Do's, don'ts & tips

In this last entry of my weblog I will try to set out the do's, don'ts and tips in Glasgow and Scotland. I will talk about the university, housing, sport, shopping and social life in Glasgow, transport in Scotland and around Glasgow, food, culture and a few things you might want to think about before you go abroad.

I hope this will be of great use to you as it definitely would have helped me if I were given a list like this before I went to Glasgow. If you have ever any question(s) about studying abroad, Glasgow or Scotland, don't hesitate to contact me! (either by leaving a message here or send me an email: me_mentha@hotmail.com)

Love,
Samantha

P.S. I've noticed this website doesn't do text layouts. I tried to get some structure in it by adding '+/-/->'. You can always send me an email if you want to have the 'real' file.


University: (and what to arrange)
+ on forehand: once you know to which university you want to go and which subjects/ courses you want to take it is all very easy.
- fill in the application for an Erasmus Scholarship (online: www.ru.nl/io/student/beursprogramma/erasmus/toelichting_online/)
- go to the International Office in Nijmegen to get a form to temporarily block your 'Studenten OV-chipkaart', so you get a refund
- maybe you want to sublet your room in the Netherlands. It will save you a lot of money. The International Office will help you find someone.
- fill in the application for the university. Don't forget there can be a deadline.
- make a scan of all the forms you fill in and send. This way you have a copy for yourself and we send the digital scan of the form via the email to the right persons, so they know the real form is on it's way.
- and of course the logical thing: start in time with organising. For example: you need to send a form to the Glasgow University and they have to send it back to you, so you can hand it in at the International Office. Remember that it can take a while before they send it back to you.

+ being there
- go to the information meeting for International Erasmus students
- meeting with study advisor about your courses and registration at WebSurf. It was very easy for us, since we had a certain curriculum that we had to follow. I know other people that had to change some of their courses, because I didn't fit in the time-table. You will get information about this meeting during the Erasmus meeting.

+ afterwards
- you need to hand in the Statements Form, including a stamp from Glasgow University, so make sure you get this stamp while you're still in Scotland.
- you have to write a little report about you stay in the foreign country and answer some questions
- you need to hand in your grades via the Transcript of Records as soon as you have them.
you will get a lot of reminder emails about all these forms and the steps you have to take
- don't forget to activate your 'Studenten OV-chipkaart' again. It's not being activated automatically. You need to collect 'an order' at specific machines.

+ schoolsystem
- Scotland has a four year bachelor system, because Scottish students can go to university earlier than we do by skipping the last year of secondary school. The fourth year is an 'honours year' and I think it's really appreciated by employers if you have an honours bachelor's degree. Keep in mind that the third year in Scotland doesn't necessarily means that it's the same level as third year in the Netherlands (as we found out: we would probably have been able to do 4th-level courses).
- I think there are less people in Scotland than in the Netherlands that do a masters degree after their bachelor's, because companies also want you with an honours bachelor's degree and in Scotland you can start your PhD immediately after your bachelor's (in contrast to the Netherlands).
-> I think most of the masters degrees are only one year, even the science related ones (in contrast to the Netherlands)


Housing:
+ via the university. There are multiple university student accommodation flats for which you can apply. The Glasgow University and the Radboud University are both in the IRUN and Erasmus network which means that the host university (Glasgow) will provide housing for you. However, they are not very keen on giving international students a room if they are staying for less than a year. In that case it might be wiser to look for a room or apartment yourself.

+ I haven't used it myself, but you can look for housing at: www.gumtree.com

+ I myself rented a room at Firhill Court (http://www.firhill-court.co.uk/). This is a 'company' (lack of a better description) that owns a student accommodation block and has nothing to do with the university. It is ideal if you are a temporarily student at the Glasgow University. There are a lot of international students in Firhill Court.
- Housing in the UK can be very expensive, but Firhill isn't that bad. If you're staying for less than a year, the price per week is 75 pounds (60 pounds/week if you rent it for a whole year).
- You have your own room, including a wardrobe, bed, mattress, desk, chair, sink, toilet and shower and free internet (although it's slow). I thought this was ideal, since I didn't had to buy them myself for only four months and when I just arrived, not knowing where to buy everything.
- You have to share the kitchen with 5 other people and Firhill cleans the kitchen once a week for you.
- You need to pay for using TV connection, washing machines and drying machines
- There might be some pots, pans, cutlery and plates in the kitchen, but you usually have to provide your own. We went into town soon after we arrived in Glasgow and both a 16-pieces set for only 10 pounds at Savers (4 dinner plates, 4 breakfast plates, 4 deep plates and 4 mugs). I had bought some pots and pans in the Netherlands. This was possible, because the parents of Mathilde brought most of our stuff to Glasgow by car.


Transport:
+ taxi/ cab: taking a cab in Glasgow is quite cheap, especially compared to the Netherlands. I found out that what you usually can walk in half an hour will cost you about 5 pounds when taking a cab (from Firhill to the university or city centre). There are multiple companies.
- The ones you usually see are black cabs. They have 5 or 6 (you have to tell them if you want 6) seats and can be reached on: +44-141-429 70 70
- A cheap company (Network taxis) can be reached on +44-141-557 11 10, but they only have 4 seats available.
- You can take a cab at a taxi stand (you take the cab that's first in the row)
- You can hold a cab when it's driving past and having it's orange light on (black cabs)

+ bus: there are a lot of buses in Glasgow.
TIP: Mind you that the bus doesn't stop at every stop on the route. This is because there are usually to many bus services that go past, so the stop for the bus you're waiting for might be just a few meters down the road. Look at the signs at the stop if your bus service uses this stop.
TIP: Another thing is that in some buses you need to pay the right amount of cash, because the driver cannot give you any change back.
TIP: From Buchanan Bus Station you can go almost everywhere
TIP: Citylink has cheap buses for long distances: www.citylink.co.uk
- Firhill:
-> get on: just outside Firhill, in front of the stadium (service 3) or Maryhill Fire Station, Maryhill Road: cross street in front of stadium and turn right on Maryhill Road (service 119, 17, 61, 40)
-> get off: for city centre you want to have Hope Street (turn right and you can see Sauchiehall Street) or Buchanan Bus station. Note that not every bus stops at Buchanan.
-> costs: either 1.25 or 1.45 pounds (somehow seems to differ each time)
-> website: www.firstgroup.com
- University: service 44
-> get on: anywhere on University Avenue
-> get off: Sauchiehall Street, just before it becomes the shopping part. You can ask people on the bus for information
-> costs: also 1.25 or 1.45
-> website: www.firstgroup.com
- Airport: service 500
-> get on: Buchanan Bus Station, Central Station (train), Queen Street Station (train) or George Square
-> get off: Glasgow Airport (main, not Prestwick)
-> costs: 3.50 pounds single for a student, 5.50 for a return
-> website: www.glasgowflyer.com
-> it takes about 30-40 minutes to get to Glasgow Airport
-> the buses have big luggage racks: ideal for your suitcase
-> Edinburgh also has a service like this: service 100, from city centre to airport takes about 30-40 minutes, costs 3.50 pounds. More information: www.flybybus.com/
- Student accommodation buses
-> bus service (SRC) between Glasgow University (Main Gate) and university student accommodations. Murano Street is close to Firhill Court
-> costs: none, it's free
-> website: http://www.glasgowstudent.net/services/minibus

+ Train
- Queen Street Station: for destinations in the North of Scotland and Edinburgh
- Central Station: for destinations in the South of Scotland and England
www.scotrail.co.uk
- cheap trains: http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/
- prices are about the same as in the Netherlands (Edinburgh is about an hour and costs 10.50 pounds)
- check if you're travelling outside peak hours. This can save you a lot on a ticket
- if you're travelling with at least three people, you might want to have a look at the 'friends fare', this can save a lot of money, but you need to reserve the tickets online.
- in contrast to the Dutch Railways, the trains in the UK have luggage racks at the end of each coupe.

+Subway
- there are some subsway stations in the/ close to the city centre and there is one close to the university (on Byres Road)
- costs: 1.20 pound, no matter how many stops you travel
- website: www.spt.co.uk/subway/
I used the subway only once, because I rather used the bus or walked

+ Flying
- Glasgow has to airports: Glasgow Airport and Glasgow Prestwick Airport. The latter is not that close to Glasgow and I don't know how transport to Glasgow works. I would advise Glasgow Airport.
- Edinburgh Airport. This is usually cheaper to fly to. Transport from the airport is easy via the shuttle bus between the airport and the city centre. In the city centre you can take either the bus or train to Glasgow.

+ Other
- I don't advise to go by bike. Car drivers are not really used to have bikers on the road and there are no cycle paths. I have the idea that a lot of bikers use the sidewalk.
- We walked a lot. We walked to university every day, which was about 30 minutes. I usually don't like walking at all, but I noticed that I quite liked to be outside in the morning and have some fresh air.


Sports:
There is a great amount of different sport activities you can do in the Sports Centre of the university, but you need to have a sports card. You can only buy this card for a whole year (even if you're only staying one semester) and it costs 40 pounds. Having this card you can:
- join sport clubs, although this might cost you extra money
- drop-in sessions like step, zumba or total body workout, where they provide an instructor and materials for you
- fitness
- swimming pool, including saunas (which are great during a Scottish winter).
- website: www.gla.ac.uk/services/sport/


Social Life:
+ go to the Fresher's week. This is a week for all students that have arrived new at the Glasgow University, so including Scottish students who just start their university life. There are a lot of fun activities during daytime and a lot of party’s in the evening and you're free to go to whatever activity you would like. The Fresher's pass is 40 pounds.
+ join the week for international students, organized by the International Society (ISoc). It is a fun way to get to know other international students from all over the world. I strongly recommend joining the ISoc, because they organise a lot of activities during the week, but also a lot of cultural sight-seeing day/weekend trips mostly in Scotland. They organise everything for you: buses, sleeping place, breakfast and it's not at all expensive.
-> Website: www.isu.org.uk/isoc/
+ the Glasgow University has two student societies, called unions: the Glasgow University Union (GUU) and the Queen Margaret Union (QM). You can join them for free and they organise a lot of activities and party's that you can go to for free or with a reduction.


Shopping:
+ CDs, DVDs and books are usually a lot cheaper in the UK than in the Netherlands
+ the main shopping streets in Glasgow city centre are Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and Argyll Street, including the shopping centres. I've heard that Glasgow has the second largest shopping centre (London has the first place of course). You can easily get to the city centre with the bus and Argyll Street has a subway station.
+ during the week the normal stores close at 6pm, but they are all open on Sunday as well. On Thursday most of the shops are open until 8pm.
+ a lot of the supermarkets are open until very late (10pm, also on Sunday) or sometimes even 24/7, so there is never an excuse to be out of something to eat.


Food:
+ it is more difficult to find stores with a large diversity of vegetables than in the Netherlands.
+ just like in the Netherlands, you can get cheap food at Lidl and Aldi. Waitrose can be a bit expensive, but the one on Byres Road (close to university) had a larger assortment. There are a lot of small supermarkets that are open until late. Sainsbury's and Tesco's are ok. They recently opened a big Tesco's a quarter of an hour of walking away from university and Firhill. They also have a large diversity of vegetables here. Iceland had mostly frozen food.
+ Jamie Oliver's Kitchen is a restaurant on George Square. Most people think it's very expensive, but it isn't at all and they have really great food.
+ Spuntini is a restaurant on Byres Road. They had quite a good concept for their menus. We had never seen it before and it took us some time to totally understand it. The menu card is full of little dishes varying from 4-6 pounds. Three or four dishes make up your total dinner, so you can have pizza and lasagne and pasta and bread, etc.
+ I haven't really been going out a lot, but there was a pub on Hope Street that I really liked: Molly Malone. It is an Irish pub and I thinks it's really cosy. The music is good and on Friday and Saturday evenings they have live music. If you are ever in Glasgow during the weekend, I can really recommend it (for the guys: they also have large television screens with live Football. For the girls: they serve hot chocolate).


Culture:
The main reason why I wanted to go to the UK, but Scotland in particularly , is because of the culture, the history, the people and the beautiful landscape. During my stay in Scotland I have made many trips and it was a wonderful thing to do. There are numberless beautiful places. I myself am a big fan of castles, but if you like climbing or walking, Scotland is also the place to be.
+ there are a lot of museums in Glasgow and most of them are free, so there is no excuse to not go there
-> a must see is the Kelvingrove Art Gallery which is about 5 minutes walking away from university
-> I can really recommend the Pollok House, which looks like a castle on the inside. It's located in the south of Glasgow and you can reach it by train or bus. It's part of the Pollok Park, which also contains the Burrell Collection (from Sir William Burrell who collected a lot of stuff: castle furniture, artefacts from old Egypt, Romans, China, tapestries, paintings, even stained glass windows and complete arches!)
-> Botanic Gardens are about 10-15 minutes away from university. I haven't seen them, but apparently they are very beautiful.
-> there are even four museums on university grounds. You can visit them during lunch time or something, but I didn't think they are very special.
+ Culzean Castle is beautiful. On the inside and the outside, but it's a bit of a trouble to get there (as we experienced). They also offered is as a day trip during the International Society week and I can really recommend it.
+ I cannot recommend Aberfoyle or Callander, whatever they say about it. Aberfoyle has a wool centre which is quite ok to visit and Callander has a few shops, but both villages are pretty boring.
+ Edinburgh Castle is a famous place to visit, but very expensive for a castle (15 pounds or so). There is not that much to see on the inside of the castle, but it has quite a lot of buildings. You can enter it for free on St. Andrews day (November 30). If you're planning to make a lot of cultural visit you might want to consider becoming a member of Historic Scotland (www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/), so you can visit a lot of places for free.
+ We became a member of National Trust of Scotland (www.nts.org.uk), which is cheaper and also gives you free entry to a lot of properties (although different ones than Historic Scotland). Culzean Castle for example.
+ The islands around Scotland are also very beautiful. The Isle of Arran and the Isle of Skye in particular, but it can be quite expensive to arrange it on your own, but the ISoc often organises trips to these island.


Other:
+ telephone: I used my own phone and did a monthly top-up from O2. For 10 pounds I had 100 minutes within the UK and free texts within the UK. Calling or texting outside of the UK was expensive (text: 16 pence, calling: ± 1 pound/minute) and wasn't included in the 10 pounds. If you want to phone a lot outside the UK you might want to consider something else, but it was good enough for me.
Skype: was a perfect way to stay in + touch with my boyfriend and parents for free. You might want to install it before you go, because you never know how the internet connection is when you arrive.
+ bank account: we didn't open a Scottish bank account, since we only stayed for four months. We therefore used our own debit cards if we wanted to pay something, but keep in mind that you cannot use it everywhere. We did a lot of online ordering (Waterstone's, WHSmith and HMV for CDs, DVDs and books. Usually free delivery), but you need a credit card for this. You might want to consider having you own (instead of using your parents') if you are planning to order a lot.
+ Facebook: I created a Facebook account while I was in Scotland, because it's an easy way to stay up to date with the ISoc and you can add your new friends, without giving them directly your personal information (and be honest: it's easier than phoning them up if you just met them).
+ power plugs: Mathilde and Leoni had a converter plug which they connected to a Dutch multiple socket (stekkerdoos). My dad had simply connected an English plug to a Dutch socket which I could directly plug into the wall.
+ food: I brough my own 'hagelslag', 'pepernoten' and tea (because I don't really like Earl Grey or green tea and they don't have a lot of flavours in the UK)
+ Dutch presents: you can by caramel waffles (stroopwafels) at the Lidl, but it's not the same as having original Dutch ones. You can also buy little Dutch things like little wooden shoes as a gift for your new friends, that kind teacher or the great guide.