Freshers Week

Hi All,

I finally have a few moments to sit down and fill you in on what has been going on over here in Scotland. It's been an absolutely beautiful week as far as weather is concerned - only one really dreary day. The week has gone very well, and I am having a blast!

Monday morning I finally got a chance to really meet people living in my residence. Everyone in Deans Court eats together for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and surprisingly the food is very decent), so it has not been difficult to meet people. I am living with people from places like South Africa, Germany, France, Norway, Canada, Thailand, etc. It's so interesting to get to know them and compare lifestyles and cultures. From what we have been told by others in town, we are really lucky to be living in Deans Court. It's the only all postgraduate student housing, and apparently in the past it has become the hang out spot for most postgraduates.

Orientation (they call is Freshers Week) started on Monday, and it has been great meeting so many new people. There are about 250 postgraduates in the business school from all over the world. If I am not mistaken, there are over 106 countries represented here. I have met so many extremely nice people. Some of the people I have met and spent some time with this week are from Germany, Malta, Switzerland, and France. We've been quite busy with meetings every day at the business school. (It seems like we are the only people in St. Andrews that actually has meetings and events that we have to go to this week.) It's been nice grabbing coffee with people during our breaks between sessions and just getting to know them.

In Europe, most people graduate with an undergraduate degree in 3 years, so there are some people in my program that are only 21. That seems crazy to me, and I feel like some who are here doing postgraduate work have done so much more in their 22 or 23 years of life than I have. Today has been a great day. After lunch, the sun decided to come out and it was absolutely beautiful outside - about 62 degrees. A bunch of people from Deans Court spent the afternoon on the beach hanging out while one of our hall mates played his guitar. It was so beautiful and peaceful, one of those days that just makes you smile inside!

I still do not have a cell phone over here yet, and that is really my only complaint. However, I cannot get a cell phone until I have a bank card (which takes about a week to receive after you open an account), so I am still waiting on that. It really hasn't been too terrible, just inconvenient at times. No complaints, though, really.

The town is setting up for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship which will be played next week and you can tell that tourists are starting to come in for it already. Some of us are hoping to see part of the tournament.

As you can see, I am really enjoying myself and settling in well. I feel like I have known the people I have met this week for more than just a few days, and really feels like Deans Court has a great community. Everyone loves to pick on my southern accent, but it's all in good fun. Really, though, they love it. A girl from Atlanta and I had a British guy come up to us the other day and ask us to always speak southern when we talk to him, because he just thinks it's so sweet. Haha! Of course we are sweet!! Needless to say, it's been a fantastic week!