No TV for a year?! Gasp!

Before I moved to Scotland I watched an embarrassingly large amount of TV. I'm not proud of that...but its true. After a stressful day at work it was such a relief to plop down on the sofa and watch a sitcom or two. Except that it was hard to get up, and more than I like to admit, the TV would stay on until I went to bed.

With TV watching being such a large part of how I spent my freetime, I was secretly a bit nervous about what I was going to do in Edinburgh for a year without TV. But lets back up a minute -- why don't I have TV here? I could; its not like TV doesn't exist in Scotland. First of all, I would have to buy a TV set which I would then have to get rid of after a year. Since things are already twice as expensive here, that was the first deterrent. Secondly, in order to legally watch TV, you have to pay the television tax, which is about $250/year. That gets you basic broadcast channels. And then if you want anything beyond those couple BBC channels, you have to pay for cable. Add this all up and you might not be so eager to get TV either.

So what do I do without TV? Well, I get probably a lot more studying done than I otherwise would. I go to coffee shops, museums, bars. I read books for fun. I play card games. I go for walks with Aaron and/or my friends. I rent movies. I keep my apartment clean (my mom probably just fell out of her chair when she read that). Its nice! I didn't think it would be this easy...or liberating. I'm not a slave to my TV anymore!

This is all not to say that I don't miss watching TV. I miss Lost, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, The Daily Show, and I fully intend on catching up on them when I move back to the states. But for now, I am happy going without.

If you're interested in lowering your TV consumption without giving up your favorite shows, there is a good article here on how to do it. Good luck!