An Exciting Weekend

Hello friends and family!

The past couple of weeks have passed, and St Andrews is now on the homeward stretch. After turning in my final Pirates essay, the final events of the end of term are in full swing. We had a wonderful time at the Byre listening to jazz, and that weekend we danced till we couldn't move at the CU Ball. It was so much fun going for dinner, a time of worship, and ending the evening with a Ceilidh and a Bop (DJ). We also went for a pre-May Dip on Monday morning, and though the water was freezing, the sun was shining, so it was a warm walk back to hall. St Andrews really gets into the final weeks of the term, with so many things going on. The biggest event of this month is May Dip. On the first of May, at dawn, the students head down to Castle Sands to take a plunge into the freezing water. It is a whole night ordeal for most people, with students out the entire night getting extremely drunk and going to parties. Hailey and my alternative was to go to Tesco and get an Apple pie and some ice cream. We baked with a couple friends of our, hung out and watched Sandlot, and then at 3:45 this morning, we headed out for Castle Sands. Market Street had never been more deserted. Not a soul was there. And then we hit North Street, and a mass of students suddenly appeared. For those who don't know, Castle Sands is the smallest of the three beaches in St Andrews, no more than a cove, and yet every year without fail, 3,000 students make their way down to the beach, herded like sheep by the police down the steep steps to the beach for a dive into the freezing ocean just as the sun rises. After experiencing this, I am impressed at any person who can be completely wasted and still make it down the steps, dive in the water, and back up without getting killed. I was surprised we made it out alive! The experience was worth it for us, though; we couldn't leave University without having experienced May Dip. Yes, it's true many choose to do it in the nude, and we were very grateful for the darkness that still hung around. We stood next to the bonfires around the beach for a few minutes before fighting our way back to the top of the cliff and walking back to hall. We showered and fell into bed. At 8:30 we woke up got some breakfast, and went back to bed. The same thing happened at 12:30 for lunch, but before we could get a decent amount of sleep, the Garden Party started earlier than it was supposed to, so we were woken up to very loud music, and an interesting text message from a friend of mine.

Prince William is at this wedding! Of course, my first thought was, Kim, what are you doing at a wedding here? But she sings in the Sallie's choir, and a friend of William was getting married. We weren't sure if this was true or not, but we had to walk into town to check it out. We went and got something from Northpoint, then went to the quad and saw the wedding party taking pictures. We sat on one of the benches and kept our eyes peeled. At first we were a bit distracted by all the crazy hats, but then Katelyn said, 'I think that's him, cuz that's Kate Middleton.' We all looked across the quad and lo and behold, there he was. Prince William and Kate Middleton. I was impressed we remained so calm the entire time. When we finally left the quad we saw tons of people milling across the street waiting for a glimpse. Lucky us, we got a front row seat.

After our amazing luck at seeing William, we walked back to hall to hang at the Garden Party. Tonight there are fireworks at 10, which we'll watch from the party, and tomorrow we are planning on going to the charity Polo Match at the Manor just outside of town. Who knows? Maybe Prince William will make another appearance... :)

Until another exciting entry...let the countdown begin!
Cheers!