As a side note, I've noticed that I usually have three rotating opening lines to these posts. 'Why, hello!', 'Greetings!', and 'All is well here.' I'm not sure, just nothing else seems to fit. Today is a 'Why, hello!' day.
Lydia arrived early Tuesday evening and her visit has been wonderful. I first met Lydia when she attended my high school as an exchange student in 2008. She is from far eastern Germany and is currently attending University in Griefswald, a town on the northern coast of Germany. When together, we're usually typical girls and talk a lot, but we have similar interests, and she loves traveling to new places and continues to be so pumped to be in Scotland for the first time.
The first night I wanted to prepare a tasty and fun dinner for us both. I bought four salmon cakes from a local seafood restaurant, made some brocolli, a salad, toasted some bread, and as all of my single-person-cooking-for-one small plates and such were in use, I bought some Happy Birthday balloon plates at Sainsbury's, a grocery store here. For dessert, we each enjoyed a fudge doughnut. Here's Lydia, soon after arrival, right before we ate: (I think she might be in mid-laugh here)
Wednesday proved to be a gorgeous day. I packed a lunch in the morning and headed to the library for a couple hours as Lydia explored the town. I had a three-hour Creative Writing workshop beginning at 10 a.m. as we are all finishing off our creative non-fiction pieces for Monday. Lydia and I met up for an outdoor lunch on the lawn of St. Salvatore's quad at 1, and as it was a visiting day with high school students from around the world on tours, dozens of student tour guides wore the traditional red gowns of St. Andrews and were all over the place. It was one of the nicest days I've experienced at St. Andrews, and truly felt like fall, but was so beautifully sunny. The air felt crisp, with crunch leaves everwhere but it was still warm and comfortable. The sky and the sea were matching shades of blue.
Where we enjoyed our lunch.
I found this sweater very cheaply at a thrift store here. It's angora and warm and reminds me of bunnies and spinning wheels and wool.
I was able to do some Virginia Woolf reading outdoors and have been getting plenty of use out of my rain boots, even if when it isn't raining. They're warm and can walk through anything. :)
I've completely fallen in love with this bookmark I bought in the highlands. I have such an unexplainable soft spot for cartoonish drawings of animals (or just highland cows and flowers...)
From there, I was off to a preparatory Virginia Woolf presentation meeting, and met up with Lydia again in the evening. We dined at a local cafe, enjoying lentil soup, and we both read our books. We bumped into Uncle Henry later on in the town, and it's been fun introducting Lydia to friends and (academic) family members we've run into.
Today has been a much colder and rainier day. Lydia and I enjoyed a late morning breakfast and I took the morning off from studying to explore the St. Andrews Castle and Cathedral! When I first arrived in Scotland, I bought a Scotland Explorer pass for 37 pounds which for the next year admits me to any national landmark in Scotland. Most are castles, but there are nearly one hundred landmarks, and I've already gotten quite a bit of use from the pass.
The castle is mostly ruins, but includes a nice museum and the opportunity to explore the ruins and the creepy tunnels that run underneith it. We were right across from the school of English and right on the stormy sea.
In the museum part, paintings depicted the history of the Castle, and historical figures, like these two quarreling gentlemen, and the Protestant reformer below spoke to you/startled you as you approached them.
I had heard previously that the St. Andrews cathedral was once a Catholic epicenter, but learning about it here was interesting. While Scotland was a Catholic nation, with the St. Andrews cathedral as an enormous drawing point and representation of the faith, when the Protestant reformation first swept Scotland and reformers arrived in St. Andrews they were burned at the stake in the town, (as described in earlier posts, as well) but mere decades later, the energy and words of the reformation were so strong that reformers and converts took to destroying all Catholic images and objects, stripping the cathedral of it's ornateness, altars, and allowing it to fall into disrepair. Slowly, walls crumbled, fires occured, and today the once enormous cathedral (it was originally over 350 feet long) sits in ruins. Catholicism became the religious minority and continues to be today. Much of the castle had since been destroyed as well. It doesn't resemble what one would consider a castle, too much. A few stone walls remain.
View of the sea from the castle
Lydia!
Our best take... :)
Part of the castle includes underground tunnels where the castle's inhabitants hid when invaders sailed up to the castle during the multiple wars of Scottish Independence, or during the Protestant reformation when there were murders and generally high tension all around. The tunnels are open to the public, but because of the cold weather, we were a few of the only tourists around.
Disclaimer: Studying Abroad includes trying new things.
It was frightening, but we did it.
Reads: 'Members of the public are admitted to these subterranaean passages at their own risk'
The tunnel was damp and cold, with leaking ceilings dripping with water. Much of it was between four and five feet high, with uneven floors, but railings all around.
While exploring, it was strange to think that my english classes take place just a few feet from the tunnel...future shortcut to class? Probably not. :(
It didn't go too far, but just as we thought we had reached the end, an end that promised daylight and a re-emergence into society the end proved to be...
A dead end! Lydia tried her best to push down the stone wall.
This section was very slanted. It felt a bit like you were rolling through the tunnel. I was holding my camera straight here.
From there, we headed nearby to the Cathedral!
Much of the grounds of where the cathedral once stood is just an enormous cemetary. Some graves date to the 1600s but are no longer legible. One recent one was 2002.
Climbing this tower was included in the ticket. My American ways convinced me that upon entering, surely we would hop onto an elevator and zoom to the top. Rather, it was one thin, stone, spiral staircase.
We began here,
And then climbed a few miles up here.
But when we arrived, the view was incredible!
As with anything of this nature, pictures don't do it justice.
From there, we grabbed a quick lunch at a cafe, ran into some family members, and I headed back to the library before Virginia Woolf.
This week has proved to be a learning experience for me about professors versus tutors. At my home college in the U.S., every educator is a professor. While most possess a doctorate in his or her field, even those with a masters degree are referred to as professors. Nearly all are active scholars publishing his or her work, or constantly performing research, but all are professors first, and active scholars second. Perhaps this could be debated, as maybe I don't really know what I'm talking about. Here, my two modules are fourth year honours, but are taught respectively by two men who we call 'Jacob' and 'Jim.' Both are in their thirties and have masters degrees, but are active scholars first, educators second. This week, Virginia Woolf was taught by Dr. Susan Sellers, a professor here who has authored a book on Virginia Woolf, Vanessa and Virginia. Professor Sellers was so sweet, and it was a wonderful change for the class. She was modest and very kind, and I was able to think differently about the subject matter. Many of the professors here travel around to different universities and may be here for a few years or longer, the tutors (Jacob and Jim) may be working towards a doctorate here, or just teaching here as a tutor while writing or researching (St. Andrews is an isolated, yet inspring and beautiful Scottish town, perfect for a writer!).
E-mail here too is quite different. At my home college, emails to professors are informal, and email responses from professors may include only a few words, such as 'okay,' or 'see you then.' or 'yes.' Here, one must include Dear ____, and sign it 'Sincerely, ____', keeping a formal feel throughout. I had emailed one of my tutors the other day keeping this format but hadn't heard anything the rest of the day. It was during this waiting period, I overheard a few friends describing experiences of emailing actual professors here. One began an email with 'Hello, _____' and was sent an email by the professor requesting a formal apology and a re-crafted formal e-mail before the professor would consider responding to her original question. Just as I feared this would soon be my fate, I received a nice email response from my tutor. :)
As the middle of the semester is in full-swing (week 4 of 10 is ending!), the first essays each of which accounts for 25% and 30% of each grade are due in the next two weeks. Until then, more studying and explorations with Lydia!
No comments:
Post a Comment