The eternal struggle of a Northerner studying at Edinburgh

After just one year spent at Edinburgh it’s difficult not to notice the sheer amount of Southerners the uni is plagued with. The Northerner has become an endangered species, a rare find, a marginalised people, but we still exist. Here are our stories.

Grace Richards, Physics first year

Blackburn born Grace says Edinburgh is full of southerners, something she finds “a bit upsetting”.

She finds southerners a rude and upsetting kind, and says: “I was once sat in the train station here and a bird pooed on my head, in my hair and all over my jumper, so I was a bit upset. I asked the guy next to me for a tissue, he stared straight ahead and ignored me, so I asked him again, but it was a lost cause, I asked a second guy near me, and he ignored me as well.

“I was shocked and horrified, you would not get that in the north. A lovely southern person gave me his travel card for the bus, so I guess they’re not all bad.”

For Grace, even with their lack of people skills, she was never going to venture further afield than Edinburgh for her degree. She added: “I didn’t want to go to the south really. I’m just not keen.”

Jago Moore, Chemistry first year

Jago, hailing from the heartlands of Sheffield, ended up stuck in Edinburgh with posho southerners by chance. He said: “I changed degrees at the last minute, so I had to ring the unis on results day and Edinburgh was the only one with places.

“It’s more like England than expected, and it seems to be more southerners than Scottish people, like you wouldn’t know you were in Scotland a lot of the time.”

The oppressive atmosphere has even changed his beloved Yorkshire accent. He said: “I definitely has to use a more normal accent, I think some of my friends didn’t understand me very well at first”

“When you meet someone from the north you feel like you have to stick together because it’s such a rare occurrence.”

Jess Riley, Classics first year

Jess (left)

Jess, from Lancashire, chose Edinburgh because it’s an “awesome city”, but not without its northerner bias.

“I did have one person tell me that they ‘abhorred’ the way I pronounce words with a sounds in them.

“I think I know one other northern student here – the rest are mostly southern or international students. So with the other northerners it’s like we have to be friends”.

She also gets told by her friends she’s supposed to wear a flat cap – tragic.

Bryn Evans, Chemical Engineering first year

Bryn (left)

Troubled Northerner Bryn has a lot to say about the prejudice northerners face. He said: “A lot of the southerners at the university are posh and definitely tick most of the boxes for the stereotypes. I don’t think I have actually met a southerner who doesn’t tick those boxes actually”.

He defines the stereotypes as “The Accent, voting Conservative, going to private school, being posh, having opinions on Margaret Thatcher, and the clothes”.