More culture, cupcakes and Blackadder
Door: Samantha de Bruijn
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Samantha
08 December 2010 | Verenigd Koninkrijk, Glasgow
Monday 15 was the start of our 4-day during Bioinformatics ‘laboratory’ classes. We were given the name of a bacterium and we had to look for an enzyme of that bacterium that we thought was interesting to examine. I was given the bacterium Lactococcus lactis, which is used to produce cheese in dairy industry and I choose an enzyme (lactate dehydrogenase) which is necessary for this process. By looking in different databases, comparing different structures and amino acid sequences (the DNA code), you could see which parts of the enzyme have been conserved throughout evolution. If a certain sequence has been evolutionary conserved in different animals and species, it usually means that this region is of great importance for the structure, and thereby function, of the enzyme.
It was just a small project and we didn’t need the whole four days to figure everything out, but I thought it was really interesting. And that’s a good thing, because I will enroll in a Bioinformatics course when I get back to the Netherlands and it will be part of my 12-weeks internship during my bachelor’s degree.
During the lunch to ‘celebrate’ the end of the Proteins laboratory classes, we found out that Leoni had never seen a Blackadder movie or series! To increase her general knowledge of the world we live in, Emily and Sarah and Chloe (two other girls from Biochemistry) had organized a cupcake and Blackadder night. We (Mathilde, Leoni and I) had dinner at Emily’s place and while Leoni and Emily were preparing dinner, Mathilde and I had the important task to make and bake the cupcakes. By the time Sarah and Chloe arrived with some yummy homemade cupcakes with mint, we had already watched the Blackadder’s Christmas Carol film and were ready to watch a few episodes of the second season of the Blackadder series. Yes, the second season, because according to Sarah, the first season wasn’t that much of a success in the way who played which role, which they have changed during the next seasons. Needless to say that Leoni now loves the Blackadder series as well.
Every Tuesday evening, the Gaelic department organizes seminars about (a particular part of) Scottish history. Very fortunately for me, these seminars are in English and because I had finally some time off that evening I had decided to give it a try. On the internet, the subject of the seminar for that evening was not yet known, but once I sat down in the seminar room I found out that it was about the educational system in Glasgow during 1660 and 1670 or something like that. For some reason I had expected it to be more of a power point presentation (maybe because that’s the way we get lectures at university), but it turned out to be an older lady, who did her PhD in Scottish history and literally read her thesis aloud. That and the fact this room had central heating (in contrast with the room I had been in all day) did, unfortunately, not improve my chances of staying awake during the seminar. But maybe the next seminar will be better.
When we were finished the next day, Leoni had her Frisbee practice and Mathilde and I walked home via Byres road to get some dinner at Waitrose. I had recently bought ‘1 mix, 50 muffins’ and was desperate to try one recipe out. So after dragging the self-raising flour, sugar, eggs and my paper muffin cases back home, Mathilde and I tried to make some muffins/cupcakes with chocolate sprinkles (hagelslag) and some with apple, raisins and cinnamon. Unfortunately, they didn’t work out the way I had intended to; they hadn’t risen very well and the bottom part was burned (probably because of the baking tray), but I don’t give up! Trial and error will get me there eventually.
Thursday we finally booked our flight tickets back to the Netherlands. Sunday 19 December we will leave Scotland after all these months of amazing experiences. The aeroplane departs from Edinburgh and at 5ish we will set foot in Amsterdam. I’m so glad that the parents of Mathilde will drive most of our stuff back to the Netherlands by car! I don’t see how I would have been able to put all the stuff I have bought so far in two suitcases, haha.
That afternoon there was another ticket sale from the International Society. This time we bought tickets for a full day bus tour to St. Andrews on Saturday 27. Because it’s close to St. Andrews day (30 November) the entry for all tourist attractions will be free during that weekend. I am really looking forward to it!
Friday was scheduled as two lectures in the morning, starting at 9 and 10 o’clock and one in the afternoon at 3 o’clock. (Un)fortunately, the lecturer of 10 o’clock didn’t turn up, which gave us even a bigger gap between the lectures. Not wanting to walk all the way to Firhill Court and back, I decided to go and do something cultural. There are four museums on the campus and I still hadn’t seen two of them. I started off with the Mackintosh House. Mr and Mrs Mackintosh have studied at the School of Art in Glasgow. They have a remarkable style which can be found throughout Glasgow and are known for the rose that appears in a lot of their art collection. The house is a reconstruction of the house they owned and shows a lot of their style. Fortunately, the entry for me (student) was free, because I didn’t think the house was that special.
After the Mackintosh house I visited the Hunterian Museum, which is located in the main building of the university. I only stayed there for about half an hour, but it was great to have a look. There is one big room with jars full of conserved animals, body parts, organs, etc. Very interesting. Two smaller rooms contain parts of other collections such as coins and very old medicinal books. I think the museum is much bigger than the part I have seen; at least one room was blocked, because they are restoring the ceiling.
After the lecture of that afternoon, I waited for 1.5 hours to go and try Zumba again. I had tried Zumba twice in the first few weeks I was here. Unfortunately, the songs and moves were still exactly the same as the latest two times, so no more Zumba for me in Glasgow I suppose…
Saturday November 20, Mathilde and I went into town for some more culture. We had decided to have a look at/in the Glasgow Cathedral and the tourist attractions that are around it. We were heading for the cathedral and were going to cross the street towards the cathedral when we almost bumped into one of these 'attractions'. It was the Provand's Lordship. It has been built in 1471 as part of St. Nicholas's Hospital and is thereby the oldest house in Glasgow. Rumours go that Mary, Queen of Scots stayed there while she took care of her ill (second) husband Lord Darnley.
The house itself is quite big; it has two floors and when you squeeze yourself trough a very small and low door, you end up in the garden. It is called St. Nicholas Physic Garden and was used during the medieval period for growing plants with medicinal purposes.
This time crossing the street, we walked into St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art which 'was designed to raise awareness of the importance of religion in people's lives throughout the world and to promote a mutual understanding and respect across all faiths.' as my Glasgow city guidebook so wisely tells me. I personally wasn't very impressed by the museum, but then again I'm not really into (all different kinds of) religion. Once we had stuffed ourselves with knowledge, a mozzarella panini and some tea, we (finally) walked into the Glasgow Cathedral.
Once again by having a look in my very informative guide book, I can tell you that the Glasgow Cathedral is the only mainland cathedral in Scotland to have survived the Reformation almost intact. The first church that was on the spot where the cathedral is today, was being built in the beginning of the 7th century by orders of St. Mungo. Tales made the place into a site of pilgrimage and a cathedral was build. However, this early cathedral was destroyed by a fire and the construction of the cathedral of today started in 1197 although additions have been made throughout the centuries. Fragments of cathedral in the 12th century can still be seen in the lower church, which is below the ground floor of the cathedral. It was, as cathedrals usually are, huge and it had a lot beautiful stained glass windows. While in the cathedral, we were told a little story about a very small window in the left corner of the Blackadder Aisle. In the olden days people with leprosy were not allowed into churches because it is very contagious and presumably because they looked very weird as well. However, to be able to 'attend' the services, they were allowed to watch trough the tiny window.
By the time we felt like we had seen enough of the cathedral, it was already starting to get dark outside and we didn't really feel like going to the Glasgow Necropolis, so maybe we'll do that another time. We went back into the city centre, had a look at some shops and after 'dinner' at MacDonald's it was time for Mathilde to go to the cinema (she and some friends planned on seeing the new Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and for me to go back home. (I don't want to see the film yet. I want to finish audio book six first)
Love,
Samantha
-------------------------------
Photos: LAYOUT HAS CHANGED!!! MENU IS ON THE RIGHT HANDSIDE NOW. http://s1046.photobucket.com/albums/b465/MathildeCastelijns/
Blackadder: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder
Mackintosh house: http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/collections/art_gallery/mac_house/machouse_index.shtml
Huntarian Museum: http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/visit/museum/museum_visit.shtml
Provand's Lordship: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glasgow/provandslordship/index.html
St. Mungo Museum: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glasgow/stmungomuseum/index.html
Glasgow Cathedral: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glasgow/cathedral/index.html
It was just a small project and we didn’t need the whole four days to figure everything out, but I thought it was really interesting. And that’s a good thing, because I will enroll in a Bioinformatics course when I get back to the Netherlands and it will be part of my 12-weeks internship during my bachelor’s degree.
During the lunch to ‘celebrate’ the end of the Proteins laboratory classes, we found out that Leoni had never seen a Blackadder movie or series! To increase her general knowledge of the world we live in, Emily and Sarah and Chloe (two other girls from Biochemistry) had organized a cupcake and Blackadder night. We (Mathilde, Leoni and I) had dinner at Emily’s place and while Leoni and Emily were preparing dinner, Mathilde and I had the important task to make and bake the cupcakes. By the time Sarah and Chloe arrived with some yummy homemade cupcakes with mint, we had already watched the Blackadder’s Christmas Carol film and were ready to watch a few episodes of the second season of the Blackadder series. Yes, the second season, because according to Sarah, the first season wasn’t that much of a success in the way who played which role, which they have changed during the next seasons. Needless to say that Leoni now loves the Blackadder series as well.
Every Tuesday evening, the Gaelic department organizes seminars about (a particular part of) Scottish history. Very fortunately for me, these seminars are in English and because I had finally some time off that evening I had decided to give it a try. On the internet, the subject of the seminar for that evening was not yet known, but once I sat down in the seminar room I found out that it was about the educational system in Glasgow during 1660 and 1670 or something like that. For some reason I had expected it to be more of a power point presentation (maybe because that’s the way we get lectures at university), but it turned out to be an older lady, who did her PhD in Scottish history and literally read her thesis aloud. That and the fact this room had central heating (in contrast with the room I had been in all day) did, unfortunately, not improve my chances of staying awake during the seminar. But maybe the next seminar will be better.
When we were finished the next day, Leoni had her Frisbee practice and Mathilde and I walked home via Byres road to get some dinner at Waitrose. I had recently bought ‘1 mix, 50 muffins’ and was desperate to try one recipe out. So after dragging the self-raising flour, sugar, eggs and my paper muffin cases back home, Mathilde and I tried to make some muffins/cupcakes with chocolate sprinkles (hagelslag) and some with apple, raisins and cinnamon. Unfortunately, they didn’t work out the way I had intended to; they hadn’t risen very well and the bottom part was burned (probably because of the baking tray), but I don’t give up! Trial and error will get me there eventually.
Thursday we finally booked our flight tickets back to the Netherlands. Sunday 19 December we will leave Scotland after all these months of amazing experiences. The aeroplane departs from Edinburgh and at 5ish we will set foot in Amsterdam. I’m so glad that the parents of Mathilde will drive most of our stuff back to the Netherlands by car! I don’t see how I would have been able to put all the stuff I have bought so far in two suitcases, haha.
That afternoon there was another ticket sale from the International Society. This time we bought tickets for a full day bus tour to St. Andrews on Saturday 27. Because it’s close to St. Andrews day (30 November) the entry for all tourist attractions will be free during that weekend. I am really looking forward to it!
Friday was scheduled as two lectures in the morning, starting at 9 and 10 o’clock and one in the afternoon at 3 o’clock. (Un)fortunately, the lecturer of 10 o’clock didn’t turn up, which gave us even a bigger gap between the lectures. Not wanting to walk all the way to Firhill Court and back, I decided to go and do something cultural. There are four museums on the campus and I still hadn’t seen two of them. I started off with the Mackintosh House. Mr and Mrs Mackintosh have studied at the School of Art in Glasgow. They have a remarkable style which can be found throughout Glasgow and are known for the rose that appears in a lot of their art collection. The house is a reconstruction of the house they owned and shows a lot of their style. Fortunately, the entry for me (student) was free, because I didn’t think the house was that special.
After the Mackintosh house I visited the Hunterian Museum, which is located in the main building of the university. I only stayed there for about half an hour, but it was great to have a look. There is one big room with jars full of conserved animals, body parts, organs, etc. Very interesting. Two smaller rooms contain parts of other collections such as coins and very old medicinal books. I think the museum is much bigger than the part I have seen; at least one room was blocked, because they are restoring the ceiling.
After the lecture of that afternoon, I waited for 1.5 hours to go and try Zumba again. I had tried Zumba twice in the first few weeks I was here. Unfortunately, the songs and moves were still exactly the same as the latest two times, so no more Zumba for me in Glasgow I suppose…
Saturday November 20, Mathilde and I went into town for some more culture. We had decided to have a look at/in the Glasgow Cathedral and the tourist attractions that are around it. We were heading for the cathedral and were going to cross the street towards the cathedral when we almost bumped into one of these 'attractions'. It was the Provand's Lordship. It has been built in 1471 as part of St. Nicholas's Hospital and is thereby the oldest house in Glasgow. Rumours go that Mary, Queen of Scots stayed there while she took care of her ill (second) husband Lord Darnley.
The house itself is quite big; it has two floors and when you squeeze yourself trough a very small and low door, you end up in the garden. It is called St. Nicholas Physic Garden and was used during the medieval period for growing plants with medicinal purposes.
This time crossing the street, we walked into St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art which 'was designed to raise awareness of the importance of religion in people's lives throughout the world and to promote a mutual understanding and respect across all faiths.' as my Glasgow city guidebook so wisely tells me. I personally wasn't very impressed by the museum, but then again I'm not really into (all different kinds of) religion. Once we had stuffed ourselves with knowledge, a mozzarella panini and some tea, we (finally) walked into the Glasgow Cathedral.
Once again by having a look in my very informative guide book, I can tell you that the Glasgow Cathedral is the only mainland cathedral in Scotland to have survived the Reformation almost intact. The first church that was on the spot where the cathedral is today, was being built in the beginning of the 7th century by orders of St. Mungo. Tales made the place into a site of pilgrimage and a cathedral was build. However, this early cathedral was destroyed by a fire and the construction of the cathedral of today started in 1197 although additions have been made throughout the centuries. Fragments of cathedral in the 12th century can still be seen in the lower church, which is below the ground floor of the cathedral. It was, as cathedrals usually are, huge and it had a lot beautiful stained glass windows. While in the cathedral, we were told a little story about a very small window in the left corner of the Blackadder Aisle. In the olden days people with leprosy were not allowed into churches because it is very contagious and presumably because they looked very weird as well. However, to be able to 'attend' the services, they were allowed to watch trough the tiny window.
By the time we felt like we had seen enough of the cathedral, it was already starting to get dark outside and we didn't really feel like going to the Glasgow Necropolis, so maybe we'll do that another time. We went back into the city centre, had a look at some shops and after 'dinner' at MacDonald's it was time for Mathilde to go to the cinema (she and some friends planned on seeing the new Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and for me to go back home. (I don't want to see the film yet. I want to finish audio book six first)
Love,
Samantha
-------------------------------
Photos: LAYOUT HAS CHANGED!!! MENU IS ON THE RIGHT HANDSIDE NOW. http://s1046.photobucket.com/albums/b465/MathildeCastelijns/
Blackadder: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder
Mackintosh house: http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/collections/art_gallery/mac_house/machouse_index.shtml
Huntarian Museum: http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/visit/museum/museum_visit.shtml
Provand's Lordship: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glasgow/provandslordship/index.html
St. Mungo Museum: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glasgow/stmungomuseum/index.html
Glasgow Cathedral: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glasgow/cathedral/index.html
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