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.
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. Otherwise, I will starve. I spent Thursday and Friday playing golf. This time, I played 9 holes 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”
Reality finally hit me this week. The vacation known as orientation week is over. I actually had to start going to classes,
Me, Hugh Grant, and George Lopez
and I’ve already gotten plenty of reading. Luckily, I only have to take two classes: The Mongols and the West, which is a Mediaeval History course, and an Anthropology course on material culture. Material Culture meets on Wednesday and Thursday, and my class on the Mongols only meets 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.
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. For those studying abroad soon, be prepared, your liver will take a beating the first week. 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.
Obviously, if you are going to be studying abroad for a semester or year, you will probably need a student visa. Unfortunately, they don’t exactly make it easy to get one of these treasured documents. I had to go through the UK border agency, so I’ll use them as an example. First things first, you’ll need a passport. Once you have a passport, you’ll head to the UK border agency website. They clearly define what forms you need to fill out, so don’t worry about that part. What they don’t really tell you is how to fill these bad boys out. Thats where youtube comes in. It can be a pain the ass, but its better to have everything set so your not calling your parents from the customs detention center at the airport. Good luck.
Most American kids will never get the chance to study abroad. Hell, most American kids will probably never travel abroad, never mind study. But for those fortunate enough to get the chance, studying abroad can be a kickass experience.
Travel, see new places, meet people from all over the world, experience new cultures, and yes, take some classes and learn stuff. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
But, as I've learned, there's a lot involved in the decision making process, planning, preparation, and execution when you're thinking of flying off to school in another corner of the world for a year. So, while I'm spending a year in a rainy corner of Scotland, I figure I'll use this blog to tell you all that I know and discover through the process.
Who knows, for those of you thinking about doing this, I just might be able to help you out. I'll talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. Choosing a location, going through the student visa process, making travel arrangements, what to bring, what to not bring, how to not come off as a stupid American, where to eat and drink cheaply, who knows what I'll talk about.
But if you want to study abroad, it will all eventually apply to you. You only get one chance to do this, let's make the most of it.
