in which a new adventure begins

On September 12th, at 2:50 p.m., I left Atlanta -- this time not for Asia, but Europe! I changed planes in Chicago, then Dublin, and finally, on the morning of the 13th, I landed at my final destination: GLASGOW, SCOTLAND!

Ryan met me at the airport, and his father gave us a ride back to his house in the suburbs (where we've been staying for now). It's a lovely little row-house, always lively and full of people! His family are super friendly and outgoing. There's his parents, of course, and his three siblings -- sisters Emma and Caitlin, and brother Kieran, two of which still live at home.

(As I speak, Kieran and his father are mock-fighting -- armed with a fly-swatter and a sticker, respectively -- because Kieran put a "Kick Me" sign on his dad's back. Oh, and now Ryan's in trouble for hiding Kieran's "jelly babies." The situation is quickly devolving.)

Since I arrived, Ryan's been showing me around the city, and I've been getting ready for school. We spent a nice afternoon poking around the West End and visiting the Kelvingrove Museum, which is an odd collection of art and artifacts. It's housed in a huge, beautiful old building made of an orangey stone.

The whole city, in fact, is full of amazing European architecture. It's even more than I'd imagined! And the neighborhoods all look like something off of a BBC show. (As you might expect.)

I've also gone through registration and induction at U of G, and classes started this week. I've only got three classes altogether, for a total of six hours a week. They are:

1. Craft and Experimentation
2. Writing Workshop
3. Editing and Publication

Most of the other students seem pretty nice. They're from a variety of countries and backgrounds, and of a variety of ages. A few of them seem slightly pretentious -- what do you expect from a creative writing program -- but by and large, seems like a pretty cool crowd. I'm a little intimidated, actually, by the writing prowess of some of them. There are some budding poets who seem to take their work very seriously. I, on the other hand, don't write for therapy, or to improve myself...

Let's be honest, I just write for fun!