It’s the second time in my life that I have flatmates, the first one was in Lyon, with my brother and one of his friends.

In spite of I’m living in Scotland, no one of my 6 flatmates is Scottish. I live with 3 Americans, 1 Hungarian, 1 Spanish and also 1 German. Indeed, I live in an accommodation for on exchange students.

We don’t live in the same way. Some of them use to eat a few foods every two or three hours, whereas others eat late in the evening. Some of them eat meat for breakfast while others eat toasts with jam…

We had to make rules in the flat for cleaning and tidying because some of them were messy and others used to do everything at the beginning of the flatsharing.

Thanks to them I discovered a lot of their customs and I learned more about their country. Indeed, I knew their countries through Medias, without having the opinion of people living inside the country. As a consequence, some cliché were wrong, like “all American people are fat” or “Germans are well organized”.

At the beginning it was quite difficult for me to understand them but now it’s easier, since I practice English every day.

I travelled with them to Aberdeen, Dundee and Stonehaven; where I have unforgettable souvenirs.

But the most unforgettable souvenirs are on evening, during parties. 

Driving in Scotland

Why do people in the UK drive on the left side of the road with their steering wheel on the right side of the car?

British drive on the left side on the road because of the past. Indeed, most people are right-handed , our ancestors wore their swords on the left leg for the chopping easily . When the horse became the mode of locomotion for the nobles and men of arms, the use of left-hand traffic lasted for the same reason . So when two Knights crossed their swords could not touch. What should have been clearly interpreted as a provocation duel.

Then when cars were invented, they keep this way and placed the steering wheel on the right side of the car to enable driver to take care of crossing cars.

Indeed, it would be easier if every country would have the same rules of driving, with same road sign and Highway Code. For example, if I want to rent a car, I have to learn all rules in this country. If I want to bring my car from France I also have to adapt myself to the conversion of speed. Here it’s in miles per hour while in France it’s in km/h.

Once we go out from the city of Edinburgh, we are on the highway were the speed is limited to 70 mph. Moreover, in the UK, there is 20% less people who died on road, it means that people drive maybe more carefully, the rules may be better or maybe the type of road is safer. In fact there are less people on highway than in France.

Moreover, people in the city use a lot of buses and tram to move in the city. For example, there are not private cars on Princes Street. Only Tram buses and Taxis are allowed to go there.

The signalization is not the same either, in France we don’t have road sign for elderly people and traffic light also doesn’t pass from the orange to the green. I think it is a good thing how the light moves. Because people can be prepared to start so there is not waste of time while the green light is shining. 

In France, I am a membership of Enactus, an entrepreneurship association and my project is about road safety, that’s why I also chose this subject. The project consists of launching an application on smartphones to teach to young people good manners, like how to cross the street.

Pubs

Indeed, in France we don’t have pubs, we only have bars.

What are the main differences between pubs and bars? First of all, you are not allowed to enter in a pub if you aren’t 18, that’s why there is often a security guard at the entrance of famous pubs. Whereas in France you can enter in a bar but are not allowed to drink alcohol.

Then inside, in France, the main thing that you can do while savouring your drink is to play lottery or stuff like this. Here, in Scotland, you can listen local groups playing music, in a friendly atmosphere. As a consequence you stay longer inside and drink more thanks to the affordable price with student card. Moreover, in Edinburgh, there are a lot of local beers, like innis gunn or Deuchard.

Grassmarket

I remember when I went in my first pub in Scotland, it was after the first day at school where I met German people. We went in a pub in George Street, the Standing Order. The atmosphere was pleasant because of a football game retransmitted on giant screens. But it was quite expensive and it was quite big inside so we moved to a smaller pub in Rose Street where people were happily playing music.

 Later in the month I discovered Grassmarket during my first pub-crawl, but I’ve still not gone to every pub in this place. I used to go to Biddy Mulligans or Finnegan’s in Victoria’s street, where people are friendly, laughing, and speaking loudly. I think these three last elements miss in bars in France and they are what make the difference between a bar and a pub. 

Kilts

I went in a big shop near the castle where we can find a lot of tartans, whisky and bagpipes. There I saw how tartans were created. It’s a complex noisy machine who weaves many cords.

The kilt is worn in Edinburgh only for international events like rugby games or in the street while someone is playing bagpipe, for example, on the Royal Mile. I heard that in the Highlands, people usually wear these, but unfortunately I haven’t gone in this part yet. I am planning to go there for a weekend at the beginning of april. So I will get the truth at this moment.

 I want to buy myself a kilt and now, since the class about tartans, I know what the color means and I’ll be able to join my kilt with the clan. I will buy a cheap kilt, because a traditional kilt is a kilt made from Scottish worsted wool, using 8 yards of heavyweight tartan cloth, hand stitched, hand pleated and it’s quite expensive. 

Since the fifth of January 2016, I study in Edinburgh Napier University, in Craiglockart campus, one of the 3 campuses available in this university. This campus in located on the south west of the city, at 3 kilometres from my accommodation.

I found my accommodation thanks to Napier University. Indeed they own 5 place of accommodation: Bainfield (where I am), Riego street, slateford street, IQ and Morrison circus. 

This university has been created in 1964 as Napier technical college for name and was able to welcome 800 students. At that time only Merchiston campus was open. Since, two others campus opened, Craiglockhart campus inaugurated by Margaret Thatcher in 1987 and Sighthill campus in 2011. 

At the arrival at the airport on the 5th of January, a free shuttle by the University brought us where we wanted in the city. Then the next day on the morning, we had a meeting in the “bubble” to explain us how to live in Edinburgh and how to register for class. On the afternoon, we choose our class on the online timetable. Indeed, we had like 3 or 4 choice for each module except for Scottish culture. We agree with Fabiola (who took same classes of me, Spanish 2, Exploring entrepreneurship and Scottish culture) to plan our classes on Monday and on Wednesday.

We have classes of 3 hours each but we use to leave the class before because teachers have a different course for each class. If they have time left, they won’t begin another subject. In fact they have planned courses for each week, what we can find in our books or on online resources. There is a big discrepancy toward the number of student in each class. We are around 6 students in Spanish, 25 students in Exploring Entrepreneurship and around 100 students in Scottish culture. This last class allows us to visits some parts of Scotland, like Edinburgh Castle, Linlithgow, the Kelpies and Glasgow.

There, students don’t have many friends in their classes because they choose theses classes and may have only three classes per week. That’s why a lot of them are working in restaurants or bars during their free time. People there use to practice same sports as us, but in spite of they have the sea, they can’t practice surf or other activities in the sea because firstly there are not waves and the water is too cold to swim inside, even in summer.

Scotland-England

6 Nations game at Murrayfield Stadium, the 6^th of February

How did I enter into the stadium?

On Saturday, 6^th of February, the 6 nations tournament began between France and Italy at 2:30pm. Since we don’t have a TV in the flat, I decided to watch the first half of the game in a pub and then I went to Murrayfield Stadium to feel the atmosphere before the kick off planned at 4:50pm. Another reason why I went was to hear the anthems before watching the rest of the match in a pub with friends in the downtown. I told myself than if I could get a ticket for less than £75 (because prices on the web were about £95 with all the fees and delivery) I would buy it to watch the game inside the stadium. It’s not an everyday experience that we can watch the 6 nation game between Scotland and England in Murrayfield Stadium. I arrived to the stadium by tram one hour and twenty before the beginning of the match. The crowd was around the stadium and free food was delivered.

At that time I didn’t have any tickets to enter through the gates, so I was walking around the stadium, to watch the people in the enclosure and also to watch some animations. Till the moment I heard a man walking behind me shouting repeatedly “Does anyone what a ticket? I’m selling a ticket”. At first, I didn’t understand him; I thought he was looking for a place. But after two or three times, I understood what he was saying. Then I tried to bargain the price with him because he wanted to sell it for £80. After a couple minutes of bargaining I finally got the price down to £65. Afterwards, I went directly near the gates to enter inside the enclosure.

Into the Enclosure

I passed the gates without any control of security, they just checked my ticket. Nevertheless, people bringing backpack were obligated to open it to show the security guards what the backpack contained. Inside, at the entrance there was a big screen where I watched the end of the France-Italy game. Many Scottish people preferred the Italian team to win. Meanwhile, a show of cheerleaders unfolded under the big screen.

After France won, I bought something to eat in one of the numerous food trucks along the stadium before looking for my seat. Some people wearing kilts were playing The Scotland Brave and also Flowers of Scotland with their bagpipe.

Into the stadium

After I found my seat in front of the poles, I enjoyed the atmosphere when the show began. When both teams arrived on the field, the crowd was screaming “Scooootland! Scooootland! Scooootland!” to foster their team.

Later, we heard firstly God Save the Queen, the anthem of England. Many people were singing this famous song; it’s when I realized that there were a lot of English people inside the stadium. After, we listened to the Flower of Scotland, the Scottish anthem. I think it’s one of the most beautiful anthems, above all when the bagpipes stop and the crowd is still singing. It’s very powerful and loud inside the stadium…it’s not the same at all as watching on TV.

Owing to the English opponent, in a part of the anthem, the public says “Bastard” instead of “English” when they speak about the battle of Falkirk that opposed Scotland against England.

The Match

I liked both teams so I didn’t have a favourite; it was just to see an important rugby game in Murrayfield Stadium. At the Beginning, Scotland was dominating the opponent but unfortunately they rapidly conceded. The score at the half time was in favour of England 7-6.

While the second half, England was dominating and they finally defeated Scotland 9-15 England.

Another fact that I would underline is the fact that there is few vigils between the tribunes and the field; only 3 vigils on the larger of the field. To compare the security to France, here they needed to be numerous vigils to assure the safety of the people in the stadium. I think they trust too much in people.

At the end of the game

After the final whistle from the referee, players applauded the public. Afterwards, the Scottish team realized a guard of honour to felicitate the English team, and then England made the same for Scotland. There was a lot of respect between both teams. Here are the rugby values.

I decided to walk home after the game because the traffic was closed near the stadium during the match day unless for bus. It took me 25 minutes to come back to my accommodation.

The next match of Scotland in Murrayfield will be on March, the 13^th 2016, for another 6 nations rugby game against France. I think I will go another time around the stadium just to listen to the anthems, and why not enter if I found a cheap ticket again.