For my third year in Glasgow I've moved into a new place with two other vet students. Its a house rather than a flat this year and is called a semi-detached house because one wall is shared with the neighbors (like a duplex). We have a huge garden on three sides of the house with roses, hydrangeas, and a place for me to plant a few herbs.

The entire house was freshly painted for us this year and we are getting a new suite in the lounge. Getting rid of the goldenrod in the kitchen was a wonderful improvement! In the last few years the windows have all been replaced and the house has been re-carpeted. There is also an alarm system so we can feel a bit more secure leaving the place empty over the holidays.

This year I'm living with Tiffany, an American in my year who is on the riding team with me, and Catherine, a 1st year American from Philadelphia.

Our landlord is very lenient and has let us put up anything we want on the walls. I think he is just glad to see the house looking like a home again rather than a dorm. The last four girls who lived here were very young, had lots of posters on the walls, and didn't take very good care of it.

Thankfully there is an IKEA in Glasgow and it was our first stop after arriving back in Glasgow this fall. It has enabled us to pick up quite a few little things to make the house more homey and livable.

The neighborhood, Jordanhill, is a quiet residential are next to a huge park. Most of the houses in Jordanhill are traditional red or brown sandstone houses, but sadly, out house is on one of the two blocks of "newer" houses (i.e. 1940's). Ours is built with brick (its a nightmare to hang photos on the outside walls) covered with a strange "pebble ash" coating that looks like bad, rough cement.

Jordanhill is a mainly middle-class area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is characterized by its detached and semi-detached style of housing, unusual for Glasgow which is predominantly made up of tenemental style property.

The area was home to the Jordanhill Teacher Training College, which has subsequently merged with the University of Strathclyde.

Jordanhill School is the only state school in Scotland which receives its funding directly from the Scottish Executive, rather than through a local authority.