Thursday, 10 May 2012

Thursday May 10th, 2012 – The Past Few Weeks


            These past few weeks I’ve been very busy finishing final essays and studying for exams.  In fact, today I just submitted my last essay which was 3000 words and worth 70% of my final mark.  Last Thursday I had my first exam and it was definitely an experience.  I arrived there half an hour early and nobody was there.  10 minutes before the exam was supposed to start there was still NOBODY else there.  When the invigilators opened the doors I was the only one there.  They were very surprised, and the reason why was because there was a separate door that everybody else was waiting at – it was very odd.  The exams here do differ from McMaster’s exams quite a bit.  They seem to all be essay style here, whereas at McMaster they’re multiple choice, true/false, or short answer for me usually.  Now I just have one more exam in a week.  Even though I’ve had work to do, that hasn’t stopped me from shopping and travelling.  I’ve gone shopping a lot in Glasgow getting some new clothes, and souvenirs for myself and people back home.  Yesterday, Mike and I went to Edinburgh one last time to go to the zoo and climb to the top of Arthur’s Seat (hill overlooking Edinburgh).  At the zoo we saw the Giant Pandas, koalas, pygmy hippos, penguins, and MANY kinds of monkeys.  It was definitely not as good as the Toronto Zoo which is a lot bigger, but was still fun.  We then went to the city centre and walked up and down the Royal Mile and then climbed to the top of Arthur’s Seat which took us about 45 minutes to do.  We then sat at the top for a while admiring the view, and then started the descent down.  After shopping a little more we then took the bus back to Glasgow.
            I’m going home in 3 weeks minus a day now and I have mixed feelings about it.  Of course I’m super excited to go home because I miss everyone there like crazy, but I’ll be very sad when I leave Glasgow.  It has been my home for the past 5 months, and I’ve met so many amazing people and had so many amazing experiences that I’ll remember forever.  I wish I had more time here so that I could travel to more places because travelling in Europe is so cheap with easyjet and ryanair and all the buses here.  Next week after my last exam Mike and I are planning on travelling through England and Wales more to see more of the UK.  I figure I better see more of it since I’ve only been to London, Bristol, Bath, and Windsor in England, and nowhere in Wales.  There’s still so much to see!