Shinty!

Before even coming to St Andrews, I had decided I wanted to try shinty.  I wanted to play a sport or do something to stay active, and shinty sounded new and exciting and I figured that since it seemed vaguely like field hockey, some of my ice hockey skills might be transferrable.  So, two Wednesdays ago, I headed to the "give-it-a-go" session to see what it was like.

But what is shinty, you ask?  The team's website describes it as either [field] hockey with no rules, full contact golf, or ice hockey on grass.  These are all pretty good descriptions.  Basically, everyone has a golf club sized wooden stick (caman), it has a curved-ish end, and you use it to hot a ball slightly bigger than a golf ball.  You can swing as high as you want, so it looks a bit like golf.  Except with running.  And contact.  And you try to hit it into a net, not a hole.  There are 3 attackers, 3 midfielders, 3 defenders, and a goalie.  The attackers and defenders (opposing teams) stay somewhat near their respective goals, while the midfielders run all over the place.  If you need more info, I'm sure you can find plenty by googling.

So, two Wednesdays ago, I go to the Sports Centre (AU), and learn that the pitches are all frozen, so nothing's on.  Luckily, I had met one of the girls on the team as she is friends with my housemates (and me, I suppose), and so I texted one of my housemates to text her to ask where it was.  While I was waiting outside the AU for a reply, I saw a bunch of girls carrying camans walk out of the AU.  I asked, and they led me to practice at West Sands (a beach).  It wasn't really low tide, so we didn't have much room to practice, but it was a lot of fun, and I'd like to think that I'm not half bad.

That night, there was a Disney-themed get-together.  I went as Bagheera from The Jungle Book.  At the get-together, all of the new people got their Agnes names.  (New shinty girls are called Agnes, plural Agnii.  You get an Agnes name, i.e. Agnes Mungo Jerry (that's me (think Cats, not the band)), and then, after you play in your first away game, you have an initiation night, and are given your "real" name.  The name on your birth certificate is your "heathen" name, and is not to be used.)  We had a good time.  

I have since been to two more practices.  I have also skipped two (on tuesdays at 7:30am), but I haven't been getting my Tuesday reading done in time to spend my morning at practice.  It is quite fun, and I'm looking forward to practice tomorrow.

Funny Things About Scotland

I promise to post about the past week at some point soon.  In the meantime, here is a list of things that are weird/funny/different from the US:

1.  Traffic lights - they go green, yellow, red, yellow, green.
2.  Mushy peas.  You can buy them as a frozen vegetable.
3.  They don't have bugs here! Thus, no window screens.
4.  They fry EVERYTHING.  A friend ordered a burger yesterday, and it was battered and deep fried.
5.  Almost all the deodorant is spray on, not stick.
6.  Eggs aren't refrigerated at the grocery store.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'll update it at some point.

Classes Begin

Monday was the first day of classes, but I had no classes on Monday.  So, Tuesday.  Tuesday morning, I had Courtly Literature in Middle English, from 11-12, and Self and Society in the Victorian Novel from 2-3.  Courtly Lit was absolutely fantastic, at least for a first day.  The professor seemed really excited.  Also, I do really like courtly lit.  Afterwards, I took the coastal path back to Albany Park for lunch before returning for Victorian lit.

Some views from the walk.

The reading list for Victorian lit was a bit heavy, so I was a little intimidated, but also really excited.  So it was a major disappointment when the professor turned out to be an incredibly dry lecturer, and perhaps a little pompous as well ("Well, I've read 400-500 Victorian novels, but you couldn't call me an expert, since 50,000 novels were published in that period").  So afterward, I looked into getting into a new module.  As of yesterday, I am in a history module entitled, "The Victorians: Religion and Respectability."  It has a lot of reading, but will hopefully be more fun.  It meets on Mondays, from 2-4, but I no longer have class of Friday, so I've retained my three day weekend.

A note on the library.  It's kind of aggravating.  Though St Andrews is a bigger school than MHC, the library seems much smaller.  Also uglier.  Also, you need to scan the barcode on your ID card to get in and out.  It's very difficult to get it to scan.  I think it's a new feature, and I have a feeling it won't be long-lived.  Also, there are VERY VERY few children's books.  It's a shame.  And not enough armchairs.  But, it's perfectly usable.  So it's ok.

Super Bowl (LIVE!)

Though I usually don't care about football, a bunch of people were going to the Union on Sunday night to watch the Superbowl, which they were showing (live) on the big screen, and for which they had gotten a special permit to be open until 4am.  I have been to very, very few Superbowl parties in my life (1, maybe), and don't even always watch it, so I figured it would be fun to watch with other people.  When Dasha and I got to the Union, it was incredibly crowded.  You had to pick whether to watch in the main bar or venue 1, so we chose the main bar, under the assumption that other friends were there.  We had arrived about 15 minutes after the game started, and couldn't find seats anywhere.  We finally found friends, but they, in a show of total un-American-ness, had chosen a table with no view of a tv screen.  Dasha and I went in search of other seating (and the bar.  side note: i am apparently too short to get served when it's crowded), and ended up standing pretty close to the big screen.  We did eventually get seats, after much moving around, really close, and with no obstructions, but behind the small contingent of Patriots fans.  We got SO into the game, screaming and woo-ing after every Giants first down.  I have NEVER been so invested in ANY sporting event before.  I think it was probably the atmosphere.  It was fantastic.  I was also more awake than I've ever been at 3am.

Ceilidh

Friday morning was spent going through advising and finishing matriculation.  My appointment was at 9:30, so I left at 9 with a vague notion of where I was going.  Of course, vague notions do not usually end up taking you to the right place, so I got a little lost, and it was a little farther away than I thought.  But, I still managed to get there at 9:40.  First, I was sent to get my matric card (ID), and then I had to wait with other English students for the English advisor.  While waiting, I heard many IR students say that they hadn't gotten into the courses they wanted, but I had no problem getting into Self and Society in Victorian Literature, and Courtly Literature in Middle English.  Looking at the reading lists, they are a little daunting (Bleak House AND Middlemarch in one semester - good thing I've read Bleak House), but I will hopefully have plenty of time to complete my readings.  After I got through with matriculation, I went back to Albany for lunch.  Then it was back out again at 2:30 for a library tour.  For such a beautiful university, the library leaves much to be desired.  But it will do for getting the books I need for class.  Then I went to Argos, where you can look through a giant catalogue, pick out what you want, tell the number to the cashier, and they will retrieve it from the giant warehouse behind the store.  I got hangers, so that I could finally put my clothes away (I only have a wardrobe, no dresser, and very few shelves which can fit clothes).  After getting back, I neglected to put anything away out of laziness.  At 7:00, I left again (did I walk upwards of 6 miles on Friday?  why yes, I did) for the Union, this time to go to the ceilidh.  What is a ceilidh, and how do you pronounce it, you ask?  A ceilidh (KAY-lay) is a sort of Scottish dance party/social gathering, sort of like square dancing or contra dancing or whatever.  It was quite fun, although I think it would have been more fun with a large group of friends.  I knew a few people, though, so I wasn't totally alone.  The dances were all very high energy, and it lasted for four hours, so I did not do as much dancing as I could have, but it was overall a good time.

My First Bar Experience

Wednesday night, there was supposed to be an orientation event at the Union bar to learn about the activities and events and services that the Students Association has to offer, and also free wine (almost all of the more social orientation events involve free wine).  Of course, because of the way Albany Park (where I'm living) is set up, I had yet to meet any other JSAs (study abroad people).  So, I walked over by myself, assuming that it was going to be a sort of sit and listen event.  Upon arrival, I realized that it was a mingling event, and that, while you could probably ask the SA Events Coordinator about the activities and events and services that the Students Association has to offer while you received your free wine, it was not some sort of informational meeting.  I absolutely suck at mingling.  And, having arrived alone, I of course looked like the awkward person standing around by themselves.  Fortunately, I mustered my courage and walked up to a couple of girls sitting at a table, who were not in what appeared to be a pre-formed and completed friend group, and we ended up sitting and talking together for a while.  They both go to Duke, and share an apartment there.  After a while, we decided that we should go to a pub.  So we left and wandered the streets of St Andrews, searching for somewhere that looked nice.  After a while, we stumbled upon The Keys, established in 1858.  There were a few old people inside (which, in retrospect, should have tipped us off), and after standing outside debating for several minutes, we decided that we should go in.  We were immediately greeted by an elderly man who seemed to be both drunk and perhaps suffering from some sort of older-person-memory-insufficiency.  We spent forever trying to figure out what we wanted (earlier we had decided that since there are so many pubs, we wouldn't have to ever go to whatever one we picked again if we made complete fools of ourselves trying to order drinks, having had no experience in this), and ultimately, Hannah ordered tea, I ordered a Smirnoff Ice, and Veronica ordered the same.  The old man insisted on paying for our drinks, which on the one hand was nice, and on the other, sort of defeated part of our purpose in wanting to buy drinks ourselves.  We sat don, and he came over and talked to us.  Forever.  He asked us several times where we were from, why we were here, if we were at the uni, etc etc.  He would walk away every now and then, but always made his way back to us.  After a very long while, we finished our drinks and left, agreeing to not go back to The Keys again.  I returned to Albany Park, and found my flatmates at their friends' house, watching The Return of the King.  When I told them I had been to The Keys, they laughed and told me that that was where the locals go, not the students.  They promised to show me the right places to go the following night.  Overall, it was a memorable night, if not the greatest.

Juice!

There are so many varieties of juice here.  I just bought some orange raspberry juice last night.  It's delicious.  And it isn't ALL expensive.  I just happened to be looking at the most expensive grocery store in town.

Upon my arrival, I met two of my flatmates, Libby (who's from Australia) and Dasha (New York).  They too me to another house, where I met more of their friends, and we watched the first two Lord of the Rings movies.  I always say I want to marathon all of them.  Never again.  I think everyone was in agreement that they are really hard to watch.  At one point, we realized that there was still an hour and a half left in the movie.  It was surprising and hard to deal with.  I fell asleep a bit, because I was tired, and movies put me to sleep.  When we got to part two of The Two Towers (we were watching the extended editions, which are separated into two parts each), Dasha and I went to the center of town to Tesco, the nearest and most expensive grocery store, to pick up a few things.  I got juice and clementines.  Also, apparently chocolate pudding doesn't exist here.  Major sad face.  Then, Dasha made us steak sandwiches and chips (potatoes).  Then, more Two Towers.  Then, a break for baking.  Grasshopper pie was made, and then we watched Source Code.  Then back to House 11 for bed-making, shower, and bedtime.  Today, bigger grocery shopping, and hopefully a tour.  Pictures will be forthcoming.

Word of the Day: Incredible

It has been a VERY long day for me.  It is currently 8:22pm, and I woke up yesterday at 9 something in the morning (although, of course, it is only 3:22pm at home.  I have had approximately 1.5 hours of sleep in this time.  Long day.

We left a smidge late to get to the airport 2 hours before my flight, and, upon arriving at the airport, found that British Airways flights depart from a special place, that doesn't have very good signage.  So we had to loop around the airport three times to figure out how to get to the right place.  Once inside, it became a little more clear.  BA does check ins on the arrival floor, away from the other airlines' check ins.  Saying good-bye to my mother at the gate was a bit tough, and I will admit to having cried a bit.  There was almost no one in line to get through security, so it went fast.  I got to the gate with an hour to spare, so I read some Sherlock Holmes.

The first flight was supposed to be for sleeping, but of course, I can't really sleep on planes.  Also, it had individual tv screens and a wide selection of movies, so I watched Puss in Boots as soon as we were done taking off.  Dinner was served, and after a little while, the cabin lights were all turned off, to facilitate sleeping.  I tried to sleep for a while, which is where my 1.5 hours came in, but, even though the plane was fairly empty, and I had an open seat next to me that I could put my feet on, I couldn't sleep very well. With about 2.5 hours left in the flight, there was some rather nasty turbulence that of course ignited all of my plane fears, but I put on Horrible Bosses and tried to ignore the rumbles, and maybe possibly get some sleep.  No sleep was had, but I reached London just fine.
NOTE: sorry for the barrage of terrible quality photos of nothing to follow.

my first view of London, which we circled three times before being allowed to land

you can't really see it, but the cars are driving on the wrong side

[NOTE: Now it's 11:50am.  I'm not so good at finishing things.  Also, I have only been up for an hour.  And it feels early.  I was hoping the time difference wouldn't get to me.  Oh well.]

I was hoping that I would get to see the sunrise over London, but we landed too early.  Getting off the plane took forever, because first, they somehow couldn't get the stairs up to the door off the train.  Then, once a bunch of us were loaded onto a bus to take us to the terminal, the bus wouldn't start.  And then the bus ride was LONG.  I don't know why it took so long just to take us to the building that was right next to us.  Then, it was a super major rush to get to my next flight, because it took forever to get through the thousands of customs and security lines that you have to go through.  But, I managed it, and got a stamp in my passport and cleared security with ten minutes to spare before my plane took off. I was the last person on the very crowded plane.  It was a quick flight to Edinburgh, with only enough time to take off, serve "traditional Scottish" breakfast, and land.

Oh look, all my favorites.  I tried one of the tomatoes, as that was the only thing that sounded vaguely appealing, but it tasted like someone took water and ketchup and turned it into a tomato.  I ate the bacon and part of the roll.  Not the best breakfast ever by a long shot, but I' not a huge breakfast person.

Then, we landed, and I found the shuttle that I was taking, and off we went to St Andrews.

Everything is super green.  I have never seen so many random unfarmed fields.  

This is one of the dorms.  Not the one I'm in, but I took a picture because it's pretty.

I was going to write about the rest of my day, but perhaps I'll get to that later, as it is a lot to write and this post is already really long and I want to go do things.