Sea Gulls Are Huge

Orientation has been made up of a lot of little observations. I still don't quite get how the pence works, but other than that there's no cultural difference that's been a complete barrier to me yet. I've discovered Digestives: tasty, chocolate-covered, graham-cracker-esque "biscuits" full of fibre, which seem paradoxically healthy and therefore wondrous."Immense" and "epic" seem to be the "awesome" and "great" of Scotland. Plastic coke bottles are a different shape, but aluminum cans are the same. The @ button is where the " is on a American keyboard and it's very annoying.



I've been getting up pretty regularly at 7, though, which is a good thing, as my commute into town is about 30 minutes on foot, so the earlier I wake up the better. My housemates are on college break schedules, so in the morning it's just me. I have the distinct feeling that my walk along the beach road into town will quickly change from a half-hour of breathtaking zen with my ipod to a mad, breathtaking sprint (with my ipod) to class. Ideally, Albany's distance from everything will keep me organized. We shall see how I do, as I've already discovered that life as St. Andrews student requires a lot of legwork.

All the orientation seminars were very useful. I learned how the grading system works (marks on a scale of 1-20, but not based on percents. 7 is passing), that course books, which outline everything in the module - all the reading, deadlines, what the lectures are about, questions you should be having, seriously everything and it's a little intimidating, are now the second most valuable possession I have after my passport, that the most common offense St. Andrews students are charged with by the police is public urination/defecation, and that Ceilidh is pronounced Kay-lee.

Over the course of all the knowledge being dropped I met the other two guys from Wesleyan, Dan and Marshall. It was funny, right away I recognized one and the other recognized me. Both seem really nice, but I'm not sure I'll see that much of them, or really any of the other JSAs. There's a big contingent from Colgate who are sticking together, all the Butler kids already know each other, and most of the rest have been placed in New Hall, so that they're close. I hung out with two girls, Diana and Victoria, from South Carolina and Kentucky respectively, all throughout the proceedings, walked around town with them, explored the Scores, which is sort of like a University Row with a lot of classroom buildings on it, and we all signed up for a Loch Ness tour in a couple weeks, which I am excited about because it's leaving and getting dropped back at the Union car park instead of, like, Edinburgh; and while there will be monster-watching involved, we're also heading to a bunch of other places along the way in the highlands. I'll report back on that. And you know what? Those two American girls were perfectly lovely people. But we weren't quite on the same wavelength, and it wasn't as much fun. I know I'll probably see them again, and the other Americans I met, but I'm gonna try as much as I can to stick with the Scots and English while I'm here.

At the wine reception, memorable for the two jolly, grandfatherly Scots from the Principal's office (I'm not sure if they were deans or rectors or what. They were wearing the Imperial purple which leads me to believe they were high-ups), who I immediately wanted to adopt me the second they opened their mouths and started making jokes, I met an American, Zoe, who's a regular undergraduate here and had one of those instantly honest conversations that covers a lot of ground. It's a rare thing, but when it does happen, it's really kinda nice. On Friday, I went to the library, which I have to explore in more depth later - I think the stacks start on the second level, but I have no idea if that's true - in order to matriculate. The process was all very streamlined. As an underclassman, I met with the Pro Dean for the Arts instead of the dean for my particular department, and he approved my schedule and sent me on my way to pick up my ID and drop off my medical forms.

Information seems to be less centralized here. It was the pro-dean who told me that I'd have to go to go to my various departments in order to find out when my classes are, and where they are, and how to get the oh-so-important coursebooks, and what books are mandatory, etc. That's all very well. The classics department I found to be a Victorian building called Swallowgate and I nearly died of charm. They were very helpful and gave me my course books no problem, but the medieval history department is on South street, and after I walked down there they said I had to buy my course books online and that that information would be given out in the first class, which is in School III, which I had never heard of. So I went looking for it, and I am going to have to take a picture of it because while I suspect there is no heating in the building, it is awesome. I also found the Arts Buildings where my classics classes are. Tutorials and lectures aren't in the same place, or even at the same times, and aren't taught by the same people. Some departments (classics) make everything that they do mandatory and only allow 3 absences per term before you lose the ability to pass, some (history) don't. I've never experienced a more compelling argument for centralization, and I heart Wesmaps now even more than I did.

But, I stole a mug from the Arts Lecture hall (which has a vaguely NOCCA-ish aesthetic but isn't quite so Studio Apartment Art Loft-y), so now I have two, and I walked back along the Scores, which actually turns into the beach path to Albany, and I bought some ice-cream at the Wall; and so I counted it to be a fine morning altogether, even though it was cold, damp and drizzling enough to feel it in your lugs the whole time, and I forgot to wear my wellies.