I had an amazing time in Glasgow and I will miss a lot of things, mostly the people I had the pleasure to work with. It was an incredible experience to work abroad in a country with a different language and get to know its history and culture. Working at the University of Glasgow was really interesting because I got the chance to put everything I learned in my apprenticeship into practice.
Every day at the library was different and this variety made the work and my stay in Glasgow as a whole a lot more fun actually. The University of Glasgow has a lot to offer but after work (if I wasn’t in a pub drinking with other students) I visited the nearby botanic gardens or the Kelvingrove Art Gallery. The botanic gardens were beautiful and it was quite handy that most parts of the garden were inside, since it was very cold. During Halloween there was also a wonderful lightshow in the botanic gardens. I highly recommend it to you and if you want to go then you should buy the tickets in advance, since it’s very popular. By the way, entry to the botanic gardens is normally free and so are most of the museums in Glasgow. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery is also in walking distance (roughly five minutes) and is worth a visit.
During my internship I also went to Stirling, Edinburgh and Loch Lomond. They were all excellent trips and reachable by train.
The weather wasn’t a highlight you could say. It was just very cold most of the times and the wind and rain didn’t help. At the start in October, the weather was actually pretty nice but it got worse and worse. I was told in December it would never snow, just rain and boy was that true.
In my last four weeks I spent a lot of the time in the maps & atlases department on level 7 in the library. Because I was interested in geography and history since I was a kid, this was probably my favourite place to work in. The library even had some old maps from Switzerland! I enjoyed working at the University of Glasgow and I will miss it quite a bit.
My internship abroad has helped me professionally and also personally. Living alone without your parents in another country for over two months wasn’t always a piece of cake. I think it made me grow as a human. It made me take more responsibility for myself and my actions. It also showed me how much my parents do at home to make my life easier, which I am very grateful for.
The weird and special charm of Glasgow and its people has grown on me. I wish I could have stayed a wee bit longer. I will definitely come back in the future and pay the city and my friends at the university a visit.
I thank everyone who took his time to read my few posts and hope you could enjoy them. It is now time for me to say good bye to Glasgow and all of you. I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year. Best of luck!
Goodbye!