I moved to Glasgow from Las Vegas – here are the biggest culture shocks I’ve faced, from VERY strict alcohol measurements in pubs to hard-to-pronounce words

• Lua Rodriguez Murphy moved to Glasgow after falling for a Scotsman 
• The NHS worker shares her takes on Scottish life with her 30,000 TikTok fans 
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Their official language is the same, but America and Scotland can seem worlds apart.

A point former Las Vegas resident Lua Rodriguez Murphy highlights in fascinating and often hilarious TikTok videos.

The Californian-born 33-year-old moved to Glasgow after meeting her now-husband Kevin, a Scot who visited the hotel she worked at in Las Vegas.

Going by the TikTok username ‘luluowl’, Lua has amassed quite the following sharing her candid takes on Scottish life, amassing nearly 30,000 TikTok followers.

We spoke to her in June about how free healthcare and bagging your own groceries proved to be big culture shocks for her in Scotland. Since then she’s posted several more TikToks documenting how Scottish life can sometimes leave her feeling baffled.

Lua Rodriguez Murphy moved from Las Vegas to Glasgow, revealing the biggest ‘culture shocks’ she’s faced since the move in a series of TikTok videos 

In one video, Lua reveals how she has noticed a huge difference in the food and drink offered in Scotland and the U.S.

When she lived in the U.S party capital, Lua became accustomed to ‘free pours’ and ‘free shots’ on a night out, but she says that Glaswegians are notoriously strict with their measures and that the first time she went to a bar in the city, they measured her drink ‘to a tee’.

In addition, she says she has noticed the absence of a ‘happy hour’ offering at bars and clubs, explaining: ‘I’m not sure if it exists, but I’ve never seen it and I’ve been here for quite some time now.’ 

Lua reveals how she has noticed a huge difference in the food and drink offered in Scotland and the U.S

Lua decided to make the near 5,000-mile (8,000km) trip from Las Vegas to Glasgow after she met her now-husband Kevin, a Scot who visited the hotel she worked at in Las Vegas. She left her career in hospitality behind in the U.S and now works for the NHS

NHS worker Lua also describes the sugar tax, or the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), implemented across the UK in 2018 in a bid to reduce obesity, as a ‘culture shock’.

When taking her three-year-old son to America, the TikToker says he was ‘hooked’ on the noticeably sweeter Capri-Sun juice cartons.

Although Lua has had to get used to pricier (and less sugary) drinks, she describes the quality of food in Glasgow as ‘so much better’. 

Pictured left is Lua visiting Kelvingrove Art Museum in Glasgow for the first time. Lua admits she has noticed the absence of a ‘happy hour’ offering at bars and clubs in Scotland

Lua’s candid videos have gained popularity on TikTok – she has nearly 30,000 followers and counting 

She says: ‘Food [products] back home are filled with chemicals, dyes, fillers, enhancements, preservatives, you name it, it’s probably in there. In fact, lots of food from back home is actually illegal or heavily restricted here in the UK.’

While Lua has taken the move in her stride, she admitted that a few small things have tripped her up – such as the pronunciation of Scottish words.

In one TikTok video, she warned her followers that the correct way to pronounce Edinburgh is not ‘Edinburggg’- a common mistake among her fellow Americans. (It’s ‘ED-in-bruh’ or ‘ED-in-bur-uh’.)

She also revealed that she could not pronounce the Scottish name ‘Hamish’ [‘Hay + mish’], admitting she used to pronounce it as ‘Ham-eesh’.

Mother-of-three Lua at the scenic ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ lookout in Arrochar in the Scottish Highlands 

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Lua also finds that Scottish people frequently end sentences with the phrase ‘so I am’. She comments: ‘It’s so cute!’

Certain Scottish phrases, she’s noticed, are seasonal. Lua says that during the summertime, ‘you’ll always hear someone say “it’s roastin”‘.

Other summertime habits she’s picked up on? Locals get into the habit of ‘doing back-to-back loads of laundry to take advantage of the sun to hang out [their] clothes’. On top of that, ‘without a doubt, someone, somewhere will have their top off, absorbing that vitamin D’, she says.

And even though Scotland doesn’t enjoy the same climate as Las Vegas, there’s lots to love about a Scottish summer, she says. ‘It stays light out so late. You could take a walk at 9pm, 10pm and it will still be really light for you to enjoy your walk,’ she comments.

In one final video, titled ‘Things I love about living in Scotland’, mum-of-three Lua says she loves bagpipes, remarking: ‘Nothing excites me more about seeing a good piper.’

She even wants them played at big life events, including her children’s birthday parties, her wedding vow renewal ceremony and even her funeral.

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