hey...how fast will i learn to drive o the opposite side of the road?? lol
I learned after I sat behind the wheel. It's a personal matter. Anyway, all-present traffic enforcement cameras will make you drive quite slow in built-up area.
If you want to buy yourself a nice standard flat, you'll need >£80 k, which would be connected with the area of its placement. Rent would be some £400 for a studio flat, £550 and up for 2 bed (+bills, council tax, which is about £120/month and depends on the area you live in).
Of course, you can live in or near Glasgow, but there is so much you can reach from there. There's rain, rain, more rain, hills, sheep (meet Seanus' relatives), youn can go to nicer places like Edinburgh, the Highlands, the Islands, the Southern Uplands, the Lake District, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, hop on a train or a plane and visit London (no, I'm not trying to lure you anywhere!)... You're even nearer to Poland (if that's the kind of thing you like).
I don't know. Inverness is further away from the rest of the world. Someone told me that Dundee is very very boring, but that could have been a mistake. The west side of the country is the wetter side. The southeast is the dryest bit, whether you're talking about Scotland or the UK in general.
Glasgow West End is very nicee, rent would be about £500 per month for a 1 bed flat (plus bills) or about £650 for a 2 bed plus bills, but it depends on what you want. As someone not from Scotland this would be my preferred location. The city is okay, but as everyone has pointed out Edinburgh is nicer to look at.
As for coming to live in the UK, not sure its the best time to do it, we are fastly approaching a recession and things are getting tougher, remember the UK is tiny in comparison with the USA, therefore less opportunities.
Glasgow can be a very dangerous place especially for males. Gangs of Glaswegian teenagers, mostly armed with knives, roam and are known to attack people at random for no apparent reason.
I am originally from Glasgow and recently lived there between 2003-2006. I didn't feel safe especially in the city centre at the weekend. However, most Glasgow people are extremely friendly and helpful. They will welcome you into their homes and take great delight in introducing Scottish culture, food and drinks.
Glagow also has some extraordinary architecture, most of which is missed because the majority of people don't look above shop-level. If you are considering moving to Glasgow go to the west-end and the student areas. Avoid areas like Toryglen and most of the east-end. Don't be frightened to ask Glasgow police for advice, however, housing authorities may well not tell you the complete truth(my experience).
First off, a place is as good or bad as what you do with your time there and the effort you make.
I've lived in Glasgow for about 15 years since leaving home to go to University at Strathclyde. I have never experienced any trouble in the city, but then I don't stupidly walk around 'bad' areas at late at night. The trouble tends to exist between Gangs only. We don't have a gun culture that is invading the south of england and is when i last checked prevalent all over the US.
Glasgow can be a wonderful city, vibrant, colourful, great architecture as noted in a post above, just look above shop level. Some of the best parks in any city, world class museums (Burrell Collection, the Kelvingrove), four universities (one of which is one of the oldest in the Uk), great people - a cosmopolitan mix of immigrants - indian , pakistani, chinese, polish :), irish, french and german and more recently north african, baltic states. This mix leads to some great restaurants cafe and delis and I don't mean deep fried food before the usual ill informed comments get batted about.
Pub/bar culture is great, clubs are very good, the subclub is one of the best clubs around if you like decent dance music, its easy to avoid the drunks and orange fake tan girls, you only need to make the effort to buy a copy of the list magazine.
Its only 1h and your into the hills and more rugged west coast, 2 hours and you can go snowboarding in the winter, some of the best granite rockclimbing in the world, one hour south will take you to the coast by ayrshire and into burns country and some nice coastline. One hour east by train and your in the capital, which is pretty but not as friendly, I mean if you want to live in england live in england, don't bother with edinburgh.
My fiance, moved from krakow to glasgow to live with me, she is loving it, I thought about moving back with her to poland, but she informs me that shes not moving back anytime soon, she like it here.
Its easy to live in glasgow and avoid all the problems and areas that get mentioned, but above all if you want to experience the city then you need to get off your ar@e, not go to work and come home at night complaining about how it rains lots and there is nothing to do.
Just my 10pence worth to try to redress the balance in this post.
Cheers
Neil
Oh and one final tip Having read his posts , ignore that Noimmigration guy, he seem like a bit of a w@nker
thanks neil for your help and the others too... :D i know that i will stay in TX... it's good to know and consider your options... you never know what life brings you...
Aberdeen the only place in the uk to be unaffected by the credit crunch, Doesn't have a gang\knife culture that seems to affect everywhere south of perth, Oil capital of europe. Best football team in err the north east, Good shopping and 16000 polish nationals living here.
I was over there a few weeks ago (sister lives there). It's a tough city, but then so are most of them. But I like it, doesn't take itself as seriously as Edinbugh.
They're doing some good rebuilding now and Glasgow is emerging from about half a century of decline.
River Clyde flows through Glasgow, and it's got an airport..., in case you need to leave fast.
