The Interview: How we learned to love Scotland

Sue Gaisford's daughter Magdalen, 20, is halfway through her four year English degree at Edinburgh university. Emma Slawinski, 21, is on the same course

Where are each of you from and why did you choose to study in Scotland?

Emma: I'm from Lancaster, and didn't really decide on Scotland – I just wanted to go to Edinburgh. But the idea of a four-year course was quite attractive...

Magdalen: You delay reality a bit!

Emma: Exactly! Although I've been wondering lately if we are really doing that much more work than people south of the border.

Magdalen: I'm from East Sussex, and applied to Edinburgh because I hated interviews and it was the one place that didn't give you one!

Magdalen, have you found it a drawback being so far away from home?

Magdalen: No – it's a nice train journey and it's quite nice for university to be a separate world.

And why did Edinburgh appeal to you?

Magdalen: Because it's a city but not impersonal like London. It's amazing because there's countryside all around, there are mountains in the middle of it, and beautiful beaches a short drive away. And pubs are open until one and clubs until three. Also, I'd heard Edinburgh was good for art and drama, and it has been. Edinburgh College of Art is in the middle of the city, and I've been doing life drawing there.

Emma: I took part in a production of The Importance of Being Earnest this year, with quite a random group of people. I was Cecily. Lady Bracknell was played by a secondary school teacher. There's a main university theatre company called the Bedlam, but it can be a bit hard to infiltrate.

How are you finding the course?

Magdalen: In the first year they really throw a lot of literary theory at you and I found I got a bit bogged down with it. But in the second year it got interesting. We've done romanticism and modernism.

And what are the student halls like?

Magdalen: I was in Pollock Halls in my first year. I heard once that they were the work of an architect who designed Swedish women's prisons – but it didn't feel like that! I really enjoyed living there.

Emma: I went into a university self-catering flat, with four other girls. A couple of the girls were nice – it was fine. I met my boyfriend in my first year, he was living in an all-male flat next to mine.

How do you find the weather up there?

Magdalen: I don't think it's that bad. It does get quite cold and rainy sometimes but quite often it's freezing cold but really bright and crisp.

Emma: I think it's all right as long as you are prepared, with warm clothes. But I actually got a bit depressed with the weather this year, it felt like winter didn't end.

Magdalen: Last summer it was hot for ages. Everyone from Pollock Halls went up on Arthur's Seat and sat in the sun.

Do you think the food is different in Scotland?

Magdalen: You can get a lot of battered things!

Emma: Battered Mars bars are not a myth. I've tried haggis and it's really nice. But I don't know what's in it and I don't want to be enlightened!

Do you find the locals friendly?

Magdalen: You don't really meet that many!

Emma: There are so many English people in Edinburgh that you sometimes get the feeling that you're living in a bit of a bubble.

Magdalen: There's a pub called Whistlebinkies which I like. It stays open late and is full of people in kilts. The people are friendly as long as you're not with a big hoard of braying students. Also, there are lots of hippie-type people in Edinburgh who are involved in events such as the Beltane.

Emma: The biggest fire festival in Europe!

Magdalen: It marks the pagan bringing in of the summer. It's wicked! But even the locals are not necessarily Scottish because so many of the people that come to Edinburgh end up staying.