RAISIN WEEKEND.

Here it is: RAISIN WEEKEND.

My Raisin Weekend started in the afternoon of Sunday November 20 when I walked over to my Mum’s house for “tea”. Charlie combined our family tea party with her friend’s family, so there were a total of 10 children present. After a sufficient amount of drinks were consumed, the 10 of us were split into teams to complete a St Andrews scavenger hunt. Our team (me, Marcus and Mathilde) placed 2^nd and as a reward for our efforts, we won a potato and a bottle of rum. Marcus was very pleased. From there we went to meet Graham and his friend’s family, where we were once again split into teams to complete a scavenger hunt (scavenger hunts are very popular on Raisin Sunday) before going to Graham’s friend’s house for the real party. This party was based on the British game show The Crystal Maze, so rooms throughout the house were transformed into the "zones" featured on the TV show, and drinking challenges were devised to fit the zones. It was all very elaborate, and very fun. After finishing the "crystal maze", Graham, Marcus, Mathilde and I kind of wandered around and joined in on various house parties going on in the town. At some point Marcus left and Graham, some of Graham's friends, Mathilde and I ended up in some guy's kitchen having our own little dance party. At this dance party, the song "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues came on, and I was so sad that Marcus wasn't there because he loves that song and often sings it when he's drunk. Singing any Pogues song while drunk is way more authentic anyway.

I had to get up the next morning bright and early to go round to my Mum's house again to get dressed up in our foam fight costumes. I was dressed up as R2D2, Mathilde was dressed up as C3PO and Marcus was dressed up as Chewbacca. We had some of the best costumes that day. Also, our Dad gave us our Raisin Receipt(s). Normally on Raisin Monday, your Dad is supposed to give you an object in exchange for a "pound of raisins" (this has now devolved to a bottle of wine), and this object is often very cumbersome and awkward and has something in latin written on it. Graham gave us a really cute sign that had all of our pictures on it and said "United One Under Graham", referring to the fact that all five of us children come from different countries. Also, because we're not allowed to keep our Raisin Receipts, Graham got little tokens for each of us that represented each of the countries that we're from. We had to choose a country other than our own at random, and then we would receive the item associated with that country. I chose Northern Ireland as my country, and I got a little styrofoam rocket launcher. I love it. It is so much fun to play with. Marcus chose Canada (where our sister Debbie is from) and got a black teddy bear, Mathilde chose England and got a model Spitfire plane, and Debbie and Alanya weren't there, so they got stuck with the other two, a chef hat for Denmark (Danish pastries...a stretch I know) and a baseball with Obama written on it for America.

We then proceeded to Sallie's quad bearing our Raisin Receipt and sporting our lovely costumes, and got in to the foam fight to find that we had definitely missed peak foam fighting hour. No matter, we still walked out of there COVERED in foam.

All in all it was an amazing weekend, and confirmed that St Andrews is where I want to be. I love both of my families--biological and academic--and love you all for being so patent in waiting around for me to feel like writing new posts to put on here.

Thank you, and have a very merry Christmas.

--Rachael

PS. View photo highlights of Raisin Weekend here!

Half-way home

Hello all,

I KNOW it has been a LONG time since I've posted anything on here, but I have had 3 essays, an article summary and constant tutorial work to do since the last time I posted, so I have been waiting until that weight has been lifted off my shoulders. This won't be the tell-all post about Raisin Weekend, though. I am just using up some over my lay-over time right now to let you all know that I am on track and looking forward to going home. I left St Andrews yesterday to spend the afternoon and night in Edinburgh to see my 2nd favourite city in the whole world (the 1st being Seattle) made even more magical by the holiday spirit of the season. Walking up and down Princes street at night was amazing; they had a wonderfully lit-up micro Puyallup Fair going on. I also got to see the new pandas at the Edinburgh Zoo, which was a lot of fun. But the real treat of the day was staying at the B&B (6 Brunton Place); I have not slept in a sufficiently warm room in 3-ish months. And the bed...the bed! Aaaahhhhh! Everything about 6 Brunton Place is lovely, especially Sue, the owner. I am now at Heathrow waiting for my flight after having enjoyed my lunch of ridiculously huge noodles at the ridiculously named Asian food chain Wagamama. The last time I ate at Wagamama was when I went to visit Gina in Canterbury, and I forever grateful to her for introducing me to it.

I promise I will do a big Raisin (and other events) post when I get home and am sitting comfortably on the couch in the living room with the fireplace on (and maybe a cup of tea as well)

But for now,

Yours,
--Rachael

*Correction: Gina's room in Canterbury was toasty warm, so it hasn't been a solid three months of sleeping in a freezer...but you get the idea...

One Year Anniversary

of my acceptance into St Andrews! Happy anniversary, and good luck to Mary Bradford, who has applied to St Andrews this year!

--Rachael

A Tale of Mystery and Misery...

I LOST MY IPHONE. I put it in my sweatshirt pocket to go down to lunch on Saturday, and that was it. Gone. I don't know when it leapt out of my pocket and ran away, but it did and now I am sad and down £429. I asked the wardens if a phone had been turned in, and I asked the porters the same thing three different times. My phone just up and left.

So that has been the major crisis in my life since the last Report of the Week. The reason that I haven't done a Report of the Week since the loss of my phone is that because without my phone, the only way to contact people is through email, and most people tend to email me via my St Andrews email. The St Andrews email account is connected to Gmail, and my personal email account is a Gmail account as well. This means I can't be logged in to my St Andrews email account and my personal account at the same time. And to post on Blogger, I have to be logged in to my personal account. Therefore, I had to stay logged in to my St Andrews account the entire time my phone has been gone, and logged out of my personal account. Because I haven't gotten any important emails in my St Andrews email account today, I thought that I would log out and finally do a blog post.

Unfortunately, because it has been so long since I've posted, I can't really remember exactly what I've been up to.
Monday 10/24: Turned in my Social Anthropology essay! Yay! First college essay complete!
Tuesday 10/25: Tuesday, which = nothing exciting.
Wednesday 10/26: Spent all day in the library writing Modern History essay. Specialness of college essays fading quickly. Luckily, I spent that evening with my academic family at the cheesy Scottish pub called Drouthy Neebors (you can tell how cheesily Scottish this place is by its name). I met my new academic brother, Marcus. He too is from Belfast, but his accent is somehow thicker than Graham's. Even for me, his accent is hard to understand.
Thursday 10/27: Nothing exciting.
Friday 10/28: Essay turned in. Yay!
Saturday: Stir fry dinner made by John (new member of our group.), followed by movie watching night where John, Heather, Sarah and I watched The Dark Knight, Despicable Me and drank sangria. Good night in.
Sunday: Nothing exciting.
Monday: Halloween! There was a Harry Potter party going on in the Union that we (me + group) had bought tickets for, so we went to that, and dressed up as various Harry Potter characters:
--Amanda: Dobby the House Elf
--Christina: Bellatrix Lestrange (interesting relationship between Bellatrix and Dobby there...)
--Miriam: Professor Trelawney
--Charlotte: Professor McGonagall
--Harry: "Mad-Eye" Moody
--John: Gilderoy Lockhart
--Sarah: Moaning Myrtle
--Heather: Luna Lovegood
--Me: Umbridge (It was the only Harry Potter costume I could make with the clothes I already had.)
We thought that this party was going to be a huge, big fun Halloween thing but it wasn't. There was hardly anyone there, and most of them weren't in costume so we looked like a bunch of dorks. We soon went back to Sallie's and called it a night.

Tuesday 11/1: I was surprised that it was sunny and not raining (I'm used to it raining everyday, day and night from October until January) so I took my camera with me as a I walked to my social anthropology lecture. I was even fortunate enough to encounter a rabbit! :D (photos here)

Wednesday 11/2: Another day spent in the library, working on my English essay.

Thursday 11/3: After finishing my essay, there was a movie watching party in Miriam/Christina's room where we watched Juno. It was a good way to wind down after stressing about my essay.

Friday 11/4: Turned my essay in, and then spent the afternoon shopping--getting a replacement phone :(, getting groceries (ramen, macaroni and cheese, biscuits and crisps...you know...the college staples) at Tesco, and popping into Ness (a really cute clothes shop on Market Street http://www.nessbypost.com/) to see how much this coat that I wanted to get Mom for Christmas was. Turns out it was £140, so I got her something else from Ness that was a more reasonable price. I love you Mom, but £140 is not happening. After my shopping and hall dinner, I went for a second, better dinner at my academic dad Graham's house. At the previous academic family get-together, Graham and Charlie had talked about making their academic marriage official by having an academic wedding, but tonight, Graham actually proposed to Charlie, and got their Jewish friend Alex to agree to marry them. It was all pretty hilarious. I don't know when the "wedding" will be, but I am excited. Us academic children get to be the flower girls...even Marcus.

Saturday 11/5: Next week is Reading Week, which is St Andrews speak for "A free week off from school". Because of this, nearly all of Sallie's is empty. In any event, today is Guy Fawkes day in the UK, so Sallie's celebrated by going out to East Sands beach and having a bonfire and setting off fire works. Thank goodness it wasn't raining today :)

Next weekend, I am going down to Canterbury to visit Gina, which will be totally exhausting but lots of fun. I should have the replacement SIM card for my phone by then, so I can use my phone to call people incase I get lost or everything goes wrong. In the meantime, I actually have reading and work to do over Reading Week, which is really sad. Stupid Social Anthropology...why did you make the second essay due the monday after Reading Week? I also have to do an article summary for Social Anthropology, read 3 articles for Modern History and read the "Protestantism for Dummies" books that Mom got for me off Amazon (thank you!) for Modern History. Fun times ahead.

--Rachael

Report of the week

Monday: Went to the doctor's office and confirmed that I had a nasty virus. Great.

Tuesday: I can't remember anything I did on Tuesday it was that uneventful.

Wednesday: Met up with Peter and Mathilde the director and producer of Medea (yes, I am stage managering for Medea) to talk about what we wanted to do at our first rehearsal the next day and what our sets and costumes were going to be like, who we needed to talk to about sets and costumes and when our show was going to go up. It was very productive. I then spent the rest of the day in the library being productive on my social anthtopology essay, which is due on monday. That night, Sarah, Christina and I went to a late night (11, so not Rocky Horror late night) showing of the Inbetweeners movie. The Inbetweeners is a British comedy series about four socially awkward and desperate high school (equivalent of American high school) boys Jay, Neil, Simon and Will and their often embarrassing situations. The film is their graduation trip to Greece. What I loved about the film was that all four guys get their story lines wrapped up very nicely. It was very satisfying.

Thursday: Medea rehearsal. The only bad thing about this rehearsal was that it was all the way out in David Russell Apartments, which is basically some apartment buildings in the middle of a field somewhere supposedly in St Andrews. This created some problems that I will explain to you now: Our rehearsal was scheduled from 6.30 to 8.30. My social anthropology lecture on Thursday is from 4.00 to 5.00 in the Purdie (chemistry) building, which is relatively close to DRA, so I figured that instead of going back to Sallie's and then turning around pretty soon after I got there, I would stay over in the science-y area until our rehearsal started at 6.30. This did mean missing dinner (dinner is from 5.45 to 6.45), but I thought ahead and brought a Pot Noodle (Pot Noodle = Cup Noodle) with me and figured that there would be hot water availble for me to make my Pot Noodle. I was wrong. I didn't get to eat my Pot Noodle until I got back to my room at 10.00. We had drinks after our rehearsal, so that why I got back so late. It was worth it though.

Friday: No exciting evening plans tonight, because everyone has essays due and other work going on, and we were going out for Christina's birthday the following night so everyone spent the night in getting work done. Although Amanda, Harry, Heather, Jamie and I managed to go to the toastie bar. If only the toastie bar were open every night...

Saturday: We went out to the Blue Stane pub for Christina's birthday dinner. Considering that I was at a proper laddish (one of my new favourite words--meaning manly) pub with a football match on, and that I had missed out last weekend, I ordered the fish and chips. Little did I know that at the Blue Stane, they really mean fish when they say fish and chips. I ended up getting a whole fish fillet, which was pretty embarrassing. I only managed to eat half of it--but it was really delicious. From there, we went to Tesco so Christina could legally buy alcohol as an adult. Our purchases included Smirnoff Ice, Malibu, cheap white wine, some more vodka, two things of lemonade and a birthday cake. We then consumed our purchases in Katie's room by playing some fun games--Roxanne/red light and Ring of Fire. Roxanne/red light is when you have two teams--team Roxanne and tean red light--and you listen to the song Roxanne by the Police and depending on which team you're on, you drink whenever they say Roxanne or red light. The chorus gets pretty crazy. Ring of Fire (aka Kings, King's Cup) is when you have a deck of cards dealt out in a circle around a cup. Each card has a task assigned to it so when you draw that card, you have to do that task. For the Kings, you have to put some of your drink into the middle cup. The game ends when the last king is drawn and the drawer has to drink whatever is in the middle cup. Guess who drew the last king? Yep. Then we went out to The Lizard, the closest thing St Andrews has to a nightclub. That was fun until it got too crowded, at which point we went home and then stayed up for another hour talking about random things.

Sunday: Well, techinically some of the things I described in the Saturday category happened on Sunday... Anyway, today I have to read The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for my English tutorial tomorrow and finish my social anthropology essay. Fun. I'm going to get to work now.

--Rachael

AWS Care Package

has arrived! Tehnically it arrived two days ago but I haven't had time until today to pick it up from the porter. Unfortunately the envelope thing that it came it got ripped in transit, so this grey lint stuff that makes up the lining in the envelope went everywhere when I tried to open the package and get all of my stuff out of it. Jamie said that it looked like they had sent me a hoover (vacuum) bag. Anyway, I got some macaroni and cheese, a Fruit by the Foot, a Starbucks gift card and tons of candy out of it so I'm not complaining. I also got some lovely notes from Mary Bradford, Josephine Ren and Mrs Bauska, so that was nice. I will do a proper report of the week either tomorrow or on Saturday, but I just wanted to announce that my care package had arrived.

--Rachael

Report from Sick Bay (Report of the Week)

Sunday: Movie night watching the 1992 version of Wuthering Heights. Mocking and hilarity ensued.

Monday: Day 1 of mystery illness. I had a sore throat and felt really cold.

Tuesday: I don't think anything terribly exciting happened on Tuesday. Tuesdays are very rarely exciting.

Wednesday: Day of crisis. I discovered a lump in my neck, and automatically assumed I had cancer and that it was the end of all times. I called Mom and Dad in an absolute state of panic, and then called NHS 24 and talked to a real live nurse who confirmed Mom and Dad's diagnosis that it was a swollen gland due to me being ill rather than a cancerous tumour.

Thursday: Again, nothing exciting.

Friday: You would think that there would be something exciting because it's Friday, but no. What a let down.

Saturday: Nearly everyone was gone doing something or other, so there weren't many of us left to go out and do things. Amanda was in Edinburgh for a beginner's korfball tournament, Harry was in the wilderness somewhere for some OTC (Officer's Training Corps) thing, Miriam went home to Dundee because she is quite ill,  and Heather went home to Aberdeen for a visit. The rest of us (me, Sarah, Charlotte, Christina) went out to see Johnny English: Reborn. And that's it.

Sunday: Finally finished Great Expectations for my tutorial tomorrow! I was going to go out for fish and chips on the beach with the crew (now that they're all back), but my stomach suddenly starting hurting really badly, so I just went back to my room :( I can't wait to go to the doctor tomorrow and figure out what the flamingo is wrong with me.

--Rachael

Opening Ball (Report of the Week)

Friday: I went to the Mermaids opening party, and I talked to the director of As You Like It about being stage manager for the show. Unfortunately, since then and now I they got someone else to be stage manager. But do not despair! I will most likely be stage managering for this year's Fresher's Play, Medea, which is being put on by my Academic sister Mathilda and some other Mermaids friends Peter and Hamish (hay-mish). Peter and Hamish both study classics, so it's no wonder that they chose to put on Medea. I'm excited to work with them on this and to state manage again!

Saturday: St Andrews has its own Wine and Cheese society (and Sallie's even puts on its own Wine and Cheese events), but our group has come up with something better: Budget Wine and Cheese. We have our own events, and it's a lot more fun. This Budget Wine and Cheese event consisted of us gathering in my room and snacking on cheese that Amanda got from the St Andrews farmer's market (smoked garlic cheddar), fudge with walnuts that Miriam's sister made for her birthday, toffee popcorn, Charlotte's red pepper hummus and pita bread, drinking white wine from Tesco (I didn't have any), and also planning a weekend trip to the cheese farm where Amanda's cheese came from. We also watched Thelma and Louise. It was a good evening.

Sunday: The day before was Miriam's 18th birthday, but since she was up in Dundee with her family for the day, we decided to celebrate her birthday the next day. Sarah, Charlotte, Heather and I went shopping for Miriam's birthday present, and we ended up getting her a Tunnock's Caramel Wafers mug, and an owl keychain because she likes Tunnocks Caramel Wafers and always makes tea and hot chocolate, and because she has an owl pillow in her room. Then we went out to Bella Italia for Miriam's birthday, and I actually got to eat pasta for once! Yaaaay!

Monday: My first English tutorial was that morning, which went fine, but the only problem is that my Modern History lecture is right after my tutorial, so I was quite a bit late for my lecture.

Tuesday: Charlotte, Harry, Heather, Sarah, Amanda and I went to the library and were there until just about when the library closes at 2 am. Little did we know that that was not a good thing to do because...

Wednesday: morning at like 6 whatever AM, we had a fire drill. Not. Fun. Luckily for me I don't have any lectures or tutorials on Wednesdays, so I could go back to sleep, but Amanda has all of her lectures in a row from 9 until 12 so she had a rough day.

Thursday: Nothing too exciting except for the fact that I had one of the two most quintessentially British meals for lunch. I went to the bakery Gregg's because their food is cheap and I got a cheese and onion toastie (toastie = grilled cheese sandwich, basically) and a tea. I then went over to Tesco's for a bag of crisps. I loved it.

Friday: Had my other two tutorials, Social Anthropology and Modern History, and those went fine as well, and then went back out at 4 for my Social Anthropoogy lecture, which, on Fridays, is just a film. This week's film was...interesting. It's called Wild Man, and it's about these guys who have daddy issues and they all go out into the wilderness of Texas and crying/sharing/hugging circles to release their bottled up emotions about how their fathers treated them horribly and taught them to never show their emotions and blah blah blah. I could not stop laughing during this film. I knew that it wasn't supposed to be funny, but it just was.

Saturday: Mom's birthday! The Opening Ball! Lots of things going on. Before Dad left St Andrews, I gave him the present and card I got for Mom's birthday. I got her an apron that I had seen in a shop window that had "wee coloured birds" (as the shop lady had said) on it, and I got her a card with a bird (either a Kingfisher or a Kookaburra. Not sure which) on it as well. Mom likes birds, and she had told me that she wanted an apron for her birthday, so this was perfect. We left for the Opening Ball at approximately 8:30 in these claustrophobic buses and arrived in the middle of a field in who knows where. It was very confusing. For the first hour and a half or so it seemed to me that the "black tie" Opening Ball event was just people standing in a tent in the middle of a field. But then the group (Sarah, Charlotte, Harry, Heather, Amanda) and I got on the dance floor and then I started having fun. We got on the "early" bus back at 1:10 or so. It was a lot of fun, even if the beginning was misleading.

Me, Harry, Heather, Amanda, Charlotte

Me, Katie (sometimes part of our group but not always), Heather

Me, Sarah

Sarah, Amanda, Me

Amanda, Heather, Me

Heather, Charlotte, Amanda, Katie, Harry, Me

Heather, Amanda, Charlotte, Me, Harry

Amanda, Heather, Me

--Rachael

Report of the Week

Monday:

First day of classes, but I already talked about that, so let's move on. 

Tuesday:

Doctor Who society episode-watching party! Oh. Best thing ever. It's like going to Rocky Horror (the heckling, the fandom, the costumes/accessories...) but for Doctor Who. 'Tis a dream come true. 

Wednesday: 

No lectures :) I spent the day crossing things off my to-do list, like going out to the Community Hospital to fix my health forms. Apparently I forgot to sign somewhere and give them my student number. Before that I met up with Mrs. Minick (admissions lady I met at the College Fair last year) for coffee and that was lovely. I also went over to the School of English building and found out when my English tutorial (note: tutorial = small group discussion) was. Monday at 11 am. Not ideal, but whatever. My Wednesday freedom remains intact, which is good. I was worried about that when I filled out the tutorial form on Monday. I then spent the rest of the day finishing Wuthering Heights, the first book of the semester. It was such a beautiful day that I read outside, which helped ease the pain of having to read Wuthering Heights. I do not like that book. Pretty much all of the characters have some sort of mental illness and/or violent behaviour issues, and they all end up marrying each other, and it's just a mess. 

Thursday:

Instead of doing the smart thing, which was to walk to my 4:00 social anthropology class on the other side of town, I took the bus out there, because I was (am) sick, and didn't want to walk all the way out there carrying my huge bag. So I got on the correct bus, the number 92. When I got on, the driver said something about "golf course" I thought that he was talking about the stop that I get off at, the Old Course Hotel stop, so I said yes, got my ticket and sat down. The bus stopped at the stop before the Old Course Hotel stop, but then didn't stop at the Old Course Hotel stop. I wasn't worried at that point because I thought that he would stop soon after my stop. Well, he didn't. I ended up all the way in Leuchars, with only 20 minutes to spare. When I got off in Leuchars, the bus driver told me that he shouted at me to tell me to get off the bus, but I didn't hear him. Anyway, I managed to get a bus back into St Andrews, get off at the right stop, and get to my lecture...10 minutes late. The good thing is that all of the lectures this week have been "What is (insert subject here)?", so there hasn't been any substantive material yet. This coming week should pick up though...yay! I am a nerd and I want to learn! 

Friday:

The only lecture I have on Fridays is Social Anthropology, and on Fridays they show films, so today was a pretty light day as well. Before my lecture, I went out with Amanda, Harry, Charlotte, Miriam, Heather and Jamie for some ice cream, because it has been so warm and lovely here for the past week, and to stop at the stationery store to get a hole punch. Exciting, I know. After my lecture and dinner*, I went out to the Mermaids (performing arts group) party. I was excited to go to this party because I got the Mermaids announcements email, and in it there was an ad for a stage manager for As You Like It. I talked to the director at the party, and she said that she would love to talk to me more about it later. Who knows whether I will end up with the job, seeing as it's a big production and I'm just a first-year, but it's worth a shot. Sadly, my academic mum wasn't there; she is in Glasgow for the weekend. My academic did eventually turn up, but I didn't stay for too long after he arrived because I'm sick and therefore tired and in need of a lot of sleep. 

Speaking of, I am going to stop now and go to bed. 

Good night, 

--Rachael

*My group of friends and I have discovered that going down to dinner later spares you the pain of having to queue (stand in line) for so long for dinner. So we went down at about 6:15 (dinner starts at 5:45). The menu for tonight said that the mains were a) lamb pot pie b) turkey something-or-other and c) wild mushroom risotto. Seeing that there was risotto on the menu, I wasn't too worried. Well, turns out I should have been worried because there was no risotto left when we got to the entree station. Turns out the queue is so big at the beginning of dinner for a reason; otherwise all of the good food is gone! Anyways, so I was stuck with either lamb pot pie (which didn't even look like a pot pie) and the turkey thing which looked absolutely horrific. So I went with the lamb pot pie, solely because it had potatoes in it. But I did die a little bit inside. There wasn't even any dessert either. Usually there is a dessert, and a good one too, but tonight it was just like the fruit topping stuff that you might see served on top of ice cream, but with no ice cream. So I didn't get any of the "dessert" either. The only things I got to accompany my sad lamb "pot pie" were some carrots (steamed in Britain, therefore mushy and not very good) and carrot and coriander soup, which was the only good part of the meal. Unfortunately, I only have one Easy Mac left.

Sorting out my classes

Okay, so it's official. I have emailed my adviser and asked to switch to Modern History. It really is just impossible to get to the other side of town where the Linguistics class is right after my English class is over. I couldn't even do it today, when our english class consisted of only "Hi, welcome to English, fill out this form and then be on your way." Unfortunately, switching to Modern History means missing lunch. I will either have to figure out how to request a pack lunch from my hall or buy lunch everyday once English is over at 2:00. I guess this means I should start eating breakfast now. Good thing I stocked up on cereal.

--Rachael

PS. Why bother taking linguistics when there is Stephen Fry? See here, and here.

*Update: I am now in Modern History. Now I all I have to do is sign up for a tutorial and get a handbook.

The Union Ceilidh

was a bit disappointing, if I'm honest. There weren't as many people there as I thought there would have been, and the music wasn't as classic/traditional Celtic as I would have liked, and the directions were no better, maybe worse even, than those at the Sallie's ceilidh. Luckily, the Celtic society is having ceilidh lessons tomorrow.

Before that though...

me and my group of friends Charlotte, Harry, Sarah, Heather, Jamie, Miriam, Amanda and Christina attempted to make omelettes for dinner this evening. It didn't go too well. Some of the eggs from the frying pan fell down into the cooker (or some nether region of the oven/stovetop combo unit) and created a bunch of smoke, so we were really afraid that we would set off the fire alarm and everyone would hate us. We also I think shorted a circuit in the kitchen, so the toaster would spark when the toast popped out. It was a bit of a disaster. It's a good thing we tidied up really well.

 Tomorrow starts the first day of academics at St Andrews, while I am excited, I am terribly nervous (as well as confused) about how it is all going to work out. The linguistics module that I swapped for comparative literature is currently on the other side of town, right after my English class is over. If this is the case for the whole first semester, then I'm going to have to change my module...again...to modern history (although modern history this semester covers 1450-1770, so I don't know how that classifies as modern).

Hopefully I can talk to my adviser and sort this out.

I'm trying not to worry about it, but it really bothers me.

Anyway, I'm going to bed now because poor Amanda has her French class at 9 am tomorrow, and there's an aptitude test. Although in fairness, I am going to get up early as well to try and sort out some of these issues, and maybe clear off my desk, which looks like the result of an angry gorilla rampage.

Night all,
--Rachael

It's Saturday Night

and I can hear bagpipes from my room. Someone's having fun.

*Update: Apparently they got two pipe bands together from Leuchars and someplace else I can't remember to perform for this Swedish business conference.  ?  Who knows.

Way overdue, but a summary of the week's events.

Okay. Now that Amanda has finally gotten around to uploading the photos, here it goes.

Monday:
--Ceilidh (put on by Sallie's)

    --Amanda doesn't own a kilt, so she brought her uniform skirt as a kilt stand-in. For solidarity, I wore my uniform skirt too. I look gross in this picture, but whatever.
    --The ceilidh was quite difficult actually. The Sallie's common room wasn't entirely big enough to accommodate all of us spinning and kicking about, and they didn't teach the steps very well. They only gave you the directions once, and very quickly. So I didn't dance much. I plan on going either joining the Celtic society, or going to the Ceilidhs put on by the Celtic society so I can learn how to properly do the ceilidh dances, because they are quite fun and I enjoy them (and the music).

    --After the Ceilidh, these lovely people and I (top photo left to right: Christina, Amanda, Katie, Me ; bottom photo: Miriam, Amanda, Katie, Me) and some other people not pictured (named Charlotte, Harry, Becky, and Sarah) went out to the Union and hung out and had some drinks. From there we went to this wonderful place called the Toastie Bar. In Brit-speak (as well as Aussie-speak) a toastie is basically a grilled sandwich. The Toastie Bar is a little place in a hard to find alleyway that makes all manner of toasties for only 50p (50 pence) and it's open from 11 pm to 2 a (2:30 am on Fridays). Great late night snack. I wish it was open during the day too, though.

Tuesday
    --At 2:30, I went with some of the people who are involved in the Performing Arts group here at St Andy's, called Mermaids, and toured the student run theatre, and learned about theatre tech (lights, mainly)  and producing. I am looking forward to getting involved in backstage work again.
    --At 8:00, I went to the Westport Bar for the Mermaids social, where I learned that Stage Managers are in high demand here and where I got adopted. This probably sounds like a weird thing to say, so I'll explain. First year students are "adopted" by two third year students and those third year students become academic mum and dad to their adopted first year, and other first years they adopt. These academic mums and dads often advise and support their academic children. However, their real role comes into play during Raising Weekend, which is the third weekend in November. To explain Raisin Weekend, I will copy from the Student Association Guide to St Andrews.
           --"Raisin Weekend: Sunday ; On Sunday afternoon your mother should throw a Tea Party where you will be expected to play various party games. She will also give you your Raisin String in exchange for a bottle of wine, or if you are feeling traditional, a pound of raisins. She should tie in to your Raisin String small momentos which remind her of you! In the evening, you will move on to your Dad's party.
Raisin Weekend: Monday ; Your mother will cook breakfast for you and dress you up in costumes for the parade to the Quad (Sallie's Quad). Costumes can be as imaginative and ridiculous as your mother wishes. Once you're dressed up you head to your father's where you will get your raisin receipt in return for a bottle of wine. This is usually heavy and cumbersome and will have a Latin paragraph inscribed upon it. Once you have your receipt, you should head to the Quad where the foam fight will commence. Make sure you buy your shaving foam well in advance because everywhere in town will inevitably sell out.

So my academic parents are Charlie (short for Charlotte, I'm guessing. I don't know her real name) and Graham. Charlie is from Edinburgh and is part of the improv comedy group called Blind Mirth. She also directs shows and has been part of shows that have gone on to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I'm hoping I can get involved in a show that goes to the Fringe. I want to go to Fringe so badly. The only bad thing about Fringe is that it runs from the middle to the end of August, which is always when the family conspires to travel someplace cool and exciting. But it would be a great way to celebrate my birthday! My dad is from somewhere near Belfast in Northern Ireland, and I don't know that much about him yet, other than he is involved in Mermaids (acting, presumably) and he is pretty hilarious. The both of them together is even better. So I can't wait for Raisin Weekend to see what sort of fun things they have planned for me and my academic sister Matilda, who is from Copenhagen and is interested in either producing or doing costumes.

Wednesday
    --I met with my adviser, Dr Alex Davis of the English department, to discuss my modules (classes). Upon getting here, I discovered that my English class got moved from 11 to 1, which then made my English class and my Comparative Literature class at the same time. So I had to switch from Comparative Literature to Linguistics, which I'm not sure about. It feel like Linguistics is going to consist mostly of ESL students, and I also fear that it may be on the other side of town. This is a problem because Linguistics is at 2:00, so I would have no way to get to Linguistics since English is over at 2:00, and is on this side of town. So I've just sent an email to my adviser asking about this potential issue. I don't know if he'll get back to me because it's the weekend, but I hope so because otherwise Monday is going to be a problem. Unfortunately, I don't know what I would choose to take instead of Linguistics. Modern history maybe? ...I don't know.
    --I went to the English social at 8:00 at the Byre Theatre Bar, and ran into Charlie, as Blind Mirth were performing at the social. Because no one except me and Blind Mirth were at the Byre Theatre Bar at 8:00, we all went out for some food. My academic auntie, Emma, and Lauren (who may be my academic cousin, but I don't know) went for chips while Charlie, Steven, and some other guy whose name I can't remember went for noodles. In hindsight, I should have gone for noodles, but getting chips is a quintessential British culture experience, so I guess it wasn't too horrible. Plus my auntie Emma is pretty cool too. We returned to the Byre Bar and then Blind Mirth went on (I use that term loosely, since there was no stage to speak of) and I enjoyed their performance tremendously. I had never encountered acts like theirs before (even at Second City in Chicago) and they were all greatly funny (as an improv comedy troupe should be. The actual English social was really boring, but I did go with some people (named Holly, Calum [sp?] and Matthew) to get some pizza. It was not a very nutritious evening...

Thursday
    --I did nothing on Thursday. But that was good, because by this point I was tired...because of the things   that I've just described.

Friday
    --At 2:00 I went to the Opening Ceremony for the Faculty of Arts held in Younger Hall (literally right next to Sallie's). It was quite a spectacle. All of the professors, and the Principal and other official people processed in wearing their robes and we all had to sing this ancient Latin song. There were speeches from the President, and some other official person that I can't remember, and an English professor (Professor Robert Crawford) who I've heard is legendary. He is old and Scottish, and therefore quite funny. I hope I have a class with him sometime during my studies here.

Saturday
    --Finally got my iPhone! Yay!

    --At 2:00 (I guess this is a popular event time around here...) Sallie's put on their annual Fresher's BBQ, which was a lot of fun. The weather was spectacular today, warm, sunny, hardly windy (Dad tells me it's supposed to be like this all next week...the temperature might even get into the 70s!) so the BBQ was lots of fun. The BBQ was out on the front lawn (known as Sallie's Quad), so people were out playing croquet, football, UNO, life-size Jenga and enjoying some Pimm's (a fruit liqueur served with lemonade and actual fruit chunks in it. Quite delicious.) After some rounds of life-size Jenga, me and some friends (above left to right: Amanda, Miriam [can't see her very well because she's in the shade behind Amanda], Caroline, Jamie [wearing his silly hat], Harry [yes, another ginger Harry], Heather, Charlotte, Sarah, Sam [the IT guy], and Me) worked out how to spell out "Sallies" with the Jenga bricks. We were so impressed with our craftsmanship that we got the camera guy to come over and photograph our achievement. Sadly, though not surprisingly, our sculpture fell just after the photo was taken.
  --At approximately 4:30, Dad came round with the USB/Ethernet adapter thing (the middle man between the ethernet cable for the internet and my laptop) and the power cord for my laptop, and proper sheets for my bed. After that was sorted, we went to Zizzi's, the Italian restaurant on South street, only to find that they were completely booked. So we settled for fish and chips on Market street. Sadly, Dad and I ordered wrong :( We then walked back to Dad's car, which was parked all the way at the end of North street, and got his pillow (which I am now using) and then went back to my room where we put the proper sheets on the bed and I gave Dad the shortbread to take back home to Mum and Jenny and Mum's birthday present and card. With that, we shared a big goodbye hug and Dad left for the lovely Hilton at the Edinburgh Airport.

The only thing I have planned for tomorrow is the ceilidh put on by the Student Union. This ceilidh worries me because if I thought that the Sallie's ceilidh was cramped and hard to understand, then this one, with something like 600 people attending, will be even more cramped and hard to understand. I still plan to go because I like the music and I want to show off my kilt :)

That's all for now. Which is good because that was a lot.

--Rachael

A Photo Tour of St Andrews, Further Updates, and A Ceilidh (maybe)

Because today was such a lovely day (relatively sunny, not very windy or cold), and one of my friends asked me to get photos of the campus, I decided to go out for a walk at around 2:30 to enjoy the day and the scenery with my camera. St Andrews doesn't really have a "campus", but I took photos of University buildings, and other pretty buildings/sites around the town. I've uploaded the photos to Flickr so that everyone can access them.
Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67703297@N03/sets/72157627582082771/
Hopefully that works.

In other news, some of the things that weren't going so well when I posted yesterday are starting to get resolved. Dad got a fitted sheet (the stretch-y one that goes over the mattress) and an empty duvet cover for my bed from the owner of the B&B he and Uncle Bud are staying at. He will pick up some proper sheets when he is in Aberdeen. Dad will also be getting a USB plug-in from the Apple store in Aberdeen (lots of shopping to do in Aberdeen) for my laptop that will allow me to plug the ethernet cable (the cable that connects me to the internet) into my computer so that I can finally get internet access in my room. Dad also came by this morning to assemble my IKEA shelf. He is my hero :) Also, I turned the dial up on the radiator in my room so hopefully that will make my room warmer.

More news: There is a ceilidh (a Scottish dance party consisting of traditional music & dance) tonight, and I think both Amanda and I are going. There are so many ceilidhs scheduled this week I don't know which ones to go to! I bought tickets for the ceilidh that's being put on by the Student Union, but maybe I should go to the one tonight so that I can learn how to do the actual ceilidh dance.


Hope you guys enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed my walk in the rare sunshine,
--Rachael

Over 24 hours at St Andrews: A Status Report

Well, so far there are lots of things going well...and some going not-so-well.

Going well:
--I love it here. I have a fantastic view from my room (see photo at the bottom of the post), and it's my just dream come true. I feel like every other American in Europe, infinitely more sophisticated. I can't wait until school actually starts! :)
--My roommate (Amanda) and I get on really well.
--The foam last night was immense.
--Walking everywhere (including the 3-4 flights of stairs up to my room) will make me fit :)
--There is an extraordinarily cheap noodle shop here.
--Umbrella + imperviousness to rain = prepared for Scottish weather

Not going so well:
--My bedding pack from Target, which I though included sheets, in fact does not have sheets. Argos is completely sold out of sheets, so I'm now using an empty duvet cover that Amanda got from one of her friends that is a 2nd or 3rd year here.
--My IKEA shelf thing requires assembly, and I have no tools.
--I can't get internet in my room. Beanscene, a local coffee shop, has internet, but it's only for an hour at a time, and it's loud in there, so phone calls/Skype sessions are difficult. On the bright side, there should be wireless in hall in about a week or so.
--I can't get my iPhone until I get my debit card from RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland)
--Wearing high heels here is quite difficult, due to the cobblestone/similarly uneven streets. But I am determined because I am short and these shoes are cute!
--I am still just as awkward as ever at first meetings (i.e., the "speed friending" event last night in hall).
--I can't dance...I just jump up and down, which gets really tiring really quickly.
--It is quite cold in my room. I think the window next to my bed leaks (Mom knows what I mean when I use this seemingly odd terminology for a window)
--Fresher's week feels like a year long. I just want classes to start already!

Although it seems like there are far more things in the not-so-well category than the going well category, I really am loving it here, and the things in that category really are only minor hiccups. I wouldn't change anything. I am so happy and privileged to be here.

Love,

Rachael

The Time Has Come!

The walrus said to talk of many things. Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings--

NO, not that.

I am finally leaving for St. Andrews today! YESSSSS! I have been waiting for over 3 months, and now it's finally here! I cannot wait to get over there and start Freshers Week, and finally feed my brain some delicious nuggets of knowledge. Yes, believe it or not, I miss school. I miss homework. I miss learning! I haven't had classes, homework, or the like since May. For me, that is a ridiculously long time. Unfortunately, I still have to wait until the end of the month for that. Luckily Fresher's Week is there to pass the time :)

Speaking of Fresher's week, it is going to be immense! The first day of Fresher's Week starts off with a Foam Party. A party with foam. I can't think of a better way to start of my uni career than a dance party in a room filled with soapy bubbles.

There's also some great football matches...not that I really know or care that much about football, it's just that the games are between some of the biggest, best and most popular teams in the United Kingdom and I feel that I need to at least participate somewhat in this aspect of British culture.

And speaking of culture, there are probably 2-3 ceilidhs going on throughout Fresher's. For those not in the know, a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) is basically a Scottish dance party. It features Gaelic music and dancing, and kilts. I even have a kilt for these occasions (thanks Grandma Dorris!). Normally I am opposed to dancing, but between the ceilidhs and the foam parties and the balls (more on that in a bit), I figure I'm going to have to get over it and consider this part of the re-invention of myself.

This re-invention of myself includes a (mostly) new wardrobe, because I've worm a uniform for the past 12 years of my life and therefore have no idea how to dress myself like a normal person. Make-up, because I need to look nice (this isn't a girls' school anymore, people are going to judge me based on my appearance). And, this is the big one, being less shy and approaching/talking to people with confidence. Hopefully the two previously described factors will help make this last change successful. Although it's really all down to me on that one.

As promised, this is now where I talk about the balls that the University puts on. High schools have dances, St Andrews has balls. The Opening Ball is like their version of Homecoming. It's in early October, and I already have my ticket for it. As for a date, either the above re-inventions of myself will secure that, or it will be like high school and I will go with a bunch of (female) friends. There will be many balls throughout the year at St Andrews, so I'll have more chances to have a date.

Lastly, Fresher's will be the time when I communicate with all of you lovely people. I will be getting a new phone (an iPhone 4, I might add), so I'll need to catch up with all of you to make sure I have your correct phone numbers, and that you have my new one. I will also be on Skype, Facebook and here (Facebook is the most likely of the three, however). I am not a fan of Skype, but for the sake of cheap and easy international communication, I am resorting to using it. Keeping in mind that I almost never use Skype, bear with me as I learn how to use it as proficiently as everyone else my age.

I think that's everything for now. I'll keep this and Facebook updated once I get there and get settled in to my new life at St Andrews.

God that feels good to say.

--Rachael

PS. Not that many of you care, but I am not doing labels on my posts anymore. I can never figure out what to put in the box, and frankly, I can't be bothered.

Happy birthday

To me! It's also exactly two weeks from today that I leave for St. Andrews. Let's hope to God that that time goes by at the speed of light. I'm absolutely losing it just waiting around for school to start. Sure, I have quite a bit to do before I leave, but that still doesn't stop the madness. Almost everyone else I know is already at school, and they all completely love it. That just makes it even worse. The good news is that I have some fun things planned with the few friends that I have remaining in Pierce County, and Mum is planning on making all of my favourite foods before I leave. I have two weeks to savour everything that I know and love before I go. Though I know that I will love St Andrews / Scotland as much as  I love home.

Roommate

Okay, so this post is a little bit overdue, as usual, but...

I finally found out who my roommate is! Her name is Amanda deBerardinis, and she is from San Diego. She's studying French and International Relations, and maybe Russian. Based on this self-description:

"I'm pretty quiet, studious, friendly, nice, and pretty mellow. I like to stay up late but don't drink or smoke or do any hard-core partying. I generally keep my room pretty neat but then again, sometimes it gets a little untidy haha."


I think we'll get along just fine. It also sounds like she went to a school similar to Annie Wright; she had a plaid uniform skirt and class colours. Her class colour was yellow. I am jealous. 


We're also interested in the same societies, so I really think this is a good match. 


Luckily for me, she is a blank slate for me to work with. She knows very little about Britishy-ness, has never seen Doctor Who (or any other British TV programme, I suspect) and, bless her heart, doesn't even know what Rocky Horror is. Oh, this will be fun. 

Accommodation

Miraculously, I have been placed into St. Salvator's Hall! The, frankly, best hall on campus. They told me I wouldn't fit in, that I wasn't posh enough....well. HA! I'll show them. I can be just as English as the English. Or as Scottish as the Scottish. I don't know. Basically, just not American. I'm so excited! I wasn't expecting to end up in Sallies, but now that I have... YESSSSSSSS!!! WHOOOO! VICTORY!

This will now be the view that greets me when I come back from a long day of classes:

Ahhh. Isn't that nice?

Critically Important News! ...That is Really Overdue...

Oh my golly goodness, it's been nearly 3 months since I've been on here. Ooohhh dear. Well, anyway, in that 3 month period of time, I managed to finally go over to Scotland (and England...), and get a good look round St. Andrews. It was sunny, warm, and not windy (!), and there were daffodils everywhere, and there were little lambies...oh, it was so precious. The most important bit, however, is that I got my IB conditions waived, so I can now go to St. Andrews without freaking out about my IB exams! Result! My Eternal thanks go out to Dad, who managed to convince Mrs. Minick to re-read my application as a student coming from a non-IB school. What ever am I to do without you?

New Accommodation Form--finally!

Hi,

Long time, no see. Sorry about that. It's been crazy busy at school. And unfortunately, I think it will be like that until June. Anyway, St. Andrews has finally updated their Accommodation Form from the 2010-2011 to the 2011-2012 school year! I filled out the new form, but I'm not sure when should I turn in the form. I could send it now in an email, or I could wait until my visit in April to drop it off in person at the Admissions office. One of my ideas is that maybe I should actually get to see the residence halls before turning in the form. On the other hand though, it might be good to know which hall I've been given an offer to, and then look round that particular hall when I visit. I don't know. Ideas?