Are you coming to study at the University of Aberdeen? If so, I bet you are already very excited about coming and are currently wondering what to pack, where to stay and what university life will be like? I felt exactly the same two years ago.
There are a couple of things that I wish I had known though before coming to Aberdeen. In order to prevent you from unnecessarily worrying about the same things as I did, I have put together a list of 5 things I wish I had known before coming to Aberdeen.
#1 Where will my classes be?
Shortly after having booked my accommodation at Liberty Living Linksfield (see my review of it here) I discovered that the school of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition was based at Foresterhill. I then started to panic that I had booked accommodation miles away from where I would have my lectures… It wasn´t until I got to Aberdeen until I found out what the situation was…
If you are not studying medicine or medical sciences, all your classes will be on main campus (King´s College).
Although the School and the Institute of Medical Sciences are based in Foresterhill, if you are studying a medical science degree, in first year lectures and labs take place on the main campus. In fact, you´ll most likely not have to go up until 3rd year – so you can relax!
The only exception is for people studying Biomedical Sciences, who go up twice per week for anatomy classes in second year.
If you are studying medicine, then your lectures will be at Foresterhill sometimes, but even that doesn´t mean you have to book accommodation near there.
That´s because….
#2 There is a shuttle bus that goes between main campus and Foresterhill.
Again, something that wasn´t exactly obvious to me before arriving in Aberdeen. The university runs a shuttle bus service between main campus and Foresterhill. It is free to use as long as you remember your student ID card. The 9U bus leaves from the Sir Duncan Rice Library at 5 and 35 minutes past the hour and then drives up to Foresterhill. You can see the exact timetable and route here. In the mornings and evenings, the bus makes an extra stop at Hillhead Student Village. So even from Hillhead you can get a free bus to the library and Foresterhill.
I will warn you though, the 9U service can be a bit unreliable. There have been occasions when the bus just doesn´t show up, is extremely late or even more annoyning: so full that you cannot even get on it.
#3 You don´t need to buy an annual bus ticket.
I was wondering at first if I had to buy an annual bus ticket to get around easily. But it´s definitely not necessary! Aberdeen is the perfect size for walking… I´d say no two places I regularly go to are more than an half hour walk apart – at the most! And for people travelling between Hillhead, Kings College and Foresterhill, there is the 9U bus service I mentioned previously.
Obviously, your walking times will depend on where you live. If you want to find out more about where the best places to stay are, and a rough overview of how long your walks from there will take, check out my guide to student accommodation in Aberdeen.
#4 Wednesday is “Sport´s Day”.
I was really surprised that this concept wasn´t made more obvious before I came!
Wednesday is the day where most people don´t have any lectures. Most sports clubs train on a Wednesday morning/afternoon and if you play for a team, this will also be the day where you might be playing (away) games.
For first- and second-year students, the university offers so-called Sixth Century courses. They all have mandatory attendance and more often than not have lectures on a Wednesday morning. So, if you are planning on playing sports, especially in a team, I would think twice before choosing a Sixth Century course.
I didn´t know about Wednesday being “sports day” prior to my arrival, so I had chosen a Sixth Century course for both the first and second half-session, which both had lectures on a Wednesday.
So, on Wednesdays I used to always arrive late for training and sometimes I would even miss it, if I had an assessment or a field trip for the course on that day.
Even if it´s not a Sixth Century course, when you are selecting labs/workshops/tutorials etc. for your timetable, I would recommend you try and keep Wednesdays as free as possible if you are wanting to join a sports club.
#5 The weather is better than you´d think…
Oh! You are going to study in Aberdeen! It bet it will rain all the time!
Says literally every single person you tell
that you are going to study in Aberdeen…
When I moved to Aberdeen to start university it was the first time I had ever been to the city. I was used to the wet weather Glasgow has to offer so I was pleasantly surprised when Aberdeen turned out to be fairly dry! There is a big difference between the East and West coast of Scotland, and I am definitely glad to be in the East. Overall, the weather isn´t that bad, it´s usually quite mild and it doesn´t rain that often (Haha, I really hope I haven´t jinxed it now). The granite city is truly beautiful when the sun is out and living right next to the sea is amazing!
The only “bad” thing is the wind. It can get very windy at times which is particularly nasty when it is also raining. That does mean though, that one thing you don´t need to bring to Aberdeen is an umbrella! I brought one and found it to be absolutely useless, as it gets turned inside out by the wind anyway! It´s more trouble than it´s worth really, so just embrace the rain and get wet! You can change into something dry and warm when you get home and sit down with a nice hot cuppa!
Anyway, these are just a few things I remember wondering before I got to Aberdeen. Knowing the answers to these questions would have made my life a lot easier, so I hope this was helpful for you.
If you have any other questions about coming to Aberdeen, please let me know in the comments below :-).
