Remember, remember...

I know this is a little late getting out, but better late than never! It has been unbearably cold recently. I mean unbearable. You know in all those Masterpiece Theatres where people keep getting super cold at night? All those images of Edwardian England of people in nightgowns shivering wrapped in shawls? Yeah, it's kind of like that. Well, exactly like that. It must be the damp air coming off of the ocean or the fact that I'm living practically at the Arctic Circle! The nights are now properly long. It's super hard to go back to work after afternoon tea/coffee at 4:30 because it's pitch dark outside, and it will only get worse before it gets better. All that aside though, I still love living here and the vast amount of pubs make the weather a little less painful. It is very satisfying to go into a warm, loud, bustling pub filled with laughing, cheering drinking Scotsmen while it's properly freezing outside. You never want to leave.

This week, in our post-Halloween revelry, we had a Glaswegian friend visiting from his post-doc position in Germany. We all went out for...guess it, guess it...curry! There were too many of us in the tiny restaurant and so they split up our two tables and served us separately. I was on the losing side of the table with myself and another chap getting properly grumpy about our food not coming out yet. They were almost done with their meal by the time we got ours. So we started a mini-war between the two tables by putting a moat (our water glasses) and a wall of fire (the candles from the table) on the border. The whole thing started when someone put the bowl of their rice halfway over the line and it was properly sent back over. Then they had to borrow some of our rice later and so we charged an export tax. It was super immature but very entertaining. I went to the Oran Mor afterwards with my office mate and we had a great chat about the holidays and living in Glasgow, etc.

The next day was super stressful in terms of work and so this other girl, who is also a PhD student, and myself in the group decided to hit the pub afterwards. The night turned out to be a bit too much like Bridget Jones for me, but I had a great time nonetheless. We had a few pints at the corner old-man pub, Tennents. Then her boyfriend, who she's living with, called and they invited me over for dinner because he was making risotto. They live in a super cute, domestic little flat and really made me want a proper flat more. I really miss having my own fantastic little place, with a dining area, a living room, a kitchen all to myself and the like. We had a bottle of wine (the next morning it was discovered that finishing a bottle and a half on top of three pints is, in fact, a poor idea) and had a great dinner. It was weird to be the 'single person' again with a couple. But don't get me wrong, they were super friendly and I had a fantastic night.

The next night I was properly excited about; it was my first Guy Fawkes Night in the UK! I was tired from going out every night and so decided to stay in and cook myself a really nice meal (I was inspired after the home-cooked meal from the night before). When I left the office at about 7:30pm and stepped outside, the whole city smelled like gunpowder and there were constant fireworks going off in all directions. I went to the grocer's and got a bunch of vegetables and a bottle of wine before heading home. I passed the neighbourhood underground station and there was a queue all the way around the block to go to the Glasgow Green to watch the city fireworks. Since I was in the mood for a quiet night, I decided to skip this and head home. Plus, being me, lots of explosions and people make me very nervous! So I went back to an empty flat (THANKFULLY) and made my meal, which took about an hour. Then settled in my room with a makeshift table from a chair and sat on my couch and watched V for Vendetta while I ate. Aside from the fact that it's my favourite film, it was brilliant to watch with explosions going on outside my window. Particularly at the part in the film when V is addressing the (futuristic) nation, lecturing them for not celebrating Guy Fawkes Day anymore.

The next day the main guy in our department (our 'dad') got appointed to a chairmanship position, a big deal, and was giving his inaugural lecture. It was at 3pm then they had champagne in the common room starting at 4. He kept toasting to Gravitational Waves and our university and our department. We didn't leave the common room until about 6:30 after about 7-10 glasses of champagne each. It was time for the weekly pub-go and so we headed to Cooper's for a few pints. After that, it was suggested to go back to one of our flats and drink whisky. So we did. I think I got home around 1am. It was a super fun night though. The next morning, not so much.

The night before, we had all decided to head to SeeWoo which is this big Chinese food distributor for the Asian population as well as all the Asian restaurants in the city. It was like WalMart, but filled with Chinese food. Thankfully, one of my friends is Chinese and so he helped us find really good sauces and rice. It was all super cheap too, which was fantastic. Now I have food for a very very long time. Afterwards we went back to his place and watched some anime before he decided to cook us all a big roast pork meal. It was SUPER good.

Sunday was spent lounging around the flat, cleaning my room, etc. Nothing too exciting, which is how Sundays should always be. Time is flying by now; I'm going to be back in Colorado in 5 weeks, which is almost incomprehensible. Until next week!