What was I doing a decade ago??

As we approach the end of 2006, I was lying in bed last night thinking about what I was doing 10 years ago. 1996 happened to be a pretty exciting year for me. I was in third year university at Queen's University in Kingston, ON, but I actually wasn't at Queen's...



I actually went on an international exchange. I attended the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland for a year.

I remember arriving to my flat at 8 pm and feeling like I was totally lost. I couldn't understand a thing anyone was saying (it took me a week before I could fully appreciate the Glaswegian accent). I shared a flat with 5 other guys from Malaysia who were all great guys. This is when I developed my love for spicy food. They put chili sauce on EVERYTHING. I have to admit, it does bring out the flavour though and we still do use a lot of chili sauce these days.

The accommodations at Birkbeck Court were pretty pathetic but liveable. Each building was four stories with 6 people sharing a flat on each floor. There was only 1 phone for the entire building and it was situated in the stairwell so that everyone could hear you. The people who lived near it had to run to each person's flat and tell them they had a call. There was a small tv with only 4 channels. Civilized society my ass! I had to walk into downtown to go buy my groceries at the Tesco Metro each week. I spent about $20 per week on food. I had $1 haircuts at the barber's college up the road. The budget was tight but that's okay because I was saving up to travel anyway.

I got to travel all around Scotland that year. Every weekend I visited a new town by myself. I went to the Highlands to see Loch Ness, Edinburgh, Stirling (to see the real Braveheart sword), St. Andrew's (to see the Old Course - world's oldest golf course), and plenty of other places in between. Glasgow was a great city to be in - I loved walking around the city. There was soo much to see and do. It was a surprisingly nice city. And the people were very friendly all over Scotland.

Susan came out to join me after her classes ended and we backpacked all over Europe. From Glasgow, we went to (let's see if I can remember this): London, Brugge (Belgium), Brussels, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Vienna, Geneva, Venice, Rome, Florence, Paris, Disneyland Paris, Berlin, Fussen (Bavaria), Copenhagen, & Billund (Denmark). 16 cities in 10 countries in 24 days. Anyway, it was an amazing trip! We slept on trains, rarely showered, ate canned cheese, snuck into hostels to use their facilities - it was full of good memories. So we plan to go back and see Spain, Greece and spend some more time in France but I think we'll do it in a little more style.

It's amazing how quickly a decade goes by. What were you doing 10 years ago??