Pre-sessional Week. Week Zero. Orientation Week. All names for the same thing. The past seven days have been exhausting, due to the many events scheduled that aim to welcome us, inform us and force us to socialize. It is been a blast learning my way around the university, making friends and preparing for school to really start.
The University of St Andrews is quite an international school and I am meeting people from all over the world. During dinner my first night here I sat with a girl from Cyprus, a Russian girl, a girl who has lived in America, Mexico and Berlin and a Scottish girl. Since then I have met people from Barbados, Spain, France, Finland, El Salvador, Antigua, Canada, Singapore, China, Japan, and England, along with a large number of Americans. When a group of people are together at a meal or just hanging out in the coffee shop (yes! there is a coffee shop in my dorm) our favorite things to do are discuss the differences in our cultures and mimic each others accents/languages. I have a horrid English accent, the Brits just laugh at me. But perhaps with practice I will get better.
Classes begin on Monday, and I must say, I am ready to start. This has been a very fun week, and I’ve made loads of friends and have settled in nicely, but I’m ready to get into a routine. This semester I am taking Early Modern History 1450-1650, Intro to International Relations, and Old Testament Hebrew, all of which I am quite excited about. I matriculated on Wednesday, a tradition that is basically registration but they call ‘becoming a member of the university family’, so I am officially allowed to be here now. I really love this place. I said goodbye to my mom last night, which was horrible, but I am glad to be here.
Pictures: My room before; my room after; the town and east sands; New Hall, my dorm. Photos courtesy of Carol Luetkehans
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