Living in Aberdeen Part 1

This summer I'll be spending 10 weeks working and living in Aberdeen, up in Scotland. Seeing as I've never visited Scotland, let alone work here, I thought it would be nice if I blogged my 10 weeks on the experiences and I have and provide some insights on what it's like living here as a student over the summer.

Originally the plan was to take the train up from London, roughly a 8 hour journey on a single train starting at Kings Cross and ending at Aberdeen Station. However, due to the convenient timing of the national rail strikes, it meant that my train ticket was cancelled, meaning I actually flew from Luton. This was my first time flying in 3 years (the first time post-COVID) and so I couldn't quite remember how the whole airports, checking in, security and flying thing worked lol, and was also my first time ever flying alone. But turns out it's pretty straightforward, which I'll come onto later.

The main challenge getting up to Aberdeen was packing 10 weeks of stuff into 2 suitcases that could be checked into the flight. It's not just clothes that you need to take, it's the toiletries, kitchen utensils, bedding, work stuff, the lot. I could have of course bought a lot of it up here, but I preferred taking my own things from home. What I found was a game changer was vacuum packing as much as I could. Essentially you can get these bags which you can fill with things that take up room but not much weight (like clothes, towels, bedding) and then use a vacuum cleaner to create a vacuum sealed bag. It takes up wayy less room and meant that I could fit more in. Packing cutlery and saucepans was a bit sketchy though, as you had to make sure it had enough cushioning around it so that nothing broke (I would then later find out that in fact one of my small containers did break, but nothing else which isn't too bad).

Navigating Luton Airport went smoothly, with well signposted guidance and self-checking in of bags making the process quick and easy. It's very much like following the London Underground Tube map, so wasn't an issue getting to the right gate in time. Security took a bit of time to go through, but once that was all done it was fine. Unfortunately my EasyJet flight had been delayed by about 30 minutes, which meant some extra waiting around. Once boarded and airborne, it was a 1 and a half hour flight to Aberdeen, with the flight route heading over the UK mainland and at some point flying over the North Sea.

Aberdeen airport is situated outside of the city centre, close to an area called Dyce. Collecting my checked luggage was very quick, as my flight was the only one coming in at the time (the airport is fairly small). I had pre-booked a taxi using the Booking.com airport transfers service, which I would recommend to anyone who knows that they need a lift from the airport. It was very easy to use and saved me the hassle of booking a taxi after I had landed.

During my time in Aberdeen I'm staying in student accommodation, in a fairly central location with good access to transport links, shops and the beach! All are within walking distance to get to. After checking in and getting the key to my flat and room, I had the task of unpacking all the items I had crammed into those suitcases, which took a lot of time. I also went and did a grocery shop, with a large superstore a 5 minute walk away. Having lived in London my whole life, I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of traffic and queues in shops in comparison, which made my first shop pretty chill.

The rest of the weekend was spent going for another shop on the Sunday (as there was no way I was able to carry all the things I needed to buy in one trip!), sorting out my room, getting to know my flatmates and mentally preparing to start my internship. I'm a big fan of meal prepping, so I had some portions of vegan bean chilli with rice, to make evenings after work easier.

The plan is to keep blogging about my personal experience of Aberdeen and what I get up to over the summer, so this will hopefully become a bit of a mini series on the site. Thanks for reading and if there's anything in particular you would like to know or find out about living and working in another city as a student do drop me a message!