When N.U.in Scotland students first arrive at the University of Glasgow, they may feel as though they’ve been transported to another realm.
Founded in 1451, the University of Glasgow hosts around 29,000 undergraduate students in a convenient part of the historic city, allowing students to be within an 8 minute drive to the city. Glasgow’s city center is home to several renowned museums, the Glasgow Botanical Gardens and Celtic Park that hosts sporting events.
Maya Turlapaty, a first-year business administration major, spent her first semester at Northeastern abroad in Scotland. Turlapaty said she was offered the opportunity to study in Scotland, Ireland, Paris or Prague as part of the N.U.in program, but chose the University of Glasgow because of its size and course rigour.
“I really wanted to be at a more established, larger school, and Scotland was really the only location that offered that,” Turlapaty said.
Once Turlapaty chose Scotland, she had to fill out the Glasgow General Application, which allows students to obtain their official acceptance letter.
The visa process was simple for Turlapaty. “Since we were only [in Scotland] for four months, I didn’t have to apply for a visa at all, which was really nice,” Turlapaty said.
Turlapaty took the group flight with other Northeastern students from one of the available airports. The group flight was important to Turlapaty because it gave her a chance to make new connections within her new community of people.
During their first days there, students were given tours of the campus as well as an introduction to the surrounding area in Glasgow.
All N.U.in students resided in Kelvinhaugh Street Residence, also known as Kelvinhaugh Hall to students. Inside the building, students live in flats, each of which has five en-suite bedrooms, a kitchen and a common area.
“We all get our own individual rooms, which is really nice,” Turlapaty said.
There is no dining hall on campus, as is custom at universities in the United Kingdom, so students had to cook their own meals.
Turlapaty chose her roommates through Instagram, but “a lot of my friends that I know didn’t pick their roommates, and they still had a really good time.”
The university also supplied students with cooking utensils, pots and pans. Like every N.U.in location, Scotland had coordinators to help students adjust and support them during their stay abroad.
Within the first few months of the program, coordinators took students on trips across Scotland, including one to Loch Ness, a popular tourist attraction for hikers and, of course, believers of the famous legend that inhabits the lake, the Loch Ness monster. Additionally, every month, small groups of students would go out to “family dinners” with their coordinators.
Kelvinhaugh Street is a 20-minute walk from the university’s campus. It may be a trek, but Turlapaty said the views of the buildings were beautiful.
“The courses within Glasgow, they were pretty difficult courses,” Turlapaty said. One of the major differences between classes in the U.S. and U.K. is the course weighting: “[Students] would have finals worth like 70% of [their] grade, … like two, max, three assignments throughout the year, and then a final,” Turlapaty said. “I didn’t love their system, too, too much”
Turlapaty did some personal travel while abroad, she went to London, England and Copenhagen, Denmark. Turlapaty said it was common for students to travel.
“I know a lot of people actually that would miss like two or three weeks of school just to travel around,” she said
Turlapaty also had a lot of fun just staying in the city and said there was plenty to do in Glasgow itself.
“[Glasgow] really had a lot to offer in the social scene,” she said.
