It’s been a full week in Aberdeen and it has been an interesting week. We started the same way any trip across multiple time zones begins: jet lag, confusion, and time adjustment. It didn’t take long to get over that and settle into our AirBnb to try to act like we live here. We have been only moderately successful. 🙂

We are staying in a two bedroom flat in the village of Cults (pronounced koolts not like the weird brainwashing groups) on the western edge of Aberdeen. We chose it because we thought it a likely location we would be interested in buying – partly because several faculty at RGU live here and partly because it seemed to be very similar to neighborhoods we’ve lived in before. We’re trying very hard not to just relocate our current life to a new location but it’s difficult to imagine how to translate what we think we want into what we can find. For example, Frank thinks a 2-car garage is a requirement but that is at odds with my desire to live where I can bike or bus to work. We have lots to ponder.

One thing we really thought was important was to try to spend the week doing just the things that we would do if we lived here. When we come for a visit, we go places and do things because we are on vacation. So rich meals, day drinking, staying up late, and other activities that are generally bad for one’s health when done frequently for long periods are the mainstay of most trips. We wanted to not have that mindset for this trip and set out to have a quiet time staying local and doing lots of local investigation of neighborhoods.

But that didn’t happen quite the way we hoped. We made the obligatory trip to visit Frank’s family because that is something we will do when we live here. We thought it important to figure out how the drive was so we could decide if the train was better. The idea was that we’d make the 2 hour drive down in the morning and then return in the evening. But dinner with friends and Scotland’s strict drunk driving laws meant that we ended up spending the night (and drinking until 2am… {sigh}) I swear we won’t do that regularly when we live here…. really.

And once we recovered from that, it was time to try the train option and head just a little south to Dundee for dinner with friends. But the trains were a mess because of massive flash flooding that had several stations closed. So we ended up driving and Frank took one for the team and stuck to lemonade while I enjoyed as much wine as my hangover would allow.

And while we were on the road to Dundee, the queen died. Yup, another example of how this would not be a normal week. The mood was somber in town with several shops shut out of respect but otherwise nothing major. So we did get a chance to go into the town, learning how the local buses work, and wandering all over the city to places where we could possibly decide to live but probably won’t. The weather was fine after days of rain so after an afternoon of walking in the city, we bused back to our village to walk to the local pub for dinner. That’s what locals do, right? (Dinner was excellent BTW and I’m shocked that there doesn’t seem to be a restaurant upcharge on bottles of wine. Weird but welcome.)

And the topper for the weird week occurred this morning. Locals and tourist alike turned out this morning to watch the procession of the queen’s remains from Balmoral to Edinburgh. It seemed that the entire village (and then some) turned out to pay their respects or just be part of history. It was amazing to be part of it. But really, can next week be closer to something “normal”?