What does being a tourist in your own city look like? Well for me, this question takes on a whole new meaning while studying abroad. 

I’m studying at the University of Aberdeen and finally at the very end of my semester I’ve decided to set out a day for “tourism” in the city. It feels wrong to say that considering I still feel like a tourist, but until today, I’d never really explored what Aberdeen has to offer. 

For starters, Aberdeen is a nice city. I went to three museums, two botanical gardens, and walked around my campus. That alone took an entire day and got me close to twenty thousand steps. I had a really good time getting to know the city from a new perspective, and I actually got to see parts of the city that I haven’t even driven past yet. There’s two rivers that Aberdeen falls between; the River of Dee and the River of Don. Because I was able to see both rivers, I basically went from one side to the other. 

My favorite thing that we did was go to the Botanical Gardens. Both were so beautiful and it was so nice outside which made everything brighter. (Scotland’s usually pretty gray so this was a major win) The botanical gardens in the city centre were engulfed in a huge park and had different indoor greenhouse rooms for different plants. I saw a desert room, a temperate rainforest room, and a Japanese garden. 

The botanical gardens on campus were a gateway to get to the University’s Zoology museum, which was also very nice and had a lot of exhibits on display. 

The botanical gardens were my favorite, and while I was visiting them I did begin to think about how often people overlook the places they live in. In Oklahoma I know this is very true. People tend to say “don’t visit here there’s nothing to do” or “I hate it here” and I do understand that sometimes there really is nothing to do, but oftentimes people overlook certain things that tourists would see. I’m not saying every place is packed with things to do, but almost every place has something unique about it that tourists and travelers can remember it by. 

It’s easy to get into the mindset that the city or town you live in is boring, but sometimes taking an outside look can give you a new perspective on your own culture. For me in Aberdeen, going to so many museums and walking around the city centre helped give me a refreshed look at where I’ve been living this semester. And because I’m not Scottish, I am an actual tourist here. But when I get back to Oklahoma I’m going to make it my best effort to seek out the things that I think someone who hasn’t been there before would consider my culture. 

Much love, 

Olivia Bird