Edinburgh

How long have you lived there?

4 years

What activities, clubs and organizations would you recommend to newcomers to help them meet others?

There's the American Women's Club, but generally you meet people through work/volunteering or if you're a mom, at the gym or creche (day care).

In terms of religious, racial, economic and cultural diversity, are the people of this city or town diverse? Are they accepting of differences? Describe.

Edinburgh is a truly cosmopolitan town. Although English is the common language, you will also hear Urdu or Hindi along with a host of European languages from travellers.

What are the main industries in this city? What types of career opportunities commonly exist? How do most people find new jobs?

The main and fastest growing industry here is Finance & Banking. With Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Halifax/Bank of Scotland (HBOS) based here, quite a few British people move up from London for a better life balance.

That being said, the property market has ballooned up here and is still strong now, even when London is starting to dip. It can be very difficult to buy a property at the moment.

Most people find jobs through the newspaper Scotland on Sunday (scotsman.com); s1jobs.com, or monster.co.uk.

If a friend of yours was thinking of moving to this city or town from far away, what other advice would you give them.

I always describe Edinburgh as: As Boston is to New York, so is Edinburgh to London. In other words, Edinburgh is London's smaller, more genteel cousin. Most Americans would call it quaint. It's a compact city and you can walk almost anywhere.

For Americans, the UK can be quite expensive. This can be exaggerated in Scotland, as they tend to pay about 10 - 15% less in salaries than in London.