Just have to share - DS will be going to University in Scotland
 

After leaning in this direction for months, DS yesterday "hit the button" and accepted admission at the University of Edinburgh; his course will be history. We're happy and excited for him, and not that we needed more excuses to visit Europe, but now we have another one. I'm sure all of our travels to Europe and in the U.S. as he was growing up contributed to his interest in a university abroad.

We visited Edinburgh last year on a trip planned before he developed an interest in the University, which of course was very helpful in the decision-making process. We got lots of helpful advice here in planning that trip, and as you can tell, the Scotland portion was very successful!

Any suggestions, advice on anything other than the obvious would be great (he'll start work on the visa this weekend; he's chosen self-catered housing; bank account and cell phone must be obtained after he gets there) would be great. He's been a member of the Scotland and Edinburgh sub-Reddits for a while now, and I know Edinburgh has something for admitted students, and all that has helped. There's also a great blog (The Uni Guide) run by a U.S. citizen who's now a sophomore at Edinburgh.

In terms of food, as he'll be cooking (he's an ok cook, but needs to develop a budget-conscious, time-saving repertoire), do regular grocery stores carry items like tortillas and pita bread (at student prices)? We cook Mexican / Southwestern quite a bit, and that's the one cuisineI think there's less of in Scotland - or maybe not! And is peanut butter as cheap there as in the U.S?

Firstly congrats!

I just wanted to say that peanut butter is more of the organic variety (at least in London)! N.A. peanut butter is usually quite hard to find and expensive - i get family to bring the big tubs :) Also Mexican food is, lets just say, not great here...it's very difficult to find spicy salsa etc. it's a great opportunity to embrace curry and other UK treats!

Oh and yes, tortillas and pita bread is easy to find...although I find the pitas different here!

Are easy to find geez!

Good re tortillas and pita (even if it's different) - there's lots of things he can make with those. And good to know on the peanut butter. DS did say that he'd fill one suitcase with peanut butter and tabasco. Guess he might want to bring some spicy salsa too.

DH is Indian American, though we only cook "easy Indian" - the more traditional stuff we let MIL do. I've already confirmed there's an Indian grocer right by the school, so he'll be good to go there, for spices and stuff like that.

My family is headed to Edinburgh for spring semester 2014, and I have it on good authority that the Edinburgh Costco sells the same jumbo jars of Jif pb that our local Costco sells.

He won't starve! (And I won't have to pack pb myself. For my son.)

Congratulations to your son -- great opportunity!

My best friends' son is headed to Edinburgh for a year of study from the US! Sounds like fun and congrats to your son!

No reason to bring tobasco, we have that here in the grocery stores!

Edinburgh University is a wonderful place to study and the staff are superb (well I would know I am employed by them).
he should have no problem getting all the things he needs to cook.Edinburgh has an extensive range of supermarkets, discount stores and ethnic grocery stores, he won't starve.One thing I will say is the University in House caferterias/resturants are way way overpriced and I for one don't use them,but loads of resturants and carryout places that do student discounts.Look out for Snapfax for discounts on just about anything.
http://snapfax.co.uk/

Well done, good university.

Pittas are easy to get but hey he could even make them himself (if a peasant can make them maybe an undergraduate can?)

Getting the bank account is still tricky/time consuming so he needs to push for that pretty quick, one he has a bank account everything gets easier

Be careful. Our daughter studied there and came home with a fiancé. It wasn't in the brochure.

He may not need a UK bank account. My wife and daughter shared a Bank of America account that allowed her to use her ATM card at Barclays without charge. We deposited dollars at this end, she took out sterling at her end. If he visits the Continent, he can get euros at BNP Paribas cash machines with the same card.

The Uni is wonderful and not quite so different from an American university as an English university might be, but it demands quite a lot more self discipline than most American universities. The uni does a lot less hovering over students than North American universities, and the faculty aren't as concerned with different learning styles or building self esteem. In fact, you might very well say that they don't think about it at all. Students also specialize much earlier than in the US, and in many fields, they have to write papers that are the equivalent of Masters theses. The important exams are very long and require quite a lot of writing ability.

One thing Americans find difficult is the very short days in the winter -- dark until nearly nine, nearly dark by half past three. The food is not such an issue, and he will be introduced to all sorts of new and yummy things, especially in the junk food department.

Scotland is a much more democratic country than England, but he will run into issues of class and race that he may not have faced in the US, not so much at the Uni as in other places. They won't be insurmountable or even very difficult necessarily, but he should be prepared for them. There are "Protestant" and "Catholic" professional football and rugby teams, for example, and sometimes the support for one or the other is uglier than, say, Yankee and Red Sox fans in the US.

If he can handle these, he will have an intellectually satisfying experience in a city where he can also have quite a lot of fun. I envy him!

You mention that your son will be staying in self-catering accommodation - is this a university property or private sector? Just wondering, because it's usually a good idea for new overseas students to be in university accommodation (whether hall or residence or self-catering) so they can mix easily with other students. Being on your own in a bedsit some where in a strange country is normally not much fun and can distract from studying.

<i>Scotland is a much more democratic country than England, but he will run into issues of class and race that he may not have faced in the US, not so much at the Uni as in other places. Scotland is a much more democratic country than England, but he will run into issues of class and race that he may not have faced in the US, not so much at the Uni as in other places</i>
Actually Edinburgh University (like its traditional rival, St Andrews) is packed full of posh, privately educated English kids, so there's no escape from social class divisions (some subtle, others less so). This is going to be more tangible to university students than the traditionally working class sectarianism seen at football games.

Meant to add:-

Posh, privately educated English kids (Pippa Middleton to give you a well-known recent example, is an Edinburgh graduate).

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Good to hear about tabasco, cheap markets and snapfax. I know there's lot of good, cheap food in Edinburgh, I just want to make sure that as we work on cooking and budgeting skills, I'm not suggesting things that wouldn't be a cheap and good option for him. But no, I don't think he'll be electing to spend his time making pitas by hand.

Self-catered means he'll be in university housing, but share a kitchen with a bunch of other students. Seemed a better choice to him than the less centrally-located catered housing with (what he heard was) bad food.

Him majoring in history, and me just loving it and minoring in it, he already knows quite a bit about Scottish history, Protestant vs. Catholic and the like - more than most U.S. students, at least. And that there will be posh students there, too, but like any school, he'll make friends with people that he enjoys spending time with.

I'll suggest that he look into the Bank of America account - from everything I've read so far, I didn't think that would be an option. Definitely would be easier in terms of getting the money to him. And you didn't pay the exchange rate / foreign transaction fee every time your DD withdrew funds? Anyway, another item for his to-do list.

If he uses Barclays ATMs, with a US-based B of A account, there are no withdrawal fees. At the moment.

My daughter studied in Spain a semester and we got a joint bank account at our credit union. That way I could make deposits and deal with any problems that might occur with the account. My credit union didn't charge fees so that wasn't a problem. That's been several years ago. They now charge 1% for foreign transactions (interbank rate you see on Oanda or XE + 1%). She also had a credit card from the CU to use.

Another CU account she had from her college CU was frozen not long after she arrived in Spain. They told her she would have to come to the credit union to straighten it out (not possible since she was in Spain). Turns out her bank statement had been returned as undeliverable (it went to her dorm and she was no longer living there). She failed to file a change of address with them so it was really her fault. I suppose with most getting online statements now, this might not be a problem anymore.

Well, Gordon_R, I was trying to take the high road on the "Yaws" as they called rich English students in my daughter's day (because they pronounced 'yes' as "yaws").

I think he will be safer at Edinburgh than at St Andrews from what Monty Python called "Upper . . ." No! I won't go there! Not the high road!

They are now called "Rahs"!

As I recall they were called Yah's. During the 1980's St Andrews even boasted a pub known colloquially as the Yah Bar.

If he intends working whilst in Edinburgh then he will need a British bank account but do give him access to a US account with low withdrawal costs so that you can feed him money gradually over the year and he doesn't wake up in a ditch in Penicuik with a tattoo, hangover and an empty bank account

<<he doesn't wake up in a ditch in Penicuik with a tattoo, hangover and an empty bank account>>

nothing to be ashamed of...

As his mom, I wouldn't be too happy about him waking up in a ditch, etc. We do have some decision-making on the bank account.

I just talked to Bank of America - the woman made it sound deceptively easy.

Is there any reason that a debit card issued by Bank of America wouldn't be accepted in Edinburgh (at places that students would frequent)?

I'm just thinking that a local bank would be easier for DS (except for the part about us needing to wire money into it periodically). And thanks for the point about working - I think he'd like to at some point after he's settled in.

He needs to take local advice about the legalities covering overseas students and work, and to be careful - the rules are subject to change.

I was an American student at Edinburgh who has a BofA account, and I'll tell you, Barclays are not easy to come by in Edinburgh (one on George Street, one at St. Andrew's Square, both of which are not near the Uni, and that's it). It wasn't long before I got a bank account with RBS (plus it made the handling of financial aid considerably easier). I'd suggest having both...that way, he has the ease of a local bank account and you have the convenience of being able to make deposits stateside that he can withdraw without fees if necessary.

Regarding food, Tesco sold Old El Paso taco/fajita kits when I was there, and pitas were very easy to come by as well. For Indian takeaway, Chilli Connection on Clerk Street was always my favorite when I lived by the Uni; I later moved by Fountainpark and found great Chinese takeaway at So Good, and the best doner wrap at Maria's, both on Dundee Street.

PatrickLondon - yes, he knows he has to follow the visa requirements; we looked them up some time ago to see if he could even work at all.

On Bank of America ATM locations, that's what it was looking like to me, so thanks for the verification! And good to know about Old El Paso. And of course the Chilli Connection.

My Aunt Judith, mentioned here many times over the years, is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh.

Thin

Start out w/ the BofA ATM card . . . and any credit card he may already have (Visa or MC - not Discover). Even w/ the paucity of Barclay's cash points that will be his easiest/cheapest way to get cash for the first few weeks. Then after he is settled in and has the address and other details he needs he can open an RBS account and get a debit card for it.

Then he can deposit any £ cheques/£ cash he acquires into the RBS account but still get cash out of the Barclay's if/when needed.