Orientation and Old Friends

Hello again!
The past few days have been a mix of business and fun. Thursday morning, we began our first day of orientation at 10 am in Buchanan Hall, where we met the International Representative, Wendy, who welcomed all of us with an orientation to safety and rules in St. Andrews followed by options to travel around while we were here for very decent prices. After a quick break for lunch, we took a tour of the library to get acquainted with book loans, and then went back to Buchanan for another intro lecture on studying and living in St. Andrews. While studying is definitely the first priority around here, they do want you to get out and have a good time, which we fully intend to do. After a wine reception where we met some of the professors we might be having, I went back to Uni Hall and had a rather nice dinner actually. I sat with a JYA student (Junior Year Abroad) and a first year medical student who were very nice to chat with for a while. We talked about places to visit and such, and after that, the night was free. I went back to my room to do some business before finalizing matriculation the following day. After a movie and some reading, it was off to bed.

Friday morning, I missed breakfast (again). It was rainy and grim, and of course it would be the day I would be out walking around a lot. Finalizing my modules went fairly smoothly. As of right now, I am taking Pirates and Privateers in Early Modern Scottish History (so excited!) and Creative Writing II. This could possibly change within the next few weeks, but as of right now, that is what my schedule is looking like. These classes also allow me a great amount of free time, so I will be looking into getting a part time job with some of my friends. After completing matriculation, it was off to Younger Hall to turn in medical forms, scan passports, and pick up student ID cards. This also went fairly smoothly, except I had to exchange some details with student finance, but they were very nice and accommodating about it. Once Matriculation was done, we had the whole afternoon ahead of us before the Ceilidh. Kate and I went to Costa's and got something sweet and a hot drink, brought our books with us, and sat at the window watching the people walk by and the misty rain falling steadily into the cobblestone streets. Costa also has a point card that we took full advantage of to get a free coffee from time to time.

The Ceilidh was definitely the highlight of the week. We met new friends, Kimberly, Dan, and Natalie. The five of us had a good time hanging out and trying out the dances. We also all tried haggis for the first time...it tastes rather like corned beef hash. It's actually not that bad. I will remember not to judge anything too harshly until I have tasted it. We danced until midnight, then made our way back to our respective halls after a busy day. From the Flying Scotsman to the Virginia Reel, Ceilidhs are definitely my favorite dance ever!

Saturday morning began with sleeping in and then meeting Kate for a quick cup of FREE coffee (love Costa cards!) before heading over to Tesco to meet Mared! What fun that afternoon was! We just stood there for a while catching up and laughing at stories, then headed down to the beach for a walk through the mist. While we were there, we saw a horse galloping through the waves in the mist. Definitely felt my heart skip a beat seeing that. It was so out of a movie or book. When we turned around the head back to town, the fog was so thick that we couldn't even see Sallie's Chapel. Though there was only a light mist falling, we still were fairly damp walking into the Rule pub for some lunch. We warmed up and watched the Rugby game on the telly for a while, just enjoying being out of the cold for a bit and talking. Mared introduced us to Tobes, a Scottish friend of hers studying medicine who worked at one of the stores on Market Street, and he was very nice. We walked into a clothing shop just down the way after that where I got a really cute beanie for 2 pounds. After our short shopping excursion, Mared took us back to her flat (very close to the Byre Theatre) and we sat around with warm cups of hot cocoa and coffee and chatted for another couple of hours. The time got away from us, and before we knew it, it was 6:30. Kate and I headed back up to Tesco for our dinner (since we have to fend for ourselves for the dinner hour over the weekends), buying tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches and little cups of cookie dough ice cream. By the time we got back to our halls, it was too late to join up with Kimberly and Dan for a pub crawl, but there will be plenty of those going on throughout the semester. Tomorrow, we have our welcome service in Sallie's Chapel, and then term starts up on Monday!
Until next time...cheers.