16) Learn new words.

I intended to pace out the fulfillment of my list over the course of these four months and yet, when an experience happens, I must document! A coffee conversation (the best kind!) with fellow study abroaders revealed that I have, indeed, learned new words. (Though it must be said that I haven’t felt, and probably never will feel, totally comfortable using all of them in conversation. Brits just seem to own the language in a way that we Americans never will.) Get ready for the easiest vocabulary lesson ever!

Dreich has already been introduced and it is, indeed, quite a fine word – perfect when describing the cold, rainy, windy Scottish weather. You might use the sentence, “Aye, it’s a wee bit dreich just noo.”

Daily life in Scotland, I’ve found, offers many opportunities for overcoming language barriers. To take the lift is to use the elevator. Forming a queue means to get in line. Although most Americans know what a toilet is, I think we would be far more likely to use the word ‘restroom’ instead. Along those same lines, it’s incredibly important in Britain that you use the word trousers instead of pants. Pants, as you would quickly discover, are underwear!

Moving onto more useful words, the Scots have incredibly endearing ways to tease one another! Have a friend that’s a bit of a loveable idiot? Call them a numpty (It’s perfectly safe, I promise!). Eejit is also a word that means idiot in sort of a sweet way. Having a blonde moment? Use the word muppit, which has basically the same connotation.

If you’d like to get from point A to point B, knowing a few geographic terms could be incredibly helpful. A burn is a small stream or creek. One day when I was lost, a sweet old woman gave me directions to make a left at the wee burn. I’m sorry to say that I politely nodded in total confusion and kept going, having absolutely no idea what she meant! In Scotland a ben wouldn’t be the name of your next door neighbor, but a mountain. A loch is, as you probably know, a lake. Funny story: in the Great Glen region there’s a body of water called Loch Lochy, literally, ‘Lake Lakey’. How terrific!

Hopefully the blustery night will not bring in too much snow and the buses will be running to Stirling tomorrow so my mates and I can have our much-anticipated Braveheart moments. Stay tuned for some amazingly stereotypical American tourism!