“People Make Glasgow” is the motto printed on everything from street signs to trash cans (or bins if I want to talk like a true Brit). Even before I arrived here, all I ever heard about Glasgow was how friendly and nice everyone is, but I guess I never expected it to be quite like this.
I hadn’t thought much about this idea, admittedly, until I got in an Uber one day. I was going to IKEA, as it is a rite of passage for all foreign students, and the driver was very friendly, asking me and my friend how we enjoyed Glasgow so far. He particularly asked us if the people are noticeably different here. When we, of course, said yes, he was excited to tell us exactly why he thinks that is.
People here aren’t in a rush, he explained. Compared to Americans, people in Glasgow actually do stop to smell the roses. This leads to more genuine conversations between strangers and ultimately more friends and stronger relationships. His view of America was a fast-paced lifestyle with no time to slow down and enjoy what you are doing. The small things matter here.
That short conversation changed my entire outlook on Glasgow. This is exactly what makes Scotland so appealing, and it’s no wonder so many people want to come here. Being here has allowed me to slow down in all aspects and just enjoy the journey, whether it’s walking to school and just enjoying the nature around me, or chatting with locals on the train.
I was reading a novel for my Scottish Literature class the other week. “The Living Mountain” by Nan Shepherd is a classic Scottish novel where she essentially pioneered nature writing, which was revolutionary and looked down upon at the time. This novel is extremely slow-paced, and even while reading it, you are forced to slow down to really begin to understand the mountains and what makes them so special.
Admittedly, I found this a boring read at first. When I finally got past that initial urge to just skim it, I realized that I was not enjoying it the way it was intended. When I was able to get over my initial response to just get the reading over with, I got to enjoy this novel and her genuine love for the place she grew up in.
Shepherd personifies the Cairngorm Mountains in a beautiful way that even non-locals can appreciate and relate to. This reading solidified the idea of slowing down, which the Scottish lifestyle values.
I have learned so much about people and the city I am in by simply slowing down and taking the time to truly appreciate it. It sounds so simple, but this idea has become a lost art in America. I hope to continue to take this idea back home with me and remember it long after I leave, because, as I have heard time and time again, you may leave Scotland, but Scotland will never leave you.
The Northern line tried to boil me alive this week.
On Monday, I was going to Old Street station like usual to get to class and noticed that the train to King’s Cross was taking far longer than usual. Normally, the trains arrive every few minutes, so you won’t have to wait very long after you get to the platform. But I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting… and still, the train hadn’t arrived. More passengers poured onto the platform, and soon there were people filling up almost every inch of the place. Then, an announcement: the Northern line has been severely delayed due to a signal failure at Stockwell. Surely, this can only be a delay around Stockwell, right? Moments after the announcement, the train screeches onto the tracks in front of me and the horde of passengers.
The most splendid noodles from Lanzhou Lamian Noodle Bar in Chinatown. You know your food is about to be excellent when the restaurant is full, the staff are all yelling at each other in a language you don’t understand, and you’re not totally sure what’s in the bowl in front of you.
The train is practically about to burst. People are pressed against the windows, squeezing between bags, backpacks, arms, legs, coats; it seemed like there was hardly even room to wiggle a finger.
Liz Truss was Prime Minister of the UK for exactly 50 days in 2022. A head of lettuce lasted longer than she did, oh dear. It seems that people everywhere hate their politicians.
I was going to be late to class if I didn’t catch this train, so I preemptively moved towards the yellow line at the platform edge. A few passengers get off, sweaty and sighing with relief as they exit the car. By some TFL miracle, I manage to squeeze into the end of the car, feeling guilty as my backpack definitely smacked someone’s small child in the face. The doors slide shut and the train moves on. People everywhere are sweating, the scent of skin, perfume, cologne, and the musty seats all mixing together to form the lovely TFL signature scent on steroids. For the next two stops, I think I finally understood what it was like to be part of a seafood boil, as the seafood. Just like crabs and shrimp and prawns and lobsters, the people on the tube don’t speak and just suffer through the cramped heat in silence.
When I got to King’s Cross, I think I was fully soaked with sweat, from only a two-stop journey. Splendid! And I didn’t even make it to class on time. When I walked into the lecture five minutes late, my professor asked me if I was doing okay. She was justified in her observation; my face was shiny and my hair a mess. This is what TFL will do to you.
Though the London Underground is the most expensive public transit system in the world, it is known personally victimizing its riders with delays and disruptions exactly when it’s the last thing you need. The Northern line is a problem in particular, since it’s actually the busiest line out of the 11 (Weird, right? I would’ve thought it was the Central line, since it’s supposed to be “central”, and all…). Would highly recommend looking up “TFL Status” and checking if there are any delays or disruptions along your usual route in the morning before you need to be anywhere, lest you be caught waiting and waiting and waiting for a train car might try to suffocate you to death. Or, just take the bus.
When you aren’t worried about being steamed by people’s body heat in a stuffed tube car, you will have the leisure to look up and see the stops on the line and some advertisements along the upper portion of train cars on the tube. Poems will sometimes replace the ads on tube cars. I wouldn’t consider myself a poetry person by any means; I developed a very sincere hatred for Robert Frost in high school because of his overwhelmingly simplistic rhymes and themes (“two roads diverged in a wood and I / took the one less traveled by”, seriously? I could write that, so why are you so famous, Robert?). I still find the selection of poems on the Underground to be fairly entertaining. I think my favorite one I’ve seen was this one on a Victoria Line train (I forgot to take a picture of it on the train, but here it is):
I’m going to do the thing that everyone hates about poetry and find an underlying meaning when there appears to be none. I thought this poem was funny in a way that makes you feel like you are slowly going insane like the author. I too, am fond of “am I bananas?” But I think this poem is more about making do with what you have; by rearranging “I am a poet / I am very fond of bananas”, you get a lot of combinations that do still make sense. I interpret this as making things to do with what you have, rather than finding things to do all the time. You might be in the same area most of the time, either going to/from class, buying groceries, etc. But there is always something new to do that exists outside of recommendations from TikTok or generating ideas with AI (I’m actually a pretty big AI hater. If you can’t make a grocery list or draft an email or find things to do without ChatGPT, you have the survival skills of a banana). It could be as simple as just taking a different route home, maybe stop at an interesting cafe or shop along the way.
Mutton Pepper Fry from Dishoom, a well-known upscale chain of amazing Indian street food in London. Would highly recommend this and also the Pau Bhaji. Also, my camera roll is mostly becoming food.
I’m going to be wandering around Switzerland and Spain next week, which I am very excited about. Currently, I’m writing this as I sit in Heathrow Terminal 5 waiting to board my flight to Geneva. Au revoir, tschüss, and adiós, for now.
DU Abroad 