This afternoon.
I have a third Skye post with a few more pictures and such I'll post soon, I just wanted to interrupt the series for a St. Andrews post.
The academic quad yesterday afternoon.
Another church in the centre of town this morning.
It has been such a wonderful week. Today I finished my St. Andrews education. Just about. My two final exams are in three weeks on the 15th and 16th of May. But with the completion of my final class, it's hard to believe I'm saying goodbye to my tutors, professors and classmates, and of course the School of English which I've loved so much. My autonomous learning group of six other students and myself completed a presentation in our final class on the portrayal of Mary I (also known as Mary Tudor) by historians and in popular culture. Our consensus was that Mary is remembered pretty horrendously, and in some ways, justifiably so.
Last night Shaunna, myself and another American study abroad student attended a meeting for the Folk Singing society. There were seven of us and we all sat in a circle singing various folk songs for two hours that the members had brought with them. I really can't sing at all, but I love singing as part of a group and many of the songs were so beautiful. We sang a capella and my favorites were the American and Scottish songs. All of the songs were historic and the most challenging songs were the few we sang in Gaelic and Welsh. Reading and singing the Gaelic involved a large amout of memorization as the letters in the Gaelic alphabet (which is only eighteen letters!) have different pronunciations than the English alphabet allowing the words to sound completely different. Welsh was still challenging in pronunciation but much easier as it follows a similar alphabet. After singing, the group of us went to the Whey Pat tavern for a dinner of delicious homemade pub nachos.
After class today I did a bit of reading in the library before attempting to embark on some short story writing. I've spent much of the past few weeks (as classes have died down) writing poetry as I'm still trying to figure out what method/genre of Creative Writing (if any) best fits me. The poems are currently off being examined by every and any poet I happen to know (which is very few) to see if there is any worth in pursuing poetry further. In the meantime, I've taken a poetry hiatus and am trying to pursue longer pieces of writing. Later in the afternoon, I embarked on a long walk. Being in St. Andrews, I've found I've been fortunate having the option of walking in the centre of town, walking on the beach, the pier, through the Cathedral ruins, on the beautiful street parallel to the ocean, on the coastal path, or in the forest-like trail far from the sea. Spring in New England has been calling to me and I chose the forest trail I've walked along only once or twice. It was a perfect choice.
And it was absolutely beautiful.
It was completely the spring-walk-in-New-England I was craving.
Yet it was also everything of St. Andrews that I've loved.
And I thought a lot throughout. I wandered and thought about this idea and choice and journey I've embarked on this year. And how I'm leaving extraordinarily happy and proud of myself to have done it. Alone. I gained so much. Some days I think I could have done more at St. Andrews...I could have been involved in the same ways that I was involved at Saint Michael's, but in the end, it was right for me to be involved in what I was involved in. I took the spare time to enjoy every bit of living here. I know strongly that I'll never forget St. Andrews. Nearly every day since I arrived here in September (but more and more lately) I continue to think of any and every possible way I can make it back to St. Andrews someday. It's not my home in the sense that New Hampshire/Vermont/New England has become a part of me, but St. Andrews is an extraordinarily special place to me, and of course graduate work/future visits float around in my mind. Other students have asked me (actually beginning in September) if I would consider a fourth-year here by transferring. Part of me has always wanted that, but I know that Saint Michael's is my home too. I know some days next year (I think particularly in the fall and the cold days of the Vermont winter) will be very tough, but I'm going to return to the U.S. Saint Michael's made it possible for me to come here and is where everything truthfully began for me. I love the college I will graduate from just as much as I love St. Andrews, only in a different sense.
When I reached the end of this gorgeous walk, I ran into Stuart, a friend from my Tudor course. We turned around and walked for an hour in the sunshine discussing American/British history and American/British politics before I headed to Tesco to buy salmon for my dinner. I know so much of my love for St. Andrews and my year here is solely invested in the friendships I've made and conversations had. For that, I am so grateful.
No comments:
Post a Comment