SCOTLAND - GLASGOW

I don't think Scotland is very different from our culture. Nevertheless, there are certain cultural situations that were foreign to me. In my first blog I wrote about how little we actually differ, but in the meantime, I have noticed one or two things. The best-known example is the British hot breakfast. Instead of a piece of bread with jam or a cereal, a hot breakfast of beans, bacon, eggs, sausages and bread is eaten all over the UK. Served with coffee or black tea. Of course, this is not eaten every day by everyone but it is common. We had the option of eating this in the university canteen or we would just go to the nearest Tesco to get all the ingredients to make a British breakfast at home.

If you go to a supermarket in general, Tesco or Sainsbury for example, you will only find a small selection of fresh vegetables or fruit. Often everything is wrapped in plastic or already available in ready-made mixes and on top of that there is a very large selection of ready-meals. I personally don't have a problem with not having such a large selection of fresh food, because I'm not a good cook and I'm usually satisfied with simple meals. But in the long run, I think I would also have problems with that.

And now some small facts that have come to my attention over time.

·       When it comes to language, Scots are a bit harsher than us. If you hear passers-by talking to each other on the street, the choice of words is often mixed with strong language.

·       Another thing is the quite Sunday that we normally have back home. It means that every store is closed. In Glasgow however there isn’t anything like that. Everything is open on Sundays. Only the Subway drives less than usual. The only time I have seen that most of these stores were closed, was on the 19. September, the state funeral for the passing of Her Majesty Elizabeth II.

·       If you rent a room, at a hotel, at an Airbnb or just a flat; if there is a double bed in the room, you can assume that it will have only one duvet to share.

·       The way of life of the Scots is much more relaxed compared to the Swiss. You rarely get the feeling that anyone there is stressed. However, I often found myself in stressful situations. For example; the bus turned up 20 minutes late or maybe not at all and because of that I was late for my lecture. 

What surprises me is the Health and Safety System in the UK. The first time I noticed how much they care about safety was when I was introduced to the university workshop. The workshop was small and there were about five to six woodworking machines. It was compulsory to attend this introduction, otherwise you would not be allowed to work in the workshop. That's all well and good but first of all the plan said that it would take three hours for five machines. That seemed a bit strange to me. After the first few minutes it became clear to me why it was taking so long. The individual steps were taught as if to a toddler. Things like making sure that nothing is lying on the floor, otherwise you could trip, or making sure that you don't hold the screw the wrong way round. Things that would actually be logical for most people were explained here in detail for 3 hours.

The next event was an excursion with our entire studio to the canal, as the building site for our project is located there. But before we could go, we were told for 15 minutes what we had to do to get back safely. For example, don't play around near the canal or we could fall in, or don't cross the road until the traffic lights are green or you could get run over. And last but not least, an electrician came to our building at the beginning of December to check every single electrical private device for malfunctions in order to protect against fire. I can understand this little test, since the actual university of Mackintosh has unfortunately already burnt down twice. For the other two examples above, however, I can't explain why it is enforced so strictly. I didn't find anything on the internet and my fellow Scottish students couldn't explain to me why it is enforced so intensively here either. But I didn't find it disturbing at all, just a bit strange and a bit unnecessary. Luckily nothing has happened, so I guess it has fulfilled its purpose.

On the whole, this stay in Scotland has eased my fears of not finding my way in a new culture, because after all we are not that different.