How I feel about Edinburgh

As you may know, after four years in Glasgow and one year on the Isle of Skye (which I could probably write a whole book about - the year on Skye I mean – I think it would subsequently also make a good drama series on BBC Alba), I am now finding myself in Edinburgh, Scotland’s stunning capital, doing a so called MSc.

And I have something to confess: I have not yet started feeling at home here. Though there’s no denying that Edinburgh is a beautiful city that Glasgow can’t compete with aesthetically, it doesn’t feel like ‘my city’ at all. Not like Glasgow.

As most of my life revolves around walking between my flat, the university and the gym and I rarely venture out of that area, I haven’t learned to find my way around very well. Most times spent in the narrow wynds that make up the city centre have been at nighttime and in the company of people who know their Edinburgh much better than I do.

Glasgow is bigger than Edinburgh, but in a way feels smaller. The West End where Glasgow University is situated is largely populated by students and during an average day I would always bump into someone I knew or at least recognised. Edinburgh lacks such an explicit “student part of town”. My flat is about twenty minutes away from the university, and if you walk a further twenty minutes you will be in the city centre bustling with tourists from all over the world. I know the seven people on my course (and a few more) but when I don’t have classes I can spend a whole day in the library and around campus without seeing one single person I know or have even seen before! Anonymity can be a blessing, I certainly know that, but it can also make you feel strangely detached from any context. I miss my West End bubble!

But, inevitably, it is the situation as well as the location that contributes to my feeling of non-belonging. As any modern human being, I tend to google every situation I find myself in and from what I have found, it is quite common to feel like this when pursuing a postgraduate course in a new city. The small number of contact hours with teachers and classmates and the absence of the socializing frenzy called Freshers’ Week, paired with a large amount of coursework and a tight budget contribute to making postgraduate studies a somewhat isolating experience.

Also, four years is a long time and enough to start feeling at home in a place. If I had spent those years here in Edinburgh I would probably have developed the same kind of “emotional relationship” with this city that I now feel I have with Glasgow.

Nevertheless, I can’t help feeling a bit like a stranger here in the capital.

But I do like the Meadows.