Farewell (until we meet again)

For sure, everything will be different in this northern mining town when I am back; both about the city and myself. I am dreading this because it seems to me this ‘different’ cannot possibly adopt the form of ‘better’. Every day, I dedicate at least 3 minutes to contemplating what a great time I am having here. There are loads of things I will definitely not miss about Britain or Glasgow in particular. Nonetheless, I feel like being positive and so I will only mention some of those things I certainly will miss.

First, by all means I will miss the people I know here. It is people (and bridges) upon whom it depends whether a city is a good place to live or not. This year, the people around me succeeded in ‘constructing’ the city in a truly splendid way. It is not a nice feeling to know that most of my friends will not be here in 15 months anymore; they will either do their Erasmus exchange, move to a different country to work, or have finished their studies. Glasgow is a very multicultural city and I have many more international rather than Scottish friends. Well, at least I will have an excuse to get lost for a few days and travel around Europe in future to strengthen old friendships.

Second, I will surely miss the weather. Yes, it is the weather that everybody is complaining about all the time here. However, given that I am going to spend next in Granada, Spain (=hot air oven) I am sure I will more than once remember the beauty of Glaswegian coldness and wind with nostalgia.

Third, in confrontation with the hyper-healthy Andalusian cuisine, I will miss the terrible chip shop food too. It is indeed impossible to survive on that kind of alimentation for more than one week. Yet, once or twice a month, walking down the street hungry, this food covered in kilos of salt and litres of vinegar  comes convenient. You just bask in the pleasure of eating really unhealthily. To this point links also the trade mark, the badge of Scots: Irn Bru, a fizzy drink containing more sugar than Coca-Cola as well as traces of quinine or ferric citrate. It tastes like Hubba Bubba and looks like a drink from far-away civilizations from the pen of George Lucas. I can guarantee you that when you try it for the first time you will not like it. Not a bit. Nonetheless, Irn Bru is similar to olives; you make yourself drink a bit several times out of some kind of ‘cultural duty and respectfulness’ and without even realizing it, one day you end up seriously addicted to this devil’s drink. So when you are in Scotland, give the people my kind regards and have one orange shot on me!