Waaaaay Overdue Post

I apologize for my serious lack of blogging recently. I would blame it on being too busy, but with only two classes, that's a bit of lie. Lazy maybe, but busy, not so much. At this point, its almost overwhelming because it's been so long that I don't know where to start. Since I am actually here to take classes (I know, shocking), I suppose I could start there.

As i said, I'm only taking two classes. Now, before you start thinking that I'm a complete slacker, know that this is not unusual. The system of classes and credits is completely different here. A full couse load is 60 credits, which has no relation to credit hours in the States. First and second year classes are 20 credits, so you take three a semester. In third and fourth year, each class is 30 credits, so taking two classes is a full load. I'm technically taking one second year and one third year class, so it's only 50 credits, but it's close enough. Elon will only give me credit towards my religious studies monir for two classes anyway, so it seemed silly to add another one.

Since it's practically impossible to take Human Services classes outside Elon, I decided to take religious studies courses for my minor. That means that here, I'm in St. Mary's College, the school of Divinity. My two classes are Christian Ethics: God, Sex and Money, and Theological Explorations. The scheduling here is very different from Elon. The Christian Ethics class has lectures on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 2:00-3:00. There's also a tutorial on Tuesday mornings at 9:00 taught by a post-grad with about 10 students. Theological Explorations has just one lecture on Tuesdays at 4:00. But, we have a 2 hour seminar on Thursday mornings. It's led by the lecturer, and its not much fun. Even so, I definitely can't complain. If you didn;t notice, I don't have class on Monday or Wednesday. Tough life, huh? Only problem is that once I get used to this, going back to Elon's going to be a big shock.

The Christian Ethics class is by far my favorite. The lectures are usually pretty interesting. And if there not, I don't have to pay attention because my lecturer posts his notes online. But, of course I always pay attention. Also, I truly enjoy going the tutorials. We discuss a chapter of a book that we're reading each week. While most of us disagree with the author and don't like the book much, it sparks great discussions. Typically, by the end we can't believe that the hour is over and we haven't even covered everything we were supposed to.

So then there's my Theological Explorations class. I typically try to follow "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," but then it would be a very short post. Okay, it's not that bad. It's just incredibly dull. The only redeeming quality is that it only meets twice a week. In all honesty, the topics aren't that bad. I'm just not a big fan of the lecturer's teaching style. He's one of those nutty professor types- very scatter-brained. I'm all for ADHD, but this guy is ridiculous. He definitely knows a lot about early Christianity. But he just rambles for an hour. I try to write down everything he says, but there never seems to be any organization in his lectures. Occasionally he writes on the board. But that's only helpful until he runs out of room, at which point he switches colors and begins writing over what's there. I'm not kidding. Fortunately, this lecturer only does the ancient part. After next week, we get a new lecturer. I've never been so excited for medieval theology.

That's about it on the classes. My workload is definitely managable, especially since I don't have practice or meetings or anything. It's actually quite strange to have this much free time. Not bad, just different. I was pretty busy this past week working on an essay that was due Friday. Fortunately, my next essay isn't due for another two weeks. Some people (my mom) might think this means I have work to do this week. No, no. It means I have lots of work not this Thursday but next. (Mom, you will be very proud. I did get started on my last essay over a week before it was due. I didn't actually start writing it until Thursday morning. But I got a full night's sleep and finished it by 9:45. It wasn't due until 1:00. That's 3 whole hours. Impressive, no?)

I'm sure there's lots of things I'm forgetting. I may post again tomorrow with some stories from the past few weeks.

I have made my travel plans for Reading Week. They are absolutely amazing. But I'm not telling yet. (I need to tell the parents first, and I'm not Skyping with them until tomorrow afternoon. Then I will share.) But when you hear them, I can promise you'll be jealous. I'm soooo excited. Hehe, I love secrets. Anyway's check back to see where I'm going. Promise I won't disappear for another four weeks!

Taking Part in Traditions

So, in an earlier post I mentioned the pier walk. I've finally retrieved the pictures to show you, along with several from the ball. But first, pier walk.

St Andrews, having been around for hundreds of years, has a number of traditions. Most of them make no sense, and this is one of those. regardless, it's still cool, and it's one of those things that you have to do while you're here, just to say you did it. First, I think I need to explain the gowns. Students at St Andrews wear red academic gowns. The guides and the debate team always wear them. You can wear them whenever you want, so some people have them on in class or at meals. My friend Anna wore hers during a fire drill (they're quite warm). I wore hers to chapel and the pier walk, which is when most students wear them.

The pier walk occurs every Sunday after chapel. Students wear their gowns to the service, then afterwards, they all walk down to the pier behind the cathedral. The pier itself is made of rock. The right side, which is level with the shore, is rather wide (8-10ft). We walk out to the end, then climb up a ladder onto the wall on the left side. From the top of the wall, the view is amazing, At this point, however, I realize that instead of climbimg back down the ladder, we walk back towards the shore along the left side. It's about 3 feet wide, with no railing, and drops down a few stories to the rocky ocean. I'm not scared of heights, thankfully, but I now know that wearing heels is a BAD IDEA. Instability is the last thing you need when walking along the top of a wet stone wall. Fortunately, I made it safely to the end. While I don't think this is a tradition I'll be partaking in every week, I am glad that I experienced it.

Now, for the ball. This Saturday was the Charity Opening Ball. I originally had no intention of going, but one of my friends convinced me and Anna to buy tickets last minute. It was kind of like a prom or a formal, but for the whole student body. We all got dressed up and did hair and make-up, which is always fun.

Here's a group of my friends from Uni Hall- Sam, Anna, George, and Helen. We're still in Anna's room getting ready to go.

There I am with Anna, my lovely date, at the dance.

Later, we got 3/4 of the Elon crew together (that's me with Tim and Rachel).

The night was a lot of fun. They had free champagne, well only one glass, but still. Two tent were set up, one with a band and one with a DJ. The music was pretty good, mostly American so songs I knew. We danced a LOT, shoes were removed, and we danced some more. Anna and I polished off a pizza and a panini, respectively, around 1. Then after a few more John Mayer songs (gotta love it) we headed home. My feet killed, but it was definitely worth it. I mean, really, how many people get to go to a ball?

Oh Uni Hall is Wonderfulllllllllll!

That would be the one line I know from the Uni Hall song. Uni, short for University Hall, is my home for the next three months. It was build back in the 1800's (I think) as an all-female hall. Now it's co-ed and has expanded to include three separate halls: Lumsden, Wardlaw, and Old Wing. I'm in Old Wing, which in my opinion is the coolest because it's got the most character. It also has some quirks, like oddly shaped rooms, hidden closets, and supposedly a ghost. It also looks the prettiest from the outside, with the stone walls.

So, let me explain a bit about each of the pictures.

1. This, of course, is Uni Hall. More specifically, it's Old Wing. My room is on the backside, so you can't see it, but I can see the weather vane from my window.

2. This is my lovely room. Pretty standard dorm room, with a desk, dresser, and closet. It doesn't have much in the way of personal touches, but it's nice enough. Also, now that the radiator is working, it's quite warm.
3. Here's my bed. I was desperately trying to find a way to get my whole room in one picture, so I'm actually behind my desk standing on the radiator taking this, but all you can see is the bed. I did go out and buy the duvet and duvet cover, because the one they provided was not very warm (and hideous!).
4. Is it a cabinet, a set of drawers...?
5. No, its a sink-in-a-box! Perfect for brushing your teeth, washing your dishes, and surprising your friends. The guys who helped me move my bags in the first day discovered this, and I stupidly asked if all sinks in Scotland are in boxes. It turns out that no, just mine and a few other in Old Wing are housed in boxes. The rest are pretty standard.

And that's my home.

Exploring the Town

Now that my computer's working again (yay!) I'm finally posting pictures of this beautiful place. I did feel a little strange walking around town with my camera and stopping to take shots of some of the buildings. There really is no campus; the university buildings are just dispersed throughout the town. As a result, plenty of people stared at me as I stopped on the sidewalks and waited for cars to pass so I could get pictures of buildings across the street.

Anyways, I'll give you some info on all of the pictures.

The first is a shot of St. Salvator's Chapel. They hold church service here every Sunday, followed by a pier walk (more on that later). Behind the chapel is the quad, which is surrounded by biuldings for various subjects. The second picture shows Younger Hall. This is more or less the Alamance of St Andrews (an administration builiding for those of you who aren't familiar with Elon). I spent about an hour there in various lines during matriculation. Next two shots are the cathedral. On the east side of town, along the North Sea shore stands the cathedral ruins. There are parts of three structures still standing. The surrounding land is an old cemetary. Rachel and I walked around one afternoon. There is one tower you can climb up, which supposedly offers a spectacular view, but you have to pay and we are poor so we decided to just take a look around. Last is a shot of the castle. These ruins are on the north shore. I believe you can pay to enter these as well, but we didn't go that far. We did, however, venture down to the beach and out on some of the rocks since it was low tide. I didn't realize that St Andrews was truly on the coast until I got here. If only it were warm enough to go swimming.

Since I can only put up so many pictures at one time, I'll have to post again to show the pictures of my hall (dorm) and room.