Scotland 2016 BY ERICANANA

Departure:

The day had finally come to move to Scotland for a semester. We left the house at 7:30 am, and had to do errands along the way to the Airport. Mom, Grandma, and Smelly had all come to see me off. I got to see my little nugget (Daniel), and Amanda one more time, then we were off. Once we arrived to the airport it started to feel so real, then the goodbyes came. Of course it ended with us tearing up, was not an easy time but I knew that I had an adventure coming just around the corner.

Arrival:

Three planes later I had finally made it to Aberdeen, Scotland. I had a girl awaiting for me at the airport to help me find my way to my new home, Woolmanhill Flats. As I arrived I had to check in, then made my way over to my Flat, and into my new room for the next 4 months. As I walked through the front door all I could think of was how am I going to manage to live in this jail cell for the next 4 months of my life? Surrounded by cement walls, communal bathrooms, everything seemed so closed off and secluded. After a few days of living in my jail cell it became the new norm. Of course my flatmates have made it very welcoming. Already bugging each other, going out for drinks, building new friendships. I can’t say all of the flatmates were welcoming, we have a few hermits in our flat. You only see them on the rare occasion of them coming out of their shell.

My jail cell

Within my flat there are two people from Finland, one from Germany, one from Cypress, one from Scotland, and one crazy Canadian (me). All of their accents are glorious, it’s fun to make fun of them. I’m allowed to make fun of them when the four that I am always surrounded by are boys, gotta keep myself on the same level somehow, right? The boys are very welcoming, and hilarious. I am excited to see how far our friendships will grow over the next while.

First week:

It’s only been one week and I feel like it flashed right before my eyes. The first couple days consisted of getting lost while exploring to the grocery stores, to the beach which is named Fun Beach, it also contained a lot of jet leg of course. I felt like a zombie for the first week. My friend Alex, who is also from Capilano University, had her roommates come out for dinner with us. Making new friends isn’t the worst idea. We went to a pub called Slains Castle. To describe this pub hmm, it’s mystical in a dark way; Vampires, cobwebs, old, creepy designs inside. The food here is kind of similar to home, but there is also a lot different than what we are used to. Have you ever heard of burger sauce? Don’t worry you’re not missing out on anything, it’s their version of Big Mac sauce but without the satisfaction haha.

This week consisted of getting used to the neighbourhood, finding our way through school, and getting used to their system here. It is quite different from back home. In Scotland they do lectures and tutorials, where as back home we just have our classes and are distributed out a lot of classwork, where as here we are given either a final exam or a group project and that is all. Seems easy, but then that frightens me. We have met all of the international students by hosted lunches, or events for everyone to get to know one another. On Thursday we went to the real Slains Castle. It is more of a ruin, the owner took down the roof because he didn’t want to have to pay for a roof tax, if only… It was very beautiful along the drive, we got to see some of the country side of Scotland, and yes it is what you picture hilly, green, and full of farms. The castle overlooked the ocean with many cliffs. We climbed through a tower with shallow stairs, it was actually quite scary. Once we made it to the top it was a beautiful view of the ocean. After our adventures at the castle we all met up that night for a group pub crawl. One of the best nights I’ve had in Scotland so far.

Slains Castle

Second week:

We are now into the second week and by this week you would think I have figured the whole school thing out, but i’m almost there. Where are my tutorials? What even is a tutorial? After today I have a handle on everything. It seems like this will be a fun semester, one of my favourite ever. The school here is so modernized and beautiful. In behind the school runs a creek/river, we have trees close to us and lots of green grass. The library is a circular building, each floor is designated to different fields of study. On the 9th floor it over looks all of Aberdeen, you can see as far as the ocean. So romantic. This week hasn’t been too adventurous as I am still trying to catch up with sleep, and figuring everything out. However, Alex and I made our way to Stonehaven. We got to take our first train ride, how exciting! We made a new friend, Angus, who is actually from Scotland. We made it to our stop and had a half hour walk to the Dunnottar Castle. We walked along the main road in the country side. It was so beautiful, all the hay, and bright green grass. We finally made it to the castle, we were in aw of how beautiful the scenery was. We walked down the millions of stairs and made our way up to the castle door to be welcomed by a closed sign. WHAAAAAAT! Of course right? Although we didn’t make it into the castle we still enjoyed our adventure out to another town. It finally felt as if we were actually living in Scotland now.

Dunnottar Castle

 

Stonehaven

Until next time,

Erica
XO

Erica is a Bachelor of Business Administration degree student at Capilano University. Erica is studying abroad at the University Aberdeen, Scotland.