An' a' that!

Well, I finished. Development of the Novel wasn’t my best English course ever, but I’m confident that I at least passed the final. Thankfully, all I had to do this semester was pass my module. It may be by the skin of my teeth, but I did it! After my exam, I was introduced to a quaint St. Andrews’ tradition. Fourth year students, or seniors, are doused with buckets of water after their final exam. Just one of those wee quirks that make prestigious universities what they are. Brilliant!

Yesterday was spent in a sort of post-exam haze. I packed up my books, as usual; it’s such a nice way to bring closure to the academic part of the school year. Then, as I’m becoming quite accustomed, I hit the beach with my friends. It’s been about 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the day, which is amazingly warm for Scotland! Shorts and tee-shirts weather, totally. A good friend and I went to that posh-cinema in town to watch Robin Hood, which was fantastic, and then we went pier jumping.

Yes, I said pier jumping. St. Andrews pier is an icon of the city. What better way to celebrate the end of a semester than by taking a flying leap off a 10 foot pier into the waves of the North Sea? Exactly. I really enjoyed the experience, honestly! The water, blessedly, wasn’t as cold as May Dip but still chilly enough to be refreshing. I’ll probably go again before I head out!

Warm weather also brings in tourists by the bus loads. It’s so funny to watch my fellow Americans wander around, probably a bit how I looked my first week here, in total obliviousness. Granted, many tourists are here for the golf - but they are still prone to their own special type of quirks and oddities. Like, in almost every tour group there’s one guy who thinks he knows everything. “You know, Marge, when I was here in college…” and then the man will proceed to share some totally useless knowledge with the crowd, or voice his shock that the pub he went to in 1973 looks different now – that sort of thing. Even still, tourists are half of what keeps St. Andrews alive with students being the other half. We’re very grateful for anyone to come pump money into the economy. And, I’m afraid I just said that as if I were a local. O, dear!