You know you’re an international student at Aberdeen when…

We just want cheap cigarettes


About 16% of the students at Aberdeen Uni are internationals. If you can relate to this article, you are probably one of them.

Introducing yourself isn’t that simple

Introducing yourself turns into a guessing game about where you’re from based on your accent, and people are never right. Ok, maybe sometimes. But not in that positive “you’re from [insert random place in Scotland]! Then you must know my uncle’s best friend right?” way.

It’s more like: “Where abouts in [insert home country] are you from? I’ve been to [insert capital]!”

This, unfortunately, is equally unsatisfying. How do you expect people to know that  your home is at least seven hours away from the InterRail Mecca every gap yah kid has visited, if they can’t even locate Hillhead on a map?

Home sweet home

Money is confusing and an even bigger problem for us than other students

Being broke might be a universal student phenomenon with dealing with bills and things that aren’t booze. However, being an international student makes money even more annoying. Converting prices from Pounds into Euros is depressing. There’s more of them. So unless you want to cry, it’s  better not think about that sadly disappointing keystore sandwich that broke a fiver.

Then there’s the hell of getting a foreign bank account. The incompatibility of sort codes and IBANs or paying ridiculous exchange rates at ‘free ATMs’ is enough to make you book a flight home.

*Sniff*

Cigarettes seem really expensive

You always considered cigarettes expensive, but now you swear you won’t buy any until you’re back in the euro-zone (or drunk and outside the shop in the queue for underground).

This leaves you only three very unattractive options: start rolling your own, import your fags or get healthy and quit.

So expensive

Nights out start way too early

7.30pm – normally you would be taking a nap, having dinner or maybe even starting to get ready. In Aberdeen, you’re already at your favourite society’s pub crawl downing VKs. Neither the time nor the drink suits your regular habits and before you’d even consider pre-drinks, you’ve already lost all sense of time and space.

2am – normally you would be entering the club now. In Aberdeen, the action has already moved to the taxi and McDonalds.

Visits from home are few and far between

All your friends were super impressed when you told them that you applied to uni in Scotland. None of them had heard of Aberdeen, but before you even met your offer’s requirements, they were already planning visiting you. None of your friends actually showed up.

You can’t actually blame them: Flights are expensive and they are getting on with their lives as well. Long-distance sucks.

When you eventually do get a visitor, you realise you have absolutely no idea what to do with them. Edinburgh or Glasgow might have been easy enough but you don’t want to feel that all you’ve seen in Aberdeen is the campus and Union Street.

We like to think of Dunottar Castle and Stonehaven but if you only end up showing friends the beach and the library they’ll still not regret visiting.

Aberdeen International Airport brings you ‘home’

Thanks to all the connecting flights you can show off your boarding passes on Instagram and pretend to live the #jetsetlife. They won’t know that all you saw from Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris was airport security and your not-so-luxury hotel otherwise known as the floor. The Ritz was full.

We love Aberdeen

Getting home is the greatest thing ever… Until New Year’s/the summer is over and you’re bored, missing all your uni friends and craving the Aberdeen pub crawls. That’s when you catch yourself telling your friends you can’t wait to get ‘home’.