Day 55: The Ocean

I love the ocean.

I love the crash of waves, and the music of pebbles washing up on the sand. I love the sun bursting out of the ocean in the morning and lighting it red in the evening. I love the breeze as I walk down the pier and the salt smell in the air by the beach.

I suppose, to be completely technical, I’m an inland girl. Hamilton Ontario is pretty landlocked (no—the great lakes don’t count). But, for as long as I can properly remember, I’ve lived by the sea.

On PEI, you’re never more than half an hour from the ocean, and we lived much closer. I loved growing up on a tidal river, watching the water flow in an out. We were also five minutes from one of PEI’s lovely red sand beaches, a favourite summer destination.

Now, in St. Andrew’s, the ocean is a reminder of home. When I look out over the North Sea, I know that it’s connected to the Northumberland Straight back in Canada. Maybe, over the years, some of the waves have made the same journey that I did, all the way across the ocean.

(Alright, I’m overly romanizing this a little. Waves probably don’t travel quite that far. But, it’s a nice thought)

The ocean has been a constant in my life. And now, there’s nothing that de-stresses me more than a short (or, to be honest, a really-not-short-at-all) walk down the beach. On a gorgeous day like today, I could have spent hours just sitting on the rocks, watching the waves, or collecting sea glass.

Now, just in case you’re not quite convinced about how gorgeous the ocean is… photographic evidence shall be supplied. The first half of these photos are from an impromptu post-prayer-meeting photoshoot with a few friends at West Sands, and the second half are from my study-break walk late yesterday afternoon at East Sands. Because, of course, the only thing better than the ocean is the ocean at sunrise or sunset.

The pier, with the lovely crashing waves.

The shoreline going south

The town! Isn't it just sooooo lovely?

Scottish flag above the town. So patriotic. :)

Pier and the edge of the town with the harbour and cathedral.

Scottish flag against the clouds

Rocks! They're fantastic for rock scrambling, and amazing for sea glass collecting!

Scotland!
(n.b. the random thing in the top of the picture is a windsurfing kite, or something of that sort...)

Waves... :)

Sunrise near West Sands as we head off to early morning prayer meeting.

After the meeting-- all bundled up!

Ocean... <3

"The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning..."

More rocks! There're rocks basically everywhere here. ALL the rock scrambling!

One of my friends had the idea to stand on the rocks and take sunrise silhouettes. 

Just slightly edited... :P
(but it's purple, so it's justified)

After showing you all these pictures, I am now going to present the gracious offer of a couch in my living room for you to sleep on... Anyone want to take me up on that?

Day 34: Study, Panic, and a St. Andrew's Sunset

It happens every term. You’d think I’d be used to it, what with being in fourth year, but it still hits me every time.

The shocking fact: going to university means you actually have to do work.

Revolutionary, ain’t it? It seems like it should be obvious, and it is, really, but sometimes the obvious things are the ones that slip your attention.

Obviously, I knew that coming to study at St. Andrew’s would require a certain amount of, well, studying. But all the hustle-bustle of Fresher’s week and auditions and general craziness made me forget about the actual point of being here.

The end result of my thoughtlessness was that essays that were apparently due far in the future were suddenly not so distant. And trying to learn five hundred Old English words in two weeks is certainly not optimal.

I’m kicking myself now for not working harder in the first few weeks, since it means that I’m currently quite busy, and will potentially get lower marks on certain assignments because I simply don’t have the time to complete them as well as I really should. However, at least I have an excuse—everything else going on in St. Andrew’s distracted me.

The odd thing is that this happens every year, even when I don’t have a million societies to steal my attention. Every year, about two or three weeks in, I suddenly realize that I have an essay coming up that I haven’t even thought about. Or a test in a few days that I haven’t studied for. Or a presentation on a book I haven’t read.

Once the realization hits, I kick into full study mode and get everything done, but there’s always that moment of panic when I find out how “behind” I am. And, at this point in my academic career, there’s the frustration when I recognize that I still haven’t fixed my study habits in order to combat the week-two-shock.

I suppose there’s not much hope for me, considering that this is the last autumn I’ll spend as an undergraduate student. Maybe things will get better in grad school? We’ll see… For now, though, all I can do is to make the best of the situation and tell myself that even if my marks aren’t as good as they really should be, going to St. Andrew’s was still worth it.

After all, even studying is tolerable when my break involves a walk along this beach:

Castle Sands at Sunset

The Cathedral and graveyard

PURPLE CLOUDS (slightly edited, yes. But they were definitely close to this colour!)

The pier 

Fishing boats. And lobster traps. And people ask me if St. Andrew's is very different from home... :P

Having the ocean here means so much to me.  It's amazing how much I love it, how just walking by it and watching the waves thunder along for a minute makes me feel so much calmer. Coming to the sea is like coming home. 

View up towards the castle

From the end of the pier looking up towards town

The waves were really crashing against the rocks

Tip of the pier

Reflections at East Sands

And there was even a heron who posed obligingly 

The Castle at sunset
(the upload made this picture look pixelated... sorry...)

Day 24: It's Been Three Weeks...

It’s day 24. I’ve been here for over three weeks.

I’ve gone to four lectures, and a tutorial in my prof’s office. I’ve ordered books online and signed up for a library card at the public library. I’ve been cast as Fleta (a principal fairy) in the Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s Iolanthe, and have been trained for tech at the Barron theatre. I’ve made tons of new friends and gained an academic family. I’ve experienced gorgeous St. Andrew’s, and travelled across Scotland. All in all, it’s been a fantastic three weeks.

To be cliché: it feels weird that it’s only been three weeks. While sometimes it seems like I just got here, more often I feel like I’ve been here for much longer. My life is so bound up with this town—it’s hard to imagine not taking just ten minutes to walk everywhere, not mentally converting pounds to dollars, not constantly explaining how I’m a fourth-year-abroad-from-Canada.

Life hasn’t quite settled into a routine yet, but I expect it will soon. It’s funny to look back (wow, looking back already, and it’s only three weeks!) to Fresher’s week, when I thought that life would quiet down once term started. Yeah, right. This past week has still been busy, with no sign of stopping.

Monday- Travel back from the other side of Scotland, callback audition for Iolanthe, attend Christian Music and Drama meeting, hang out with friends and sing along to YouTube vids

Tuesday- Class, call mum, Christian Union main meeting, worship night at a friend’s house

Wednesday- Class, skyping Alex, Fresher’s Plays meeting, Tech training, dinner with my academic family, Iolanthe rehearsal, pub night with Gilbert and Sullivan society

Thursday- Christian Union prayer meeting, study at the library, groceries/laundry, Jazz dance class, Bible study

Friday- Fresher’s plays meeting, Exchange student potluck, Toastie bar helping

Saturday- Iolanthe rehearsal, birthday party, dinner with the other side of my academic family, party at a friend’s flat

I don’t expect many of you actually read through that super carefully, and that’s okay, since it’s just a rather random sample of things that may happen in my life. (Frankly, that was mainly for my mom). All those things are also the reason why I really haven’t done a lot of reading for my classes yet… My lack of studying hasn’t been a problem so far, but I really do need to start working on some essays due in a few weeks. It’s just so much more fun to walk around singing from Iolanthe….

And now: Pictures!

The path down to Castle Sands (this happens to be right across from the English building)

Castle Sands (well, the rocks... the sand's kinda off to the side...)

Seaglass! And rocks! And shells! Oh my!

That tidepool ain't gonna get any bluer.

The castle, from the attacker's point of view

The shoreline was completely covered with small pebbles-- when the waves lapped in the sound of the stones rolling
over each other was like music.

Castle-- and clouds. Because if there's one thing Scotland does well, it's clouds

Gate leading out of St. Mary's Quad 

Holy Trinity church-- I'm pretty sure this is where John Knox preached

Random arch I need to walk through on my way to pretty much everywhere.
You know you're from North America when you wonder why the arch isn't bigger so they
could have two lanes of traffic underneath... *facepalm*

My new favourite seaglass find!

Some of the seaglass I've collected. There's just so much green, and even blue!

St. Salvador's Quad (affectionately known as "Sally's")

Nothing looks imposing like a row of arches

Or a tower.

Gardens. :)

Pointy turrets 

And a gate!

Other side of the tower

Apparently Patrick Hamilton (one of the first reformation martyrs) was burned at the stake one this spot.
Now, it's student legend that anyone who steps on this inscription in the pavement will fail their final exams.

To end my slideshow: St. Andrew's most entertaining street sign.