It was 8 am and it was still dark outside. Forget jet lag messing with your sense of time, the light here made me constantly question what time it was when I first arrived. The sun doesn’t rise until after 8 and it is dark again by 5 pm. On the plus side, I have never seen so many sunrises in my life. My roommate and I moved our small couch, complete with a very interesting floral pattern from the 80’s, to the bay of windows in our room so we could watch it rise over the chimneys in the morning. Our student flat is on Hillhead Street, and yes you have to walk up many hills to get there, but it is just down the street from the university campus. The campus itself makes me feel like I’m at Hogwarts. The architecture is an impressive mix of Victorian and Gothic with spires towering above the quads and cloisters running through the center. At home, I love sitting outside to study; however, given the freezing temperatures here it’s not really possible to sit out on the quads. I found an alternative though–a brisk five minutes walk from the university lies Glasgow’s botanical gardens. The tropical greenhouses have benches throughout and provide a break from the library while still having a warm place to study. The weather is indecisive and varied. It started hailing the other day and my roommate ran outside because she thought it was snow (she’s from Australia and had never seen snow). Later, that night it actually did snow. Glasgow is such a beautiful place with so much going on and I can’t wait to explore it more.