Christmas Lights!

As you might know last Thursday was Thanksgiving! My flatmate Carol and some of her American friends organized a huge dinner. Carol was standing in the kitchen all day preparing the turkey. The dinner would start around 6 and we had no idea how many people would show up since everyone was welcome to join. The other Americans came in with big plates of food, mac&cheese, stuffing, different types of casserole, more mac&cheese. Around 7 the turkey was cooked and we started eating. There were so many different nationalities. Essin, a Scottish guy, asked me whether it’s true that in the Netherlands men and women go into a public sauna jointly and naked. I had no idea that this wasn’t common in other countries. Only the Germans knew this phenomenon. Anyways, the dinner was amazing! Too bad though that we didn’t have enough seats and cutlery, which made us do the dishes three times that evening. After the thanksgiving dinner we had a birthday party of a Spanish girl, Maria, at another flat. Her Italian friends made a lot of Tiramisu, so that was our delicious dessert! 

Last weekend my sister came to visit me. Fortunately I have finished all my assignments before her visit. She arrived on Saturday morning and left on Sunday late in the afternoon. Pretty short, but she had no other choice since she has a fulltime job. I was so glad that she came and that I could show her beautiful Glasgow! She also got to experience real Scottish weather, rain and wind all day and the next day sun! Most of our time we’ve been shopping at Primark. I’ve heard that there are three Primarks in Glasgow, however one I haven’t discovered yet. Almost the entire city centre of Glasgow is shopping street with many diverse shops, from Primark and Poundland to House of Frasers and Gucci. Last week they’ve decorated the whole city with Christmas lights and a Christmas market next to St. Enoch shopping mall. On the market you have Dutch stands which sell ‘poffertjes’, ‘stroopwafels’, ‘Dutch cheese’, ‘Peijnenburg’ etc. At a food stall, the alternative way, I’ve tried a Springbok burger. My sister recommended it since she ate it in South Africa last year. It was yummy!!! Next time I’m gonna try a Kangaroo burger. It sounds sad and cruel to eat Kangaroo but that’s quite common in Australia. On George Square there’s even a Ferris Wheel (we call it the Glasgow Eye) and an ice skating track.

I’m still trying to organize a trip to Dublin, but I’m here for only 3 more weeks and then I go back home for Christmas and New Years Eve and my flatmates are all quite busy. So maybe I won’t go, but you’ll hear that in my next blog!

Cheers!