May Sunshine

Greetings!

Today has been beautiful.

I woke up a little before 7 and was out the door by 7:15.

The sun had already been up for hours.

Everything was so peaceful.

I usually go to bed and sleep in quite late here as classes/work/opening hours of businesses all start a bit later than in the U.S.

But this morning, my alarm was set.

I planned on attending the Christian Union's morning prayer meeting.

They're held throughout the semester on Tuesdays and Thursdays with breakfast at 7:30 and prayer at 8.

Miriam and I arranged to go together, but sadly she was in bed a bit later than she expected and overslept. I arrived at the Chaplaincy a little past 7:30 and found it was a beautiful building. The kitchen was clean with a central table near a large window overlooking St. Andrews, a few fridges reserved for the Islamic, Jewish and Christian societies, and an array of breakfast cereals and toasts set out on the table. About fifteen of us gathered in the kitchen for breakfast. I met other students and was happy to see several friends as well. I wasn't sure what to expect for the prayer portion, but it was so incredibly peaceful and a wonderful way to begin the day. We began with a bit of singing and a student played guitar before we split into groups to pray together, reflect on the year, on the summer, on revision week, our exams and the array of challenges ahead. I was in a group with my friend Sheen and another student, Sharon.

It was so nice sharing such an introspective time with them.

We're each headed in such different directions in the coming weeks and years and it was great to reflect on it all. Sheen has two more years at St. Andrews for the first half of her medical degree while Sharon is headed to London in the fall for graduate school and I'm headed into my final year of college and back to the U.S. next week. The meeting closed with more singing that was so powerfully touching. I'll also admit that I found myself very near to shedding a few tears related to leaving and saying goodbye to the friends I've found here.

I'm so pleased I chose to attend the morning prayer meeting, and am delighted that another meeting will be held this Thursday morning.

From there, I headed to the School of English to revise for my Tudor exam.

But then I noticed the sea.

I had never seen the sea and the sky look quite like this before.

So many words came to mind as I stood watching it.

Adjacent ribbons of water.

Smooth, velvet blue cloth.

A simple painting of the most subtle blend of colors.

It's hard to see, but there is a tiny ghost ship on the horizon.

It looked like an oil tanker when I saw it earlier.

Later, after revising for my Tudor exam and eating lunch, I joined a few other English students for the play reading of A Streetcar Named Desire. I've long wanted to see the play or know the story. I did a bit of research beforehand, and knew it was something I was interested in. My friend Charlotte is the School of English student president and she organized the reading.

Charlotte and I last week. :)

The reading was so fun. It lasted three hours and it was especially nice that I didn't know the story too well and was in suspense while reading through it. A few of the readers were very good actresses. I played Steve and Mitch, and I actually really loved both parts. Because the play takes place in New Orleans, the English students tried to disguise their accents while I just tried to sound like a man with a New Orleans accent. There was a lot of laughter. And more than a few instances when we all struggled to say our lines between the laughter.

We kept the windows open in the room we were in in the School of English as we read through the play. It felt like a summer day. :)

Later, I laid out on this lawn for a couple hours and revised for my American Poetry exam. It was beautifully sunny.

This building, Upper College Hall is where I'll take my poetry exam next Thursday.

I'm hoping if I just talk to this unicorn above the door before heading inside, I'll be alright.