Details

• Great Britain & N.Ireland
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 5 months

1. Preparation

Decide early if you want to stay in University accomodation (I recommend it) or rent privately. The departure arrives sooner than expected. Make sure you have an ETA to be allowed to travel to the UK. Flights are by far the cheapest option to get to Edinburgh. Also the weather is really unpredictable, which is why I recommend bringing clothes for all seasons.

2. Accommodation

I stayed in a catered accomodation and am really happy about my choice. I applied as early as possible and got into the cheapest possible. I saved a lot of time not having to cook and made a lot of friends in the dining hall. I stayed in Pollock Halls but Edinburgh altogether is very safe throughout. If I rented privately I would have chosen something south of the Meadows, because it is especially nice and quiet there and you are very quick to University. The only place I would not recommend renting is Leith because it is rather far away. New Town and Stockbridge is very nice and the longer you stay you appreciate it more, but it is really far away from Uni. You cannot really do much wrong, Edinburgh is the most beautiful British city in my opinion, albeit in Oldtown, the South or New Town.

3. Academic life at host university

The academic culture is very different to what we are used to. It still has the oxford traditions with essays, tutorials and only 3 courses per semester. If you really get into the stuff they are teaching you you can really do and learn something interesting. As it has become more of a mass university however, you can see that both the quality of the professors and the quality of the tutorials has suffered from the increasing numbers more than our system at WU would suffer from higher number of students. It is less about getting clear benefits from studying the material and more about learning and defending your own thoughts which is really nice. However, the grading may be very subjective and while it is more difficult to fail, it is also more difficult to get an A, especially if you may disagree with your professors on certain subjects. Altogether I enjoyed my academic experience very much and am glad I chose the courses I did. Unemployment and Labour Market (10/10) The Global Economy since 1750 (9/10) Politics, Power and Strategy (8/10)

5. Every day life in the host country

You can apply for the young Scots card which gives you free Bus transport across Scotland which is really nice. Trains are really expensive sadly. I would recommend going to societies, especially the traditional debating society, the Diagnostics Society. Pub culture is still very present even if Edinburgh is probably not the best place for going out in general. There are cheap tennis courts, a lot of golf areas and a relatively cheap university gym. I would also recommend going to Scottish dancing classes and get into as much cultural happenings as possible. If you are around the right people they will invite you to all sorts. Try to get out of the exchange bubble and integrate into British university life, it is really worth it.

6. Testimonial

From wetherspoons to closed societies Edinburgh gives you everything a small university city can give you and much more. If you go outside or simply climb Arthurs Seat you see a wonderful landscape. Go do ESN trips as well, they are worth it.