A Trip Into Town

Hello everyone! Today seemed like a very long day.  I went to the library and got books to study for my exams. It turns out that everyone goes to the library at this time of the semester.  It was packed.  I guess they have to study up on everything that they missed hearing about in lectures.  Also, it was a pretty gloomy day.  It rained pretty much on and off all day long.  So, I guess camping out at the library was everybody's rainy day plan.

After lunch, I finally decided that I needed to go to Tesco.  I've been putting this off for a while because A) It's been really rainy and walking around in the rain isn't my favorite activity and B) It's never a short trip because it's always really crowded and the buses never come quickly to the bus stop by Tesco.  So, I convinced myself that I really was out of food and that if I wanted coffee tomorrow morning, I need to go.

My trip into town was interesting.  I had some great finds and some great revelations.  First, I went to the Thistle Center because I needed conditioner. I managed to walk into Boots, check-out and be halfway out of the store when I realized that I needed toothpaste too.  So, I walked across the mall-way (mall hallway) to SuperDrug to get toothpaste (because it's really awkward to go to the same cashier 5 minutes later.  (There as only 1 working today) Usually I wouldn't have an issue with this, but I paid in change and she wasn't too happy about it. Which as a side note to that, I've accumulated a lot of change over the past 3 months and I need to get rid of it.  So, my new motto is "if I can't pay for it in change, I can't afford it".  At least for anything that isn't essential...like food.) Which brings me to my first revelation.

Revelation 1: They don't sell Crest in the UK.

This is really something that should be changed.  Crest, get your act together and go global. I miss my cinnamon toothpaste.  Colgate just doesn't do it for me.

Then, I headed to Iceland to buy chicken for dinner (it's significantly cheaper than at Tesco).  While at Iceland I found the Holy Grail.

Revelation 2: Iceland sells pints of Ben & Jerry's for 2 pounds!

 Now, this may not sound too exciting to everyone at home who can just pop over to your favorite grocer and buy some good old B&J for about 4 dollars.  Well, let me tell you.  In the campus store, they sell those tiny little "serves 1" Ben & Jerry's for 3 pounds. They sell a pint for 5 pounds (that's a little over 8 dollars).  Tesco sells it for about the same price.  So, finding this is a real find.  I feel like I've gone through withdrawal.  Believe me, Ben & Jerry and I are going to do some serious bonding tonight.

When I went to check-out I witnessed something else that made me really happy; a woman paying for 15 pounds of groceries in change.

Revelation 3:  I now find it socially acceptable to pay for things in change.

That being said, I will only pull out the 50 two pence coins at pound stretcher (seriously...that's to everyone who think's I'm joking) but I don't feel nearly as awkward doing it after having witnessed a Scot doing it.

After Iceland I headed for Tesco.  (Did you notice how this trip began as a Tesco run and turned into a 4 store adventure? I stepped away from studying and my mind went crazy.)  On the way to Tesco it began to rain.  When I left my room, the sky was blue.  So, I thought to myself "I don't need to take an umbrella.  The sky is blue." Scotland weather, you are annoying.  But I figured I could dry out in Tesco.  (Side Note: Tesco actually wasn't busy today.  It was amazing.  I also found an ice cube trey.  Yes, this would have been more helpful 3 months ago, but hey...I now have ice.)

When I came out of Tesco, it was raining hard.  Really hard.  Like Noah's Ark hard.  I-stepped-out-into-the-rain-and-was-soaked-immediately hard.  Not fun.  Luckily, right as I got to the bus stop, a bus pulled up.  I was thankful for that at least.  There was literally water running down my face.   Then, when I got back to campus, my Iceland bag broke...in a puddle.  I will never use Iceland bags again.  But, I eventually made it back to my flat (it stopped raining right as I stepped under the awning thing by my flat..go figure) and I made cookies (before you get too excited about this, they were the just add water kind...they do sell those here).