Scotland and Snow

You would think that people living at this latitude would expect some wintery weather, no?  After all, Britain got a record amount of snow last year, and there are ski resorts in Scotland, for goodness sake.  So, two weeks ago, when the snow started, I had no idea what we were in for.

First of all, St. Andrews never got more than six inches and it never lasted more than 48 hours.  Lectures were canceled for a week.  I've never had so many snow days in my life, Millcreek should take lessons.  Apparently, it was much worse inland.  People got stuck in Dundee (six miles away) for days and it took ages for people to get back from Glasgow.  Even this week, people were telecommuting to lectures from Edinburgh...   roads were closed, bus companies shut down, even the train wasn't running north of Edinburgh.  The only plows I saw were mini ones on the sidewalks and they kept trying to run me over.  Apparently a big emergency shipment of salt is arriving from Peru.  Isn't that wonderful?!

In other news, I cooked a turkey the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I've been working on my final project of the semester.  And I am going to the German Christmas market in Edinburgh this weekend.  I will be home in less than a week and I could not be more excited to get a tree and start making cookies... and nap with the cat.

trick question

Question:  How many lattes and chocolate digestives does Sarah have to consume to produce a respectable research project/essay?

Answer: Infinite



Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and lots of turkey and sweet potatoes :)

Raisins

Last weekend was Raisin Weekend at St. Andrews.  It stems from very old traditions, with which I am unfamiliar, and today takes the form of parties, scavenger hunts and a foam fight.  The basis is for first years to be 'adopted' by academic parents.  Since I'm a postgrad, I was adopted, along with two other sisters, by two PhD students who were here last year. 

Festivities started Sunday with a scavenger hunt designed by my academic father to send us running all over town for silly photos and to find random things like green socks and beer mats.  Here we are getting back from the scavenger hunt:

My 'family' threw a Raisin Party for us on Sunday night.  Monday morning we were woken up rather too early, for breakfast and a foam fight.  To go to the foam fight, academic children have to dress up in a costume chosen by their mother and carry a raisin receipt chosen by their father.  That's why I as walking through town Monday morning dressed as a raspberry and carrying a trash bag of water.

But the foam fight was totally worth it:

In case you can't tell, I'm the tall one in the back middle :)

I'm gonna write you a letter, gonna write you a book...

It's Reading Week at St. Andrews right now, which means that the smarties stay in the library, catch up on work and write their essays, and I take off on holiday to Amsterdam!  My housemate, Molly (she's from Sudbury, how funny is that?), and I took off on Friday and arrived back in Scotland on Wednesday afternoon.  Four full days of canals, bikes, markets, museums and apple pie!!!  The city  was cold and blustery and lovely and looked like a fairy tale. 

I originally had all kinds of plans to go to Utrecht for a few days, maybe over to Bruge or the Hague.  In the end there was so much to do and see in Amsterdam that we stayed there the whole time, with one brief trip to Haarlem.  

I went to the Van Gogh Museum, saw the Anne Frank House, the Flower Market, the Photography Museum, strolled Vondelpark, ate fries with mayo and walked half the city with lots of breaks for coffee.  So much fun!

More photos will follow, probably on facebook.  And now it's back to work....

Hope you are well!

Hugs,

Sarah

Happy Halloween

As you can see, the Halloween house party was a success.  We had four foot tall speakers, disco lights, and quite the clean-up project, but it was really fun and completely worth it.  Everyone got very into the costumes: we had three priests, two santas, and one sumo wrestler, as well as assorted witches, zombies and drag queens.  (I was a ladybug, though you can't tell in the photos)  My house is already in planning for the next party.  woohoo!

Hope you had a great Halloween, complete with jack-o-lanterns and lots of sugar!

Glasgow, Dundee and Dunfermline

Hello. 

Another busy weekend, during which I did no schoolwork.  The shift back to being a student is very strange.  Writing a paper seems like a massive challenge, I'm hoping that improves before I start my thesis.  I've also discovered that as much as I like what I'm studying, there is very little chance that I will be inspired to work on a weekend or past 10pm.  All of this means that today is devoted to laundry and paper-writing, with only one or two breaks for tea... and updating here, too, I suppose.

On Friday, I went to Glasgow to meet with a photographer.  I'm working on an exhibition that will go up in March.  St.Andrews Chemistry Dept has commissioned Mark Neville to create 10-20 works.  My exhibition group (4 people for my course) gets to help create, process and display the photos!!!  We went to Glasgow on Friday to tour Mark's studio, which ended up being us hanging around his apartment having tea and watching slide shows of his work.  I'm very excited about the project and Glasgow looks like it's worth a weekend trip, too.

On Saturday, I went to the Dundee Contemporary Arts Center to see The Town.  The accents made me homesick for Boston.  It was amazing to sit in the theater in Dundee and watch a movie filmed in Harvard Square and right on Charter street!

Yesterday, I went to Dunfermline, a larger town in Fife, about an hour from St.Andrews, to see abbey ruins and the cathedral where King Robert the Bruce is buried.

Here is the abbey:

And here is the cathedral, I loved the tower!

Hope you are all doing well!

Hugs,
Sarah

Castles and Cathedrals and Loch Katrine

After hiking a full eight hours on Saturday, I got up bright and early Sunday to tour around the area.  We visited this cathedral, but couldn't go inside because of the services.  Fortunately, we also went for coffee in the very charming town.

Next stop was Loch Katrine for a picnic lunch:

Katrine, your namesake is very beautiful.

After turkey sandwiches and lots of cookies, we were off to Doune Castle.

Does it look familiar?  It's the castle used by the French knights in Monty Python, (you silly English k-niget).

And, that was the epic weekend.  I slept 10 hours last night and probably need another 10 tonight, but it was a lot of fun!

Hope you are doing well!  I would love to hear from you and am often on skype.

Take care,
Sarah

Fife Coastal Path

I had a really productive week.  I started my work placement at the University of Dundee's Art Collections, began writing my first essay in three years, and only watched a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother.  I also planned to walk the coast to the next village, Crail, which is about 12 miles away.

We left around 10:00 on Saturday from St. Andrews.  Here we are at the start, nice and happy and totally unaware of what is ahead of us: 

 

 

The walk was absolutely stunning and lots of fun.  Unfortunately, we were held up by the tides and the Dunhill Classic Golf tournament (you can't walk past people who are putting, can you believe it?) and reached Crail a full 8 hours later!  We were tired and hungry, but quite pleased with our persistence.  

Here are some more views from the hike:

*See Dad, Scottish cows :)

Edinburgh

I went to Edinburgh last Sunday.  It's really nice that it's close enough for day trips, 1.5 hours by train, 2+ by bus.  I went with a classmate and we met up with a friend of hers to walk around the city a bit.  In the evening, we met up with some other people in my course for dinner. 

It was really nice to get out of St. Andrews for a bit.  Here, everyone is either a student or a golfer, it was nice to be somewhere a little more diverse.  Also, since I'd visited Katrine a few years ago, Edinburgh was pleasantly familiar.  I walked past our designated Easter Church, went to Cafe Nero and Top Shop and ate lunch in the gardens by Prince's Street. 

Here are a few scenic views:

Weekend Update

Yes, I'm already behind with blogging....

Last Saturday, I stayed around St. Andrews for the farmer's market and the polo match.  (that's right, polo)  The farmer's market was great, lots of local meat, cheese and root vegetables.  I might get a farm share in the spring. But by far the coolest thing at the market, even better than the handmade soaps, was this:   

 

Have you ever seen so much smoked fish???  I didn't buy any.  To be honest, I was a little intimidated by the idea of taking home a whole fish, but it smelled pretty amazing.

In the afternoon, I went to see the polo match.  I was very ready for lots of tweed and I was very hopeful for ridiculously large and frilly hats.  Sadly there were none, university level polo is not much of a spectacle.  There's not much action and it's somewhat difficult to follow for those of us who don't know the rules.  But it was lovely to sit on a sunny beach and watch the horses.  Maybe Jeff can tell what kind they are :)

Week One

It's been quite a week, unpacking and acclimating to life here. Generally, it hasn't been difficult to adjust to Scotland.  Most of the time everything is very familiar, but strange things trip me up. For instance, they only recycle glass, pedestrians do not have the right of way, and it was surprisingly difficult to figure out how to work the faucet in the shower.

This past week, I  joined the Photography Society, as well as the Whiskey Society.  It's important to be well rounded in one's extracurriculars, right?  I also went to what felt like a hundred introductory meetings, bought a lamp for my room, found my way in the library and drank an unusual amount of tea. 

My classes started on Tuesday.  We met from 10:00-1pm.  At noon, we stopped for a drink.  I expected coffee, however, the professors meant wine.  Oh, culture shock!  Aside from the drinking, it looks like it will be a very busy two semesters.  I have to procure an internship for the next 6 months, get an exhibition on the walls by March, and still do the normal assignments and write a dissertation.  Actually, most everything sounds like it will be fun, but I know that my free time now is the calm before the storm.  There are 18 other people in my program, and surprisingly for St. Andrews, the majority are Scottish. 

It was beautiful and sunny this afternoon, so I ditched my reading for a walk with some of my housemates.  Along the way, I took loads of photos so that I could show off my lovely environs.

This is my house, or at least part of it...

Here is my walk to class....  (there are MORE ruins, Aimee!)

And this is the Museum of St. Andrews, where my classes are held:

From the front, the building is less than impressive.  But look at the view from the back:

Today, I walked along that beach, West Sands.

Uncle Bob, the beach is  right by the Old Course.  Everyone is getting ready for some big celebrity golf tournament.  There are tents up everywhere.  At some point I will get better photos of the Course.  Also, there is putt-putt nearby, I think that's my kind of golf.

So many pictures, but by now you've seen half of this little town.

My big plans this weekend include the local farmers market and a day trip to Edinburgh, so look out for more photos soon!

I miss you all so much, I'm already looking for plane tickets for Christmas/NewYears.

Cheers,
Sarah

Hello from St. Andrews

I arrived  in St. Andrews yesterday to find it as promised; charming, chilly and drizzling.  My house at 14 South Street is in the center of a small maze that is the village.  I have a cozy room on the second floor.  It looks out over one of the main streets and across to other pleasantly weathered stone buildings.  The location is really convenient and central, but was less than lovely at 7am when a parade of huge loud trucks drove by carrying bales of hay.

I spent the first day here moving in and trying to shake my jet-lag.  I successfully located the grocery store and hardware store.  My first trip to the store included tea, chocolate digestives and savanna's.  My housemates are lovely, and while the house is somewhat dorm-like, people seem very friendly and communal.  I was surprised to find that I'm the only American in the house so far, three people have yet to move in.

The rainclouds rolled away for a bit yesterday and I took a walk down my street to the old cathedral ruins and to the smaller of the two beaches in St. Andrews. 

So incredible, it doesn't look real, does it?  I didn't go inside, but I can't wait to explore.  And Jeff, here's a lobster boat for you!

Today I walked down to the larger beach with a couple of the people living in my house.  It was gorgeous and stormy and sadly, I didn't bring a camera. The town is really lovely and I promise photos of that, too!

My address here is:  14 SOUTH ST/3 St Andrews, Fife KY16 9QU, Scotland
And my UK cell is:  07583 921687

I hope a blog isn't too impersonal, but it seemed like a good way to share photos and such.  I'll definitely be emailing, too!  Miss you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Hugs,
Sarah