SCOTLAND II

When I now reflect on the first six weeks of my stay in Glasgow and on the rhythm of life here, the observation exactly reflects my preferred attitude to life. Shortly after my arrival in Glasgow and the first walk through the city, I noticed the low-stress level positively. The inhabitants and also many tourists seem to be more relaxed. I like to judge cities by my feelings. After only a few seconds or minutes, every person has a first impression of a town, and this impression was very positive for me. I found the whole situation relaxed and exciting, even though there are many people in the main shopping streets of Glasgow. For me, it is the perfect combination of activity and peace.

Working world

Of course, I can't judge the working world; perhaps it's more stressful than in my situation as a student. For example, supermarkets are open daily until 10pm. Here, I feel, the workers sometimes seem really stressed, because many customers have problems with the automatic pay stations.

University life

Due to my central living situation, it only takes me a 15-minute walk to be at the Glasgow School of Art. The late start of lessons is very convenient for me as the earliest lecture starts at 09:00 a.m. This was a positive surprise for me, as it is even later than at my home university, where we began at 08:30a.m. I mean, first I thought I could change my morning ritual during my exchange, to get up earlier every day, but therefore I failed so far, because it starts even later, so I can get up later. Maybe I can approach this during the next few months, I will see. There also seems to be a difference in the work attitude at the university. The students seem to keep their weekends free and try to only work during the week. This was mainly the case at the beginning, but now after half of it, it also changed for them.

Edinburgh vs. Glasgow

If I now compare these two cities, Glasgow definitely comes first for me. The third week I visited Edinburgh, which is only a 50 minutes’ bus ride away from Glasgow. My feeling immediately told me that I couldn't enjoy a stay in Edinburgh that lasted several months as much as I could in Glasgow. The city is an attraction for many tourists and therefore overrun. I felt stressed because there was just too much going on.

What it tells me about my own culture

If I now compare my home in Austria, my time during my studies in Liechtenstein and my previous time abroad in Glasgow with each other, then there are certain similarities but also significant differences. The biggest difference is the urban life and the possibility to experience something within a few minutes on foot, to visit a cafe, pub or whatever. This is a new territory for me, as my home village and the city of Vaduz in Liechtenstein always need a bus or car ride to get somewhere.

I don't like to be stressed, I sometimes work late into the night, but still, I prefer to do everything as calm as possible. Glasgow supports me in this because it has a lot of activities to offer on the one hand, but on the other hand, it is very calm for me.