Moving to Edinburgh

Hi guys I havent posted in a while but I've got a question for the Scots on the board.. Here is the deal, ive spent about 2 years in Munich..and it was the best place ive ever lived.. Beautiful, clean, safe, Big but not too big, small but not too small.. In fact just about perfect.. just about anyway. because as much as i loved it, it still left me with a few problems, 1. My German is rubbish (i do try, i just dont seem as quick to learn it as I would like) 2. Its nearly impossible for me to get a "real" job, (see prob number 1) 3. And I want to study (hotel managment) and I cant do it in Germany (see prob number1)..

Anyway after moving to Colchester Essex and regretting it, I've been told by most people i know to try Edinburgh.. Apparently its clean, green, safe (and who hoo) they speak english, sort of.. Bascially I am looking for Munich.. but one where i can have a real life, and not have to work as a babysitter or nanny and HOPE that i have enough to make rent that month.. SO what can any one tell me?? Who's lived there.. How did they feel about it??

the good the bad the ugly please

thanks

I Edinburgh

I Edinburgh too (but as I'm not a Scot I seem excluded from providing further opinions )

I'm not surprised!!

Sorry I just assumed Scots would have more to offer on the subject..obviously any one whos spent enough time there to comparison shop for me..well their opinion would be greatly appreciated!

@BR
Well I didnt get on here to badmouth colchester.. but god if i wanted to..i could go on for days!

I'm from Scotland and was brought up near Edinburgh and went to school there. As an adult I came back and lived in the centre. It is a fantastic, esquisitely beautiful city that is the right size to have a cosmopolitan population, great restaurants and bars, diverse cultural facilities, a cracking summer of world calss arts festivals without any of the downsides of a large city. The countryside round edinburgh, particularly to the East and also north over the forth to the mountains is spectacular. Now that it has the Parliament there it is becoming quite an expensive place to live in though.

I'm not sure I'd say it is like Munich (especially not the weather) but it has different attactions. I'm also not sure if its especially cleaner (look out for the brewery smells) or safer than other British towns - it was nice enough when I lived there though. Its compact, has loads of interesting history and buildings, great pubs. I thoroughly recommend it. It is relatively expensive to live though, and the housing standard isn't comparable with Munich (but you probably experienced that in Colchester) - but if you don't mind stuff like that then you should enjoy it.

Just remember not to refer to Britian as England when you are there.

thanks bell, sounds like exactly what im looking for!

@br i can deal with brewery smells, i used to live on landsbergerstr (directly next to the Ausustinerbrau haus!)

I am from Scotland and although I didn't grow up in Edinburgh, I am there roughly once a month for work. Being a West coast girl, naturally I am a bit biased.
I will try to be objective though:

Good points:
People are quite friendly; restaurants are good and varied, albeit quite expensive; whole country is a smoke-free zone; access to the Highlands is not too difficult and they are stunning; more and more direct flights to Europe.

Bad points:
Weather is shocking, even compared to the West it is colder and windier (but often drier); lots and lots of tourists; endless traffic jams and bad driving; accommodation is not cheap.

I would say that if money is a major reason for moving then look at Glasgow too as it's much cheaper...Edinburgh is definitely more Toytowney!

I am west coast biased mind you, but both citites have their pluses so I wouldn't limit yourself to Edinburgh just yet.

@Wizadora

IVe heard Glasgow isnt as safe?? Also I would eventually try and get my bf out there, who is English, and ive heard Glasgow can be a bit unfriendly to the English.. But dont know, what do you think??

Glasgow had a bad rep in the 70s and has been working hard since then to get over it. But it's a completely different city now.

I've never had any trouble, but then I'm from Glasgow myself so I guess I know where to go. If you are in the centre I would say it's very safe. It's pretty well lit and there is a lot of police about on a Saturday night. It's had a lot of money spent on the city centre over the last few years, especially the shopping district which is usually rated second to London in the UK. There are also tonnes of bars and restaurants. If you like going clubbing and gigging then it has loads of options.

Also there is the West End, which is where the University is, it's got some really nice old tenement flats, again lots of bars and restaurants. It has students from everywhere as well so it's got a nice feel to it.

As for the English question. I knew plenty of English people at University in Glasgow who never had any problems. Edinburgh may well be more English friendly as it's full of them, especially since student fees have been scrapped! I know one thing that visitors usually say is that the people are very friendly, you'll just take a while to adapt to the accent though!

I would say that if you are going to see Edinburgh then why not look at Glasgow too. It's only 45mins on the train so it's perfectly feasible to look at both.

Best of luck, if you have any specific questions about Glasgow then I'd be happy to help!

Glasgow is much improved I would say compared to the rep of 70s, as mentioned above

ha, you might want to reconsider the going to Scotland idea all together! Perhaps thats an exaggeration, but wherever you (he) is in Scotland he will likely get some sort of vibe in that direction (even if it is basically just joking which gets unoriginal and boring after a while). Not that the situation is necessarily better in the opposite direction

@BR exactly!

He's bound to get a wee bit of stick nomatter where he goes but the same is true in reverse. It's usually pretty friendly banter anyways, there's plenty of Scots in England and Vice versa. My pet hate about England is that people kept on making me say curly-wurly so they could laugh at my accent.

Hi there,

I lived in Edinburgh for almost a year and it is a lovely, lovely city ... the buildings are beautiful and the pubs are great. It's also not a huge city, so not too overwhelming. The people are friendly and there is lots of wonderful stuff - the ceilidhs (traditional Scottish dances), hogmanay, kilts at the rugby, haggis, great accents, the royal mile, the castle, the meadows. And the edinburgh festival in august is awesome. Def cheaper than London, prob more expensive than munich but you pay less tax so potentially your net pay may be higher over there to compensate. Hope this helps!

Thanks everyone!

Whatever happens, it'll be better than Essex..

Well yeah i suppose so.. But thats not hard really??

I spent a lot of time in Scotland with friends when I was living in England. I think it is a beautiful country, but it does have a lot of downfalls you need to consider. First of all, please investigate what an average wage is in Scotland. You might be surprised. The cost of living is extreme, even compared to Munich. The cost of Petrol is about 30% higher, rent may be about the same as Munich. A a native speaker you wouldn't have the difficulty of the langauage barrier, once you became familiar with the Scottish dialect and slang. I am not sure about entering the Universities or post-seconday institutes in Scotland but I completed my studies at an English University. The tution almost bankrupted me compared to what I was used to paying in Canada. Edinburgh is safer compared to Glasgow, but not by much. Since the 24 hour drinking law came into effect it is a tough shot. Good luck to you whatever you choose!!

I smell these every day on Nymphenburgerstrasse

in edinburgh at any rate, the introduction of 24 hour licensing (note not 24 drinking) actually caused a very sharp decrease in alcohol related crime as closing times could be staggered across the city rather than having a sudden outpouring of drunks onto the streets as of old. This is what I was used to in Edinburgh before heading south to susy. In England, still with the 11 oclock closing birnge-drinking and the accompanying violence was much much more common that I remember in Scotland.


I would also like to note that for clubbing and shopping Glasgow is better than Edinburgh and arguably it has a more edgy, buzzy big city feel. If taht is what you want then go for it. Edinburgh is smaller and has a sedate refined atmosphere not dissimilar to Munich in some ways. But the two cities are VERY close to each other and only a short trainride away. When I lived in edinburgh we shopped and clubbed in Glasgow and dined, drank and relaxed in edinburgh. Looking back it was pretty much the perfect arrangement My family are half east and west coast so maybe I'm not that biassed on the issue.

So what are the wages like in Edinburgh?

Depends whether you're working in a bar or in the financial sector.

What would the salary for an MBA in the Finance sector be? Is there a good telecoms base there? Or are most of the telecom jobs in Dublin, Ireland?

I need to speak in favour of Glasgow as well (I'm a German living in Glasgow).

Admittedly there are some very dodgy areas here and very odd people on the buses sometimes, but the city has a lot to offer. And if you know where to go you'll be fine.

Wouldn't say Glasgow is particularly cheap though if you want to live in the West End or some other nice areas.

Have a look here for flats etc: www.s1homes.com or www.gspc.co.uk or www.espc.co.uk

I'm too far gone (6 years) to know what the salaries are like but the cost of living is huge. Glasgow is not much better though.

check out some of the recruitment websites to get an idea on salaries - ie Michael Page Scotland or s1 jobs

You could of course live nearby and save a few quid on property - I was looking at house prices in Linlithgow a couple of weeks back - not too steep I didn't think. All relative of course.

With it being on the main Edinburgh/Glasgow train line it's traditionally been one of the more expensive out of town locations though.

It still wasn't that bad IMHO - of course I live near London and so perhaps my sense of what's value and what's not has been twisted forever, but it struck me as affordable, and quite a nice town. In fact a very nice town in the centre.

If I had a labotomy and wanted to move back to the UK Linlithgow would be way up there.

That bad? Oh dear. I was only in town for a few hours... Still, nice lake.

No , I mean it is really nice. I just wouldn't want to move back to the UK.

I was only out there for 6 weeks as I couldnt find work..but Edinburgh is LOVELY!!! I really would have stayed if I had found a job

We'rent there in December were you?

Scotland is a wonderful fantastic place. Edinburgh in particular, but always remember the winters are just plain awful.

I spent a year in Edinburgh in 2002 and loved it - it's not actually a big place but has a big city feel to it well friendly at the same time. You tend to bump into the same people and they are always friendly and smile. Night life is good and getting home is no problem. There is always something happening like festivles and stuff so it is really hard to get board. Not sure what prices are like now but I found them not too bad. If you want to give it a go for a short while with out making a huge committment rent a "dodgy Gordon" flat he does no contract short term cheap rentals unfortunately don't have his number anymore he doesn't advertise it is a word of mouth thing just go into the Aussie bar there and ask if anyone lives in a "dodgy Gordon" flat at least one person will know him if not the majority of the bar.

What are the schools like?
How much holiday do you get per year?
Just how cold does it actually get there in the winter?

it isnt cold temperature wise but feels pretty raw

not that warm in summer either really

great place though!!

holidays I guess quite standard for UK 3-5 or 6 weeks

Plus you get an extra public holiday at New Year!!

That would be Hogmanay

Boomtown, how does it compare to living in Stockholm, Sweden?

Wow, these suicide statistics for Scotland are shocking http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1284372006

Errmmmm...don't worry, it's not catching...

2nd January you mean

Personally I think Edinburgh is dull compared to the West but swings and roundabouts it does have its good points.