Hello! I will be living and studying in Aberdeen for about 5 months from February 2nd onwards, and I was wondering if people who have been to Aberdeen could tell me something about the city. Is it a nice place (or not) etc. Any information will be greatly aprreciated :)
Hello Juuli. What are you coming to study and where?
I've been living in Aberdeen for 4.5 years now, so should be able to help! Ask away with any questions you have!
It's a nice place to live, quite small as cities go, and reasonably friendly. It can take a bit of work to get the most out of the place, but can really spring some surprises on you when you're not expecting it. Let me know if you need any info on where to stay, where to eat, what to do, where to avoid, etc etc!!
Coolio, thank you Moray! I will be studying at the University of Aberdeen, and the 'receiving' department of the student exchange over there is School of Education. So education. I should get a chance to visit some schools as well, which would be really interesting.
I'm living in a city of 100 000 people, and it's still one of the largest cities in Finland, so Aberdeen is actually a relatively big city by my standards. Why is Aberdeen only reasonably friendly? :D
Is Aberdeen a nice music-wise? Gigs, venues etc. Is there some place or thing one should definitely see or do while in Aberdeen?
Although Aberdeen is supposed to be around 200,000 populus, a lot of that is out in the suburbs. The city centre itself is quite small, and intimate. It has the feel of a big town, not a small city. Whenever I go out for a drink or to a night club, etc, I'm almost guaranteed to bump into someone I know.
There's a decent music scene on the go, here's some handy websites:
Best venues in town are Moshulu (approx. 300 capacity) and the Tunnels (approx. 200) & The Lemon Tree (250 capacity), for checking out up and coming bands and some local musicians. As a starter for ten, I'll be at Moshulu on Saturday 28th Feb watching Little Boots do a DJ set, which should be good. I would also recommend the Music Hall for a gig - it's about 1500 capacity, and is a very beautiful old building, with an ornately painted roof and an old church organ. Brilliant acoustics and real character and atmosphere. Avoid the Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre (AECC) like the plague. Its a cavernous hole!
It's the local arthouse cinema, shows soom cool films, and has a really nice cafe attached to it too. It's located on Belmont Street, which is right in the city centre, and is a cobbled street where most of the best bars & pubs are.
Not too much to talk about in the way of museums & art galleries, unfortunately. Unless you want to see a museum about boats.
When I say its sort of friendly, the city centre can be quite rough and intimidating on a Friday and Saturday night. A lot of drunk people, very busy, lots of fights, police, etc. It can be threatening and personally I don't always enjoy it. Unfortunately, the same can be said for a lot of UK city centre's these days, and just seems to be the sad state of affairs right now.
Oh definitely take a weekend to Edinburgh while you're here - take the mega bus down, its really good.
I've been in Aberdeen since Saturday and all's well. I'm liking the city. However, the weather today was awful! And why are people wearing shorts and aren't wearing jackets this time of the year?! Weird.
I've been in Aberdeen since Saturday and all's well. I'm liking the city. However, the weather today was awful! And why are people wearing shorts and aren't wearing jackets this time of the year?! Weird.
Last Summer in Leeds some girls were wearing miniskirts or tiny shorts with bare legs and Ugg boots, which I found weird. Around New Year they had basically the same gear on, or leggings, no socks and some canvas shoes, and it was well below zero. Brits don't wear hats (or gloves, or winter coats), unless they're somehow in (so you see young men in tracksuits with that Peruvian style hat on)…
yesterday after the Travis gig, the very first thing I saw when I left the venue-premises was a sign of a Chinese restaurant, which said
"Aberdeen"
(and then some Chinese signs)
Chinese, no kidding. I wish I'd taken a picture.
Erm, does Aberdeen have a special connection to China?
Last Summer in Leeds some girls were wearing miniskirts or tiny shorts with bare legs and Ugg boots, which I found weird. Around New Year they had basically the same gear on, or leggings, no socks and some canvas shoes, and it was well below zero. Brits don't wear hats (or gloves, or winter coats), unless they're somehow in (so you see young men in tracksuits with that Peruvian style hat on)…
Same madness in the South:
Brighton, October, it was c-o-l-d (we were wearing coats and I remember longing for a hat and a scarf) ... and then we saw five kids/teens swimming in the sea IN THEIR CLOTHES (you can't see it in the picture but they really went swimming). they hadn't brought dry clothes to wear afterwards - however, they had brought swim rings and one towel.
I heard a Travis song tonight! I've been in Scotland a little over a week and I haven't heard Travis anywhere until tonight! It was a great moment :D
People are still wearing ballerina shoes without socks etc. I just don't get it :D And I love The Belmont Picturehouse. I've already seen two movies there, and I'm gonna go see Slumdog Millionaire later this week. A great place.
