Nice to meet you!

Today, I visited a microbiology lab for nursing majors and met some of the PhD students who assist in the lab.  Two of them talked to me at length about Scotland, the US, the education system, television, shopping, etc.  One thing I left with was this sense of respect for the US - or at least wonder!  One of the students had never been to the US but is planning a trip in October.  She spoke of her trip starting in Los Vegas, travelling to the west coast and driving from San Francisco to San Diego and back to Vegas.  It was interesting to me to hear perspectives on US tourism and shopping from these two.

The education systems of the US and Scotland (and maybe the UK in general) seem to have similarities but are also quite different, or at least seems that way when speaking with these students from Glasgow.  Apparently "college" as we put it in the US means something else.  Apparently here degree awarding institutions are always Universities whereas colleges give certifications.  A tad different, but made for some interesting conversation!  It was difficult to describe how a degree awarding college is different than a degree awarding university.  From what I understand, it's mostly how the school is organized.  I'll have to research this more.

The Scottish youth also seem to have a great interest in US television.  The two graduate students spoke a bit about their television interests citing several shows that I haven't seen any of...  But, apparently "Downton Abbey" is also popular in the UK as well.  It was described as "brilliant".

Also, Caledonia, according to Wikipedia (which is okay to site since this isn't a peer reviewed article?) is the old latin name the Romans gave what is now Scotland.  So I must be staying in the Scottish Court apartments!  Now that either means there are Scottish courtyards, or I am staying with Scottish nobility.  Hmm...