Falkirk is just the right size '“ I know where everything is

Even though I've spent the majority of my time in Glasgow for the past year, whether it be socialising or working, it wasn't really until the past two weeks or so that I've actually started to get to grips with my bearings.
Sophie WallaceSophie Wallace
Sophie Wallace

For a long time, I really only identified ‘Glasgow’ as Buchanan Street, down to the St Enoch’s centre. Stepping on the underground to get to the west end even seemed like I wasn’t in the same city. However, in the past fortnight I’ve been on somewhat of a journey of discovery, jumping from one bus to the next, walking miles across the city centre itself and finally putting names to places.

My first big shock came at the weekend, when I landed a job at the Asian Wedding and Lifestyle Show at the Glasgow City Hotel. Firstly, I never realised how close the hotel was to town – it is, at most, a five-minute walk away from Queen Street station. Secondly I never understood that the Glasgow City Hotel is right next door to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, which is directly left of Citizen M, which is about 30 seconds walk from my university. It’s strange knowing these places, which I was sure were much further afield than right in the centre of town, are literally right round the corner from where I spend most of my time.

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Secondly, with regards to smaller suburbs of the city, I’ve just started coming to terms with where places actually are. Glasgow Green really isn’t too far from St Enoch’s; Paisley isn’t two minutes from Cardonald (which I embarrassingly spent years thinking) and Motherwell really isn’t as far away as I thought. I knew I was bad at geography, but I never thought I had as bad a sense of direction as I actually do.

I think the biggest thing for me, after finally starting to get my head around where everything in Glasgow actually is, is realising how big the city is. Perhaps, for me, Falkirk is just the right size for now. At least I know where everything is.