Time is really starting to fly here at St Andrews, which is scary. I’m pretty much halfway through my first semester, yet I feel like I just got here. It’s been almost two weeks since my last blog, and so much has happened since then, but I feel like I was lamenting about my course load only yesterday. But, as they say, time flies when you’re having fun.
Two weekends ago was Raisin weekend, a St Andrews traditional two days of drinking and general debauchery students spend with their academic families. My Raisin consisted of an afternoon Tea Party with my academic mother, brother and uncles. It goes without saying that very little tea was drunk. My lovely mother had games and obstacle courses planned, and at one point I found myself wearing on my head a pair of pantyhose with tennis balls in the feet, swinging around like a drunk elephant in an attempt to knock over empty beer cans set on the floor. Honestly, it was not my most graceful or coordinated moment.
The night brought me to my academic father’s, a senior in the Joint Degree Programme, who blessedly fed us dinner – our stomachs were screaming for something to dry it out – and then threw us right back into the main activity of Raisin. The foam fight the next morning passed in a white, fresh-smelling blur, and before I knew it, it was Tuesday morning and I was sitting in history lecture once again.
On a tamer note, this past weekend my godparents and their kids drove up from their home in Northern England to stop by St Andrews and take me to Loch Ness. It was so nice seeing them and felt like having a little bit of home brought to me here in Scotland. The loch and castle ruins on its shores were stunning, and my photos really don’t do them justice. Sadly, no sighting of Nessie. On the whole, we spent the day taking silly pictures in the castle with the kids, gorging on non-dining hall food and having a really great time.
After these past two jam-packed weeks, it feels like the calm after the storm. However the peace can only last so long. The next week brings three WaMStA birthdays, including mine, and of course, Halloween. And if there is anything WaMStAs know how to do (other than adjust to a new social and academic environment practically every other year), it’s have a good time. So here’s to beautiful, warm and quiet nights in with my fuzzy pink hot water bottle that will become but memories in the week to come. They will be missed. But not too much.
