St Andrews, a student's paradise.

Chapter 7: Fresher's week.

It's saturday today. I've been here exactly 1 week and for some odd reason it feels like I've been here for a month or so. Those seven days we're quite busy so I didn't have much time to post anything, but today is a "quieter" day so I'm taking the time to summarize what's been good in the hood.

Saturday 20 September: I've already explained this day in the previous post but I missed out the whole evening part. Chrissi and I came back from our tour in time for Dinner, which was relatively early 5h45, and there was a HUGE line (it went till C floor.[A is the top floor] and the dining room is on E floor), like everywhere else in QueueTown, I mean, St Andrews. I don't remember what was for dinner, but it was surprisingly good. Everyone always said Hall food was only edible, not good. But then again, McIntosh was voted best food Hall, and it really deserves its title. So there is always one meat, one fish and one vegetarian dish, salads or sandwiches from which you choose one of, and then there's an open salad bar for all. Desert is either a cooked one (like melon meringue pie, rhubarb crumble with custard,..) or a piece of fruit. Then all of the meals have a "healthy living" tag and they have "foods for the mind", which basically mean a healthy choice for both your body and mind. Then, because that is not good enough, they have so many fairtrade things like tea, coffee, sugar, etc.

This reminds me that I need to tell you that St Andrews has so many charity shops like Oxfam, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research Uk, and much more, it's quite nice to see a whole town caring about such things.

Anyway, after dinner, Chrissi, Ellie, Andrea Tom, Alex, John and I went to the beach for a swim (Andrea and I didn't swim, we were holding everyones clothes, bags, towels..), 'twas pretty cold to be totally honest.

Then there was the Pub Crawl, which as its name clearly indicates is when you go from pub to pub until you finally nearly(or not) have to crawl to get to the other. We didn't have too much walking to do as when going out of one pub, you merely have to walk a meter or so to enter the second one. I don't know if I've written this already but St Andrews has a surplus of pubs, cafés, hotels/b&b & Golf Shops.

After that we went to the Bubble event in the Students Union. I was paid my entrance by a guy who probably felt like he had to pay for me (and Ellie) if he wanted to cut the whole line. After paying he immediately left. That's the way to go! haha. I didn't stay there too long as I stupidly got some of the liquid of those phosphorescent bands all over my sweater, and I was a bit tired from the Journey. I had a Gin & tonic that night in a cool flashy transparent plastic glass, which I took back home. I decided that each time I have a drink in one of those glasses I'd bring it back.

Sunday 21 September: I missed my first breakfast. It's from 9 to 9h30 on the weekends but I just slept in. 

My father arrived at about 12h20 and I brought in my extra luggage and then immediately went with him to Woolworths (or WW as I might later call it) to get some useful stuff for my room like pots, cutlery (yes I'm in a catered hall but Sat & Sun nights we have to cook for ourselves), food boxes, etc. We also went to buy some binders and other things I will need for working efficiently and in an organized way.

After lunch we walked about town a bit and then I went to my room to unpack whilst he went to the pub to watch the Ryder Cup. We met again for dinner, but we had to walk around for an hour before being able to be served at 9pm. Why so late? because my father insisted on eating some place with a TV to watch his Cup. How anti-social, since I'm in no way interested in watching that.

Anyway, at night I just went to the Union bar and hung out there.

Monday 22 September: My first breakfast, 8am-8h30: those chocolate rice crispies. (they also serve the normal ones, weetabix, bread rolls, sausage w/ smiley face potatoes and then you can take bread slices, porridge, or stuff from the salad bar if you wish too.

Today I had the welcome from the principal & Dean of Arts. What I remember from that speach: I was chosen from a total of 11 other students, which means by accepting me they rejected 10 people. You feel special but kinda bad for those unknown folks.

I also had the Film Studies talk. The lecturer, Elisabetta Girelli, was realllly into her thing, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be an awesome course.

I didn't do much today apart hanging out in the common room.

Oh by the way, I don't know if I explained this already but the Common Room is a very special place. There's a piano(actually two, but the wing one needs a key in order to be opened) and ALWAYS someone playing it beautifully, which is pretty amazing. all we need is a fire in the fireplace and it looks like a typical Posh common room. Well we might need to repaint the walls a beige-ish tone instead of the faded green that it is now, and have a bear rug and some moose heads hanging on the walls. But yeah.

There's always someone in there, like James who keeps reminding me of my origins by yelling "You're a Fleming" every time I pass by, at all times of the day and you can eat, drink (alcohol too), sleep (if you can with all the noise) play, talk or just sit there and do nothing. It's pretty cool and I'm not far away at all! Again, my room=> great location!

Tonight there was a party on E floor, in Alex's Room. It was cosy mosy.

Tuesday 23 September: today, the academic fayre. I went to try and figure out what course I'm going to take as a third module. I, was hesitating between computer science, psychology, sustainable development, music, geography and art history. 

Then I bought my books for Film Studies and German. The Film book looks amazingly interesting, it catches the eye, weighs a lot, but thank God I don't need to take it to class! And the German book, since they had to put me in the Beginners class because even though I could speak it, I didn't take German in school, looks like I'm going to have an easy semester. Super!

After that I had the welcome speech for International students. I yawned about 14 times during that speech and felt like sleeping, or leaving, but then I heard they were gonna give out a free sim card, so I stayed until the end. I also ended up taking 3 sim cards, just in case. 

They are the most amazing thing on earth! They were made specially for International calls so those cost less than national ones (for example, a landline or cell call to the USA is 4p/min whereas it's 13p for a landline/cell call in the UK, and even that is below average price!).

At night there was a party, this time on B floor (Boys Floor), in 3 different rooms. 

I was talking to Jake about the rumor of Emma Watson being in Sallies and all and he went mad crazy about it. He's in love with her and it was so cute/funny to hear him talk about it. 

later I was talking to Travis about modules and such and he said he was taking Arabic, so I thought "hmm Arabic, lots of countries speak that, it could come in handy". So, at about 10h30pm, I deliberately decided I was going to take beginners Arabic as a third module! As you can tell, I didn't look up Arabic whilst at the Academic fayre!

Wednesday 24 September: I went to WW to get those boxes for under the bed and in the cupboard. But I went back a little later with Chrissi, Sarah & Ellie to get some more for me and for them as well. Now it's so much easier to find things, and it's much much more organized. YAY!

After that, we went to East sands, which is a "long" walk, to do the sandcastle competition. Initially we wanted to make a cheese with holes in it and a mouse. then we thought of a doing a rocket, as our cheese wasn't looking like one really.. but that was for a split second before we thought of doing a hedgehog. Finally I proposed to do a turtle, and Ellie added that we should build his underwater kingdom too. We made a HUGE turtle, 3 baby turtles, 2 fish, an octopus and a "wall" of waves. We were really into our work of art and expect to be in the top 3. results are monday. dun dun duuun! 

On our way back we went to the catholic union's free tea stand to have something hot in between our hands and then head off for the Hall.

At night, I stayed in my room, talking to Olivier, as he wasn't feeling too well (my poor baby). There was another party at Alex's but it ended up being stopped by the wardens as there were people outside his window smoking. So I really didn't miss much. I'd much rather comfort my boyfriend in a period of hard moments, then being caught by the wardenial team and get something bad happened to me. (In the end nobody got anything, thank god!).

Then I went to the raisin, the Victoria, The union bar where I met Sarah and Tessa, and we went back to the Vic.

In the late night, I hung out in the CR (common room) with music and drinks, and some crips (chips for you non-uk people). Quite nice.

Thursday 25 September: Went to the careers center to get some info on getting a part time job. They didn't help much, they just sent me on a their site for more info. But! I got a goodie bag out of it.

then I went to the library to see if they knew what books I needed for Arabic. They did, but they weren't sure those were the ones for Beginners Arabic, so I decided to leave the £57 worth of books in my wallet and get more info on Monday. And I head of on the quest to find the post office, which is weirdly enough located inside WHS. From there on I went to Mermaids' tea party (the drama society) where I met Melissa who I now present as my Academic mum. She looks like a true 70's mum with the short necklong haircut, the pearl necklace, the clean look and the fact she's a redhead. Funky. She's reaally nice but I'll see if we get along and talk much. Otherwise I'd have to get another one, with whom I find more common things. Because I don't think Melissa and I have that much in common, but I mean I couldn't reject her after she asked me in public in front of 3-4 people, that would've been harsh and painful, and I'd feel bad. Anyway, I'll see what happens.

Later, in the common room James, Guy and I were singing "Rock Lobster" and "Peter's Gay Cowboy Song" from family guy. This led to us three watching "Blue Harvest" the star wars episode of family guy. At the end of that we were about 13 or so. Much fun!

I really should contact Gregor for the opening of our Family Guy Appreciation Society, It'd be PACKED with members, honest. That would be rad.

After dinner, 11 people and I were playing blackjack but we got tired of it so I proposed a game of Corsican War(with two decks of cards obviously), which was AMAZING! The first round lasted really long and in the end it was me against Dilara, I ended up winning, and my thumb was starting to be red. We immediately played a second round and this time there were quite a couple of people around us, just watching and commenting on the speed and force of the players. Seriously, corsican war at many is so much fun. In this one Guy totally scratched and opened his arm on the wooden table from when he reached out in speed to hit the cards. Again it was Dilara and me in a duel, I won in pain. My thumb was purple and really hurt! It goes with the game, you only notice the pain in the end. haha.

In the late evening, the Black event in the Students Union. I took a massive amount of the Glow bands and had about 9 on one arm, the others being hidden in my bag for later events. At the end, at 1am, I went out to the union bar when everyone was leaving, and I met a guy called Joe who had THE coolest tshirt, and there was this thing on him being my Academic dad, but first I had to answer some questions. In the end, I don't think he is, because we didn't quite have the chance to finish our chat as we were ushered out of the place. I had 2 drinks that night, but ended up with 5 glasses. yay, my collection is growing pretty fast.

I ended the night in the common room, and went to bed at 2h45.

The problem with the common room is that when I'm out, I come back and I'm knackered, but as I have to walk through the CR to go to my room, I always end up sitting on a couch and be there for another hour or more before I realize what time it is.

Friday 26 September: I went to the Volunteering fayre after breakfast and decided to join the "Families First" program. The point is to provide friendship and confidential support to families with children between the ages of 5 and 16 who may be experiencing stress and difficulties. I'm quite excited about it really.

That's pretty much all I did today. That and I also replied to a letter.

And and and, I talked to my lover, omg! :)

I didn't go out tonight, because there were no more tickets for the event and because I felt like staying in. So instead I did my accounting, calculated all I've spent, all I need to be reimbursed and such, and other fun stuff like that. 

Saturday 27 September: My first weekend breakfast! 9am woot woot! Its the same as the others, except it's later! I don't know if I already explained this, sorry if I did, but McIntosh is the only hall in which students are allowed to go to breakfast (or any meal) in their pyjamas. It truly is THE BEST HALL! 

Since I came back from B-fast I've been writing this post, whilst my roomie was still sleeping away her late night :)

Then we went for lunch and after that we all went to the sports fayre.

It took us 20 minutes to get there, that's the furthest part of St Andrews x]. It was cramped there and really warm.

I signed up for Archery, Polo, Riding, Tennis and Trampoline. They are not expensive at ALL! I think I'm gonna pay about £82 for all of these for a full year, plus the additional £33 for sports membership. But still £115 for five sports for a year is NOT expensive!

Then I'm back home, finishing this post before gong to the common room and see what's good over there. Or maybe quickly go to the post office, yeah I'll do that to get some Nomi credit :)

Anyway boys and girls, sorry for this HUGELY long post, but it's the same amount of reading had I written a bit every day. :)

I'm out, peace kiddos! Much love.

Scotland, dear Scotland.

Chapter 6: Arriving

Sooo I finished my bags at 22 past midnight and then decided to sleep for a bit even if I really didn't feel like it!

Then, as planned, I woke up at 5am, got ready and greeted Olivier and Raphaël, who woke up at 5am too to escort me to the airport, two of the most important people in my life!

At the airport, I got pretty freaggin' lucky because one bag was 31kg and the "carry on" one was 10kg, and I didn't have to pay the over weight AND could check in my second bag as the nice lady at the check in is the mother of a girl I used to go to school with. This kind of thing was THE thing I really needed. It would've been a bitch to carry a 10kg bag plus my backpack with my computer plus my blue beany pillow.

So the goodbyes were hard, but not as hard as I thought. The worst part came not too long after they left; when passing baggage check my stomach hurt and everything was all tight and cramped and when I walked into the aircraft I felt my eyes getting watery. Basically the Brussels-London flight is rebaptised "the emotional flight" and the London-Edinburgh one is "the excitment flight". It's weird but yeah, that's how/who I am!

Then I get to Edinburgh and I have to wait like 40mn till the luggage start coming out, and then it was pretty easy finding a way to go to St Andrews as there were like 10-15 students wearing bright blue shirts with flashy pink writings on them. All this for the bus ride to St Andrews!

It was not too long actually and when I got here, the three Chattaneers(McIntosh is commonly called Chattan) who were in that bus (that includes me) had to wait till 3:40ish for our luggage to arrive.

In the meantime I've had quite some hassle with the rooms, I'm in D15, but McIntosh hall has a D15 and a D15a room. Obviously, I was put in the D15a and the girl in D15a was put in D15. But we can't swap, so she had to move all of her stuff in the other room. For this I was lucky, again, I hadn't unpacked, as I didn't have anything to unpack really...

So the room has amazingly high ceilings, a GREAT view of some old houses and the beach + sea. However we are going to have a better view of that last thing in the winter, when leaves of the tree "blocking" our sight fall off! Overall it's a pretty good sized room, closet space is soso but there IS a possibility of installing drawers under the bed, so I'll do that.

It's greatly situated. This means if we open our door, we do one footstep, open another door and we are in the showers! So it's kind of like en En-Suite bedroom :) And the kitchen, who was recently redone, refurbished and all, is 5 meters away and AMAZING!

Last but not least: My roomie! Her name is Christine (but we call her Chrissi) and she's really nice. okay that sounds cheesy but it's true! plus we have at least one thing in common, she's about the same height as me. Mwahaha I won't be the smaller one now(I'm not the bigger one either..)!

We went out and she toured me through St Andrews in about an hour and a half, which was time enough to see everything there is to see! And I LOVE ST ANDREWS!

I'm pretty positive I'm going to have a hell of a good time here. And I can feel time is going to fly by so fast I'm not even gonna notice it's already summer holidays. This is amazing. I love it.

Start Spreading The News, I'm leaving...Tomorrow.

Chapter 5: Goodbyes

Any last words? Oh I've got plenty. There are so many things I'd love to say to my best friends, my boyfriend, my family... But it just doesn't all come out. This doesn't mean I don't love them all so much and will miss them greatly whilst I'm striving against the cold Scottish weather. 

It feels like I don't have enough time to trip and have some random jokes with friends before I leave, like I'm being torn apart to leave them. WHY THIS AWFUL FEELING?

I don't know why, going to St A was, IS a dream, and I'm DYING to go, seriously I can't wait to go and study, live and have fun there. I just wish I could have some of the people from Belgium there with me, at least 3 of them.

Today had the last night with my Beau. It gets me emotional to always have to used that stupid word, "last", I seriously feel like I'm dying. My "last" night, my "last" dinner. And today I had my "last" miniature shopping tour with Sasha (best friend). Man I'm going to miss our hour long talks about everything and nothing. But yeah, I'm not going to isolate myself in Antarctica or anything, so phones, internet and such will ALWAYS exist for communicating! yay to that.

I also saw Mathieu, one of my best friends with whom I've had some tensions since december, but we both agreed that I couldn't leave Belgium with us being on bad terms. And it all works out great. a little chat and some will made it all better.

I had such a great day today, I can tell it's my last one.

I don't want to think about tomorrow morning at the airport. But I'm glad Sasha is not coming, because that would have been TOO many people I love to be left behind all alone in Belgium.

Anyway,  my suitcase is full, but there are no clothes in it... that could be a problem. So I'm off figuring out how the hell I'm going to organise myself for that! xx

September Rush

Chapter 4: Pre-Uni Preparations

It's been so long since I've posted here but that's because I've been quite busy...to be honest. A lot has happened since July 15th, I can tell you that.

Overall, Germany was great for my German and the people I stayed with were fabulous and the kindest of people, always helpful, I actually felt like a part of the family. Wünderschön!

Also, thank god Mum read my mail because UCAS sent a letter of confirmation of a place. They give you 10 days to reply and I was at my 8th day... Missed going to St Andrews by an inch! Phew!

I came back home to move. The PUP (Pre-Uni Preparations) started here. I had to decide what I didn't need before December 2008 (date of the final move to the new house), and what i might need... I was done after 2 days, it went faster than expected :D

After that I'm going on my dad's boat and i'm worried about Accomodation who still hasn't replied after my hundreds of mails crying for information. But thankfully at the end of the trip, we got to log on and again, they sent a mail of confirmation for Accomodation. AGAIN I nearly missed a chance at having a room. I guess this summer I was pretty lucky.

Then my last holiday spot, a summer house in the south of france with my boyfriend and his family and another friend. Amazing. Great weather... I was told to enjoy it because the weather in St Andrews might be slightly different (like 25°C less, windy)!

And then back home, I'm starting to make lists of what to bring and started packing 3 days ago (I'm still not done!). This is a long process, especially since I'm journeying alone to St Andrews and my father comes 2 days later, and my mother about a month later. This allows me to pack 3 suitcases with stuff I need immediately and others that can wait. My mum is mostly going to bring me everything I will have realized i FORGOT. Which I'm sure will be a lot of things...

Also part of the PUP are the last moments with friends. Awful. I feel like I'm dying. The way every one of those moments nearly make me emotional when they're over. ah life, it's hard sometimes (all the times)! But I'm having a great time here in Belgium nonetheless! I'm actually going to miss it. Yeah Belgium is kinda fun! but I'm sure Scotland is too!

OMG I can't wait to be there, I just simply can not wait!

So other than that, I have a flight at 7am Brussels time, and I'm due to arrive at 10:35am Edinburgh time. Oh and I have a connection flight from London Gatwick. Then I think I'm going to take the shuttle or a bus to go to my new residence. It's like I'm taking a ride to my new life. Woh!

Well, that's it for today!