Cheerio America, Hello Scotland!

Nine Holy Cross Juniors. Luggage. A plane ride. Two HC alums. A layover. Another plane ride. A taxi. The Scottish Countryside. An Adventure. St. Andrews!

Hello Scotland, I have arrived!!!!!!

I am currently writing this blog at a coffee shop named Costa, sipping a warm hot chocolate, that I just paid for in pounds, and this is my view:

I’ve been here for about two weeks now, and I have so much to share now that I am finally settled in! I figure that starting with day one will be helpful!

THE BEGINNING: I finally finished packing my bags, left my house with my parents, realized half way down the street that I left shoes at home, drove back, and then officially took off to Logan Airport to meet Amanda, a fellow HC student who I am studying abroad with! It was a long drive, and I am happy to say that I was so excited the entire drive (I was expecting myself to be emotional). When I got to the airport, when it actually truly hit me that I would be studying abroad for a year, away from everything I was used to, I shed a tear (or two), said goodbye to my parents, and then left for my adventure! We boarded the plane, casually flew over London for our layover, met two different Holy Cross Alums who were excited for us (how cool is that? Small world!) and then headed to Edinburgh. As we collected our bags from the airport, we casually bumped into three other HC girls who were studying abroad at St. Andrews with us! It was cute because I could recognize their purple sweatshirts from across the airport. AND WE WERE IN SCOTLAND!

I am living in the David Russell Apartments, and four other Holy Cross girls are living in this apartment complex with me. I have my own room in my flat and a double bed!!! A little bit different than Holy Cross where I lived in Mulledy for two years…! I have great flatmates. Two are from England, one is from South Korea, and the other is a study abroad student from Ohio.

After I settled into my room, the Holy Cross girls and I (Charlyce, Amanda, Nicole, and Vanessa) all took off into town to explore and get some shopping done for things like shampoo, towels, etc. We continued to explore the town and get acclimated for the rest of the day! We also all got to get to know each other quite well because we really didn’t know each other from before. I’m happy to say that everyone I am studying abroad with is so wonderful and I’m so thankful to be experiencing this with them!

SETTLING INTO ST. ANDREWS: There are nine Holy Cross students studying abroad with us, and when everyone arrived, we got together for pizza! We were so excited because we had found this cute little pizza place while exploring, called Pizza Express. We couldn’t believe how cute it was, with the old stone building it was in and how it seemed to be hidden in the corner of a small square  – the pizza was delicious as well. It is exciting when you come across something that you feel like you discovered, and in St. Andrews, I feel like I do this every day! I told my British Flatmates about this pizza place because I was so excited, and they burst out laughing…they then explained to me that Pizza Express is a huge chain restaurant. I laughed as well. Story of our lives.

We then continued to explore St. Andrews for the next few days (and actually found real Scottish local coffee shops and businesses)! The University of St. Andrews has been around since 1413, so as you can imagine, there is a lot of history to the town. It is also on the coast, so there are many ruins, museums, and places to go. Here are some of our sight seeing adventures!

In addition, we attended some orientation events, joined the Study Abroad Society, and also signed up for different clubs. Some people are taking golf lessons on the Old Course which is so cool! I am going to be a St. Andrews Ambassador. Ambassadors give tours and attend important events at the college! I am looking forward to finding out more soon. In addition, I am joining the Charities Campaign, where the campaign raises money for various organizations throughout the year. The fundraisers they do are honestly incredible – they have a Race2 Berlin where people hitchhike to Berlin (every year the city changes) and have people give them pledges if they complete the task. They have a Ball, and many different fundraisers as well. I’m excited to get more involved.

CULTURE SHOCK:

Last but not least, I want to mention my acclimation into St. Andrews. I wanted to write this on my blog because I want to remember this crucial transition into St. Andrews and Scottish Life.

First of all, something I noticed is that everyone here from Holy Cross is acclimating differently (which is a good thing!). Each of us have different experiences, and that’s important to have. I guess I just wasn’t expecting any form of “culture shock.” I don’t even know why I didn’t expect that considering I knew I was basically moving to Europe for a year. Nonetheless, I still didn’t expect a few things.

1. Slowing down. In my sociology classes at Holy Cross,  I have analyzed American culture and the American way of life. Actually experiencing the difference between my life at Holy Cross and at home, and my life here, has been somewhat shocking. For example, I had an issue here where I was supposed to be in two classes at once. That probably wouldn’t have happened at Holy Cross simply because the website would have prevented me from taking that schedule in the first place. Here, however, it took me a week to get it figured out, and I had to go to five different people to make it happen. I was so anxious because I had missed one of my classes for the first week, but then I began to see that it wasn’t really an issue in the professor’s and my advisor’s eyes. I’m so used to getting answers and addressing issues quickly, and constantly being on the move, but here, everyone is much more laid back. Things are a little less efficient, but at the same time, I kind of like that. There is so much

I didn’t expect that “slowing down” would be my issue! The way the my schedule works is that I only have class for 6 hours a week, total. I have Wednesdays and Thursdays off (in addition to the weekends being off). Obviously we have a ton of reading to do (you literally have no idea), but I am able to wake up and go to sleep when I want, do work for a little while, get lunch when I want, go to the gym, and make my life my own. It is a more relaxed way of life, and I am slowly adjusting to it. I wonder what it will be like when I return to America.

2. Biking. The walk from my apartment to town is about 20 minutes. Many people get bikes, and for anyone who is looking at St. Andrews, I recommend it. There is a bike sale where they sell good bikes for a fairly low cost, so look out for that! So when I got my bike, I was so excited. What I didn’t expect was for biking to be so serious here! There are SO many rules that I wasn’t expecting, and drivers get really angry if you don’t follow them. For example, when you are biking, you can NEVER ride on the wrong side of the street. Oh by the way, the streets here are reversed from America, so I am always driving forward on the left side of the road, with cars. That was a huge adjustment. After getting a few dirty looks, I asked my flatmates about the rules of biking. You are a car when you are on your bike and have to stop and go as if you are a car. You can never drive on the wrong side of the road. You can’t ride your bike on the sidewalks, but you can walk your bike on the sidewalks. It took getting used to, but now I’m feeling pretty good about it.

3. The Little Things. I’m also getting used to simple little things. For example, the size of cups/glasses are smaller. Its a twenty minute walk to get to class. They have different words to describe things! I think this goes to show that both the big things, like slowing down, and little things, like the size of cups, can be slightly different and take adjusting to.

Please understand that each of these culture shock things aren’t negative, I am just adjusting to them. In fact, I think I will eventually grow to love each of these things even more than what I am used to.

So that’s it for me for today! Can’t wait to talk to you soon!

Cheers,

Jackie

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