A Year at St Andrews...

The semester is drawing to a close; this reminds me that my time in St Andrews is ending as well. And soon I shall have to return to California. This will be a bitter-sweet time, and when the time arrives I shall dwell on it more, but for now, I shall talk about what I have neglected to do so for a while.

I meant to write about these events as they happened, but for some reason I kept putting it off. Either due to lack of pictures, too much school work or just plain laziness.

The first of these is the Kate Kennedy procession. This is organized by the Kate Kennedy Club and old and esteemed males only university club. The procession is a celebration of the history of St Andrews and involves people dressed up as distinguished members that have had a connection to St Andrews. It has its roots in a procession in honour of Kate Kennedy, the niece of Bishop James Kennedy, who was welcomed into town and renowned for her beauty. Her arrival signalled the beginning of spring.

Last Thursday, I was invited to High Table. High Table is a St Andrews tradition where select students are invited to dine with the Warden, sub-Wardens and a special guest or two. In the Days gone by, High Table occurred at least once a week. Now a days it happens rarely, even less than once a month. There are other events where the residents get to meet the wardens, like the tea and biscuits receptions or the more formal wine and cheese receptions that take place throughout the year. These two are more common than high table.

For High Table, the selected students come dressed formally and in their red gowns. Before dinner there is a sherry reception where the students, guests and wardens get to mingle. The guest who was at high table this time was Miss Gemma Coughlan, an artist who created a new painting for University Hall.  All other students come to dinner as usual, but they are allowed to bring wine or beer with them if they wear their gowns. After the sherry reception, the wardens, guest(s) and selected students process into the dining hall while everybody else stands. The Warden says grace in Latin before everyone sits down. Then the meal is served to the students at High Table, by the Wardens, as a three course dinner. There is usually wine as well. Somehow even though we were eating most of the same things we've eaten at dinner before, it tasted a whole lot better at high table. After dinner, there is a wine reception for the High Table guests.

It's a lovely tradition, but it's held fewer times each year due to budget cuts and the need for all Halls to be the same. Older halls that have been around for longer tend to hold on to these traditions, but the newer ones usually don't have them. I guess I'm lucky to be in University Hall.

The weather rigth now is lovely. We've had warm sunshine for the past two days! But before that it was terrible and included fog, cold and wind.  I like that spring is here. It's so lovely to see eveyrthing bursting into life: flowers springing thought teh grass, trees with new leaves and longer days with beautiful sunsets! Too bad I can't just play oustside all the time.

My Easter Break has been going well so far. I had a 4 day retreat in the North of Scotland. It was held at this Benedictine Monks' Abbey in Pluscarden and was organised by the St Andrews Catholic Society. The place is lovely with a serene and prayerful atmosphere.

The boys got to stay in the abbey and eat with the monks. Us girls had rooms in a place about a five minute walk away from the abbey, and we got to cook our own meals. There were tons of pheasants all over the place and a few of us were eager to catch and eat them ;). Daffodils were springing up all over the fields and the sides of the roads, making everything look quite pretty.

The retreat was very helpful. I knew that I had been missing something crucial for a while and as I had suspected it turned out that I was missing God. The retreat helped me reconnect with Him and helped me to figure out what was important in my life. We went to prayers when the monks had them. We didn't have to go to each and every one during the day, but we went to most, especially to Mass and Compline. On the last day, I made it a point to get up at half four in the morning to go to Vigils and Lauds which starts at a quarter to 5 and goes on till a quarter past 6. I got a bit fidgety in the middle, but I don't regret going. Prayer is always good. :)

After that, I spent a few days in Aberdeen. The weather was quite lovely the whole time I was there and Aberdeen is a nice place as well. The beach is pretty and I saw the ships in the harbour which looked quite impressive. 

I had a long train journey back to London from Aberdeen on which a woman who sat next to me reprimanded me for being anti-social with my laptop. I tried to explain that I really only had my laptop open to keep me from getting bored and people in today's world generally don't speak to each other on trains and planes. But she got me and the guy sitting across to shut out laptops and engage in conversation. The guy turned out to be a young physics professor. Interesting. I'd like to know what your opinion is on the issue. Should people talk to each other more on public transport? Is technology making us more antisocial? Let me know in the comments.


Anyway, London is nice so far; weather has been good. I'm looking forward to Holy Week and Easter, but I half wish I was spending it in Pluscarden. The monks told us all about  their lovely Holy Week and Easter services and staying there for a while definitely put me in a more prayerful mood. I don't think the Holy Week services here will be quite as moving.

I hope you all have a Blessed Holy Week!