My daily life

Well, first of all that here every day it’s different, always new plans or activities to do. In fact, my life doesn’t have a fix schedule here, but I like to improvise a little, therefore, it’s great. Obviously, there is people how follows strictly a timetable but I am going to talk about my own experience.

I just have class on Tuesday and Thursday. I had a lot of free time so I joined an English module to improve my English, I recommend to you to take advantage of this opportunity that UWS give to all the students. Moreover, I haven’t taken this module for credits, so I haven’t to do the exams or the assessments.

Apart from that, I do 3 modules for credits. The first one is WRL (Work Related Learning), the first two weeks I had 3 hours of class but after I just did 1 hour of tutorial per week. Sincerely, it is not really interesting this module, it just requires working on a platform called Mahara from your laptop.

The second module is called Get into Enterprise. Here you will mix lectures and tutorials, it’s more interesting than the other module, and the advantage is that you don’t have exams.

And the last one, it’s called Digital Marketing, this for me it’s the best because I have learnt new things. In fact, thanks to it I am writing this blog. And I am doing 3 hours per week, from those, 2 are lectures and 1 tutorial.

Usually I don’t wake up at the same hour, it depends on if I have to work or go to class, I eat more or less at the same time than in Spain, and in the afternoons, we go to the gym or somewhere with my friends. On the sunny days, most of the students just stay outside the residence laying on the floor with some beers and hope to become a little suntanned. However, I have to say that here the weather is more than crazy; in one day it can rain, be sunny, be cloudy and do wind.

On Tuesday evening we usually go to “Table talk”. It’s a meeting with other international students and there you discuss about some topic and do some activities. Moreover, there are some snacks, teas and refreshments.

We always have some plans and during the weekends we try to visit a little the most iconic places of Scotland. I recommend to you to participate in as much things as you can because this is an experience you only life one.

Surviving

 

All those who are for the first time far away from home and experience the first touch with the independent life, you will have to deal with some situations. When you will arrive everything is going to be new: new flat, new people, new food, new timetables, new language… but take it easy.

Probably you will have some troubles in understanding the Scottish accent but don’t worry, even for the native English speakers it’s difficult to understand it.

Moreover, have you thought about food? You will have to eat! Most of the people forget about this before arriving, but when you are new and your fridge is empty, you would like that someone would have told you where to go. I recommend going the Morrisons is 10 minutes walking from the residence, it’s the cheapest supermarket and it’s open until 10 pm. If you want to buy frozen food also a good option is Iceland, located inside the Piazza mall. The Co-operative and Mark&Spencer are the most expensive supermarkets. The Family shopper is also a good shop to do last minute shopping; there is not a huge variety of items and food but it’s excellent if you want to buy cheap drinks for a party because it’s close and open until 10 pm.

Another thing to deal with, if you live in the residence or in a shared flat, is the people. They probably will have different cultures, habits and language but this is not an obstacle to make new friends. I encourage you to open your mind and try to talk with them and plan some things, even going to the supermarket it’s a good opportunity to know your flatmates in the beginning. Of course, it will take some time until you see with who you get on well better or to trust them, but take advantage of the opportunity to learn from other people. I recommend you to join to the activities that the university prepares for the first week of each trimester; it will help you to know new people.

When you will arrive maybe you will feel alone the first days but it’s completely normal, don’t worry. To feel more like home, you can decorate your room with photos or flowers.

In addition, the timetables here maybe are different from where you live, so my tip is to try to adapt, it’s better to have a routine.

Don’t be discouraged! You can handle it! I am sure that you will gain more experience of life, you will not regret it!

 

Here I post a video where you can see what Erasmus is!

 

Moreover, if you click in the following link you can get in touch with other students who have been through this experience or are going to do in a close future.

 

The arrival

I planned my arrival some months before coming but when it was the moment of leaving the nerves and the emotion of beginning this new experience overwhelmed me a little. But now I can promise you that it’s really worthwhile. Well, now I am going to focus on how to arrive to Scotland. I am from Spain so my best option was travelling by plane. I flew with Ryanair because is one of the best low cost companies to buy a flight.

The nearest airport from Paisley is the Glasgow International. From there it will take you ten minutes by taxi to arrive to Paisley or you can catch the bus McGrill's 757 that will leave you at Paisley Gilmour Street Train Station.
 

The other option is the Prestwick Airport (the second nearest airport); here is where my flight landed. After that to get to Paisley City there are several options:

• TRAIN (ScotRail): This airport has its own train station which is linked to the airport by a walkway. You can get a train direct to Paisley Gilmour Street train station; more or less it will take 40 minutes to arrive and the price is more or less £8. Everyone from the airport receive discounted rail tickets if flight itinerary or boarding pass are shown. This train operates every 30 minutes approximately every day, and on Sundays every hour. Once you have arrived at Paisley Gilmour Street train station, you can take a taxi from Country Square (right outside the station) directly to your accommodation. Or go by walking if it’s near, for example, if you stay in the Storie Street Residence it will take you ten minutes by walk, but if you have all your suitcases maybe it will be more comfortable to take a taxi.

 

• TAXI: That option it was the one that I did. I arrived at the airport after the last train to Paisley had left so I needed to take a taxi, it cost me £60 and it took 50 minutes. It took me a long time to get a taxi because there were no taxis available outside of the airport but if this also happens to you, taxis can be called from the airport. If you are lucky and in the airport someone else also has to go to Paisley, then you can share the cab and it will be cheaper.

 

• BUS: No through bus to Paisley available.

When I took the taxi, I couldn’t understand at all what the taxi driver was saying and this scared me a little because I didn’t expect that because I can speak English properly. But don’t worry this is because the native people speaks Scottish and their accent is really difficult to understand but later you will see that you’ll get used to it. In fact, neither the professors nor the students or the people of the street are so difficult to understand if you have a standard level of English. So my tip is don’t worry about English if this happens to you.

 

Additional information:

If you need a taxi at Prestwick Airport, a good company of taxis is Stream line Taxis, and the mobile numbers that you can call to are:

• 01292 28 45 45
• 01292 477 000
• 01292 26 10 10

And if you need a taxi in the Renfrewshire area and surroundings another great company serving is the Paisley’s taxi. All their taxis are white, they resemble the old cars of the 70’s and are wheelchair accessible. The contact numbers are:

• 0141 884 8888
• 0141 887 5050
• 0141 889 9000