Day Two: The One In Which Genevieve Shops

Memo to self: gray ≠ cold.

I learned this lesson on my trip to the grocery store. The Tesco by my flat is only a Tesco Express, so it's quite small. It'll be fine for little things, but for a whole grocery shopping, I wanted a regular sized store. My roommate from Boston who's been here a week already gave me directions to the Morrisons (only a mile away), so I hiked down there for food. And I definitely overdressed. By the end of the walk, I was sweating.

It's strange, doing shopping in a new country, in a new grocery store. Even when I was a kid and would go with my mom to Asda or something, it's different than doing it yourself when you're used to running into the Superfresh or Acme or Giant. It's a quick lesson in shifting vocabularies. I'm back in the land of nappies, biscuits (the cookie kind, not the "...and gravy" kind), and prawns. I was mentally converting all the prices into dollars, but forgot to when the girl rang me up. I was thrilled to have spent only ₤19 on food. And then I realized that's over $30, and was less happy. Because I didn't buy that much. I can't -- no pots and pans or plates. Just a few mugs and a bowl.

I then had to lug my purchases back to the flat -- another mile back. So I was even sweatier. Layers, Schrier. Layers.

But it was good to be out in my new hood. It's an interesting mix of cool pubs and restaurants, with more down and dirty local stuff. The university itself is just stunning, and it sits on a hill lording over the West End of the city. Morrisons was in a more non-student area, so it was cool to mingle with locals. Scottish accents I'm fine with; a Glaswegian one trips me up slightly.

So I'm sitting here on a very gray Glasgow Sunday evening, with a cup of tea and a biscuit, relaxing for a bit before heading out with one of my flatmates and another girl who lives upstairs. I'm crazy jealous of my flatmate; her room has a direct view of the BBC Scotland building. Mine just looks out over the courtyard, though I do see hills in the distance.

On the walk to Morrison's, I passed a spot with a gorgeous view of the main building of the university, and stopped and reached inside my bag for my camera, because it was the perfect photo op. And much to my dismay, felt no camera. I'd left it in my room. So tomorrow will be picture day.