Welcome back to the Pepperdine Theatre Scotland blog! I am currently writing from my awesome dorm on Kelvinaugh Street in Glasgow after having one week in Glenelg and one in Glasgow under my belt! It has been so exciting to go from our wee walks and hearing about all of the rich stories and history in the beautiful natural Glenelg sites to the start of our classes and rehearsals in the Royal Consertatoire in Glasgow, and I’m here to give a bit of insight into what that switch has been like.
On Saturday, after our day of travel and seeing Footloose, we finally got to our homes for the next month! After collecting all of our luggage from the van, we got our keys and took all of our luggage up several flights of stairs (many of us ended up making two trips) to our dorms. The rooms are so homey and inviting! I love our kitchen and common area and I was personally pleased with the cute comforter set in my room. I couldn’t wait to live with the girls in my flat, too. Gabby, Jacqueline, Zoe and I are living it up!
After settling in, we all went out on the town for dinner. After a week of freshly home cooked meals by Callum, our talented Glenelg chef, where else would we go but the renowned Chunky Chicken! Some of us were itching for fast food, others were not as happy with the choice. But look at these happy faces consuming our chicken at this fine establishment! I have no regrets.
On Sunday, we had our orientation for the University of Glasgow where we got our student ID cards, toured the university, and met our teachers for our classes. Glenelg was a very surreal experience in its own right in many beautiful ways, but touring U of G was a standout surreal moment for me here in Glasgow for sure. The buildings are all so gorgeous and it seriously felt like I was walking through Hogwarts during the tour. I can’t believe I get to continue my education here. What an opportunity. The architecture at the school and just all around Glasgow is so intricate and detailed. We learned on the tour that the university was established in 1451, and it’s clear to see the history and tradition of Scotland is so prominent in so many of its regions, as this was something that stood out to us in Glenelg.
Monday marked the start of our classes and rehearsals! I’m in the Theatre in Scotland class, and it was so nice to already start learning about the history of Scottish theatre and the National Theatre of Scotland, as well as start having discussions and putting context into our perceptions of theatre and how they will line up with the course.
The first day of rehearsals was SO exciting! The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is such a cool building, always bustling with performances and rehearsals going on in its different parts. It was nice to come back together in Glasgow to read an even more updated script of Lewis’s. Glenelg, however, is where we had our first official read-through of the script, and it was so exciting to see all of the new changes to the script and how fleshed out the characters and messages/themes of the script came to be interpreted in a new light. I grew to love the play and Lewis’s writing even more than I already did! But here in Glasgow, it felt like everything was really happening! Lewis and Sam joined us for our design presentations and second read-through. Here I thought, “wow, we’re all here as a team at the RCS rehearsing this original work for the Fringe Festival!” How cool is that?!
Aside from Chunky Chicken, it has also been so fun becoming acquainted with the spots around Glasgow for shopping and food! There are so many cute cafes and restaurants that have been so enjoyable this last week. There are some awesome antique and thrifting stores in the area as well with the friendliest employees. I have not had a bad interaction with a Glasgow resident since coming here! Fatima and I were able to talk about Edinburgh and our show with a vintage shop owner who had a lot of insight into climate change and activists/documentaries that we could look into that were more specific to the UK. It was such a cool conversation, and I can’t wait to have more!
The switch overall has most definitely been abrupt—from wee walks to buses, from home cooked meals to finding food in the city, from highland cow watches to watching for cars because we’re used to American roads. But both places have brought so much joy and inspiration to all of us. The cordiality of the people in both places has been a real standout point for me. I am just feeling so lucky that my first time out of the country is surrounded by such wonderful people not only in the Pepperdine Theatre program, but also with Lewis and Sam and the people I’ve had small exchanges with everyday. I can’t wait to see what else this place has in store for us and to see where class and the rehearsal process take us! Cheers!!
By: Isabelle Titzer
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