This area is so beautiful to me. It also symbolizes my Raisin Monday foam fight experience last October, and just so much of the ancient-ness of St Andrews.
This afternoon the sun was calling to me and I walked along the ocean and then the pier. It was a wonderfully reflective time for me with such natural beauty. Packs of seagulls flew all along the ocean, and the sun was strong and warm.
A few kayakers in the St Andrews harbor.
Seagulls on the pier.
The harbor.
The pier.
And then I spotted an ocean swan, who seemed to follow me as I walked alone down the pier. It was peaceful.
Last night I attended my friend Millie's (my academic aunt) 21st birthday celebration and it was so so fun. I brought along Miriam, and was able to reunite with my academic family. There was so much laughter and it was a great night. A little past midnight, we ventured to St Andrews only techno dance club, which usually isn't my type of thing, but it was incredibly fun and a great experience.
I received my final submission (exam) for Creative Writing yesterday when I visited the School of English office, and I was very pleased. I had never received a grade that high, and I think once I find some time, I hope to submit the short story somewhere.
Yesterday I attended my second class, The Early Tudors: Literature and Reformation and it was just as great as American poetry had been the day before. Certainly very challening, but just fascinating and I'm enjoying both of my classes greatly. The Tudors incorporates quite a bit of language work which I know will be a challenge, a lot of old English and a bit of Latin, but I know it will be great to learn. We're also a class of thirteen which is nice and are the first ever to experience the class, as it's brand new (and a bit experimental). The course focuses greatly on the literature, humanism, visual art, innovation - including the recent invention of the printing press - and the effects of the Protestant Reformation all within a closely cropped time period stretching from the reign of King Henry VII to the 1570s - the reign of Elizabeth I. Interestingly too, nearly all of the authors we're reading were either imprisoned, executed or exiled by the monarchs during the period.
The transition back besides re-understanding the fluency of varying international accents has been quite nice, I've gotten back into a few of the British spellings and recognizing the date as day/month/year rather than month/day/year and have bagged up my American coins for my change purse full of pence in between becoming re-acquainted to a few words and phrases I had forgotten the meaning of. Overall, it's been such a quick and easy transition as I've arrived back. I think above all, I just feel so grateful and lucky to be here. Not only with it being St Andrews' 600th anniversary this year, but just being a part of this community, finding academic challenge, enjoying the sea, the cobblestone streets, the steeples and beauty everywhere between the laughter and friendships.
I love it here so much. The community. The people. The experiences. The natural beauty.
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