I flew to Scotland on the 25th of August 2018 with my lovely, hilarious mother in tow. We arrived in Edinburgh, took a bus into town and were immediately stunned by the city skyline. Vast swaths of history represented in the different architecture, layered in such a way that was almost fantastical. It was a beautiful, sunny day and life felt magical.
We were staying in an Airbnb in the Meadowbank area of Edinburgh. This was long before I knew the negative effects Airbnbs were having on the city – contributing in a major way to the housing crisis that currently affects Edinburgh. If you are reading this now, please book hotels/hostels rather than Airbnbs!
It was a nice wee flat, near to Holyrood Park and close to a school that years later, I would end up teaching in(!!). I love when life has those little callbacks.
We wandered to Holyrood Park in the evening and walked around St Margaret’s Loch at the base of Arthur’s Seat. In the morning, I woke up early and hiked up to the ruins we’d spotted the day before: St Anthony’s Chapel. Looking out across the city, I felt like I had made the best decision of my life. I was taking a risk, I was on an adventure, and it was fate or God that brought me here. In truth, it was the beginning of one of the best years of my life.
I have to remember that – remember that feeling of ease, of rightness. Many of the years that followed had a lot of darkness and uncertainty. As high as the current high was, there would indeed be some low lows that followed.
But for the moment, it was bliss.
We spent three days in Edinburgh wondering why on Earth the city was SO busy – and thanking my lucky stars that I’d be living in Glasgow, instead. Oh, ignorant me. I had not heard of the very famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe – the world’s largest performing arts festival that takes place in Edinburgh every August. It’s a month of comedy, art, theatre, poetry, circus acts, magic shows – anything you can think of. Ranging from the terrible to the transformative – it is truly an incredible time. But also a very busy time. The Festival attracts over 4 MILLION people to Edinburgh in the month of August alone – no wonder I was feeling a bit claustrophobic.
I would later live in Edinburgh for 5 years and would love going to shows in August while also trying not to get annoyed at the tourists.
But back to 2018 – off to Glasgow we went and spent a few days enjoying the sights in the West End. My sweet mother helped me move into my student flat in the Finnieston neighbourhood and then it was tearful goodbyes at the airport.
One of the requirements of being an international student was to attend in-person check in appointments twice a year, just to make sure you were actually in the country and doing what you were supposed to be doing. I attended this, spent lots of time getting to know my 5 flatmates, and got ready to start a graduate programme.
Having 5 flatmates was actually amazing. This was in large part because we all had our own bedrooms and bathrooms (life-saver). But we met up in the kitchen/living space many times during the year we lived together. We had two people from America (including myself), one person from Germany, one person from China, one person from Greece, and one person from England. It was an fantastic mix of personalities and cultures. We played games together, watched horror shows, celebrated each other’s holidays and religious events – it was one of the best parts of my year in Glasgow.
The burnout feeling from having taught for five years quickly became a distant memory. Grad school was tough. It was a very research heavy programme and those were skills I didn’t particularly enjoy developing. Some of the classes were very interesting, some I endured. But not having to teach every day was such a visceral relief. I loved being a teacher, but it certainly takes a toll on you, physically and mentally. I was grateful to have a year as a student again.
I met loads of people, I joined the Krav Maga society and the Whisky society, and just tried to take advantage of every opportunity I could.
It was after a Whisky society meeting that one of my flatmates (and a group of other new friends), decided to go for even more drinks at Òran Mór – an amazing church turned pub in the West End. Once there, a random couple sat down next to me, clocked my accent and started up a conversation. They heard I was interested in whisky and suddenly I had several drams in front of me to try. It was a magic experience, meeting strangers and just connecting immediately. Little did I know, they would change the course of my life.
Before we left that evening, we exchanged numbers. A few weeks later, I was invited to some birthday drinks, and that was the first time I met my future partner. I became a regularly fixture in their friend group almost immediately, and a month later, I was in the happiest relationship of my life.
By December, he had invited me to spend Christmas with his family in Edinburgh. We strolled through the Christmas Market, sipping on mulled wine, dreaming of the future. I met a close friend of his in a cigar bothy on Christmas Eve. We watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy with his mother. I was falling hard.
This was, of course, amazing! I had been very happily single for a number of years before moving to Scotland, but he was exactly the right match for me.
This also led to the scary question – how can we make this work after my programme ends?
Well, that was a problem for 2019 Natalie. And it was a big one.