A quick note before I begin:
For all intents and purposes, I will be addressing this blog to Mr. Buchanan, as in James Buchanan, because it is in Scotland where his heart truly lies. However that is not to say that this blog is for his eyes only, but infact quite the opposite, it is for all those who wish to be informed of my activities here in scotland. However, most blogs (like diaries) have someone to whom they are written and so i only saw it fitting to address it to Mr. Buchanan. My apologies to anyone who is offended by this.
Mr. Buchanan,
Today concludes the orientation/party week called Freshers Week (freshers, aka freshmen, but nobody calls us that)
This weeks activities included Orientation activities such as:
1. Speeches from various administrators including the vice chancellor, academic dean, and heads of departments.
2. Matriculation
3. Getting books, and organizing dorms etc
and the Club fair, (like the one in high school)
basically these things resulted in:
Me being officially mariculated and enrolled as a full time student,
and signing myself up (willingly and unwillingly) for:
Swimming Club
Rifle Club
Men's Golf Club
Livesaving Club
and Shinty Club
If you are wondering what in the heck Shinty is (as I was) It is basically full contact field hockey with no pads at all. Pretty much what Rugby is to American Football, Shinty is to Ice hockey. The club's many catchy slogans include my personal favorite "Give Blood, Play Shinty" Needless to say I was signed up for this un willingly by one of the club's representatives whose tatics were akin to those of a used car salesman on crack. I do not intend to actually participate in this. (another sign on their table said in big bold letters "The shinty club does in no way encourage binge drinking" a signal that not all they do is play shinty)
However, this is the case for most clubs here at St. Andrews. They are very social and hold many events and such outside of their main activity. The sports are much more laid back than those in the US, even though there is still a high degree of competion.
Anyway on the subject of those many clubs I am signed up for, I do not think I will be participating in them all. The first three I will try to manage to participate, but I will probably not be joining the lifesaving club because the UK Royal standards are different from the YMCA so they would probably confuse me rather than keep my skills sharp.
Now for this week's Social activities:
Monday night: I went to a pub crawl with many members of my dorm visited the following pubs
Ma Belle's, The Lizard, The Gin House (on south street), The Rasin, and the Victoria Cafe.
Needless to say it was an expensive night. But it did give me the oppourtunity to meet many people from my dorm.
Tuesday Night: This was the "Back to School" night at "the bop" aka the main dance/concert venue at the student union. I thought the theme was pretty clever, many British students wore their old school ties, and looked reminicent of Angus Young of AC/DC. A fun dance, however, the DJ was horrible (by american standards) and the music was remincent of (as my friend Jenna put so perfectly) "a 7th grade bat mitzfa" Way too much techno, line dances, and oh yes, the hit of the night the "Grease" medley
Wednsday Night: I went to the Swimming Club Meet and Greet and after my last dinner with Dad, I took it easy and chilled in my room.
Thursday Night was a disaster avoided. Jenna and I set out to go to a salsa lesson and meet some friends she had met earlier. However, the hispanic food was pretty poor (big suprise), and after an hour of waiting for the dancing to start, it wasn't a lesson at all. It was just two people who were good at salsa, dancing on stage while everybody else sat around awkwardly. So we left pretty early to go hang out with our new found friends, Josh and Ashley (graduate management students), who at the end of the night adopted us and became our academic parents. More about that later.
Friday Night: Josh, Jenna and I went to Aikman's Bar (pretty randomly, we were looking for a bar that Josh had liked the last time he came to St. Andrews to visit, and found it on our first try). A small blue grass band happened to be playing that night (a local Scottish one, called Black Cat Bone) We had a few Stella's and sat near the band and had a great time. Probably the best night out thus far. The band was rockin, and included many classic bluegrass instruments, such as the washtub bass (except instead of a washtub, it was a box). They performed many bluegrass standards including "Midnight Special" in which I made it known I was from Houston after hearing the lyric "If you ever go to Houston..." After that song the singer apologized to all the Americans for his "accent" They were great.
Saturday Night: We saw two bands at the students union Interloper (a good band, even though they ripped off the name from Interpol) and The pidgeon detectives who were also quite good. After that it was back to Josh's dorm for some post concert socializing.
Today I basically took it easy since there wasn't much to do. I watched Kill Bill vol 1 and 2 among other things.
So that was my week.
Here are some side notes.
I am taking three Classes: Introduction to International Relations, Ghost And Doubles: an Introduction to 19th and 20th century literature, and Elements of Music.
On "Give it a Go" day (in which you can try out for any and as many sports teams as you would like) I went to the RIfle club and gave it a go. I shot a particularly close grouping (even though they adjusted my sights mid round) and when asked about my skills I attributed them to my texas heritage and my grandfather teaching me how to shoot at a young age.
Also I have met 4 other people from Middlebury, 3 febs and a JYA (junior year abroad). So that's pretty exciting since I will be seeing them all semester and then when i go to middlebury.
And I have gone out and hit balls twice on the driving range and intend to play a round next weekend with my new golfing buddy, Rory.
Anyway its very late and classes start tomorow, So I have to go.
-Tyler
Expect the next update in about a week or two
Currently Listening to:
Dispatch "Silent Steeples"
