Notes from the expat shuffle, Scotland edition

Happy new year! Now where was I? Oh yes, Assisi. After an inspiring artist’s residency in Italy, we headed back to Munich for a couple weeks of Christmas market season before hoping on a plane to the US to spend the holidays with family. Then back to Munich for a quick hello before finally making our first trip (first trip since deciding to move here, anyway) to Scotland.

It wasn’t until the day before our flight to Edinburgh that it hit me: this move is really, finally happening! The thought made me giddy.

Five days later and I’m still giddy. I walk down the street grinning from ear to ear at nothing and nobody, despite clouds and wind and gloom. I live here, in this moody northern city full of whisky and haggis and people who say “aye” and roll their “r”s on the word “great.” I couldn’t be more pleased with the situation. And just when I was starting to think I was crazy for loving the damp, dark north in winter, a friend shared this article. At least I am not alone.

Even the usual absurdist rigamarole of moving to a new country can’t get me down. What’s that, I need a bank account to rent a flat but I can’t open a bank account until I have a flat? Oh pish. People here actually use the word “pish.” We have learned quite a bit of new vocabulary this week, especially in the course of our apartment search. Gas hob this and council tax that. DSS and EPC. I keep expecting to see IOL pop up in an ad.

After two months of country-hopping suitcase living since I last saw my own bed, this should be the point where things start to calm down a bit. Where I get to relax into the rhythm of my new country. Where I start learning the coins in my wallet and using them appropriately, rather than letting them accumulate because I can’t be bothered. Where I start to learn my way around the public transportation. Where I start to look for friends. Ah, but that would be too easy. This is advanced expatriatism, boys and girls, not for the faint of heart or slow to adapt. So what if you wake up each morning surprised to find out which country you’re in? It’s an adventure!

In two weeks I leave to spend a month in Japan. There will be plenty of time for settling in when I get back.