The Swing of Things

Ah… back in St. Andrews! The flights were very nice- as I landed in London it was unusually clear and I could see Big Ben and the London Eye perfectly. The first thing I noticed after leaving the Edinburgh airport was the air. In Scotland, the air almost always feels crisp and has an "earthy" scent, which only occurs in Santa Barbara after heavy rain. They lost my luggage between flights, but luckily I was able to get it back by the morning when I set off for St. Andrews.

Hamish was a bit distracted

•  When I arrived in town, one of the first familiar faces I ran into was the town cat Hamish McHamish. He stopped for a moment to greet me, but then continued his business wandering through a garden. I've never taken a taxi in St. Andrews (I'm trying to keep it that way), and it was a really nice day, so I rolled my suitcase to my new flat. After a little while, my flatmate Sarah, her parents, and the landlord arrived. We all went upstairs into the flat and made sure everything was in order for us to live there for the year. Then we began to move in- I only had my suitcase at the time, so I helped Sarah a bit with her belongings.

The other day I overheard someone saying that "time doesn't exist in St. Andrews", and really it doesn't. I've been here two weeks, and it feels as though it could have been a year or a day. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint exactly where you are in history, especially when you walk seamlessly from an ancient cathedral ruin into a cutting edge science facility. I like the fact that time means everything and nothing here- it is well suited to the kind of person I am. The following are my most recent adventures:

•  On Monday, my first full day back, I tried to get up to go to pre-season fitness training with Canoe Club, but decided to go back to bed after breakfast due to jet lag. When I awoke again, I headed to the boat shed to help clean and rearrange the kayaking kit. When that was done, I went home for a little while and then walked to the sports centre to go to a yoga class (again with Canoe). There were so many people stretching in the gym it reminded me of images you see of people praying at Mecca.

Yard work

•  On Tuesday, I had to spend the whole day waiting around the flat for my boxes of stuff to be delivered by the storage company. I really disliked the company and will never use them again, but I won't go into detail about that just now. I wanted to be as productive as possible, and we didn't have any internet in the flat yet, so I ended up pulling weeds from our front and back yard for several hours (yes, it was that bad). I also rearranged some random blocks of concrete into a path, and chased away some spiders that were getting a little too comfortable on our water pipes.

•  On Wednesday, I went to slalom training and white water safety and rescue practice with Canoe Club on Grandtully. To tell the truth, I was really nervous because I hadn't gotten much practice all summer. It ended up being okay- my group did safety and rescue first, which involved learning techniques for rescue on land and then learning how to safely swim/ throw line in whitewater (see this video: Basic WW Safety and Rescue). It was nerve-wracking to willingly throw myself into a grade 2/3 rapid without a boat, but it was really helpful for building confidence for if I capsize. In the afternoon I did slalom practice with a professional coach, and I'd have to say slalom is probably not my calling. I find going down a river exciting and challenging enough without having to do the added maneuvers to get around the slalom poles. It is supposed to be very good for learning to precisely control your boat though. That evening I decided not to go on the Intermediate and Advanced trip out west, because I felt I needed more "river refreshing" and had a lot of prep to do for the Design Team Pinhole Camera Workshop.

•  Over the weekend, I went to the Border Abbeys, simply because I wanted to take a trip somewhere before school started. I hadn't done much traveling down south, and thought it would be interesting, so made a list of places I'd like to see. I then plotted them out on a map, and looked up bus routes to see what was feasible for a day trip- the Border Abbeys (four ruined religious buildings from the 12th century) made the most sense. I got on my first bus around 6:30, and was in Edinburgh by around 8:30. I ran a few errands in the city, then took my second bus to Melrose, where the first abbey was located.

•  Melrose Abbey was very impressive, even in its state of disrepair (it was being worked on when I was there). I saw the memorial plaque for Robert the Bruce- his heart was supposedly buried somewhere on the premises. I also got a glimpse of the Melrose pig- a bagpiping pig sculpture near the top of the building! It was difficult to see between the scaffolding, but I got a picture.

•  Next, I took a bus to the nearby town of Newtown St. Boswells and walked a couple miles on a forest trail to get to Dryburgh Abbey. There was a really pretty suspension bridge over the River Tweed that I passed by, as well as a very ornate and impressive gate with a cow pasture behind it. When I got to the abbey I found that I had it all to myself- I love that semi-remote or lesser known landmarks rarely have any tourists, especially on rainy days. I did my usual "ruins rounds"- making sure to go up all the decrepit spiral towers, tunnels, and to find the best gothic architectural features. Then I went and paid my respects to Sir Walter Scott, who was buried there at his request.

Red= expected route, Blue= actual route

•  The final portion of my trip did not go as planned- I wanted to take a short bus ride to Jedburgh Abbey, but when I got on the bus the driver did not clearly explain that I had to get a transfer halfway through. Instead I assumed it was a loop route, and that we were going to go back the other direction if I waited long enough. It didn't help that my phone GPS decided to stop working. Instead I ended up in Northern England at Berwick-upon-Tweed (I did get to see a glimpse of Kelso and Smailholm tower though, so it wasn't all bad). Though I would have liked to stay in a hostel there and continue back in the morning, or explore Northern England, I had been planning on a day trip so did not bring a passport (so wouldn't have been able to check in at a hostel) and thought it best to get back home. Luckily, there was a straight-shot train to Edinburgh, so I took that and ended up getting back to St. Andrews before I would have if I had done my original plan.

Basilica

•  The next couple days consisted of doing some errands, banking, and other general housekeeping kind of things. The most interesting errand was to the botanic gardens to pick up my basil plant, Basilica, which I left there over the summer- it grew at least a foot and a half! I also finished getting materials ready for the pinhole camera event. Then Freshers Week really began…

•  On Tuesday, I met with my counselor to discuss the following year, and then went to the union to meet with Design Team. We talked about our plans for the new PR team, our website and stock photo database, and where we currently stand with design work. Afterwards, we set up the workshop and were astounded by the amount of people who showed up- we didn't even have enough supplies for everyone. I led the Freshers in the main construction of the cameras, while the rest of the team assisted people in putting them together and discussed what we do in Design Team. Overall, I think the event was a success.

Dippold Pinhole Camera

•  On Wednesday, I went to another advising and visa check appointment, and then I biked to the boat shed to help out with the Canoe give-it-a-go session. I basically just made sure everyone had a name sticker, sorted kit, and helped with the refreshments, but it was pretty fun. In the evening I went to a KnitSoc committee meeting at the VIC, which is one of my favorite restaurants in town.

•  On Thursday I was free, so of course I decided to "find work" for myself. I ended up doing Ents crew all day from 11am to 10:30pm, which I really enjoyed. I spent most of the time clearing the venue and setting up for a concert, but towards the end I got to do a small sound setup for RockSoc.

S Club in its prime

•  On Friday, I spent more time in the union, printing flyers and collecting film from people who made the pinhole cameras (unfortunately we haven't been able to develop it yet- it is kind of a long story). In the evening I went to the Canoe Club Freshers' bonfire, where I met some very nice new students who had many of my same interests.

•  On Saturday I did more Ents crew, this time setting up for the 90s band S Club 7, of which only two members remain. I'd have to say I liked prepping the venue more than the band itself, which was a little past it's prime (though I think that was the point). With Vengaboys and S Club 7, I'm certainly building a repertoire of teching failing 90s bands! After the band and the bop, we got the union ready for the Freshers' Fayre. It was another long day in the union- 5pm to 4:30am!

KnitSoc table at Freshers' Fayre (photo credit Tonje)

•  On Sunday, I went back to the union to man the Design Team booth at the Freshers' Fayre for a couple hours, then the KnitSoc booth for another couple of hours. It was way more crowded than I remember my Freshers being- I was going to sign up for the Photography Society there, but decided it was better to shoot them an email instead. That evening we did our Design Team social in the union bar. I had started feeling sick (Freshers' Flu!) that afternoon, but decided to muddle through the social. I met/ got to know some really interesting students who had tons of worldwide traveling experience and had been everywhere from Figi to Colombia to Thailand. After spending more than 24 hours in the union the past few days, I was super excited to leave!

KnitSoc flyer

•  On Monday, my classes officially began. I love my schedule- I only have class from 1-3 on most days! I'm also in the nicer lecture halls this year- an added bonus! I'm taking "History and Theory of European Art, Architecture, and Design from the French Revolution to Vienna 1900", "Sustainable Development: Environmental and Ecological Aspects" and an online class through Open University called "Design Thinking: Creativity for the 21st Century". I can't wait for these lectures: "Women Photographers of Victorian Britain", "Muybridge and Technologies of Vision", "Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style", "Art Nouveau in Europe", "Threats to the biodiversity of Bees", "Agricultural systems and ecology", and "Evaluating Marine Protected Areas". On Monday evening, I helped with KnitSoc's first meeting of the year. I'm the publicity officer, and designed the flyers and redid the Facebook page earlier in the week, so was interested in who would show up- we had a pretty good turnout.

•  Yesterday, Tuesday, was fairly uninteresting, just getting back into the swing of taking classes. Today I'm supposed to go on a "field trip" to West Sands beach with Sustainable Development- it is a really nice day, so it will be great going to the beach! This evening I'm probably going to an Ents meeting/social.

So that is about it in the overly detailed account of my life! Talk to you again soon!

beach classes design team ents exploring flat freshers week history kayaking knitsoc societies travel