Amanda Catalano: Why is Everything Backwards?



I have fallen in love with Scotland. Where do I even begin to explain this beautiful country and the amazing friends and memories I have already made here? 
 
Aberdeen Cows

Aberdeen Cliffwalk



When first arriving in Aberdeen, it seemed that this city was very similar to Vancouver, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. But throughout my time here I have realized how incorrect that assumption was. First of all, Scotland is an English speaking country, but don’t let that fool you because their accents are so thick that half the time I find myself wondering, “what language is that person speaking? English? No, it can’t be!” Also, everything here is backwards. Light switches are backwards, door locks are backwards, escalators are backwards, driving is backwards, and many more things that I continue to notice on a daily basis. This definitely keeps things interesting and gives me a laugh every once in a while.

Aberdeen is a smaller city on the coast of Scotland, and I can walk from my flat to the beach in 15 minutes. They call Aberdeen the “Granite City” because all the buildings here are made of granite, which also means all the buildings are grey. It is neat though because since the buildings are grey, people paint their front doors in extremely bright colours, fluorescent blue and fluorescent red being the most popular choices. Something else I find very interesting about Aberdeen is that in the city, there are many old churches. But the city has converted all these churches into restaurants, bars/clubs, and casinos. It is very odd to look at this beautiful historic church on the outside, and then to go inside and see tons of drunken people dancing, drinking, and gambling!

Stonehaven, Scotland
 
Edinburgh, Scotland
So far I have done a lot of traveling around Scotland, and I also went to Poland, which was absolutely beautiful. I have many trips and adventures planned now that some of my coursework is done at RGU, so stay tuned!
Poznan, Poland

Amanda is a third year Bachelor of Business Administration student studying abroad at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breanna Nathorst: Leaving Paradise with Mi Familia

Image
     We have come a long way over the past 9 days of this trip and it has been beyond anything I could have expected. By emercing ourselves in the lively Guatemalan culture, we have taken a step out of the classroom into reality.  Leaving Livingston      Today is day 9 of our excursion and I am saddened to say that we had to leave Livingston- my Guatemalan paradise. As we packed our bags to leave, memories from the night before filled my head. We had a fiesta- Livingston style- at a reggae bar called ‘Duga’ located right outside of our hotel. We were joined by our new friends who were locals in Livingston and we shared music, laughter, and dancing. There were bongo drums and guitars and an amazing local from Belize named Mario got our whole group up on stage one-by-one to teach us how to dance ‘punta’, a type of Guatemalan dance. As the night went on our fiesta kept growing as locals who were passing by joined in to see what was happening. I am sure they were both surprised and
Read more

London Field School x2 - 2019

LONDON Field School x2 - Mia, Rose & Oscar 2019  On our last full day in London, We took two trains in the London Underground to get to Camden Markets. By this point in the trip we were tubes experts. Arriving in Camden Town, we walked to the "The Basement Tea House" so everyone knew where to come for our tea reservation a little later in the day - and good thing we did! We walked through narrow corridors amoung shop owners setting up their stalls, down a lift to the basement. In the heart of the markets were shops set up in what used to be horse stables that sold hats, jewellery, vintage clothes, fetish apparel, and of course, tea. From there we were set free to roam the markets at our own accord. With over 1000 unique vendors in the market there was a plethora of food and knick knacks to pursue, smell, and purchase. Some of the food that was consumed included: donuts, waffles, hand made pasta, milkshakes, pakoras, cereal, fried chicken crepes, among much, muc
Read more

London Field School 2019!

Image
London Field School 2019: Day 1 – February 15 th Carley, Chloe and Maria Song of the Day: London Bridge, by Fergie Check out our trip video on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD33ii01kXI Our first day in London started at the Westminster Pier, from there we caught the ferry to the Greenwich Village. Thames River is the lifeblood of London, and as a result you will find many of the most popular tourist attractions on the river's banks. We enjoyed the views from the upper deck and when it got too windy, we used the opportunity to go down to the warm hall of the lower deck and get some coffee. The knowledgeable crew was giving a live commentary of all the sights along the way. You get great views of all the landmarks and learn a bit of history on them all. We saw the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Parliament, Military Ships, and so much more . Taken at Westminster Pier before we hopped on the Thames River Cruise!
Read more