Heading Home for a Month

It's December 21st. Wow. I'm not really sure how to best put this all into words. 3.5 months have passed incredibly fast. While I will be travelling back to St Andrews for the spring semester in late January, the end of this semester certainly feels like a milestone and a somewhat-halfway point. I could not be happier to be returning here in January. Coming here was the absolute best decision I could have made for myself. The entire experience has been fulfilling and challenging and is worth so much to me. I can't imagine leaving now.

The St Andrews Castle and the North Sea last weekend.

It's difficult to not express everything possible into this post, but I still am just in awe of the beauty of this place and the last few months. Of the people, events, moments, days, experiences, thoughts, words said, comfort, ideas and constant laughter amidst it all. Some of my happiest and some of my loneliest days have occurred in the last 3.5 months, and as it's now nearly late-December and the end of a challenging year, I know that I would never want to relive 2012, yet I cannot imagine who I would be without living it. Since January, every single month has challenged me academically and emotionally and forced me to grow up. I've never experienced life in the ways I experienced life this year, and I know I've become a better person for it.

For fear of applying a cliche here, Scotland and St Andrews have a place in my heart. While in London earlier this week, the few times I overheard Scottish accents, I smiled and felt similar to how I feel when I overhear American accents, as if you understand and can identify with the individual.

Additionally, the views of the North Sea from St Andrews, the beauty and calmness of it all - is scenery I'll never forget.

Today I travelled to Dundee (a city that reminds me of Manchester, New Hampshire and is about 35 minutes north of St Andrews) I took the bus there and met my friends Miriam and Sheen who both live there. Both had recently arrived home for the holiday break and Sheen and I had been planning to present Miriam with a gift of notes from her friends and a few of her favorite things as she has had a challenging semester. Sheen brought along her friend Zarin and it was a really nice afternoon. Very rainy and plenty of Christmas shoppers everywhere, but we walked around Dundee and then settled in a coffee shop.

Miriam and myself.

The gifts! :)

Sheen and Zarin.

 

It was so wonderful to be with friends before leaving tomorrow and just a wonderful occasion. As the rain continued, I boarded the bus back to St Andrews at the Dundee bus station and as I listened to my iPod and watched the fields of sheep pass by I fought back tears as I thought of the last few months and the experience I've lived. For now, a return to the States!

London

Greetings. :)
I've returned from a few days spent with a friend in London and it was a wonderful trip!

I left St Andrews early on Sunday morning and departed for the nearby rail station. I had over an hour before the train would arrive, and it was a beautiful morning. The weather was mild and I was delighted to be able to sit outside with my book on a bench on the platform in December. The rail station is surrounded by green hills which were beautiful and just being hit with sunlight around 10:30am. Once the train arrived, I found my reserved seat and watched the countryside pass by. I had six and a half hours before the train would arrive in London and it really was beautiful to see so much of Scotland and England. I loved the views of the North Sea, the cliffs and moors in southern Scotland, the bright bridges we passed in Newcastle and Darlington, England. The cathedrals and castles in northern England set back behind fields under bright skies. It was so fun too, to watch the crowds of people at Edinburgh Waverley trrain station, Newcastle train station, and York. There were so many students headed home to England, and just crowds of people everywhere running to catch trains and families being reunited. It all was so wonderful to watch, and felt incredibly timeless.

On the train - somewhere not too far out of St Andrews, the North Sea.

More train - crossing a long bridge into Edinburgh.

More train - York, England, I believe.

I was able to write and read and sometime before 6pm, the train arrived at the last stop, Kings Cross Station in London. Emerging from the train in the mass crowd of students, businessmen, families, and elderly people dressed in long jackets and scarves, I was more than a bit nervous about navigating the enormous train station as well as the tube to get to central London where I was to meet my friend Tarah. What first struck me when I walked off the train at Kings Cross was how beautiful everything there was. Our train was one of at least twelve in the station, and we all seperated, rushing in seperate directions. The ceiling was so high and architecturally beautiful. Coming from non-urban area, I had only taken the subway a handful of times before and never alone, but I soon found the attached tube station and immediately bought my tickets with a connection. I took the Victoria Line and changed to the Northern Line before arriving in Charing Cross. Once there, I stepped outside to find myself in central London in the most beautiful, mild evening weather I could ever expect in December and I was convinced that the London tube system is incredibly simple, clear, and quite fun to use. :) Tarah met me at the station and as we walked through the center of the city, it felt exhilerating. Christmas lights and trees and people were everywhere, and it was beautiful. Tarah lives in a London School of Economics residence in an wonderful location. After a quick walk through Covent Garden and dropping off my bag at her residence, we set out for some Japanese food. The culinary options in London were (not surprisingly!) amazing. While St Andrews has wonderful food, it was so fun to explore such different cuisines while in London. We each ordered three small japanese dishes for ourselves, and I had never experienced a japanese meal like that. I ate a salmon roll, a few dumplings and some crab, and can say that I'm no longer the vegetarian I once thought I was. Other culinary highlights of London included plenty more salmon, a brazilian restaurant where I had a delicious curry dish, as well as a gelato place where I tasted salted caramel and rose gelato. That first evening, after our Japanese meal, we walked along the river Thames near Big Ben and the London Eye and enjoyed some mulled wine from a nearby Christmas market. We walked more around the city and by the end of the night, we were both quite exhausted.

The London Eye, an "observation wheel" constructed to mark the year 2000 in London.

 

myself with some mulled wine by the river Thames.

The next two days passed quickly! Tarah had three papers she was working on for her classes so we spent the mornings and evenings together but each afternoon she returned to work on her papers or take a nap. I loved the National Portrait Gallery. A mix up modern, renaissance, and Tudor portraits, everything was so gorgeous. The modern included several photographs of members of the current royal family, as well as musicians and important figures. The large exhibit on the Tudors was fascinating to me. I'll be taking a class next semester through the school of English about the Tudors, and seeing the paintings of Elizabeth I really made me look forward to the course. After Tarah left for the afternoon, I headed to the National Gallery next door which was also incredible. The entire gallery was enormous and included solely paintings. I think my favorites were Manet's paintings as well as the Renaissance art. Next, I walked to Westminster, where I had one goal: Westminster Abbey. Since reading a children's book about Elizabeth I in 2002, I've long held an interest in the Abbey, as it's where she is buried. I was planning on attending Evensong that afternoon but it appeared the choir was on break. Instead, I bought a ticket to explore the Abbey, and I'm quite happy I did. I spent a couple of hours in there, and while it is very different from a Cathedral, and certainly not as ornate or beautiful as a Cathedral, it was historic and inspiring in its own way. It began as an Abbey in the year 960, and just that was pretty amazing to me. Seeing the tombs of the Tudor family, including Elizabeth I's was also interesting. The afternoon included more walking and exploration before meeting up with Tarah for dinner that evening.

Trafalgar Square, outside the National Gallery.

The entrance to the National Gallery.

Trafalgar Square.

The National Gallery.

 

We took a short bus tour the following day and it was nice to see so many other corners of the city. Passing Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, as well as the Tower of London and St Paul's Cathedral was very cool. I explored more of Westminster and the area surrounding Parliament that afternoon before Tarah and I got dinner together once again, and walked around in Soho.

 

Tarah took this photo of me at breakfast one morning.

 

Westminster Abbey.

 

Westminster Abbey.

My curry and salad one night.

Tarah and I in Trafalgar Square. :)

 

I departed London mid-day on Wednesday, and after saying goodbye to Tarah and making my way back to King's Cross Station, I walked to the nearby British Library, a visit I was really hoping to make on the trip. While I couldn't stay too long for fear of missing my train, what I saw there was amazing. Original maps, sacred texts, journals, manuscripts and books of some of Britain's best writers was fascinating. After wandering around the maps, original journals, and ancient texts for awhile, I headed back to King's Cross where I boarded my train. The train was later in the day than my previous train, so it grew dark much quicker and I didn't see quite as much of the surroundings as I did when I ventured to London. Arriving back in St Andrews though, was wonderful, and just seeing the lights sprinkled over the town from afar was beautiful. I'll be here a couple more days and then depart for the States on Saturday. :)

 

 

Tragedy and Reflection

While my semester has officially ended here, and happy times have certainly been occurring, the sadness that I've felt with yesterday's elementary school shooting in Connecticut is far stronger than the the happenings here the last few days. I think I've written before on it, but not until I've been here for a prolonged period of time have I realized the sense of nationalism that being an American brings. It's a community-type feeling and while I've never been incredibly patriotic while in the States, something about an upbringing and life spent as an American brings out such a sense of nationalism when away. I usually try to stay quiet about it, as it's not the most popular voice to be raising in the international community, but it's forever in me, and I think as Americans, it's instilled in all of us.

Deaths like what occurred yesterday in a school happen often around the world and currently at enormously high rates in the Middle East. All instances are immense tragedies, but I think when it occurs close to home in our own communities and through our own eyes it hurts the most. The deaths are no more tragic or more important when they occur in the western world versus developing countries, but perhaps, and unfortunately, they much more shocking. This tragedy occurred in an elementary school in a small town in New England. Much like my small town and elementary school in New England. Much of the memories of my own elementary school and years spent there have been coming to me since I heard of the shooting. It's when you can imagine and visualize it all that it hurts the most. Last night, to finish the semester, my kitchenmates and a bunch of our friends went out for a celebratory dinner and a (very) late night afterwards. It was incredibly fun and I'm so glad we went out, but I learned of the shooting before leaving, and knew I would be the sole American at the table and with the group for the evening. The tragedy was periodically in the back of my mind, and when we discussed it at one point, I briefly explained the sense of nationalism that's arisen for me, how it feels like each time a national tragedy occurs, we all mourn, we all refleft, we're all thankful and in disbelief, clutching to whatever we can, telling others that we love them. It's a sense that arises with disbelief and a yearning for strength.

I have a busy-ish day ahead, including saying goodbye to several friends who are leaving this weekend or in the next few days. I'll be headed to London to visit a friend from Saint Michael's tomorrow and will return to St Andrews on Wednesday for a couple more days before flying back west.

Edinburgh, A visit, and a Final Exam

Aloha.
All here is well and plenty is being accomplished! Life continues to be wonderfully challenging and exciting.

Here's an image of myself and my friend Allison this past Friday outside of Edinburgh Castle. It was certainly chilly that day, but very fun.

 

Amanda visited this weekend which was wonderful. We kept busy but also fit in quite a bit of  relaxing and sleep as a way to celebrate the end of our semesters. Allison and I spent all of Friday in Edinburgh exploring the German Christmas market, Edinburgh castle, and a delicious vegetarian cafe popular among students at the University of Edinburgh.

 

As Allison departed back for St Andrews around 3:30 pm, I spent the next several hours in a coffee shop before catching a bus to the Edinburgh airport. As the airport is on the very outskirts of the city, the ride was 30 minutes, and only myself and a sleeping man were on the bus. It was beautiful passing through so much of Edinburgh at night with Christmas lights all around. I think my favorite part of the bus ride was the stop at the Edinburgh Zoo. While I haven't been yet, the fact that the zoo contains the only pandas in the U.K. - given as a gift to Scotland from China last year - definitely interests me! Much of Edinburgh and Scotland has capitalized upon this as well...in addition to the  traditional bagpipes, shortbread, tartan/plaid, Nessie, and whiskey, the young panda pair are arguably the current marketing image of Scotland.

Amanda's flight from Spain was a couple hours late and it was certainly a frenzy getting back to St Andrews that night, but we returned around 1:30 a.m. and slept quite late the next morning. Saturday was spent exploring the entirity of the town and I was thankful Amanda was able to meet I think all of my friends here. We journeyed over to my friend Marissa's flat Saturday afternoon when she and her flatmates were taking a study break, went out to dinner with Allison, provided ice cream for a party of sorts with my four kitchen-mates, and went out to a pub with my sweet Scottish friend Miriam that evening.

Sunday we were both hoping to journey to a nearby castle but found the buses didn't travel that route on Sundays. We spent part of the day instead in Dundee, Scotland's fourth-largest city located just 30 minuted north of St Andrews. I think I would best describe Dundee as feeling quite a bit like Manchester, New Hampshire. Quite interesting, semi-industrial, ethnic, working class, yet traditionally Scottish as well! Upon returning to St Andrews, Amanda was an amazing guest as I spent (several) hours on final preparations for my final Virginia Woolf exam which took place this afternoon. Later, we skyped some friends from Saint Michael's.

Amanda left this morning and I entered full-on exam mode. I met a couple classmates to head over to the exam venue with, and it was QUITE the experience. I've been fortunate with journalism over the past couple of years to routinely have final exams consisting of papers and articles; not since my SAT and ACT days have I truly sat an exam like the one I sat today. While my class is only 19 students, our exam venue was with another 350ish students in the sports hall. We entered the room in silence, dropped off everything we brought in an enormous pile of bags, jackets and coats in the back corner of the room with the exception of our identification cards, handfuls of pens, optional water bottle, and optional tissues. We were seated in long rows according to class in wooden and iron desks that felt like they had seen thousands of final exams before. There were windows leading to offices lining the high walls of the large room, and when I saw faces peering through them, I felt pretty sure that as students completing a final exam, we would be watched from all angles during the two hour exam. Given instructions to not leave the desk for the next two hours, I grew somewhat worried as I struggled to understand the accent of the Scottish man speaking the full instructions through the microphone which echoed throughout the sports hall. With intense focus though, I listened and focused on the words he spoke as if my life/passing grade depended upon it! Soon enough, we were given the command to immediately open the exam booklets marked with the photocopied St Andrews seal. Hundreds of us began the exam and tutors and proctors walked the rows continually for two hours peering at each student until the command was given for all pens to be put down immediately. Overall, it's incredibly hard to know how I performed, but I wrote everything I had memorized and prepared. I knew four novels really well and used most everything I knew from them in the two essays that made up the entirety of the exam. I'm not sure if my essay structure and layout were exactly what was wanted, but I think I provided plenty of material. For now, Virginia Woolf is finished, and I can say that it was an incredibly challenging, yet fulfilling module!

For now, I'll be working on a couple of creative writing assignments for the next few days. I find the creative essay process to be so different from the research essay process. While somewhat simpler and less stressful to complete a creative essay, I find that once the story takes shape - usually within a day of it being crafted - it comes alive and is all I can think of. Thoughts, ideas and new twists come to me as I try to sleep and as I move through daily life. The creative essay overtakes so many areas of life and becomes an incredible distraction as the continual edits and changes dominate my thoughts. Time to begin!

The last few days

Greetings!

There has been PLENTY going on here, causing a very busy week and not too much sleep. This past week is revision week here. Revising, or studying, is pretty constant this week as all classes have ended and the two-week exam period begin on Monday. My one exam is on (yikes!) Monday. I've been studying here and there between seeing friends, attending a poetry event, a birthday party last night, a Christmas party tonight, a Christmas carol service yesterday and tying up the figurative 'loose ends' of the semester as we prepare for it all to end in just a couple weeks. All I can say is I'm pretty exhausted, but it's been incredible.

Creative Writing ended this week with a bonus lecture and workshop during revision week, and it's challenging to even put it into words - ironic as it's Creative Writing... - but I can say that it was an incredibly touching last lecture and workshop. While the class only met once a week for eleven weeks, the course has certainly been added to that small vault of past courses I've taken that I finish thinking, 'This was the best course I've ever taken.' The two tutors were just fabulous. The last lecture involved reflecting on the course, how we've all changed as writers, everything that has occurred, and it ended with both the tutors (who knew all of our names and our work!) thanking and saying goodbye to each of us. Perhaps it's just my present and constant somewhat-emotional state after a challenging and changing and continually evolving and symbolic year, but it definitely felt like an incredibly symbolic and bittersweet afternoon, thankfully though, I kept it together. :) I don't know where my writing will take me next. I know that next fall I'll return to journalism, or, as the department is now called, 'Media Studies, Journalism and Digital Arts' and graduate within that concentration, but I've loved creative writing more than I thought possible. Like my interests in dance, music, and visual arts, I see my future writing being a passion and forever present on the side of whatever I choose to do. I don't favor seclusion much and struggle to see myself solely writing. It's a beautiful art form that I've found here, and like the many, many ideas and experiences I feel forever indebted to Saint Michael's College for, I am forever indebted to the University of St Andrews for sparking an interest I didn't know I had and may not have found otherwise. I have two more pieces due as a final submission for Creative Writing in the next week, and as always, ideas and words and phrases and imagery are floating about my mind non-stop. I struggle most days to express everything I want to put onto paper when it comes to mind. I try to always have a tiny notebook with me and a few pens. The daily inspirations of this place, these people and these experiences continue to bring more and more to write about, both fact and fiction.

In other news, it's incredibly DARK here. All the time. So, so often. Each day grows darker and it's grown so incredibly dramatic. As of today, 1-2 pm is often when the sun disappears. 2-3 pm the light fades. 3-4 pm is getting pretty dark....and anytime after 4 pm can only be compared to the darkness of outer space. Thankfully, if my calculations are correct, it appears that when I leave St Andrews in late May 2013 the sunlight will be pushing 10-11 p.m.

Tomorrow I'll be headed to Edinburgh for what promises to be an amazing day as my lovely friend from Saint Michael's, Amanda, who is studying abroad in Spain will be visiting for the weekend! She flies in late tomorrow night and I'm headed to Edinburgh for the day with my friend Allison and then to the airport late tomorrow night. Amanda and I hope to explore some local castles this weekend and we will likely talk, a lot.

A few more images from around St Andrews the last few days are below: