Journals from Abroad

Excursions to the Highlands:

Strathclyde partners with ISTours Scotland to provide students affordable options to explore the Scottish Highlands and parts of England. Every weekend from the beginning of January to the end of March, IsTours offered an excursion or two. I went every opportunity a trip was offered and got to see places such as:

   ~ Lochness

   ~Inverness

   ~Glencoe

   ~The Isle of Skye

   ~Various Harry Potter filming locations

   ~Various Outlander filming locations

Because many of these locations are not easily accessible by public transport from Glasgow, the ISTours excursions allowed me to see more of Scotland than I thought possible.

These trips are a great way to make friends from around the world. Several girls I met on the Isle of Skye Tour became quick friends, and a week later we were planning our own trips across Scotland, and a bigger trip to Denmark! I would highly recommend doing as many of these excursions as possible during your time studying at Strathclyde.

Isabella

Life at the University of Strathclyde

It has been three months since I headed to Scotland for my final semester of university. I want to share my experience in registering for Strathclyde, flying to Scotland, and attending classes here.

The Registration Process:

The registration process for Strathclyde is very straight-forward and easy to follow. It is set up so each step follows consecutively after the previous one. This is helpful because it ensures the applicant does not miss anything. However, this also means that if the applicant is missing any required documentation, they can’t simply move on to the next step. This can add unexpected time to the process, so be sure to start your application process early! If any problems arise, the point of contact at Strathclyde (currently Shannon Hersage), is easy to contact, and I have yet to encounter a problem she could not solve in more than 48 hours. The one thing I found a bit frustrating about registration, is that when you request the courses you’d like to take, you are not provided a time table, so you have to request your courses and hope they do not overlap. A full course load at Linfield is three classes at Strathclyde. Two of those three classes have to be from the same department. For example, I took two law courses, and a history course. I was lucky in that my courses did not overlap, so I do not know what would happen in that situation. Overall, registration was a smooth process.

One thing I want to mention, which was so important for my mental well being, is the housing application. I am the kind of person who can go all day long and be around people, but I cannot function if I do not have a quiet, private place to come home to. When reading about the housing options at Strathclyde, I was very nervous because the descriptions of housing options ranged from flats of four to seven occupants. I have never had a roommate, so this made me nervous. However, on the housing application they ask if you want to be in a gendered dorm or a mixed dorm, near the athletic center, or in a quieter area. There is also a place where you can provide extra information regarding  your housing preferences. I believe I wrote something along the lines of “please put me in the quietest location that you possibly can.” And as a testament to the fact that at Strathclyde you are more than just a number, I was placed in a flat with two other girls who had also indicated that they wanted a quiet accommodation. We actually live in a four person flat, but there are only three of us. Being in a quiet flat has drastically changed my experience of living in Glasgow. It also doesn’t hurt that my flat is right across the street from an award winning fish and chips shop!

Flying to Scotland:

With a U.S. Passport, flying into Europe is relatively easy, and Scotland is no exception. There are a couple things to keep in mind though. First, the UK now requires that U.S citizens acquire an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA). The easiest way to do this is to download the UK ETA App. From there, it is a ten minute process to upload all your information. My ETA application was approved within five minutes, so in terms of obtaining permission to travel, this was a very speedy process. The ETA is tied to your passport (so there is no extra paperwork to keep track of) and lasts two years.

The second thing to keep in mind, is that U.S citizens don’t always receive passport stamps, especially as airports continue to install electronic passport checkpoints. This is important to note, because to finish registration for Strathclyde,  they request a photo of your passport stamp. However, when I arrived in Heathrow, I did not have a long enough layover to wait in line to speak with an agent. So, I followed all the signs for passengers with pre-printed boarding passes (which I had obtained at the first airport), and ended up at one of these electronic kiosks. Luckily, Strathclyde allowed me to upload photos of my boarding passes, because what they are truly looking for is proof of arrival in Scotland. The moral of this story is, get your passport stamped if you have time, but if not, keep your boarding passes!

When you arrive at GLA it is a long bus ride, or moderate Uber to campus. If you arrive outside of business hours, there are plenty of hostels in the vicinity of Strathclyde, and you can pick up your keys the following day.

Studying at Strathclyde:

At Linfield, my major was International Business. I loved the international business program at Linfield, but I have always been interested in law. As I had finished all my degree requirements before attending Strathclyde, I decided to take law classes here. During the registration process, Strathclyde restricts international to students to year two and three courses. After three months here, I can see why. The courses are a lot of information and a lot of work (something for future students to keep in mind when considering Strathclyde as an option). However, the information is comprehensive and interesting.

Isabella