April Week 4 - Doing some actual work... plus fun

So, last week was mostly me working diligently on my giant essay about the role of political Islam in Middle East state-building. Since it is worth 40 percent of my grade for the module, I figured I better get it done. So, I spent Mon-Thurs working on that massive thing, in the midst of a week of beautiful weather... sigh. Becky and I took a break on Tuesday night, though, to watch Disney movies, which was pretty fantastic! Thursday night, after my paper was turned in, a bunch of us went to a VIP reception and the awards night for the Half Cut Student Film Festival, in which our friend Adam had his film "Stranger's Hand." The film festival is part of the On the Rocks Arts Festival, which is held every year in St. Andrews. Although Adam's film didn't win, the night was great fun and it was quite an achievement that his first ever film was up for the award. My friend Beth from Augsburg, who I visited in Dublin, came up for the weekend as well. It was wonderful to be able to share my Scottish experience with yet another friend. And Beth picked a particularly great weekend to come up, as events for the art festival were still on on Sunday. We went with Charmaine to an outdoor production of Much Ado About Nothing (my favorite Shakespeare play), which, while a bit wet from the rain, was nevertheless amazing! That evening we went to a ceilidh in the castle, so not only did Beth get to see lots of men in kilts, she also got to dance with them! Unfortunately all that fun meant that I had to pull an all-nighter to finish my last essay, due in Monday. But all was well... I finished it with several hours to spare and dropped it off while showing Beth around St. Andrews before seeing her off at the bus station. And that's it - no more course work, just exams. So that's all for now... Will post again early next week. XXX - Sylvia

April Week 3: Back to Reality... Kind of.

Well, the first week back ended up being rather a let down. At least academically, anyway. Both of the meetings for one of my classes were canceled (surprise, surprise) and the due date for my giant essay was moved back, giving me more time to work on it/procrastinate on it. The weekend was alright, though. Another of my friends from high school came to visit. Maddie has been studying the whole year in Munich (I'll be going to visit her after term ends). She brought two of her friends from Munich up for the day as well, Jill and Emily. I gave them the St. Andrews tour (I'm getting pretty good at it) (here's us on West Sands) and we made some delicious food for dinner before I had to take them back to the bus station. On Saturday I did a 16-mile charity walk for the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), a volunteer coast guard/search and rescue service in the UK and Ireland. We went from St. Andrews along the Fife Coastal Path to Anstruther, home of the best fish and chip shop in Scotland (I can now say that I have eaten there - yay!). It was a beautiful day: not to hot and not raining. By the end of the walk I was absolutely knackered! The only unfortunate part of the walk was when one of our group, Kenneth, got hit by a way-ward golf ball... ouch! It was a great end to the weekend and I got to see some more of Scotland's amazing coast. More stories of life in the Scot-land to come soon... Love, Sylvia

The End of Spring Break: Easter/Charmaine's Birthday

Well, to make a long story short, I got pretty much no work done after I got back from Dublin because I had to prepare for the epic closing weekend of spring break. Liz, one of my friends from high school, and her friend Danni, who she's studying with in Rennes at the moment, came to visit me, so that added a great deal to the excitement and amusement of the weekend! (They were the first of many visitors in the last few weeks - it has been a blast!) Charmaine turned 22 on Easter Sunday, so we decided to have a house party on Saturday night to celebrate. The theme (I don't know if you can tell, but theme parties are kind of a big thing here) was Favo(u)rite Movie Characters. Most of you will be unsurprised to learn that I did not choose a regular, human movie character to dress up as... instead, I decided to dress up as Lumiere from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Before he turns back into a human at the end. This required much planning, a yellow bedsheet, tissue paper, sewing skills, and hair gel. But, I think the result was well worth the effort: Liz and Danni were there as well, so we used some tartan blankets to turn them into extras from Braveheart. Also at the party were Holly Golightly, Sandy from Grease, G.I. Jane, Maria Von Trapp, and and several Tom Cruises from Risky Business. All in all a fantastic night! After that night of mischief and mayhem, I got up for church on Easter Sunday. Then I came back to prepare for the Easter picnic I had decided to host. For once in it's sad life, the weather decided to cooperate - it was one of the most beautiful days we've had since I've been in St. Andrews. We took our tartan blankets (the same ones used in Braveheart) out to the hill overlooking the beach and had a wonderful picnic with sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, fruit and veg, and delicious treats. The American jelly beans were especially well-received (Thanks, Mom!). Given the lateness of the party the night before, the picnic was suprisingly well-attended (nearly 20 people in total) and made me feel very cool for having so many friends. Although that might have had more to do with the free food... hmmm... :) (Jen obviously is having a good time!) Later that day, I showed Liz and Danni around St. Andrews. On Monday morning they left and I had to get to working on everything I'd neglected over break... totally worth it, though! Until next time, Sylvia

Spring Break Week 1 - Dublin is Delightful!

Hey again! I spent the second weekend of spring break in Dublin visiting of one my friends from Augsburg (Beth) who is studying at UCD. She was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, let me stay at her apartment, cook me delicious food, and show me around Dublin all weekend. As a result, this trip was much less expensive and stressful than my Paris trip - thanks, Beth!

One of the first things we did was visit the Guinness factory. As long as you get within a several block radius of the factory, you can find it by following your nose. The smell is unmistakable! The exhibits were actually really informative and fun, plus you get a free pint of Guinness with your ticket. Drinking a pint of Guinness is like drinking bread. But anyway, you get your pint and drink it while enjoying it a 360 degree view of Dublin.

Later that day, we wandered around Dublin and saw some cool performers on Grafton Street and then went through St. Stephen's Green on our way home.

On Sunday (Palm Sunday it was), we went to Christ Church. They have an amazing choir, probably the best church choir I have ever heard. After the service, we had tea in the crypt. Best coffee hour venue ever. I think I can die happy now that I've had tea in a crypt. :)

In the afternoon, Beth and I went on a tour of Dublin Castle, which was really informative about Dublin and generally very cool. Also very cheap. I highly recommend this to anyone who visits Dublin. (I haven't included any pictures of this because the ones from outside didn't turn out that well and the inside ones are probably boring if you weren't actually there. Again, some of you will probably be subjected to them at a later date). We also saw the Dublin spire, which if you don't know what you're looking for, you will probably miss. We were almost right up to it before I realized it was there, which is why I don't have a picture of the whole thing. That night, Beth took me to her favorite pub and then it was off to bed so I could catch the 3:30 bus to the airport for my morning flight. A bit brutal, but the trip was more than worth it. Thanks again to Beth for putting me up... In a few posts you will see her, as she visited Scotland this past weekend. Much more to come, but that will be later today or tomorrow, since I need to get ready to go to lecture at the moment. Miss you all!

Spring Break Week 1 - Hanging out in Edinburgh

So, I almost forgot that I promised pictures of Amanda and my wanderings around Edinburgh (pronounced edin-burra) before we flew to Paris. We rode a double-decker bus (yay!) to downtown and then made our way to the castle, where we spent most of the afternoon before having lunch at a fantastic tiny restaurant that was plastered on the inside with old movie posters and celebrity photos. So, here are some pictures of our time at the castle:
Our tickets for entry. We have a similar photo of our tickets for entry to the Musee D'Orsay. I think we were trying to create a motif for our trip.

A view of Edinburgh from the Castle entrance. Amanda poses with a kilted bagpiper guarding the entrance to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum located in the castle.
A fountain in the square at the foot of the giant rock the castle is built on. I got a bit too close and got splashed.

The giant rock and castle. Notice the wire mesh covering the hillside and the tiny orange workman. Our best guess is that they were trying to prevent falling rocks crushing people during tourist season. :) I'm planning on returning to Edinburgh at the end of term for more exploration, so hopefully I will have lots more to report about it then.

Observations and More Paris Photos (a bit late...)

So, here are some of my deep thoughts on Paris, along with more photos (although I have about 300 in total, to the viewing of which some of you no doubt will be subjected). Sorry it's taken me so long, but now that I'm done with my coursework, I'm catching up the blog. :)

Deep thoughts:
I know French people often get a bad reputation for being rude, but this is simply not true. The Parisians I met and talked with were all very polite and helpful. As long as you treat them with respect, they will treat you with respect back. Too bad so few American tourists can manage this simple task. :(

The only thing I noticed that I didn't like too much is that sometimes (although this only happened to me once or twice, it happened to Amanda more) if you start speaking to a French person in French, they will switch the conversation to English. I think this is because they are trying to either be helpful since you quite obviously don't speak French that professionally or because they want to practice their English. Unfortunately, it can come off as quite condescending. Oh well. I still thought the French were really nice.

Actual French crepes are way more amazing a) than pancakes and b) than any attempt to replicate them in the U.S. De-licious!

The metro is really easy and amazing. Again, why can't the U.S. take a leaf out of Europe's book and get working on making public transit widely available? Sigh.

I guess that's all... Except to say: J'adore Paris!

Cathedrale de Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre.

The ACTUAL Moulin Rouge - how cool is that?

The Two Towers: La Tour Eiffel and L'Obelisk de Luxor (Egyptian obelisk "given" to the French in the 1830s)

A side view of one of Notre Dame's towers...

And a view from inside the Musee D'Orsay. It used to be a train station.

Spring Break Week 1 - Perusing Paris

Bonjour mes amis! So, we just finished up week one of our two-week spring break, and what a time! Last Monday through Wednesday I was in Paris with another of the JSAs here at St. Andrews: Amanda. We left early on Monday morning so that we could tour around Edinburgh a bit before our flight left that evening, so we had an excellent time at Edinburgh Castle (pics of that will be in a separate post). We arrived in Paris about 9:30 that evening and had quite an adventure riding the RER train to Gare du Nord and trying to find our hostel (it's the building with blue lights in the photo). Eventually, we ended up calling the reception desk at the hostel and they gave us excellent directions so that we made it safely to our beds that night. Tuesday morning we got up early, had a delicious breakfast of croissants, jam, tea, and cheese, and then commenced our tour of Paris with a wander around Montmartre. Our tour guide later that day said that, "the Axis of Paris is what Paris looks like, but Montmartre is what Paris is like." I think she's right. Montmartre was fantastic! We toured Sacre Coeur, which is set on the highest point of Paris, and we decided it was worth the 5 euro to go up to the tower, so that we would be at the highest point of the highest point. Despite a terrifying encounter with some vicious Parisian pigeons, the view was spectacular and merited climbing the 400-some narrow, winding steps (It's a Where's Waldo-style photo: can you pick out the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe in this photo?). Later we made our way to the Moulin Rouge and the Cafe des 2 Moulins (from the movie Amelie) and ate lunch at a real French creperie (best crepe I have ever eaten in my entire life). After this self-guided tour of Montmartre, it was off to Place St-Michel for our 4-hour guided tour of the Axis of Paris. This took us along the Seine from Notre Dame down to the Louvre, the Jardins des Tuileries, into Place de la Concorde, and finished on the Champs-Elysees. We saw, of course, tons of stuff in between and our tour guide Amelia filled our noggins with many interesting and fun facts about Paris along the way. She also took us to Laduree at the end, the best macaroon shop in Paris (the macaroons were incredibly tasty and I successfully completed my entire order en francais!). Amanda and I finished out the day at Arc de Triomphe, although we came back into central Paris later that night to see the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower lit up. Wednesday was devoted to the inside of Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Musee D'Orsay. All were amazing and a bit overwhelming, to be honest. By the time we finished all that, it was time for us to part ways as she was off to Barcelona the next day and I had to get back to the airport for my return journey to St. Andrews. All in all, it was a FABULOUS trip! I loved Paris; the weather was so beautiful and sunny that I even got a little bit sunburned from being outside so much! I would definitely go back in a heartbeat! The next post will have more pictures and also some thoughts on Paris...