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Last week, I did a little complaining about the weather we’ve been having lately.  Looks like the golf gods heard my prayers because the weather did a complete 180, and other than a few showers Saturday, it was sunny all week. Perfect golfing weather.  In the spirit of taking advantage of the only sun we’ve seen in 2 months, me and a few of the Holy Cross guys decided we would golf everyday this week – and we did.  We actually went twice on Monday, so that’s a total of 8 rounds (even if some were only 9 holes) in a span of 7 days.

Unfortunately, a few of those rounds were on the Balgove Course, which is more of a field with holes and flags than an actual course, but it’ still golf so I’ll let it slide.  We even attained a little variety with a few rounds on the Strath, 18 holes on the New, and to top it off, I played a solo 18 on the Old on Wednesday afternoon (probably my best round yet).

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The main street in St. Andrews

This seems to be a pretty big debate when students are considering studying abroad. Let me just say now, although a year may be long, a semester is just too short, and therefore a year is the better option. I’ve found that the longer I’m abroad, the greater the academic, cultural and personal benefits I’ve gained. By living in another country for 9-10 months, you will become more involved in the local scene and get a better feel for the knowledge of the culture.

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It hit me yesterday that tomorrow is the beginning of March and 2/3 of my trip is already over. It’s weird because with

Urquhart Castle - Actually went there

only 3 months left, there’s still so much I haven’t done. I’m really looking forward to coming home. It’s tough because while I can’t wait to come home, work for the summer, and then be back at Holy Cross next year, I don’t want to think about it so much that I lose sight of everything I want to do here.

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The Old Course - Every golfer's dream

I just got an email from someone studying abroad at St. Andrews next year, asking about the difficulty of getting a membership to the St. Andrew’s Links and playing on the Old Course. I know that golf was one of the biggest factors in my decision to come to St. Andrews, and I realized, had I not known someone who had come here before me, I would have never known about that opportunities for students to play golf here for dirt cheap. They don’t actually publicize it at all on the Link’s site, like it’s some big secret. So essentially, here is a copy of the email I just sent describing the process of gaining access to the world’s golf haven.

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I went to a whiskey tasting on Wednesday night.  I realized that I hadn’t done much in the way of experiencing Scottish culture in the past few months other than golfing, so it was good to taste one of Scotland’s most popular drinks. It was led by a guy from Straight Up Whiskey, although I don’t think I ever caught his name. He was totally into it – kilt and all – and he knew his stuff so although it was supposed to be somewhat informational and educational, it was also pretty fun.  We got to taste 5 drams including a Blend, Single Grain, and 3 Single Malts, and now I can actually tell you what all of those are. They had some whiskey left over so we were able to go up and get a few more samples after the tasting.

It was my birthday on Thursday, the big 21. It’s weird turning 21 in a country where I’ve been legal to drink alcohol since the day I got here. It probably won’t really hit me until I get back to the states and buy a beer legally for the first time.  My friends from New Hall bought me Budweiser for dinner for a little taste of home. After dinner, we went over to another friend’s dorm for some more drinks, some cake, and all that good stuff you do when you turn 21.  We finished off the night at the Raisin. We didn’t have any trouble getting up to the bar seeing as it was Thursday and we accounted for ¾ of the people in the place. I owe everyone for making it such a good time, although I do wish my friends from home were there to celebrate too.

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