Wilson's in Scotland?

It ain't no secret that I want to blow this popsicle stand.  You know, pack up and move abroad.  In evaluating our options, I got a most convincing email from my dear friend, Lila.  Lila and I were sorority sisters (hence the ice water tea mention) and really just clicked from the beginning.  After this email, I love her more.

Hey Elizabeth,

You can call me Gene Chizik because I am about to recruit your ass off.  Actually, you and I both know I don’t have that kind of money. Let me just get a strawberry for my water and we’ll call this an ice water tea.

Please accept my apologies, football season just tends to bring out that competitive spirit.  I completely agree with David! Scotland is calling for ya’ll. In David Letterman fashion, I will provide you with “Wa th’ Wilson’s shoods move tae Scootlund.” That’s my best impression of a Scottish man saying, “Why the Wilson’s should move to Scotland.”

10. They don’t play Scottish folk songs like “Loch Lomond” in France. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIIe0iTHwHY . This version may be a bit fast and contemporary, compared to the traditional ballad. No matter how it is played, it’s always played at Scottish events. You haven’t lived until you seen a stadium full of rugby fans swaying and singing this song as they players warm up.  Plus, the rugby game is the closest thing you will get to seeing the Crimson Tide play in Bryant Denny stadium.

9. The thermometer will never reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Have you complained about the heat over the summer in Nashville? The only time you will hear someone complain about the heat here is when a guy tries to run in 70 degree weather and breaks a sweat. I just think he’s a wimp. But, he tells me that in the winter, so there are no harsh feelings.

8. August is festival month. Every venue in the city turns into some sort of festival event. This includes a book festival, and international festival, fringe festival, the military tattoo, etc. It caters alot to comedians, but you get all kinds.  Buskers entertain those in the street. Bars turn into comedy houses. And there is even Axis of Awesome who puts on a great show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I. The festival season kicks off with a fireworks show at the beginning of August and ends with a fireworks show tonight. I’m sure Larkin needs to see that.

7. You can buy a scone for breakfast on Friday morning at the office canteen, and your co-worker sitting beside you will ask you questions like, “You’re good to yourself, eh?” He’s apparently never seen a chik-fil-a chicken biscuit. Now that would be good to myself. And speaking of food, you have a plethora of international options at your disposal. Say goodbye to ‘Fish and Chips Fridays’. It’s all about the curry here. Indian food, Nepalese food, Bangledesh food....those are all pretty much the same, but let me tell you it is some kind of good. It makes up for their lack of McAlister’s.

6. There is a castle in the middle of the city. Who would have ever thought I would walk by a castle on my way to work? There is a lot of green space and people actually use it. Stephen calls it Lizard Fever. When the sun is out, people get outside and soak it in. Sometimes, quite literally. They look like a lizard lying on a rock, soaking in the sun.

5. Location, location, location. You are a very short train ride to St. Andrews, or the West Highlands and a relatively short train ride to London. But, even better, you are only a quick flight away from London, Wales, and France...when you need to hear someone say, hau hauh hauh. (That was a written version of French laughter.) Basically you are a relatively short flight from any country in mainland Europe. You can get a bargain direct flight to Basel, Switzerland, and even Cypress e.g. Then you board that plane right back to Scotland where you can speak English.

 4.  You can drive on the left side of the road. Who doesn’t want to do that? Well, if you don’t, you will have plenty of options with public transportation. We lived here a year before having access to a car, and there was only a couple of days where public transportation failed us. That was when officials  shut half the trains down during the blizzard. I took one of the trains to Glasgow for work that day and it was packed (think China). I had a minor mishap in which I can’t recall all the details. Let’s just say I woke up with a crowd of faces looking down at me. One man gave me his seat on the train, one lady gave me her candy bar, and another lady fanned me to the point of awkwardness. But, kudos to the public transportation, they got me exactly where I needed to go. Don’t let the term, ‘blizzard’ scare you. They didn’t get more than two feet of snow, and all the locals went into shock mode.  A midwestern blizzard would turn their world upside down.

3. If you have an ounce of American ambition, you will look like a superstar here amongst the UK work ethic. The work ethic is surely higher than France and Spain, but doesn’t compare to the ridiculousness that is the U.S. UK people don’t expect you to work all hours of the weekend. This affects the country’s level of innovation and competition, but it sure does benefit my personal work-life balance issues.

2. If you can, you should. Not only do you gain an appreciation of a town like Greenville, Alabama, you gain an appreciation of the whole world. BBC news covers more than U.S. They cover worldly issues that affect us all. They acknowledge that other countries exist for purposes other than being bombed. It’s more fun to learn about foreign countries in person than learn about it in a book.

1. Why not?

The recruitment chairmen just gave me that cue that the ice water tea has come to an end. 

Don't you want to move, too?  And more importantly, don't you wish you had a friend like Lila.