelet making session in one of the rooms in the Union. Except of the bracelets we made absolutely none of them were Taylor-related! We ended up making some matching bracelets that I’ve currently got tied to my keys and my favourite bag. I absolutely loved being able to make my own souvenirs, and we brought some extra bracelets to Leïla since she wasn’t keen on coming to something Taylor-related. Also the people running the workshop were playing the most depressing Taylor songs like we’re all here for Freshers week let’s get some better energy you know? She does have some feel good bops, I felt like crashing the queue just to get some better options on there.

Dani ended up having some leftover food that would be great in tacos, and after realising both their kitchens were too busy with people, we decided to walk up to mine and use my kitchen, since somehow my roommates just don’t need to eat and I barely see them in there. We made our meat mixture and cut up some veggies, then compiled our tacos and ate them at the dining table whilst starting Heartstopper! Since season 3 is coming out next month, we wanted to rewatch the first 2 seasons to refresh ourselves (and also because Ken and I especially are massive Heartstopper nerds, and Dani hadn’t seen season 2 yet).

After we finished our food we moved into my room where it was a bit cosier and finished most of the first season that night. I forget how much I just adore that show. It’s so warm and fuzzy (and completely unrealistic from anyone’s actual experience, but that’s part of the charm). It’s impossible to not be in a good mood when Heartstopper’s on. Now I’m even happier that now when I think of Heartstopper I can associate it with my many girls nights in Glasgow. I’m sure the nostalgia is going to absolutely wreck me next year when I’m back to being sad in Perth, but for now it’s just amazing.

19/09

I forgot how much we did today, but it was definitely a fun one.

We started our day by visiting the plant sale set up outside the Union on the street, which was the perfect activity in EVEN MORE perfect weather. We each picked out a plant and a pot to go in our apartments (complete with a 0.5 each, of course). Whilst we were at the Union, we decided to check out the International Food Fair (cause free food we will never say no to). I tried Caribbean food for the first time, and holy moly it was amazing! Unfortunately there weren’t any Asian food varieties, which for an Australian girl at an International Food Fair that was all I was wanting. Instead we got a mix of German, Russian and Caribbean, which did end up being really tasty, just a new mix of flavours I wasn’t expecting.

Once we were full and couldn’t eat another thing, Ken and I had to go down to Strath Sport to go to our first dancing class for the semester! I don’t know how I convinced Ken to come with me, but I’m glad I did cause I was way too intimidated to go by myself. It was amazing to have her with me. And walking into that studio was definitely overwhelming, I was a little apprehensive about what I had just signed up for, these girls looked like they knew what they were doing. But luckily for us looking like you know what you’re doing doesn’t mean you actually know what you’re doing, and we quickly realised the vast majority of people in the room really couldn’t dance at all. And I clocked the ones who could and we had a cute little hey you know what’s up kind of moment, but no one was insufferable so that was refreshing.

We ended up having a really fun class, the combo they did at the end was to Hot To Go, which I’m not gonna lie the choreography was definitely a choice, but Ken and I put our own spin on it and ended up performing it really well! We’ll definitely be back for the open classes throughout the year.

After dancing we realised the afternoon was too beautiful to waste, so we took the subway for the first time and ventured over to Glasgow University, which turns out is the 4th oldest university in the UK after Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews. And it was so beautiful. We snuck into the campus from a side entrance, and walked through a beautiful tree-lined lane, past some of the outskirts of the classes before going back through to the main courtyards. To think people just wake up and go to class here everyday is actually mind blowing. Although I’ve heard from my Glaswegian friends going to Glasgow Uni is very similar to going to UWA in stereotypical attitudes, I could be partial to coming back and studying there for postgrad. It was genuinely stunning. And I’ve been to and seen some beautiful places in the last couple of months, but Glasgow Uni can definitely hold its own. I’ll let the photos from this day do the talking for me, I couldn’t explain how stunning the campus was even if I tried. But just imagine in the snow. Yes please!!

Walking back from the campus we found a really cute street tucked away, decorated with light bunting, an old cinema where Dani and I promised each other we would see Wicked there when it came out. There were also lots of bars and pubs, the beer gardens behind them. We decided to stop there for a little drink, and hung out outside for a while, chatting and debriefing on the day. I also educated them on Taxi! when a guy smashed a glass, and I immediately clocked the other Aussies in the pub in the process.

Back on campus, we decided further pool actions were needed, after how fun our previous night was. We ended up having to share a table with 2 other guys, which initially we thought would be fine, but they really didn’t know how to have a good time. And they were really good at pool. Which is no problem, go be good at pool, that’s fine. Good for you. It’s just annoying because we were there to have fun, which seemed like a foreign concept to these guys. I decided their egos needed to be kept in check (trust me, it was valid) so I decided to share my motto in life regarding pool being they say you’re either good at pool or good in bed. Yeah, they also didn’t really have much of a sense of humour.

The mood didn’t really lighten after that, and eventually we decided another location to keep playing was probably a good idea. We walked from there to another bar that was actually really close to me, and we were able to play a couple of games outside just us, which was exactly what we wanted. We hung out at the pub for a while, and when the outside section closed, we chatted longer at a table then eventually wandered back.

20/09

Very uneventful day, mostly me getting very frustrated about not having my classes or my timetable yet (considering classes started next week I’d say that’s fair!) However, it was very important for Ken and Dani’s film culture knowledge. You simply cannot be my friend and not watch Promising Young Woman, so it was absolutely imperative for them to be exposed to my favourite film ever (followed closely by Pretty Woman. Alex ended up coming over later that night as well so we could debrief on the movie together, since it also ended up being one of his favourites. I’m not sure how much of the movie they were paying attention to, I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up watching it again, but I wouldn’t be annoyed if that was the case 😊

21/09

Today was also a great day, I really loved where we explored today.

The place being the Glasgow Necropolis (which I think is just a fancy word for cemetery). The Glasgow Cathedral was also in the same area, so we looked through there first on our way. It was definitely a beautiful cathedral, but my favourite feature of the building had to be the stained-glass windows. I really do love a stained-glass window, especially when it’s something original and not just a bunch of Jesus and angels. Be unique please! So I’ll give credit here, the designs were really stunning, especially with the late morning light behind them.

It was also a bit more overcast today, which suited where we were so much better than blue skies. Though we haven’t gotten around to exploring Edinburgh just yet, I can imagine a lot of what Edinburgh looks like resembles this area. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever visited somewhere that looked like what the Necropolis looks like. I thought it was a bit weird initially when it was mentioned you just have to visit it, but after going, I completely understand. At the very least, it’s an amazing location. Just so beautiful. You get stunning views over the city, and the grave stones themselves are so ornate and detailed. Walking in between them, seeing the different trees and flowers planted for each of them, how lush and green everything was in the misty rain, it was just so cinematic. The atmosphere there was insane. So peaceful, I would’ve never thought I was a 10 minutes walk from George Square, it felt like I had driven an hour out of the city into the highlands and found a remote cemetery somewhere.

I know there’s no competition, or probably should be a competition, for most beautiful cemetery, but if there was, the Glasgow Necropolis wouldn’t have much competition for the winner. You could’ve easily walked around for hours, it’s a massive complex. We probably spent a good 2 hours walking around, and that included stopping for some crackers and hummus (priority) and trying to find the weirdest name on a headstone (none were normal so this actually got pretty difficult). Again, another spot I can’t wait to come back to when I need a quiet afternoon with my Kindle. And again, another spot I can’t wait to see in the snow. That would be next level special.

Walking back to campus from the necropolis we also found some really cool murals, which blew me away. I know there are a couple of city art walking tours you can do, and I would really love to go on one, there have been so many amazing murals so far, but I’m sure if you actually knew where to look there’d be so many more.

In the late afternoon we went via Aldi to get some groceries, then I walked home and spent the next hour or so meal prepping some chicken pesto wraps for our day trip tomorrow (!!) and for the next week. I finished up just before 7pm, and walked back down to Leïla’s, as it was time for me to get educated for one of their favourite films, Howl’s Moving Castle which was by Studio Ghibli. I know I haven’t seen many of their movies, which is definitely a problem because I loved Spirited Away, and I know I would love their others. And I really enjoyed Howl’s Moving Castle, maybe more than Spirited Away, at least on first watch. As with other Ghibli movies, I feel like I need to watch it again, I know I would pick up so many little things I missed out the first time. But it was a great way to end the day, Leïla made us some pizza and I brought biscuits from home to have as well, and I always love hanging out with my girls so I had a great time.

Ok I can’t quite believe it but that’s finally Freshers Week all wrapped up! Considering I’ve never had a proper Freshers Week before, I absolutely loved it (even if I did feel way too old to be there). Being at a uni that actually has fun activities on and prioritises that feels really weird, it actually makes me look forward to the semester itself. As of the end of the week I still didn’t have a timetable, which for my OCD brain was not helpful at all, but I also know that I’ve had worse issues planning my exchange and I figured them out so I know it’ll be fine, I just want to know! Classes start next week, and weirdly I’m actually excited to get back to going to classes and having a bit more of a routine.

Currently MIA,

Lauren x