Take a deep breath...

Beach Frisbee with Bess.

This street is called Butt's Wynd.. you may choose to pronounce it how you see fit.

St. Salvatore's Quad

St. Salvatore's Quad

Castle Sands

Castle sands and the castle ruins

Shadows at the castle sands (this calm part of water is actually the remnants of a "swimming pool" built into the sea that would fill up at high tide and create a safe spot to swim - safe, but not warm).

Abbey ruins - the location of St. Rule's Tower. St. Rule's remains were brought to St. Andrews and the Abbey was erected.

Lauren, Darren, Cima and Bess in the Abbey Ruins

Me at the Abbey Ruins (you can see St. Rule's tower behind me).

The view from the top of the pier. Every Sunday there is a pier walk where students walk out here in their red gowns.

The mandatory touristy phone booth shot. Note Darren in the reflection.

I know my blog makes it look like it is always sunny here. It's not. But when it is, it's just stunning...

Runny noses are not fun.

Week two is coming to a close. I've started classes (meaning I've been to 4 of my 6 hours in a week so far) and I think they will be really good.

My first psych class is about Theory of Mind (Mindreading) and is about how we interpret other people's thoughts when we can't have direct access to them. There is probably 30 people in the lecture and the prof was encouraging students to transfer out because that was too big a class! It's held in a really nice room with scalloped ceilings and old books lining the walls (it used to be the psychology library). My creative writing class has 24 students in the lecture and 8 in the tutorial. It's a bit of a hike to where it's held, but it's right near the castle and abbey ruins, which you will appreciate as being a good thing when you see my photo post. My writing tutor (tutorial leader) is a poet which is nice. Tomorrow I have my other psychology module for this semester which is the Psychology of Music. I'll let you know how it goes.

I had my first volunteering session at the used bookstore this week, cataloguing and shelving books. I also had a reception for exchange students and met my "exchange buddy". Her name is Claire; she's Irish and she studied for the year in Russia last year. She seems sweet. I also met someone on the committee for the Robert Jones scholarship which I was given with this exchange, and he said he was planning to get all the recipients together for a night, which will be neat. Last year they all took a trip to meet Prince Andrew!

So now for the bad news: I have the dreaded "fresher's flu", which is really just a cold but is annoying anyways. Almost everyone has it or has had it so far, but grey rainy days with a runny nose and cough are not a good combination. Today, however, was not raining. It was beautiful. The plan was to climb St. Rule's Tower, which is in the Abbey ruins, but it was closed. We had a lovely walk anyways, to the castle and the abby, down the pier and into town. It was almost warm! I took about 100 pictures, but I'll try to be selective about which I put up here.

One last thing- I got my res phone working. The number is 01334 42 4211 (plus the outgoing international extension). Call me sometime! Hah.

Love,
Kat.

A better look... this is basically my front yard.

One week aniversary

Hi friends.

Today I have been in St. Andrews for a whole week, even though every day I say how it feels like we've been here forever. It feels like a month at the very least, but not in a bad way, just in a way that means we're settled here. It feels right. 

Yesterday I walked along the edge of the sea, and was again stunned by the beauty of this place. Even when it's stormy and cold, it's somehow beautiful. Last night we stayed in and I watched P.S I love you with the girls.. it reminded me of home. I've never seen that movie being this close to Ireland though! Haha. Yesterday I also bought a guitar at a charity shop for 45 pounds. I didn't realize how much I'd missed playing until I got back to my room and took it out right away.

Tonight is the last night of freshers week, so our last hurrah out on the town. We have tickets to another event at the union called ultrabeat, and it's a bunch of dj sets. My sore throat is warning me that I may pay for another night out, but here goes... 

Well it's almost lunchtime, then I'm heading to a sports fair just to check it out. Tomorrow is the big freshers fair where we find out about what we can join and get involved in this year. I'm thinking about running for Charity Rep for my residence, and I also start volunteering next week one of the many charity stores in town (Barnardo's Books, where students find their textbooks, etc for cheap and the money goes to the Barnardo Foundation). I figure that since I have only 6 hours of class per week, I need to find some fulfilling things to do! 

Much love, and I hope you are all enjoying the fall colour for me. 

Kat

PIctures: Week 1

Sunrise landing in Glasgow

Sleepy at 7am

Meeting my great-aunt Gert for the first time (Edinburgh)

Kittens in St. Monans

Andrew's 18th birthday dinner, freshers week

White light UV night, freshers week!

Church in St. Andrews 

St. Andrews at night

Freshers Week

Currently I'm right smack dab in the middle of freshers week, which has been busy and wonderful.

The town is beautiful. Every time I take a walk I feel so lucky to be here. The buildings almost everywhere in town are old and stunning, but there are the ruins of a castle and the ruins of a giant abby that are just incredible. The sea is a constant presence, and the weather can never make up it's mind. But it's been really, really good so far. I've met some nice people right off the bat and our little fresher group goes out at night to events at the student union (which at night turns into a giant party) or one of the many little pubs downtown. It's a 15 minute walk from my hall to downtown, where university buildings are scattered amid town buildings, but I'm sure that will be long enough in the damp cold winter.

Two days ago I met up with Emily, my friend who was on exchange last year from St. Andrews to Western, and it was so nice to see her and get a "proper tour" of the town and the best study spots, etc. I'm already picking up a bit of a scottish lilt.. but people here are from all over the world. I bought a map of the world and I'm considering putting pins in to mark where everyone is from. I would cover a lot of it!

I start class next Monday, but I only have 6 hours a week for the whole year because St. Andrews is very independent-study based. This week I got my course advising sorted out and I'm enrolled in all the courses I wanted which I'm so happy about. My parents flew to Paris on Tuesday and from there they'll continue on to Italy. I haven't had time to be homesick at all, but I am finding it hard to keep in touch with the time change. I'll try to add pictures later today. For now, love to you all from across the ocean. 

xo,

Kathleen

Sunsets, sunrises and jetlag.

I have arrived!

The plane ride was long but without turbulence and we chased the sun, seeing it set in Toronto and rise in Glasgow. I had a nice first half our of the flight reading plane letters that made me laugh and (almost) cry – thank you girls. We landed just before seven in the morning Scotland time, which felt like only two am our time. What should have been a quick drive to a town called Ayr, near Prestwick, turned into a longer one because of our lack of roadmap and some interesting directions from pedestrians along the way: “Just a wee bit up the road here, you follow the winding road shall we say, then there’s a wee roundabout and you can turn left, or right, at the T-junction, it’s really quite easy, just keep on here.”

We smiled and thanked each person but seriously had no clue where we were or how to get where we were going. Plus every few minutes my mom or I would yell “LEFT!” to remind my dad what side of the road he was supposed to be on. But finally we arrived in Ayr, at my dad’s cousin’s house. I crashed into bed (with my hand-knitted afghan pulled up to my chin) and slept for five hours. And now here I am, looking outside at a blustery but sunny day and thinking: wow.

Everything I have seen so far has looked so startlingly British, like a scene plucked out or Coronation Street. For dinner tonight I ate the best potatoes I have ever tasted and salmon and blackberries picked down the road for desert. If only the residence food would end up tasting that good...

Tomorrow I drive to Edinburgh, then on to St. Monan's, right near St. Andrews, where we're staying for the night. I’m not used to this blog thing, so this may be totally boring for you to read. Sorry if it is. You can comment and say so. I hope you all are well. I’ll write again once I’m in residence and have my internet set up.

Love,

Kathleen

             

Here we go...

Hello friends and family!

Welcome to my travel-blog-to-be! Tomorrow I leave for St. Andrews on an overnight flight.

The waiting to go for the past few weeks has been a bit of a challenge because I haven't been working and most of you are off leading your lives! It's hard to believe that this thing that hasn't felt real for the longest time has arrived.

I hope to put pictures and stories up here somewhat regularly rather than sending out mass e-mails. So feel free to read and comment as you wish.

I miss you all already.

Love,
Kat

PS:
If you want a glimpse of what I'm heading to, check out this link:
BBC Sport - Golf - The Open 2010: A bird's eye view of St Andrews