Hello!! Welcome to my first blog post!! I am currently on exchange to the University of Glasgow in Scotland!! In this blog I will be covering my first impressions on the city, what my first two months have been like etc!
The most noticeable thing when I first arrived in Glasgow, early January was how cold it is and how early the sun sets. Coming from the beautiful New Zealand summer, this was quite a shock to the system. I knew it would be cold but I definitely underestimated it, and I wish I packed more jackets because I ended up wearing my same three jackets for the first two months. The rain here is kind of different to the rain in Auckland as well. I feel like it’s constantly slightly raining here so it’s not enough to put up an umbrella most of the time but you’re still getting awkwardly wet. There was a massive storm the second weekend I was here, and all classes had to be cancelled and my go-to supermarket had to close for a while. Although the sun sets quite early, I feel like the change into Spring was quite quick. With every day being so busy, it will be much warmer and brighter before you even notice!!
On the topic of being busy, let’s talk about Glasgow’s O-week. Since I came in the Spring semester, the O-week events were apparently minor because it’s already halfway into the academic year. The International Students team hosts more than enough events for you to attend, and my advice would be to go as much as you can. I met all of my friends there, who I ended up studying together and travelling around Europe with. It felt like the first year of O-Week back in Auckland, which I really enjoyed!! Meeting so many new people can be exhausting and homesickness did really get to me in the first two weeks. But once I found the people I really get along with and rely on, things got so much easier for me.
In the first month, I spent a lot of my time on the weekends just getting used to my living in Glasgow. Some of my friends started traveling right away, which made me feel like I wasn’t making the most of my time. But looking back, I can see that every student has their own way of spending their exchange, and it was important for me personally to make sure I adjusted to my living and found a routine, as a student at the University of Glasgow.
Before coming here, everyone told me that the Scottish accent would be a shock to me, but I honestly didn’t even notice it that much. The biggest cultural differences I’ve noticed were:
- Getting used to different labels when grocery shopping
- How expensive eating out is
- How not many people use umbrellas here
- The differences in pub/night-out culture
People in Glasgow are really friendly and easy to talk to. Whether it’s just bus drivers or people in the elevator, they are all so friendly. Glasgow is also a very clean and safe city. There’s always a lot of people around, even when walking alone at night. What I’ve noticed compared to other cities I’ve been to is that it’s not tourist-y at all, and I can feel that there is a real community of people here. I’m sure every exchange student would say this about their own exchange location but I think that Glasgow really is the perfect place as a student. It has an abundance of university accommodation, which is surrounded by pubs and cute cafes. It’s easy (and free with the Young Scots card) to get to Edinburgh airport if you want to go to other countries.
Thank you for taking the time to read this! I hope it can be helpful to your exchange planning, and if you have any questions please feel free to email me!! My next blog will be about travels around the UK and Europe 😆