"you're just somewhere in limbo"

Well, firstly....

I AM DONE!!! (with exams / schoolwork!)

I would like to celebrate this achievement textually, because all of my friends give me crap about finally being a "junior" (3rd year, here), when I've been masquerading as a JSA (Junior Semester Abroad) this whole time. The title was said by Fred, as they toasted to finishing first year & then got confused as they tried to figure out what year I'd finished :P The fact that I'm turning 20 (not 21) on Monday blew their collective minds.

Anyway--Hooray for being halfway done with university!! (AH?!)

This is where you cheer.

Okay, moving on. It's been absolutely lovely not having any work to do...not that I did much before. But it IS different not having any to procrastinate doing / BS at the last minute. My days have been filled with random walks, playing in the park, playing video games with Dfloor boys, and going out to celebrate everyone else finishing exams (my coin purse is starting to feel the heat.) Also, there have been a lot of birthdays in the past couple weeks. What is so romantic about November, really? :P

Side-note. In the past 2 days, 2 boys from downstairs (whom I don't actually know) have knocked on my door and then walked in without waiting for a reply. Once, I was asleep, and once just now as I wrote this (I literally had just finished dressing. Good timing). I should really start locking my door.

[note--about 3 or more days have passed since I bothered to publish this thing...sorry!]

graveyards, scrabble, and MORE COWBELL

So, I'm going to miss this place like NO OTHER.

Where else can I revise for my exams in cathedral ruins, propped up against an ancient tombstone? (/ take a nap in the sun on daisy-covered grass...)

Not to mention our Wednesday night Aikman's adventure--listened to the greatest swing/blues/rock/whatever-the-heck-else-you-can-play-with-bass/guitar/piano/accordion/sax/2 vocalists/2 drummers/a COWBELL (we were pleased that someone in the audience yelled "More cowbell!!"--and that they responded with fervent cowbell ringing). The place was packed out and half the people were on their feet cheering, and the other half were dancing on their chairs (I think it started as a way to see over peoples' heads, but add beer and intriguing things happen). I mean, in that kind of atmosphere, the music could have been mediocre and it'd have been a good time--but man, it was SO GOOD! And so random. A tiny little pub in tiny little St. Andrews? Really? Where do these people come from? :)

And then somehow, when I was supposed to be revising, I ended up playing scrabble in the flat...It's the most deliciously nerdy activity :) Most gratifying words:
-tuxedoes--used ALL our letters; thus, 50 extra points! hooray!
-ta--meaning, "thank you." New word! Or, new for me. This is what happens when your teammate's Scottish :)
-sexy--over a triple word score! humorous AND high point value! what more can you ask for?

I still have not revised nearly enough. All I can really think about is how Q. will be here when I finish my exam. Ack! Not helpful for concentrating at all.

a vicious cycle

I just got my long essay for Old Scots back. Got a 17 (which is like...sort of equivalent to an A-...i think?) That's 40% of my grade, plus the 30% on which I also averaged 17...So that's 70% of my final grade, sorted.

I suck at math, but even I can tell that that bodes well for my final average.

PLUS, if my exam is only 30% of my grade, then I can conceivably show up, write anything and still manage to pass with more than I need for the credits to transfer them to my W&M transcript. I mean, I want to do well, because I like to know that I learned something while I've been here...

...But it's definitely not motivating me to do much revision :) Instead, I've been playing Guitar Hero and spending time in coffeeshops and / or pubs for the casual pint with friends. And getting the hiccoughs ALL THE TIME. And counting down till Quint gets here (there are 2 days, 14 hours and 20 minutes. approximately. No, I'm not excited; why do you ask?)

Off to pretend-study! :P

revision week is great for everything but revision.

....no, really.

They thought to themselves ("they" being the administration, aka THE MAN): "Hmm, it would be conducive to successful academic endeavours if we were to provide a week in which there are no classes and no exams, to allow for maximum study. We trust that the students will use this time wisely--after all, who wouldn't be glad for an extra week for uninterrupted revision?"

Then, naturally, the students thought to themselves, "Hmm. We have a week with no tangible responsibilities, apart from the distant threat of exams. But that's a week away. Let's party!"

I'm not complaining.

Anyhow, the result is that there was the most epic ball in the universe happened on Sunday night. It was the May Ball, which the Kate Kennedy Society sponsors every year for charity. It was by far the swankiest event I've ever attended, despite the fact that it was at a barn out in the middle of nowheresville-Fife (actually, that enhanced the beauty--it was a clear, chilly night and we got to see the stars!)

It happened in this old, sort of re-vamped barn with stone walls....There were pretty sofas and a big platform set up for the band, an open bar (with free hamburgers & hotdogs!), and carnival rides (like bumpercars and a weird swingy ride!) Plus, the people! Tuxedos or kilts with jackets/bowties for guys and gowns for girls....It's just classy. I went with Tam and his friend Valerie, who was visiting for the weekend--I briefly ran into the C-floor girls, but it was such a huge venue that there was no chance to reconvene & it was slightly sad.

Picture time! Somehow we managed not to get a photo of our little group, and naturally the only photo in which I'm not pulling some ridiculous face has Tam looking like a fish.

Told you.

See what I mean about ridiculous faces? Little did we know we were about to be thrown upside down by....

...THIS. Seriously, the most terrifying and long carnival ride EVER. I thought it was going to be over ten times before it actually ended (which was only after they hung us upside down for a solid 20 seconds).

And, lastly, the band!

So, anyway, now I'm faced with the harsh reality that I did absolutely no revision as I recovered from staying up all freakin' night. And while all I really want to do is plan my trip to Italy and / or daydream about the fact that Q. arrives in 4 days (!!). As much of a nerd as I am, somtimes it's much more pleasant to slack off whilst listening to the Beatles 1 album (my lastest obsession. I'm behind the times, I know) than to wade through a textbook.

OH! And how could I forget to update about Dad's visit? It was great--I let him do most of the photo-taking, so those will go up whenver he emails them to me (hint, hint?). We did a lot of wandering around St. Andrews / sitting in pubs with some of my friends & some pints (we sampled some excellent ales, of which Old Peculiar was my favourite, partially for the name ;P) / stair-climbing--First St. Rule's tower in St. Andrews, and then the Scott Monument in Edinburgh....You'd think we were professional tower-climbers, or something. Anyway, it was good fun, and so nice to show him around where I live / introduce him to my [wonderful] life here! :)

One last photo for good measure (taken at the top of St. Rule's tower with dad)...


And now....yeah, I should probably revise. Maybe...? :P

my current linguistic crusade(s)

Firstly, I aim to bring the following (amazing!) bit of slang back to the States.

schweff :
Origin: Uni Hall Old Wing
1. (verb) to hit on
He is totally schweffing on you!
2. (noun) an overly flirtatious person, a player (usu. male)
That guy is always with a different girl--what a schweff!
Derivative:
shweffy
1. (adj) flirtatious, sleazy, possibly creepy
Better leave before schweffy Bob gets here.

SO incredible. also, I have a particular affinity for words that sound like what they mean (not just in an onomatopoeia-type-way), and I feel this one does an excellent job of it :)

Secondly, (though this is less of a crusade than a concern) whilst in the library today, I decided to make it my personal goal never to use the word "exploit" in a literary analysis without explaining:
1) why this use qualifies as a distortion from the original (aka: not just because I'm saying it.)
2) what might be the author's purpose / the overall effect of said exploitation

And this is why:
exploit
1. to make productive use of: utilize
2. to make use of meanly or unfairly for one's own advantage
(miriam-webster.com)

Now, that's all well & good. It makes sense to point out when an author uses a certain genre to his or her own advantage (But the 2nd definition probably connotes that the author makes the genre seem like something that it wasn't originally). It does not, however, stand alone as a description of what an author achieves in his or her work. It just says, "Hey! He or she uses it!"

....or, at least, that's what I thought! But arguments about "exploiting" often read something like this: "Hey look! I recognise that trope! But wait! The author's doing something slightly different! Look, reader, that must be exploitation! Sweet, moving on..." (some paraphrasing involved ;P)

Where's the analysis?!? It frustrates me so much. So, here begins my one-woman quest for more sufficient explication of diction in the world of literary criticism? Perhaps I should wait 'till I have a degree....

Or just stick with spreading St. Andrews slang. :)

i go to Hogwarts.

Once again, this weekend has been SO IMMENSE! When I posted on Friday I had absolutely no idea the amazing things that were in store for me....

First! Pictures from May Dip!

(Fred, me, & Fham, still soaking & sleep-deprived :P)


(note the castle :D)

Uni Hall-ers, post-dip! (can you spot the Christy?)

(on the Old Course bridge, walking back from the beach :))

After the May Dip, I finished that paper (woohoo! Coursework, sorted!)--It was a mad dash to try to get it turned in on time (I hadn't slept in 30 hours, I had to make the 20 minute walk in 10 because I'd forgotten to do my bibliography, it was raining, I got there 2 minutes after the box had been collected, the secretary had to stamp my paper as "late"....but I emailed my prof & she said she'd cut me some slack since it was only 2 mins--PHEW!)

[Insert 2 hours of sleep]

Valedictory Dinner! Basically, it's a super formal version of High Table to celebrate the graduating fourth years. We all have to wear academic gowns & cocktail-ish attire (guys in suits/kilts, girls in dresses/skirts) and have 3 course meal (which makes us all thoroughly happy...REAL food and free wine in hall? what more could a uni student ask for?!) It was so pleasant :)


Note that my gown is slightly pushed back on my shoulders--it means I'm a second year (whereas all my friends are first years & wear their gowns fully on their shoulders). Third years wear them off one shoulder (left for Arts students and right for Sciences) and fourth years wear them off both shoulders (sort of hanging round their elbows)...Sometimes referred to as the "academic strip-tease" ;)

Next day? Uni Hall Garden Party...Pimms, barbeque, daisy chains, a string cortet, ice cream cones, tug-of-war...And SUN!


Later that night...fireworks?! Apparently they spent like 2,000 pounds. And that was with the discount that the former-Uni-Haller-turned-pyrotechnician got us :P

(Okay, to be fair, this is a LAME photo. I couldn't get my camera to turn on properly and caught the slightly-less-exciting tail end of a massive explosion of lights/colours that made us all go oooh and ahhh and squeal with delight like 5 year olds)

BUT WAIT! The fun doesn't stop there....

Last night-- Ceilidh in the Castle. If that doesn't sound epic to you, then you seriously need to reevaluate your definition.

The outside...

the inside....

....and us, exhausted after a wonderful evening of ceilidh! (there weren't any pictures of US ceilidh-ing because, let's face it, we were too busy flinging ourselves around the line of dance to be bothered :D)

Aaaand, if you still don't quite understand how freaking awesome it was...Watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcb8lzF_BuM&feature=related
(it's a video of the Ceilidh in the Castle from a few years back)

Okay, so maybe it looks a bit ridiculous....but it is SO much fun!

And today was a bank holiday. Seriously? Could not have asked for a better weekend.

GOOD MORNING!

Things I've Done Today (6 am, May 1)

-pulled an all-nighter to write a 10-page paper
-swam in the North Sea (with the most of St. Andrews)
-swigged a bit of Tobermory whiskey (Mom can appreciate that one :D)
-watched the sun rise over Castle Sands
-walked on the Old Course green/stood on the bridge

Conclusion: I ADORE ST. ANDREWS.

another rainy day in Scotland...

Actually, it's surprising how infrequently I've encountered rain this semester. I think we've had maybe 4 legitimately "rainy" days (and a quite few when it's hovered indecisively between cloudy & sunny with half-hearted attempts at rain). But today is not one of them. It's been pretty consistently gross outside, which suits me, 'cause this cold is taking me out at the knees!

Anyhow, I was just reflecting today (instead of writing my essay....again) on how very much I feel at home here. I'm definitely through the "OH MY GOODNESS, LOOK HOW DIFFERENT!" phase. I mean, occasionally I'm amused by particularly Scottish and/or British things that just catch me off guard, but on the whole....it's just normal. My room really feels like MINE ('cause it's a freaking pigstye). I don't get lost around town, and going to Tesco to buy something is not a terrifying prospect, because using the coinage is actually second-nature now (also, I know what things are called and where to find them). Also, I'm really good at looking to the right because cars approach on the left of the street :) And it always feels wonderfully restful to spend a whole day just hanging out in hall (as opposed to feeling weirdly out of place). It's funny how things that were initially so immense and scary just become commonplace after a while.

Of course, this feeling has to come when I have only a month left here.

I really need to get the hang of the balance between savouring my time here and wanting time to speed up to the things I'm looking forward to, like May Ball, Quint coming (18 days!), finals being over (aka party time!), my birthday/joint b-day party with friends, being at home with my family...

....Eeek, I don't want to think about goodbyes! Instead, I think I'll go ponder whether or not dinner will be edible tonight. Here's hoping it's not haggis again!

John Mayer says it better than I can

today i finally overcame
trying to fit the world inside a picture frame
maybe i will tell you all about it
when i'm in the mood to lose my way...
-John Mayer, 3x5


...Can I use song lyrics as an excuse for being lame?

Right, well, let's assume that was a "yes," and we'll move on.

We got back from spring break (which was 10 million kinds of awesome, by the way) and hit the ground running-- an essay, an exam, 2 presentations...And now (twitch) 3,000 words due next Friday. Shoot meeeeee.....Anyway, I was little too preoccupied with just doing the everyday living / schoolwork thing to keep you all up to date! (If it's any consolation, I just realised that it's been a solid month since I've written in my journal. Seriously. What's my problem? :P)

Now for photo-highlights (in chronological order! partaaay)


This is one of the millions of random alleys in Basel, Switzerland (about an hour's train ride from Kilchberg). The town was absolutely adorable...but really strange.

Exhibit A:

...And that's not even going into the weird things we saw at the museum (who knew that a sink made in 2001 belonged in the city's history museum next to the 14th century buckets?) Still, wandering the city aimlessly (well, I suppose we were vaguely aiming at a river, but kept getting lost) made for some really cool sights:

I won't even attempt to spell what this is. All I know is that there's a flag for each of the cantons in Switzerland. And that the market was really cute-looking.










Window displays in Switzerland are possibly the most mouth-watering things I've ever seen. That's CHOCOLATE stacked up in front of us. Oh! FUN FACT: Aubrey lives about a 15 min walk from the Lindt factory. The smell was amazing, and the taste was even better ;)







Moving on from The Basel Adventure....This is probably one of my favourites from the day. I took it the way up to Neuswanstein. The snow LOOKS really pretty...but in fact just made everything soggy and uncomfortable. Errr, I mean, happy and MAGICAL!








...And that fog makes it MYSTERIOUS....And therefore more beautiful, right? Right? Okay, but in all seriousness, even in my snow-soaked jeans, I had to admit that this was freakin' cool.


See?!? So amazing. Apparently Disney modeled Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland after this one...but we thought "Beauty & the Beast" was more accurate in this weather :)

Onward in the picture-adventure! (Details you missed in photography is the fact that we accidentally managed to incur a 120 euro ticket for driving in Austria without a sticker. And that we accidentally traveled through Liechtenstein on the way back to Switzerland. I feel like Liechtenstein is the only country you could accidentally drive into and out of before realising it).

I took a million and a half photos in Zurich, and a good portion of them happened in this crypt. The lighting was SO COOL and even after having seen about 20 billion cathedrals (okay maybe just 4) that weekend, it STILL caught my attention, so props to Mr. Cathedral Architect (I'm sure I read some plaque with his name) for that :P












Zurich at night! We wandered for like an hour looking for this one really cool bar before we caught a movie. We did not succeed (that night, at least!), but we got a really great view of the city...And then we saw The Reader, which is an amazing film. I was perplexed because they have intermissions exactly halfway through the movie. Weird, but cool :)

















Oh yeah, and I was on this trip, too :P Psshhh details.


And finally, a beautiful (last) day in Zurich...This was at Burkliplatz--sort of the town center. Ish? For as much as I got to know the city via our wanderings, I'm still not certain about its geography... ;)

And that was only the first week of spring break!! So amazing...

Okay, I love this photo SO MUCH. The lovely brown-haired one is MY MOMMY! We met in Edinburgh and stayed with Cath (the gray-haired one) for the weekend. We got to hear amazing life-stories about her travels and her sisters and her family's generations & generations of life in Collinton. Plus, she showed us around the city the first day, which was sweet! This is at the castle, looking out through the holes for the cannons (and someone with better knowledge of medieval structures can yell at me later about what the technical name is :P)








It was a spectacular day....



















....Which we ended with a drink at the coolest bank-turned-bar/restaurant EVER.

...it was aptly named "The Dome."

And now (drumroll)....
Miscellaneous Cool Things from Edinburgh and the Surrounding Areas!

Look! Thatched roof!

Stained glass! (Roslin Chapel...aka "Thanks to Dan Brown, We're Finally A Tourist Destination!")

A cool statue! (still Roslin Chapel)

The beautiful walk to Cath's church (which, by the way, has been in continuous use since the 13th century--wow.)

Oh yeah. And mom learned to drive on the other side of the road.
We didn't even hit anything the first day! ;)

After Edinburgh, we packed up to head west for Oban....But both of us were pretty content to wander, so we took a few detours! This one was my personal favourite...(oh gosh, if only I could remember the name!)

If that's not good enough evidence for the merits of wandering, then I don't know what is :)















So, after a while, we got to Oban, where we met up with my friend Tam, who'd been hiking the West Highland Way all week...And then we proceeded to find a castle on the edge of town & climb around in it! 'Cause apart from cooking, that's climbing around random rocks is what Tam & I do best :P

There are way cooler photos on Mom's camera. But you'll just have to take my word for it. The castle was awesome. And sitting in the upper window looking out at the sea? Even more awesome :)




















Stayed in a wonderful B&B with mommy...Got up the next day & took a ferry to Mull--see below!

Drove across Mull (again, mom's camera has the better pictures. Annoying.) Fun fact! There is only one 1-lane road on the Isle of Mull. And all the cars drive really quickly. I pretty much admire mom SO MUCH for figuring out how to use the passing places correctly so that we didn't get mowed down :)

We were GOING to catch a ferry to Iona (the first Christian settlement in Scotland) once we reached the end of Mull...but the winds were too high to run the ferry. Instead, there was this fisherman who was offering to take some tourists over for about 3 hours. Naturally, we hopped on board....

.....this. WAY cooler than a tourist ferry.


(this was not the boat. Just a pretty picture)

And now...the nunnery!

(This one & the one below are actually the cemetery & not the nunnery. But still really cool.)

These from the church on Iona...It actually still runs today. Can't even tell you how cool it is to be in such an ancient place that's still useful today.

So...(wow, this is getting WAY longer than I ever intended)...
After we returned to the Isle of Mull from the Isle of Iona, we drove back to Tobermory, where we spent the night in the most awesome B&B ever...as in, we got an amazing view of the town and comfy, clean beds and the most delicious breakfast ever for less than the going hostel rate. How did that happen? No idea.

See the black building? In it is this AWESOME little pub called the Mishnish, where we grabbed dinner and sat by the fire (well, after the locals left comfy chairs :P) and drank ale & Tobermory whiskey (well, Mom & Tam did. It was my first real whiskey & I could only handle a few sips :P) and had some excellent banter while it rained outside. Not bad at all.

And, sadly, that's where my camera died, so I'll just have to highlight the rest of the week with writing :)

-left Tam in Oban, and headed back east--we were going to try to get all the way to St. Andrews after we failed at finding a place to sleep that wasn't creepily tiny...but instead got halfway down Loch Lomond (which is BEAUTIFUL) before we caved & found an EXCELLENT hotel, for which we were profusely thankful.

-Got to St. Andrews. Stayed in cute B&B's, ate really delicious food, saw the cathedral and the castle, dragged mom to the library 'cause I had a paper due on Monday, had Easter at the Vineyard (the amazing church I attend), walked the Fife costal trail ('cause it was beautiful & sunny!), and then had to bid adeiu to my mommy on Monday morning.

Since then...it's been workworkwork. Well, except for a FEW fun things...

(Polo match on West Sands)

(Uni Hall Bad Taste Party)

(random train ride to sight-see in Edinburgh with Amanda & Fred)

PHEW. Okay. I think you're pretty well up-to-date on my life now.
Oh, and I'm dying of some kind of cold thingy, which mostly disappoints me because Friday is the May Dip and I want to jump in the North Sea with the rest of my peers....but I also don't want to give myself pneumonia :P