10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving To Scotland | LIVING IN SCOTLAND

Hey guys! Welcome to this video and welcome to this channel. I am excited that you clicked on it and that you're wanting to know a couple of tips, tricks, and things I just wish I knew before I moved to Scotland. So just a quick 15 second backstory. Hi, my name is Courtney. I moved to Scotland, specifically Glasgow, University of Glasgow, for my master's degree in the fall of 2022. I had never lived abroad before, so this was my first experience living in a different country, and I would have loved to have seen a video like this explaining some things that were either culture shock or just different in Scotland than in the States. So I hope that this video is useful, whether you are moving there and you want to know, or if you're just curious, I hope that you enjoy it either way. So number one thing I wish I knew before leaving to go to Scotland is you don't need that many shoes. Now I know every pack with me video out there, and I even have one, is saying I had to, I had to have at least five pairs. No, no sister, you do not. Now I am no fashionista, so if fashion is your thing, maybe that's a completely different story, but I brought five pairs of shoes. Let me tell you, I pretty much only wore my Doc Martens the whole entire time I was there. I know it's really difficult to limit the amount of shoes that you want to bring, but really I just recommend bringing three pairs of shoes. You have your tennis shoes so that you can get around easily, definitely a pair of boots, and then another pair that you just like. Maybe they're a little bit nicer, they could go with dresses, whatever your lifestyle looks like. I think investing in just one quality pair of boots is really nice. You can dress these up, you can dress them down, however you want. They're also, I guess not technically waterproof, but kind of water resistant with this coating, which you definitely want with your shoes. I know some people wore more like street fashion white tennis shoes over there. Personally, I like these because I could wear them rain or shine, it didn't matter if I was stepping in puddles. It was just great for literally everything, so I recommend the investment in shoes like this. Number two, this is another fashion tip and I promised the last one of the video, but don't bring a ton of cardigans. I brought a lot of different jackets going over because I knew it was going to be cold and windy and rainy, and I also brought a good bit of cardigans. And this is another preference kind of thing when it comes to fashion, but I honestly only wore one jacket the whole entire time I was there. It was a black jacket, it had a hood over the top so that when it rained, it was water resistant, and then I had the hood, I didn't have to put a rain jacket on top, and that is what I wore every single day. I highly recommend investing in a nice jacket like that that's going to keep you really warm, it's lightweight, it has the hood so that you don't get soaked, and you will just wear that jacket over and over again. I just had my jacket on the whole entire time, so there was no need for cardigans because I needed that extra layer anyway. So number three, this was a really big one for me, they don't sell coffee creamer like we know it in the States. You're going to have your typical creams over there, so maybe if you're a cream and sugar kind of guy or gal, you like that. For those of us though that like our Starbucks creamers or our Coffee Mate creamers and like to have a vast selection in all of our Publix and Kroger's and everything, unfortunately you're not going to find that. I didn't realize that at first, I thought maybe it was just the Tesco I was going to or a specific grocery store. You eventually can find it maybe in a co-op and places like that, but more than likely you will not be getting your coffee creamer as you know it. You'll be getting cream and then maybe a syrup if that's your thing and you want to put it in there, but now I realize why everybody drinks tea over there, and it's because the coffee is bad without the creamer. Number four, umbrellas aren't really a thing. So what I mean by that, to clarify, it's not that there are no umbrellas over there of course, but it rains so much, so I found that a lot of tourists who came through and there were a lot of people internationally in Glasgow, they would bring their umbrellas, but they were pretty much the only people. So if you wanted to blend in like a local, then you just put your hood up and your jacket like we talked about before and you'd keep going in the rain, because if you pull out your umbrella, the winds are usually so strong. I mean it could be a light rain, but for the most part it is windy, so the winds are so strong that it ends up inverting your umbrella anyway, so it's more harm than help when you have an umbrella. Number five is reusable bags. Now I think that this is a great thing and way more environmentally friendly than at least the area where I come from, but if you're not used to having or using reusable bags for all of your groceries, all of your shopping, etc. and paying for a reusable bag, if you don't bring your own, then this could be a shock for you. So they basically sell these reusable bags anywhere. You can get a ton of different styles at Primark for really cheap, something like that. Even in Waterstones or different places they'll sell these canvas tote bags, which are fun too, but it's just good to because you will be caught paying for it if you don't remember to bring it. So even though it is really good and environmentally friendly, if you're not used to it you'll have to adjust. Number six is modes of transport. So I know that the states are notorious for not having a lot of public transportation, so in general you'll have to get used to it, but what I wanted to point out is that I think downloading the Flixbus app and also the ScotRail app, things like that. ScotRail is going to be for trains in Scotland, of course, and then Flixbus is for buses. But those apps are going to be really useful when there are deals going around. I actually took the bus all the way from Glasgow down to London, which was a very extensive trip, over 10 hours worth, but I paid like £35 and I was in London. So it was worth it for me personally, but downloading those apps are really essential when you're trying to get places. So I highly recommend that. You're probably going to have to end up downloading it anyway and not go through websites, so you might as well. Also a note on that, if you are happening to move and you're under 22, there are discounts for that. So when I actually moved I was 22, so I barely missed it, but there is an under 22 card and I believe you can get around on buses for free, a lot of things for free, but not the subway. There's some kind of stipulation with that, but if you're under 22 look for that because there are discounts. Number seven is you can use a SIM card and it's actually really affordable. So you don't need to open up a whole entire phone plan while you're there. I know some people who did and that could be useful, but you can get a SIM card. This is the one that I specifically used. I used GIFGAF. I really enjoyed this company. I ended up having it recommended to me as soon as I got there, so I haven't tried out other ones, but I paid like £6 a month for a couple gigabytes of data and of course the more gigabytes you use, the more it's going to cost, but I would say you are paying probably around like £10 to £15 every month for your SIM card. So this is really, really good. You don't need to open up a different plan. You can simply pop your SIM card in there and you're good to go. So it's actually affordable in the UK. It's not the same other places, so I highly recommend taking advantage of it. Though if you are moving and you recently purchased a phone, you will have to unlock it and all that means is that your phone will have to be bought out before you move and before you take that SIM card out. So if you're still making monthly installments on your phone, you will have to completely pay for the phone up front before you're able to take that SIM card out. Number eight, Scottish people are really nice. Being in Glasgow, it was interesting because some of them had really strong Glaswegian accents and that was different going to Edinburgh or different places or I'm sure the countryside as well or Highlands, but they're so, so nice when they're talking to you. They're very welcoming. It's just nice to know that you're surrounded by a culture that I found very welcoming, very nice and just really inclusive in who they're talking to and their willingness to speak about Scotland, speak to you, speak to foreigners, just really nice people. Number nine, this is going to be a little bit random, but there are no outlets in the bathroom. Now this might seem obvious for safety reasons, but I remember being very shocked because I blow dry my hair pretty much all the time, so when there wasn't an outlet in the bathroom, I was very shocked by that and I remember talking to some flatmates and I asked why there weren't outlets because I thought maybe that's just my accommodation. They were like, are you crazy? Why would you put an outlet in the bathroom with water? And I thought about it and I think they're right. But either way, if you are used to having your mirror and looking in the bathroom while blow drying your hair, curling your hair, or you know just charging your toothbrush or something like that, you're not going to be able to do that more than likely in your bathroom. Just a heads up in case you didn't know. Number ten, this is my hot take. It's my personal opinion. Not everybody feels this way. I've personally found the weather to be way better than what people explained it to be. So I do come from southern United States where it is much much warmer than in Scotland. I was expecting basically Antarctica by the time I got there that it was going to be really cold, really rainy, just an extreme of all these things. And while yes, it can get very windy and it does rain often, it's not heavy downpours most of the time. It's a lot of times lighter drizzles. So when they say it rains every day, it doesn't actually rain every day. It rains a lot, but it could just be a 15 minute drizzle or something like that. So if you're inside, you're not even going to notice it. It also was not as cold as what I thought it would be. It actually wasn't that bad. So if you're really scared and intimidated because you heard how bad Scotland's weather is, I think personally it's much better than what people say. And this is just a little bonus tip at the end. If you're a student moving, I moved in with flatmates and there were five of us in a kitchen. There just wasn't a lot of space. I do recommend getting like a Brita water bottle or something of the sorts where you can filter your water pretty easily. You can drink Scottish water, but a lot of times you don't want the flavor of the water. Like if it's well water, sometimes people are sensitive to that. So I just found bringing a Brita water bottle and just having that in my room, you could fill it up from the sink tap. You can fill it up pretty much anywhere. I mean, it's better for the environment and it's also a space saver. So just a heads up, if you invest in a Brita water bottle, it saves you time, it saves you money, and it saves you space. All right. So those were the 10 things that I wish I knew before I moved to Scotland. I hope that this was helpful. Of course, this is so dependent on where you move. Glasgow is the biggest city in Scotland. It's no New York or LA, but it is pretty big for Scotland's terms. So I lived like the city life in Scotland. This is going to be so different if you move to the Highlands or something like that. But this is just what I learned. So I hope that you guys enjoyed. I hope that you have the absolute best day of your life and I will see you in the next video. Bye.