The following are some reflections on my first year of living the Aberdream.
I should probably preface what I am about to say by stating that I have never actually lived in the city of Glasgow.
It’s been funny living in Aberdeen this year. One thing you notice immediately, living in the city, is that everything is so much closer than when you’re on the outskirts. Everything here is within a reasonable walking distance. That’s not to say that I walk everywhere, but merely an acknowledgement of the facts.
Aberdeen is a smaller city than Glasgow, and it’s quite noticeable at times. I’ve yet to locate an all you can eat buffet restaurant - though admittedly I haven’t looked! I have, however, located - and frequented - a crazy number of cafes! If you can judge a city based on the quality of its coffee, then Aberdeen is alright! Plus, the weather is drier (if windier) and there’s a beach!
With all of that said, we all know that you judge a city based on the quality of its football… All I can really say is, while living in Glasgow and now in Aberdeen, I have always been thankful for the EPL on Sky and BT Sports! In fairness, I did - once - brave my way to Pittodrie…. admittedly for a Scotland game, but it still counts!
One of the delights of this year has been living on campus, where I can literally leave my flat 5 minutes before lectures, and get to them on time, with enough time to stop for a coffee en-route! With that said, it’s not without its disadvantages… I recently realised that the area outside my bedroom window is very echoey when I sneezed and the sound reverberated around the close prompting someone to shout up from the street, “bless you!” I also live within 5 minutes of (at least) five different cafes on campus… This wouldn’t be a bad thing, but I’m not made of money! I did consider getting a job in Starbucks to fuel my habit, but decided this would probably cause more problems that it solved!
All in all, the first year of the Aberdream has been good. The people are friendly and the uni is good. A good start really!
I would say that the key things that I have learned living in Aberdeen over the last 9 months are:
- You can’t get a decent Chicken Tikka Chasni here for love nor money (or mixed hoggie for that matter!)
- You’re never more than a 10 minute walk from a plethora of coffee shops with more free wifi than you can shake a stick at!
- I shouldn’t be allowed to live this close to a Starbucks!
ps. There was one dark night on which I tried to make a Chicken Tikka Chasni for myself from the ingredients I had on hand…. Turns out it requires more than just toothpaste and tomato ketchup. Oh well…. next time!
