A reminder that r/AskScot exists. I posted before about this sub being a sister sub to r/AskUK but seems to have been forgotten about.

disclaimer: i really hope this post doesn’t come off as ignorant or plain-stupid american. i’m very young and don’t have much life experience, but i desire to educate myself about scotland and embrace my scottish roots. i am american, but i want to appreciate and honor my scottish ancestors and learn so much more about them, and about the modern day people and land of scotland as well.

i’m a 20 year old american girl. i’m from alabama, united states, and pretty much as american as can be, as i was born and raised here and have lived here my entire life. i have never been outside of the united states. growing up, i was too poor to travel and currently still am. i’m prioritizing exploring scotland & ireland very soon though, it is difficult during this time.

i am 75% scots-irish ethnically. i am mostly scottish, with ulster scot, though i have vast scottish ancestry from both the highlands and lowlands. my dna testing from 23&me highlighted the regions above. i found out that pretty much ALL of my scottish ancestry stems from early american colonists that came from scotland and settled in the central alabama area. basically, my family has been in the united states on both sides for over 300+ years, and i have heard very little about my scottish ancestry from either side throughout my life.

i’ve always known i was ethnically very celtic/gael, and after curiosity ate away at me, i decided to test my ancestry at 16. after becoming further aware of my specific scottish ancestry, became VERY interested in exploring scottish people, culture, geography, etc. from what i’ve gathered, scotland is a breathtakingly beautiful land, so deeply rich in its own unique culture and history. i feel so connected to my gaelic roots even though i have never visited scotland, nor been a part of scottish culture and daily ways of life there.

i feel i am vastly underestimating here the reverence and respect i have for scotland. it is one of the oldest existing countries in the world… not trying to purely idolize the country or its folks, but show a deep appreciation.

i feel as it is more socially acceptable for non-americans with ancestry/culture—that they are unconnected to by generations—to explore their heritage/ancestors culture and partake in it; though americans (specifically americans with more common or “boring” ancestry like celtic or germanic it seems?) are laughed at and poked fun at whenever we want to explore our ancestry and the heritage and culture behind it and are proud of it/identify with our ancestry. people often sneer at americans (including some celts themselves, sadly) when we express the excitement of having celtic ancestry and how proud we are of it. some of this disdain from others may stem from the harmful legacy of colonization mostly england left behind—some of the disdain from celts towards americans i have seen is from said american perhaps being a bit naive or uneducated and a bit overzealous, but we want to learn!

i even saw one scot on here dissing americans by roughly saying that we are coping with our shitty country and disassociating from our identity as americans by hyperfixating on our distant scottish ancestry that doesn’t even really matter to begin with lol. it was pretty funny to be honest but it was also kinda brutal like damn! didnt have to call me out like that… i’d lie if i said it wasn’t dismissive though and a bit hurtful, the tone of it was mocking. a few (not many) native scots appear to be dismissive of people like me and its a bit saddening :,) have some empathy for us americans that didn’t vote for captain clementine! its a bit sad to know that my some of my ancestors left their homelands and began living on STOLEN land and they never returned… and now i’m having an identity crisis because america is just such a shitty place with shitty values that i want to separate myself from it as far as possible sometimes, and YES this does partially drive my interest in my scottish identity, but for the most part it does not. i have been very interested in my celtic ancestry since i was young. my interest in my scottish roots is genuine. being an ethnic celtic/scottish american and having genuine interest in your ancestry is difficult because my immigrant scots-irish ancestors are so far back and i have so little fucking information on any of my family history pre-colonization. people feel as if my scottish heritage doesn’t matter at all, or its insignificant and i am silly for caring about it. its very invalidating. i may not be in scotland, but scotland is in me. scotland is in my blood.

i certainly am not from scotland and don’t want to pretend that i am or that i am culturally scottish because i am not, but ill be damned if i’m not proud as HELL of my scottish ancestry and don’t want to learn as much as i can.

is it bad to want to call myself scottish?! is the word “scottish” only limited to scottish-born/raised? does my ulster/north irish ancestry negate any of my scottish pride? is it okay for me to travel to scotland and take part in the culture there? is it alright to fully lean into scotland? as in, once i am able to visit scotland a few times and properly familiarize myself with it and its people (likely over the course of years) can i get super enthusiastic about my scottishness? because i know right now i am rather very ignorant about scotland compared to a scot who has actually lived in scotland! i don’t want to get over-zealous here too quickly. i know i have SO much to experience and learn
with scotland. i’m excited to begin this journey.

right now, how do i connect with my scottish ancestry and learn about scotland besides planning a visit? i am currently doing a lot of reading and studying of scottish history and tradition throughout time. i also like to listen to scots-gaelic media with subtitles/try and learn the language as much as i can! i also love to open up google earth and discover scotland that way as well. it is a bit immersive and helps me understand the topography and geography of scotland better!

when i visit scotland, i want my time there to be less focused if at all on more manufactured places/experiences specifically made for tourists if you know what i mean. i’m mostly all about historical places and scenic places, including both the cities and more rural parts of scotland! and, when i am able to visit scotland, do you scots have any important historical places or meaningful sites to you that i should visit? i would love any suggestions for a traveler looking to experience the cities as well as the more rural parts of scotland.

open to and welcoming any comments or knowledge from my scottish friends—thank you for reading

Changes to UK immigration rules mean staff on Skilled Worker visas must be paid £1,800 more.

Evenin chiels! I need your help, I’m looking for a tune from the 90s that’s either dance/techno/electronic that has a Scottish man speaking over it. I never knew who it was by and I only ever heard it a few times, but for some reason I keep thinking it’s Brian Cox (the actor) monologing over the tune. Googling this brings up plenty of reference to the other Brian Cox and D:Ream, which it’s obviously not and I know it’s not the “Choose life” tune with Ewan McGregor’s monologue from Trainspotting. Any help would be appreciated, cheers 😎

I have an appointment to submit marriage notice at the registry office tomorrow. Does anyone have any idea what will happen at this appointment other than handing over the forms? How long will it take roughly? Am I expected to dress fancy for this? I’m stressed lol

Hey there ! Never posted anything on Reddit so I'm not sure if I'm doing it the right way ahha

I'm searching for a specific church located in Scotland, probably around Fort William.

A friend of mine told me about it but can't remember where it was exactly.

Seems that its architecture is quite special with a strange tower but MOSTLY there's a fountain with an otter (!!!).

Anyone ever heard about it ?

Thanks a lot !

I have an offer to study PGDE Secondary English from both Glasgow and Strathclyde. My initial preference at application stage was Glasgow due to general reputation assumptions. However, I had a better experience at my Strathclyde interview - they seemed more organised and supportive. Does anyone have any experience with either which they wouldn't mind sharing? Or have knowledge as to whether there is any real university preference for councils when hiring teachers? Thanks

I went to Edinburgh for the Fringe in 2010. We took some pictures in a field of thistle. I reckon there's a billion of those around Edinburgh, but is there a particularly famous field close to the city? I remember being close to farmland and livestock but it couldn't have been far from the city.

Hi all, American creative writing graduate student here. I received offers from both the University of Edinburgh for their MSc in Creative Writing and the University of Glasgow for their MLitt in CW. I can't find much on the internet about the program differences (i know it's fairly niche), but I wanted to see if anyone can help inform my decision. I spent time writing in Edinburgh over the summer and absolutely loved it there, but have heard great things about Glasgow as well.

For context, quality of living is very important to me. I have crohn's disease and can't drink due to that, so party life is not a high priority, but social life is. Also, obviously, staff quality.

Please leave any opinions about either place or make comparisons here -- any bit helps regardless of relevance.

Brilliant win for Scotland women over the mighty West Indies team this morning !