A Year at St Andrews...

 I feel like I've been posting less and less lately. I suppose that's because things are getting to the point where they aren't that new and exciting anymore. On one hand that's a good thing, as it means I've settled in and adjusted to life over here, on the other hand I don't feel as inspired to write about things anymore.

The weather here has been atrociously windy this week. I almost got blown away twice. It has also been raining, well drizzling would be a better way to describe it. It has only rained heavily a couple times since I've been here. It is pointless carrying an umbrella because of the wind, I really don't need any help with getting blown away.  Most of the time when it drizzles, the sun is out as well, this means that there is plenty of opportunity to spot a rainbow. I have only seen one pretty rainbow so far, but I'm sure I will see more in time.

On Wednesday, the Cinema here had a special showing of The Dark Knight at 11pm. I had not yet seen that movie although I had heard a lot about it. From what I'd heard, I felt like it was a movie best seen on the big screen and watching it after it came out on DVD would not be as good. So, having made sure I'd completed my assignments, I set off to watch the movie with a bunch of friends. It was a small adventure getting there because we were half afraid that they would be sold out. The movie was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got back to my room at about 2 am and stayed up for a while before going to bed. The next morning, I was sleepy and tired through my 9 am lecture. After the lecture, I went straight back to my room and took a nap.

Friday was a fun night as well. I really did not intend to go out, but I found a bunch of people who were, and so I figured I might as well. We pre-gamed in one of the girls' rooms and headed to the Bop at 11. The theme was "school disco". Boys came dressed in school shirts and ties that were tied loosely around open collars. One of my friends, a guy, had straightened his collar length black hair and looked so much like a young Severus Snape in his outfit. Most girls wore short pleated skirts and shirts and loosely tied ties as well. A lot of girls did their hair up in two ponytails. Obviously, it's not the kind of stuff you'd wear to school, it's more the kind of thing you would wear if you were a rebel and would get into trouble for. But we're in Uni now, so we can do whatever we want, which I think is the spirit of the Bop.

Yesterday,  one of my friends threw a small dinner party. She had found a recipe for Pumpkin Risotto and was eager to cook it. She invited a few friends and held the event in our lovely common room. We dressed up for the party and had a great time with the food and wine. I went to bed fairly early for a Saturday night, but it was only because wine makes me terribly sleepy. I even forgot that the time  had "fallen back" in the night and I went down to breakfast an hour early this morning. I didn't figure it out until I had a conversation with another girl in the computer room (where I was waiting for the dining hall to open) and reminded me.

So, that was my week. Like I said, not terribly interesting any more. Next weekend is Halloween however, so I may have spoken too soon. We shall see...

This week has been an interesting one. I'll start off from last weekend.

Last weekend was lovely. On Saturday we had a bunch of Uni Hall Alumni visiting us. The Uni Hall Choir (of which I am a part of) and Uni Hall Ensemble put up a cabaret for the Alumni in the evening. We also got the privilege of being able to talk and mingle with the Alumni over drinks in the afternoon. It was fun to talk to them. Most of them were women, as Uni Hall was built (in 1896) as a female student residence hall, the first one in Scotland and remained a women's hall for a long time. Now, however, it is mixed.  They told us tales of what Hall was like when it was women only, how they were only allowed to have male visitors in their rooms during the early evening and sometimes had to be chaperoned as well. All these rules were strictly enforced by the wardens. It was nice to hear these women talk about what they did when they were young and lived in hall and interesting to think that they once occupied the rooms we're now using.
Later that evening I went over to a birthday party. One of the other EAPers celebrated her birthday with a movie night. We had to go outside to light the candles on her birthday cake for her to blow out, in order to avoid setting off the fire alarms. It was the first time since being in St Andrews that all seven of us on EAP were together. Later, we watched the old version of The Producers and it was all in all a good night.
On Sunday, we had our Uni Hall photograph. We all wore black and white, and those of us who had them, wore the red gowns as well. It was cool to see the flocks of students going around town in their gowns. Makes me wonder what it was like when students were required to wear them all the time. Sunday evening, My academic Mum and her flatmates and all their children had dinner together at Zizzi's and Italian restaurant. I ordered pizza and would have not done that had I known how hard it was to cut a pizza with a fork and knife. After dinner we all went back to their flat for some Sangria that my mum had made.  Oh, and this means I also have a picture of my academic family from my mum's side. We're a lot smaller than my dad's family, but still awesome.
Here:

The girl in the white is my academic mum, and weirdly enough, she's a few months younger than me.

So, that was last weekend-- fun, magical, delightful. Then came Monday, and Monday sucked. I really won't go into the details here, but lets just say that I was upset and it ruined my mood for the first half of the week. And the rest of the week didnt really get better. It was all a bunch of small, seemingly meaningless incidents coming together in unfortunate ways and I felt like fate was conspiring against me. But at last, Friday arrived, and I decided that it was the right time to party. We had our first free vodka bar of the year (barring the freshers week events) and it was lovely. The theme was "Plastic Fantastic" and we had to make fancy dress outfits out of plastic. I have to say that the guys were a lot more creative than the girls in the whole, because most girls resorted to black bin bag dresses. Of course that wasn't all bad, as a group of girls from Wardlaw created the most amazing black and yellow dresses, that looked like designer prom dresses.  I made my dress an hour before the event out of a blue and white shower curtain.  After the vodka bar in hall we all made our way to teh Union and the Bop. We had quite a lot of fun over there before we decided to call it a night.

So the past few days really have been a roller coaster, and I guess I have to take it as it comes. I have no doubt that I will be upset again at some point through the year, but I also have no doubt that I will have some amazingly magical moments as well.

I figure I should tell you all something about where I'm staying, i.e. my dorm or hall as its called here.

I live in University Hall, and as I've said before is the best hall out here. I also happen to live in the coolest wing of the hall as well. The building is called Wardlaw and it is a mini castle. It's quite old (both inside and out), but is young compared to most buildings in St Andrews.

My room is on the top floor of the building and it has turrets on the sides. I also have two windows, which is amazing, since I get lots of light because of it.

My windows have lovely views. One of them has an amazing view of the golf course, and the north sea, which is absolutely fantastic. The first thing I see when I wake up every morning is the sea. The other window looks out on to some trees, a few old houses and the path below that leads up to the front door.

I absolutely love my room!

Pictures are here.

If you want my address, email me and ask. I'll send it to you.

I would totally appreciate receiving some mail! And if you want me to send you some, email me your address as well.

OK, I know that title sounds completely crazy. But, let me explain.

St Andrews has a tradition, where older students 'adopt' younger students and help them settle into university life. It's like your own little family at university. On Raisin Weekend some interesting stuff happens regarding these academic families and I will elaborate on that at a later date. (It involves alcohol and foam.)

So, I have an academic mum and an academic dad. I was adopted before the end of the first week itself. I was sure it would take longer. I met both parents during freshers week events.
We've since had "family" outings and I've met my siblings as well. I have seven siblings on my dad's side (four brothers, three sisters) and only one on my mum's side, but she might adopt more kids.
My 'dad' arranged a pub crawl for his kids last Thursday, and we went around town and got to know each other.  My dad is from northern Ireland and he spent this past summer teaching orphan kids in India. It's cool because he learned a bit of Hindi and randomly says things in Hindi to me, albeit with a northern Irish accent.
On Sunday afternoon I had coffee with 'mum' and sister. That was really nice as well. My mum is from northern California and she was really excited to adopt me. It will  be really nice to be able to see her when I'm in California as well.  My sister Isabel is English and she plays the piano. She's a fresher and is really nice.

It's a cool feeling, having an academic family.  Here's a picture of my family on my dad's side:

Oh, and if you're wondering, the guy in the middle of the picture (grey jacket) is my dad.

This past weekend, A horde of celebrities were in St Andrews for a golf tournament. The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, pairs amateur celebrity golfers with pros as they compete for the cup. The celebrities included Hugh Grant and Samuel L Jackson who were probably the most talked about/sought after of the lot. There were quite a few more, a number of cricketers included.
I was hoping to see the two mentioned above, but unfortunately, I had bad timing. I did however see a bunch of golfing cricketers, Shane Warne, Ian Botham and Shaun Pollock included. I also saw Ronan Keating (he's one of the guys from Boyzone, and a singer in his own right as well). There were a lot more celebs, but of course I had other stuff to do on the weekend as well ;-)
 
On Saturday I went down to the beach with a few friends. We walked along the beach for a bit and then we decided to film some videos. One of the videos, is of me, and I'm sure you will find it quite amusing. So, here it is:

The first week of classes has come and gone.  It took me a while a find a couple  of my lecture rooms, but I found them in time and wasn't late to any of my classes. There are a lot of differences in the way things are taught over here. Not that I didn't expect things to be different, I did, it's just that now, I'm a bit worried that I might not be able to cope. We have major essays to write and actual researching to do. A small voice inside me keeps saying that I should have stayed in Davis where everything is familiar and therefore easier.

Our scheduling is quite interesting as well. They tell us our lab times after we've signed up for the classes and in some classes we have to sign up for the different lab times after that. The responsibility of making sure our lab times don't clash is on us.

All that being said, once I get a grip on the system, I really want to do well. My aim is to get on the Deans List, or well, to at least get First Class marks. I am taking all biology classes after all. I don't expect it to be easy, but I'm going to try my best.