Can’t believe I’ve only been here for two weeks as it feels longer. My second week included my Welcome Week at the University and getting a UK number and bank account.
Welcome week included completing my right to study, student ID, my school induction along with other scheduled activities. I will say they are really well organized and had everything set up in one building. I started the week with completing my right to study, which is for all international students and verifies that you’ve been approved to study as an international student. If you’ve uploaded everything to their portal it’s a quick process of showing them your passport and in my case a copy of my boarding pass for proof of entry. It also opens up all your information on your MyAberdeen portal where all my classes and information lives.
Right to Study & ID
Well, I found out just how many international students are on campus as I was in line for an hour and a half and I started in line in the building. When I left the line was out the door and down the sidewalk and that was just day 1 and on day 2 I saw the same thing. One student told me they were in line for 3 hours. Yikes! After that was completed, I went to get my student ID. However, my photo didn’t seem to upload. So, I had to resubmit my photo. No, worries I picked it up the next day. So, I’m now official.
Health & Dental
Something I learned as an international student while applying for my visa is that all students have access to health and dental care and it costs around $1600 for the year. There may be additional charges but not bad and I also found out that if you have an emergency and are taken by ambulance you will not be billed – it’s free.
It was pretty easy to register, the table for health and dental had QR codes that you scanned. For health you just fill out a form to register and for the dentist they provided a list of providers that you can call and just let them know you have NHS (National Health Service) and you’re a student. Nothing too overly complicated. Although we will see how it goes once I use the services. I did learn that there is an after hours number to call and it will be answered by a nurse that will provide guidance on whether you should receive emergency care or provide a prescription over the phone based on your symptoms.
One thing I did run into when I went to register the first day was that I needed a UK phone number to register, which I hadn’t gotten around to do. Which was quite the undertaking especially if your phone only has an eSIM.
Phone, Bank…Oh My!
So, after my first day at Welcome Week I made my way downtown to get my phone squared away and also set up a bank account. If you have a phone that only takes an eSIM, it’s a pain in the ass to get an international number. The conundrum I ran into was that I could not set up my phone for an international number unless I had a UK bank account but I couldn’t set up my UK bank account without a UK number. What I will note is if you are just using your eSIM for travel it’s great because you set up an eSIM and it tethers to your phone number but doesn’t use your data. Finding a mobile carrier that provided an eSIM with a phone number took some searching because some say it provides a number but may require a credit check. Can’t do a credit check because I haven’t been here long enough.
I did finally find a mobile carrier online and it seems to be working fine and I’m paying as I go. Hopefully that will work and I’m tracking my data usage for the first month. I’m paying 8 pounds a month for 30G. This is a fraction of what I pay in the U.S. and I did look into paying monthly on a plan with Vodafone and it was going to be 22 pounds for unlimited. So, still cheap!
But wait my phone story is not over. After I purchased my plan I was supposed to get an email with a QR code to activate my eSIM. I did not get the email and had to call customer service. Which wasn’t too bad and pretty quick response and they were able to send me the email with QR code. So, got the QR code but now I had to activate, which took time for it to load onto my phone. Not sure if it was my wifi or what but the process was tedious. So, now I had my eSIM activated but I still needed to find out what my number was because it didn’t show up on the phone through my eSIM. This involved calling a number that would then display your number. It took me multiple attempts before it displayed.
The whole process really tested my patience and what I learned is that I am not a fan of eSIM. It is not convenient at all unless you’re just using it for travel. If I’d just had a regular SIM, I could have just switched it out for an international plan. I will say not that I am set up, it is nice to switch between my phone and the eSIM. You can also set up your eSIM to use certain apps on your phone. It just fucking sucks to get it set up. They just need to change the policy for eSIM to allow you for easy set up for long term use.
So, I have my phone number (which I will never remember) and now for my bank account, which was much easier once I had my phone number. I will also say the people at Bank of Scotland were extremely helpful because I did go into the bank to see if they could set me up without a number. It was possible but it required more information, so they recommended some phone carriers where I might be able to get a number.
So, I was able to set up an account through their mobile app and I received my card within a few days. I have now added money to the account.
So, I feel a little be more official as I have a number and a bank account. Also found out it is a much better rate to take out money here and have it converted to pounds. I took out 200 pounds and it was only $275. When I came into the UK I exchanged money and it was painful. Note: if you are traveling overseas just take out money here.
Academic Induction
I had two inductions one for the business school and one for psychology and they conflicted with one another. So, that was fun. My business school indiction was from 1-3pm and psychology from 2-3pm. But it all worked out. The head of my program was at the business school induction and our program sat together. Although as of Friday, there were only 3 of us that had arrived but he mentioned that there are 10 of us in the program. He was also kind enough to walk us over to the psychology induction. The two classmates that I met are from China and Thailand, Alice and Paveena. I will meet the rest of my classmates on Monday.
So, what is induction? It basically covers what to expect academically and support services provided. I will definitely have to get acquainted with the grading and GPA, which is different from the US. Grading is from 0-22 and it is a letter grade system but also numeric. Anything is the A range is considered distinction, B is …
The one thing they stressed is to reach out if you feel you need help and not to wait until it’s too late. Also, the head of my program let us know that everyone in his program has passed and had no issues. He stated that because we’re a small group we work closely together and support each other.
Now for the fun things this week!
I did partake in some fun activities as well or non-academic related. I checked out a vintage clothing mark and basically felt my age.
What the Fuck! 80’s, 90’s & Y2K are now vintage. Also, this shit should’ve stayed in the 80’s & 90’s. Does anyone see a jacket they used to own?
I went on a tour of the Aberdeen Sports Village. It includes a workout gym, classes, a track, handball courts, basketball courts, indoor fields and two pools. It’s quite massive. There is a student rate of 25 pounds a month or 270 for the year. I did the yearly rate as you do save some money and definitely will make we use it. It’s also right by the campus.The two pools are quite impressive as one is a diving pool where the floor retracts to allow for classes and swim lessons. It’a a 25M pool and the other pool is 50M. It’s in a separate building from the gym but has an indoor walkway. They do hold events for both swimming and track that we have access to watch.
I ran into Haley at her right to study check and met two other Americans. We ended up visiting the Botanic Garden where they were handing out free plants. After we grabbed a pint at the bar on High Street. It’s amazing how you just end up meeting people that you seem to have a lot in common with. The other two Americans are Ella and Mia Rose. We were going to visit the event where at the student clubs had tables but the line was out the door and down the sidewalk. So, decided on a plant and a pint.
I also attended a Mature Students Coffee Hour. So, I’m mature not old. Although I question the use of mature as well. If they only knew me they may not use that word either. I met students from the US, Scotland, Pakistan, India, Lebanon. There were quite a few mature students making this a little bit easier. I also ran into Haley and Ella at the end and one of the students mentioned that another student may be starting a club for mature students.
I also attended a Welcome to Scotland and Aberdeen session that covered various aspects of living in Scotland as an international student. Most of the information I knew already but they provided some advice and I did learn that there is a specific language spoken here, called Doric. I have heard it and at first I thought it was just the strong Scottish accent nope it’s Doric. They said that you start to catch on once you’ve been here. We’ll see.
I wrapped up my week by meeting up with Haley and Ella for Drag Bingo. We grabbed drinks and food before heading over at the Craftsman and then at Ivy Lodge, which has another bar in it called the Old Workshop, which we will be going back to because it looks so cool. At Ivy Lodge, there was live music and you could order food from two vendors that would deliver it directly to your table. The Ivy had two floors and you could also walk to the bar next door without going outside. It was extremely fascinating that they worked with the former structure/use of the building. Sorry I forgot to take pics but we’ll probably go back.
We arrived a little late for Drag Bingo and paid the price. We were not the only ones that were late and so we had to stand in front of everyone where they played a song that had different dance moves that we had to repeat several times. There were some that arrived much later and two had to dance and she made the other do push ups. So, don’t be late to Drag Bingo.
Also, the bingo here is very different. There is no B1 or O72 or whatever. It’s just a number that is called but once there was a regular bingo, she would then do a cover all bingo. Also for each game she would change how you called out bingo and if you were too late to call bingo you were out of luck. It was very entertaining. For one bingo game you had to sound like your favorite animal if you go bingo and another one you just screamed. If there was a tie, she would have them compete to win. Two of the games involved a card where you would stand up and if she called out a number on your card you sat down and the last person standing won. I don’t think I laughed so much at Bingo.
We wrapped up the evening back at the Ivy for one more final drink and I think what I like about the night life here is the diversity and you can either dress up or down to go out.
Well I’ve made it through the first two weeks with the third week being the start of classes. My first class is at 9AM on Monday. Wish me luck!
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