The First Month

Time flies when you're having fun. I can not explain how true this statement is. I can not believe that I have already been in Aberdeen for a full month. This month has been full of confusion, adventure and even some struggles.

The Hard Part

I'll start with the struglles first to get it out of the way. Living abroad is not easy, especially because I have never lived alone before. My lovely roomamate and I made an agreement that she makes our dinners and I make our lunches, even with this system I have still been spending too much money on food that I don't need like lattes and chocolate. There are five of us girls living in my flat and they are very nice but it is incredibly different living with people that are not family. I spend more time in my room then I ever have which has been hard for me because I am very accustomed to coming home from school and hanging out in the family room with my mom and my brother, it is boring without them.

Most people who know me know that I am very close with my brother and sister, living without being able to call them whenever I want is hard. Most days at home my sister will call me on her breaks between classes and my brother and I drive to school together everyday; these are simple tasks and often we don't even talk about anything important but it is such a large portion of my life that has been hard to adjust to not doing it. Yes we have FaceTime and messenger but it is not the same as jamming out to country radio and spending time together. The time difference also makes it hard to communicate with everyone at home.

Aberdeen

Even though it has only been a month I feel like I have already done so much. Exploring Aberdeen has been very exciting, Aberdeen is known as the "Granite City" and it very much lives up to its name. The fact that it rains a lot here is well known but I must say I underestimated just how much it does rain. Coming from Calgary where it never rains I find it nice and definitely preferable to the -27 weather that has been going on back home. It does not rain hard either so it's really not that bad, just a constant drizzle/misty type of rain.

I am starting to feel like a local which is a pretty interesting feeling. I have gotten used to the fact that they drive on the left side of the road and the driver's seat is on the right side of the car. The first few weeks I almost got ran over a few times because I looked the wrong way before crossing the street. There are a lot of strange expressions here that I had never heard before, I haven't started using them yet but I understand a lot of them now.

Scottish food has a strange reputation at home but it is actually much better then I expected. I am a picky eater but I am willing to try anything and then decide how I feel about it. Pudding has a different meaning here then it does at home, black pudding is barley mixed with pig's blood in the shape of a fritter, it is actually quite good. I have yet to try haggis but I will get there one day.

RGU

School is much more relaxed then it is at home. We only have classes Monday-Wednesday and we only have one two-hour class on Mondays and Wednesdays which makes it much easier to travel around. Our classes are all graded on one big project or exam, this means no mid-terms but it also means we only get one chance for a good grade. I keep forgetting that I still have school because it's only three days a week.

The people at school are lovely. Aberdeen is a student city so there are a lot of students from all over Europe, I find it very interesting to meet people from such different places. Public Relations seems to have the same 'type' of people as it does at home which is wonderful. From what I've seen both in Scotland and at home Public Relations attracts a specific type of person, that's what I mean by 'type' of person. Of course everyone is different but most PR students have similar qualities and I love that about PR.

Conclusion

Despite all of the struggles and the confusion my first month here has been incredible. I have learned so much about Scotland and myself. I have a lot to do here and I am excited about what this adventure holds for me in the next few months.