Students get a taste of Glasgow and golf

Posted on June 23, 2009 by kiddpete

On a beautiful Scottish morning, the Reporting in the British Isles students boarded a bus to Glasgow. The early afternoon would be spent seeing the sights of the United Kingdom’s third-largest city.

Glasgow, a city that has experienced economic turnover similar to Detroit, was baked in sunshine as the group joined a metro bus tour. Some of the sights included the Clyde Auditorium, whose architecture brought to mind an armadillo, and the home of the BBC branch in Scotland.

With a two-hour window between portions of the bus tour, the group decided on going their separate ways to explore. Some went shopping while others visited Glasgow City Hall.

I managed to find my way around the city by cab, visiting the stadiums of bitter soccer rivals Celtic FC and Rangers FC. The Old Firm Rivalry, as it as known, dates back to 1888. My cab driver was a die-hard Celtic fan who filled me in on all the details.

Just after mid-day, we returned back to the coach to drive to St. Andrews. This coastal town is known best for being the place where the sport of golf was invented.

Boasting eight courses, seven of which are public, St. Andrews Links is home to what is believed to be the oldest golf course in the world. The Old Course, as it is called, dates back more than 600 years. The British Open golf tournament has been held at this course 27 times, with Tiger Woods winning it the last two times in 2000 and 2005.

Besides bunkers and fairways, there are also the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral and St. Andrews Castle in the center of town. The group took in these sights as well as viewing graduates leaving from commencement at the University of St. Andrews. This school is the third-oldest in the UK behind Cambridge and Oxford.

The university was established between 1410 and 1413 and is attended by more than 8500 undergraduate and postgraduate students. A research-intensive school, the chances for gaining admittance are very slim. For every student that is accepted, 12 applicants are not.

While we never got a chance to see the famed Old Course of St. Andrews, we browsed the local golf shops instead. All in all, it was still a beautiful day to be in such a scenic place.