From Southern England... to Scotland!

Hello everyone,

I was recently accepted to the University of Edinburgh for French and Linguistics. However, I currently live, and have done my whole life, in Portsmouth - almost central South!

Anyone else who has travelled from somewhere in the south to a northern university, or vice versa - including travelling abroad for university, I suppose - do you have any tips?

Due to how far away it is, I won't be able to take a trip to Edinburgh before I go, nor have I ever been to Scotland - in fact, I haven't ever been further north than Hull.

If only Oxford had accepted me, it would all be so much easier...

But anyhow, can anyone give me some advice before I go?

Thanks!

NB: Wasn't entirely sure whether this was best placed in 'university life' or another forum section. Apologies if this is not the most suitable place...

Hello everyone,

I was recently accepted to the University of Edinburgh for French and Linguistics. However, I currently live, and have done my whole life, in Portsmouth - almost central South!

Anyone else who has travelled from somewhere in the south to a northern university, or vice versa - including travelling abroad for university, I suppose - do you have any tips?

Due to how far away it is, I won't be able to take a trip to Edinburgh before I go, nor have I ever been to Scotland - in fact, I haven't ever been further north than Hull.

If only Oxford had accepted me, it would all be so much easier...

But anyhow, can anyone give me some advice before I go?

Thanks!

NB: Wasn't entirely sure whether this was best placed in 'university life' or another forum section. Apologies if this is not the most suitable place...

What are you worrying about?

Scotland is absolutely beautiful and Edinburgh is great You will have a wonderful time

Don't mention the rain and midges.




:shakekane:

Hello everyone,

I was recently accepted to the University of Edinburgh for French and Linguistics. However, I currently live, and have done my whole life, in Portsmouth - almost central South!

Anyone else who has travelled from somewhere in the south to a northern university, or vice versa - including travelling abroad for university, I suppose - do you have any tips?

Due to how far away it is, I won't be able to take a trip to Edinburgh before I go, nor have I ever been to Scotland - in fact, I haven't ever been further north than Hull.

If only Oxford had accepted me, it would all be so much easier...

But anyhow, can anyone give me some advice before I go?

Thanks!

NB: Wasn't entirely sure whether this was best placed in 'university life' or another forum section. Apologies if this is not the most suitable place...

Don't mention the rain and midges.

Okay, genuinely good advice for Scotland: if you go for a walk in the countryside, make sure you thoroughly check yourself over for tics when you get home they are everywhere and they can make you sick if you don't get them out

They're pretty common in southern England too

Not as much as Scotland

I've never come back from a walk in Sussex absolutely covered in them Then you have to pick them all off with tweezers, the horror the horror

Sussex is an outlier (chalk? short grass?) - Portsmouth and west is as bad as scotland http://www.bigtickproject.co.uk/ticks-in-the-uk/uk-tick-threat-map/

TFW you realise you're in a tick-safe-zone and everywhere else is a blood sucking parasite infestation. NOWHERE IS SAFE

Hey! Welcome to Scotland. I've lived in the south and I currently live in Edinburgh so I can tell you while there are some cultural differences it won't really feel that different from home and you'll soon settle in. At Edinburgh uni especially there are a lot of folk from England and you'll probably meet people from the same part of the country as you, but the city is full of people from all over the world (plenty of folk who hadn't been to the UK at all before coming!)

My advice is to take things as they come and keep yourself open to meeting new people and having new experiences. There's a lot to do here and there's no shortage of places to grab a drink and socialise. On the practical side, you probably don't want to take too much stuff up with you since you'll likely be moving around a bit over the coming years and it's a lot harder to dump things back at home for a bit if you need to ship it between countries haha. Bring warm, waterproof and windproof clothes because winter in Edinburgh is much wetter and colder than you'll be used to down south, around Hogmanay it regularly drops to -10 at night and during the day in the colder months you'll appreciate a warm scarf and a strong umbrella. We just had a lot of snow which is pretty unusual for us, prepare more for rain and strong winds, but actually for the most part it's pretty mild here and it won't be bad when you first arrive. Just don't expect the 30c+ summers you get down in England haha. Some walking boots are always a good idea because we have SO many beautiful hills to climb and parks to explore, There aren't that many places in the UK that you can climb a volcano on your lunch break!

I hope you have a great time, and if you get homesick it's really not that far to travel during the holidays. Trains are pretty quick, flying is even quicker, and the airport is only a bus or a tram away. ✌️