It's really funny the way that certain places can make you feel certain emotions. For me, I think Glasgow is going to be a place that stirs up particularly happy memories for me.
When I knew that during Easter 2009 I would be visiting Glasgow on my field trip I was totally uninspired and thought to myself, "why couldn't we go somewhere good?" and "how am I ever going to do well in second year?". But, thankfully, I was so wrong. Glasgow was the turning point of my degree. Everything that I thought "Geography" was, was turned on its head. I found new ways of looking at things and became confident in my own intellectual abilities. To the extent that I produced my personal best academic work. Not only this, but I learnt that to succeed you don't have to use flowery language, have a private education or have a "posh" accent. Or, as my lecturer put it, sometimes saying things more simply can be more intelligent than trying to make things sound more complicated than they are.
Then there's the humour element. My research project was on benches. I nearly got told off by security for lying across a bench in the shopping centre. And oh, seeing my lecturers drunk...
I hadn't really thought how much of an inspirational city Glasgow was to me until going back last weekend. Yes, it is cold, and yes, there is some beautiful architecture that is juxtaposed against a boarded up building just 10 feet away. But Glasgow has so much more to offer- friendly people, modern buildings and the occasional kilt wearer.
What made Glasgow even more special for me this time round was the people I shared my visit with. Getting off the bus and being greeted by friends I made in the USA, the comedy value of "Mrs Doubtfire" on the front desk, dancing with hot-kilt-wearing-scottish-guy at the Ceilidh and having chips and gravy all made for an amazing weekend, in what I already saw as an amazing city.
I know I'll go back to Glasgow one day. I have to, I need the Starbucks mug...
xxx
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