I headed south of Scotland for a weekend in London.  I met up with two high school friends – Andrew, who’s studying in London, and Sara, who’s close to Amsterdam – and it was great to finally see some people from home other than the people I came to St. Andrews with.  It’s kind of funny because I’m pretty sure when we were all in high school, none of us would have thought in three years, we would be meeting up to tour London.  We had a great time, and there is a

Big Ben

 good possibility I’ll go back next semester.

 I met up with Sara and a friend she had come with on Friday afternoon.  We did a little sightseeing, stumbled upon Big Ben, but that was about it seeing as it gets dark around 4:00 now.  That night, we met up with Andrew and had a beer at one of the pubs he likes to go to. Afterwards, he took us to Piccadilly Square, which is the London equivalent of Times Square. There was a carnival going on, so we went on one of the rides, and that was pretty much the end of Friday. 

 On Saturday, we toured almost the entirety of London.  If it was on the map, we saw it – Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, the Globe Theater, St. Paul’s, Parliament.  Even though I was there for the whole weekend and could have spread some of the sightseeing out, the fear that I wouldn’t see everything drove me to take it all in on Saturday.  Sunday was kind of a letdown because of the rain.  We went to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, but they cancelled it. Go figure, the guys who are supposed to protect the Queen can’t handle rain.  Anyways, we ended up doing some souvenir shopping and I had some bangers and mash, which I knew I had to eat when I was in London. I was not letdown – easily one of the best meals I’ve had since I’ve been over here.  All in all, like I said, I had a great time, even with the rain, and it was great to see friends from home.

 I made the decision a couple weeks ago to come home for Christmas.  So in less than three weeks, I’ll be back in the States, and I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone again for the holidays.

I finally made it onto the Old Course on Friday, after two and a half months of walking by it almost every day.  It was the best experience I’ve had so far, and I don’t think anything else will top it.  It was sunny out, which is somewhat of a rarity over here lately, and although it was a little wet, the course was in great condition. It was the best round of golf I’ve played since I’ve been here, and I know I played better just because I was on the Old Course. It sounds cliché, but the feeling of playing on the Old Course is unexplainable, and for those four hours, I was in a state of complete bliss. It was a humbling experience as well, especially when you think about all the greats who have played there over the past century.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and although I’m probably going to play the course a lot more before I leave, I don’t think it will ever be as extraordinary as that first time.

 This weekend was the infamous Raisin Weekend.  My academic family and I spent all of Sunday eating and drinking at my mother and fathers houses.  We started at 11 a.m. and I think I made it back to my room sometime around midnight. On Monday morning, we went back to our mother’s house where she dressed us up in costumes.   We were supposed to be the Transformers, which is semi-manly, so I still had some of my dignity left.  Other people were dressed as half naked babies, smurfs, old women; you name it, someone was dressed like it.  The final event of the weekend was the giant shaving foam fight. It was crazy – pretty much the whole town lined the street as the entirety of the freshman class paraded in our costumes to the quad where the foam fight was held.  The weekend was a blast, and it really felt good to be a part of one of St. Andrews oldest traditions.

 My plans for London are finally set.  I’m flying out this Friday, and I’ll be back on Monday. I’m really looking forward to that.  There’s only four more weeks left in the semester, and with my trip to London, golf, and school work, I know it’s going to fly by.

I finally made it out of Scotland for the first time since I came to St. Andrews. It might have been one of the greatest weeks of my life. I went with a group of guys from Holy Cross, and the five of us spent Saturday through Tuesday in Barcelona and Thursday through Sunday in Rome. Wednesday was a travel day, nothing really too interesting. It was

Beach in Barcelona

 my first experience dealing with international airports, customs, and Ryanair, but overall I would say we were pretty successful in our travels.

 Barcelona was just really relaxing.  We spent all of Monday sightseeing, and actually covered a lot of ground in one day.  Most of the monuments were pretty generic, but we were able to see the Sagrada Familia, which is a cathedral that has been under construction for about 200 years.  On Monday, we spent most of the day on the beach. It was roughly 70 degrees, although the water was cold and none of us ended up going in.  It was probably 45 and rainy in St. Andrews, so I was happy to soak in whatever heat I could get.  That night we ended up at an ice bar on the same beach – someone told us it was the only ice bar in the world located on a beach. We ended our trip in Barcelona at an FC Barcelona soccer game on Tuesday night.

 Rome was easily the most interesting place I’ve ever been to in my life. The first night there, we went out for dinner (I had spaghetti and meatballs) and then had some gelato while hanging out at the Trevi Fountain.  We spent almost all of

The Coliseum

 Thursday at the Vatican, and although we didn’t get to see the Pope, we did get to see the President of Italy drive by on our way back to our Hostel.  On Friday, we went to see all of the ruins, including the Coliseum.  The Coliseum is pretty unbelievable in itself, and while a lot of the ruins have eroded down to pretty much nothing (which is understandable seeing as they are 2000 years old), it’s still easy to appreciate what they would have looked like in their prime.  We were supposed to do some more sightseeing on Saturday, but we ended up following a protest/ riot around Rome for a few hours – they were marching and lighting flairs and smoke bombs around the Coliseum like it was no big deal.  We ended the trip on a good note on Saturday night with some of the best pizza I had ever eaten followed by more gelato and a final trip to the Trevi Fountain.

 If you include the Vatican, that’s three countries in nine days, and like I said, easily one of the best weeks of my life.  I’m in the process of planning my trip to London in a few weeks, so hopefully that will turn out just as well.  And finally, I took plenty of pictures over the week, so those should be up within the next two days.

This week was probably the first week since I’ve been in St. Andrews that I realized I missed America.  Going to school in Massachusetts, I think I tend to take for granted some pretty basic stuff that I don’t have here in Scotland.  Although I can follow sports online, it’s not the same as on live TV.  Although the Red Sox tanked it in the playoffs, it would have actually been nice to watch the games.  Not to mention, I’m probably going to miss the entirety of the

Halloween

both the Patriots and the Celtics seasons.  Although Skype has proved invaluable for keeping in touch with my friends from Holy Cross, it’s still not the same as actually hanging out with them.  And of course, I miss my family.  I talk to them more than anyone else, but I easily miss them the most.

 But as I’m sitting here writing this, I’m also opening my new backpack that I just bought for my trip to Barcelona and Rome next week.  I mean, it’s pretty surreal – next week, I’m going to spend 8 days making my way around Spain and Italy.  And over the course of this year, I will probably do more traveling than most people will do in a lifetime.  So as much as I miss home, the fact is that for one year, I can sacrifice the sports and the time with my friends back at Holy Cross.  I’ve also realized that semi-boring weeks where I don’t really do anything interesting are going to happen, and it’s okay, because the week after, I could be going to see the Coliseum or the Eiffel Tower.

 On another note, they do celebrate Halloween over here.  Since I waited until the last minute, and due to the fact that

The Eden Course

 I didn’t want to spend any money on a costume, I resorted to taking the sheet off my bed and wearing it as a toga for the night.  Halloween itself wasn’t quite up to the standards of the States, but we had a good time anyway.

 I only made it to the course once this week, but I’ll be making up for it this up coming week.  I might even try for the Old Course on Friday

I knew I wouldn’t have too much to write about this week, so instead of boring you with uninteresting stories, I figured it would be a good time to post a few pictures of St. Andrews.  This is really just a glimpse, so hopefully I will be able to get alot more up in the future.  On another note, I actually spent a few hours at the library this week, and for the first time in three weeks, I went to both of my classes.  Also got in 18 on the New Course – thats five courses down, and two to go.

So this week was pretty ordinary. On Thursday, I was able to get in nine holes on the Strathtyrum course. Had my best round yet and didn’t lose a ball – a victory in itself. In my anthropology practical on Wednesday, I learned how to make rope out of reeds, and weave baskets from willow branches. Needless to say, I’m beginning to like that class. My class on the Mongols was cancelled for the second week in a row. Just in case anyone has been keeping a tally, I have only been to that class once in the last three weeks.  And I finally had the chance to catch up with my best friends from Holy Cross – skype is proving to be very valuable.

Friday morning, we left for our tour of the Scottish Highlands. Our tour guide, clad in a kilt, told us there were only two rules – keep a smile on your face, and don’t die. He was pretty much the man, and I don’t think we could’ve ended up with a better person to drive us around Scotland for the weekend.

Our first stop was a medieval cathedral about an hour from St. Andrews. I can’t say I’m very religious, but a stone

Loch Ness

 cathedral that has been around for a few centuries is always impressive. Our next destination was the Tomatin whiskey distillery. Although we didn’t get a full tour of the distillery, we did get to sample some of the whiskey, including Tomatin 12 year old single Highland malt. The highlight of Friday’s adventure was our swim in Loch Ness. I had thought our tour guide was kidding when he had told us we were going to swim in the loch earlier that day, seeing as it was about 50 degrees out, but he was dead serious. So everyone on the tour, none of us having brought bathing suits, stripped down and plunged into the 45 degree water. I probably lasted about 12 seconds before I ran out, but hey, I don’t know too many people that can actually say they swam in Loch Ness. We warmed up from our dip the Scottish way, with a shot of whiskey. The swim was easily the best part of the weekend.

The rest of the tour was a blast. We stayed at a hostel both nights, and spent the evenings having a few beers with

The Highlands

 the locals. On Saturday, we snuck over a fence and got up close and personal with some Highland cattle, explored druid ruins, and snapped scenic photos at 4 or 5 different locations. Sunday was spent almost entirely on driving back to St. Andrews. We did make a quick pit stop at the William Wallace monument (yes, he is actually a national hero).

Out of all of the places that I will visit while I’m in Europe, the Highlands will probably remain my favorite. I came to St. Andrews to experience Scotland, and while St. Andrews is a beautiful place, it’s very much set apart from most of Scotland. To me, the Highlands represented the “real” Scotland, and I couldn’t have been happier with how the tour went.

Due to the fact that one of my classes was cancelled last week, and the other was moved to Monday, I had from Tuesday through Friday off.  It gave me time to catch up on a little work and run some errands in town.  I had my haircut on Friday, which seems boring, except for the fact that I got a free glass of whiskey with the cut. You know you’re in Scotland when you get a glass of whiskey while having your haircut.  Although I have a lot of free time, I do have to keep a schedule so that way I can make it back to the dorm for all my meals.  I spent Thursday and Friday playing golf. This time, I played 9 on the Eden Course, and 18 on the Jubilee Course.  The winds here often reach 15 – 20 miles an hour, which is strong enough to mess around with anyone’s golf game. That’s 4 courses down, with 3 more to go.

 At St. Andrews, new students are adopted into academic families. Basically a third or fourth year student “adopts”

My academic family

 you – you pick your mother, and your father picks you.  They are supposed to help you adjust to college life at St. Andrews, get you acquainted in town, help you find classes, etc. Their major purpose, though, is to make sure that you have a good time on raisin weekend.  They provide you with alcohol and dress you up in ridiculous costumes in preparation for a massive shaving cream fight.  I met my entire family on Friday to go see a movie, and then afterwards, we went out for drinks.

The Opening Ball was held on Saturday night.  It’s a massive black tie event, with something like 1400 students attending. Guys dressed up in tuxedos, and kilts for those that have them, and girls wore nice dresses.  Free champagne was served at the door, and although I’m pretty sure it was beer, the idea of it was classy.  Mr. Hudson headlined the ball. I thought the opening acts were a little better though.  So it seems, did the rest of the student population seeing as most people didn’t stay for his entire performance.  By the end of the night, everyone had had a few drinks, and it had turned into a giant rave.  All in all, it was a great night, and since it was a charity event, it was for a good cause.

 Next week, I have my full schedule of classes, but hopefully, I’ll have some time to play a couple more courses.  We are going on a tour of the Scottish Highlands next weekend, there should be plenty of pictures in my next post.

            Reality finally hit me this week. The vacation known as orientation week is over. I actually had to start going to classes, and I’ve already gotten plenty of reading.  Luckily, I only have to take two classes: The Mongols and the West, which is a Medieval History course, and an Anthropology course on material culture.  Material Culture meets on Wednesday and Thursday, and I only get to mingle with The Mongols on Thursday, meaning I have a 5 day weekend.  Although it sounds pretty amazing, which it is, I have enough reading from those two classes to keep me pretty busy.

 I started Boxing club on Monday. Since most people are beginners, it is very focused on basic fitness, although we will start going over technique within the next few weeks. I’ve actually made a lot of friends there, including a few people from the US.  Joining a club was easily the best way to start making friends, and since St. Andrews has something like 120 of them, its pretty simple to find one that you’re interested in. 

Me, Hugh Grant, and George Lopez at the Old Course

 St. Andrews hosted the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the Old Course this weekend. I was fortunate enough to see Paddy Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, and Ernie Els tee off at the first hole.  George Lopez, Hugh Grant, Marcus Allen, and Greg Kinnear were also hitting the links this weekend (it was a Pro-Am).  It was a really laid back tournament, and all the players were actually really sociable.

 The highlight of my week was buying my membership to the St. Andrews Links Trust.  For about $300, I’m able to play all seven courses located in St. Andrews, including the Old Course.  I was luckily able to get out three times this week.  I played the Strathtyrum Course twice, and today, I was fortunate enough to get a tee time for the newly built Castle Course.  Located on the ocean overlooking St. Andrews, it was easily the most beautiful course I have ever played. My goal is to get out on the course at

The Castle Course

 least twice a week while I am here, and to play all seven courses at some point.

Orientation was a blast.  It was a lot different from Holy Cross’s orientation since we weren’t actually required to attend events, and most events served some sort of alcohol.  The school actually organized pub crawls on multiple nights.  There is definitely a benefit to having a drinking age of 18, and having everything within walking distance.  I tried haggis for the first time at “A Taste of Scotland”.  If you ignore the fact that you’re eating sheep’s stomach, it’s actually really good.  I signed up for a few sports, boxing and fly fishing, on Wednesday at the “Saints Sports Fair”.  Since I haven’t done either before, I figure I can only get better.  Not to mention I’ll probably meet a few people along the way.  There were so many events over the course of the week that even if I had wanted to go to all of them, it wouldn’t have been physically possible.

 On Wednesday, we matriculated.  It was a 3 hour process that involved picking classes, verifying my visa, and filling out health forms.  If you think it sounds boring, you’d be correct.  In order to get into a class, you have to go to each department and have an advisor sign you into the class.  It’s actually really archaic.  Pretty fitting for a school that is 600 years old I guess.  It really makes me appreciate the course management system at Holy Cross.

 The jet lag is slowly subsiding.  I still tend to wake up pretty late, and afternoon naps are becoming regular, but hopefully by next week, I’ll be on a regular schedule.  I only made breakfast once this week, which is probably for the better.  Out of the three meals, breakfast is by far the hardest to put down. Lunch and dinner are actually somewhat tasty, but you only get one plate- no seconds.  I figure that if the worst part of this experience is that I only get one plate of food per meal, then this is going to be a damn good year.

 Today was probably the most relaxing day I’ve had since I’ve been here.  I actually took a nap on the second fairway of the Old Course this afternoon (the Old Course becomes a public park on Sundays).  Since the dining hall doesn’t serve dinner on Saturday and Sunday, we went and had an American staple – Subway. And to top it off, we got our favorite bar, The Raisin, to play American Football on the TV.  I foresee many a night spent at The Raisin in the future. Hopefully I’ll be getting my membership to the links this week, and with classes starting tomorrow, next week’s post should be interesting.

It took me almost two days to pack, mostly due to procrastination, but I think I did okay.  You would be surprised how much you can fit into two large suitcases.  I flew out of the Manchester at 4:30 and arrived in Newark about 45 minutes later.  That flight was pretty easy.  I sat by myself in my own row with plenty of leg room, so I can’t complain.  I actually met a Scottish couple in the Newark airport.  I figured I should probably chat it up with them seeing as I was going to be living in their country for the next year.  They were very friendly.  They told me plenty of stories and gave me a lot of advice. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will run in to them again in Scotland.

 The flight from Newark to Edinburgh, Scotland was about 6 hours.  I was pretty lucky on this flight as well.  The person in the seat next to me never showed, so again, I had plenty of room to stretch out.  Although the portions were small, the food was pretty good.  To top it off, they had free TV and movies, so 6 hours flew by pretty fast.

 Arriving in Edinburgh was a little hectic.  Customs isn’t exactly the quickest process, but I had no problem getting through, and after about 45 minutes of waiting in line, I was on a bus to the University of St. Andrews.  As much as I wanted to sight see on the ride there, I succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep.  On the few occasions I did wake up, I mostly remember seeing fields filled with sheep, lots of sheep..

 Yesterday was pretty uneventful.  I unpacked for an hour, and then napped for another 5.  I had meant to do some shopping, but stores close fairly early here, most by 6:00, and I ended up just walking around, trying not to get lost.  Since I ended up missing dinner, I went to eat with some friends at a sandwich and pasta restaurant.  My first meal in Scotland was a double cheeseburger.

Today has been much more eventful.  We took a tour of the town, and I actually got to see all of the ancient architecture that I had seen in pictures.  I also took some time to walk the Old Course at St. Andrews.  Turns out it becomes a public park on Sundays, so even if you’re not a golfer, you can still get your picture taken on the 18^th green.

 This entire upcoming week is freshman orientation, so hopefully my next post will be a little bit more exciting.