Settling In

I've been gradually settling into life at St Andrews. While it still doesn't seem entirely real, I think it is beginning to sink in that I really, really am in Scotland. Over the past several days, I have wandered about the town a bit, become the proud new owner of a real Scottish Alarm Clock (after I toasted my silly American one), met a few new people, registered for classes (eek) and perhaps, most importantly, purchased a French press to satisfy my coffee cravings.

Friday evening, I, like most of the new study abroad students, attended the ceilidh that the University put together for us. As with all things based around dancing and social interaction, I was rather hesitant and somewhat anxious about what the evening might hold. The evening began with some music and Scottish food sampling. The haggis was actually quite tolerable, and  much, much better than the meal I endured in my dormitory's dining hall (an oddly textured, tasteless vegetable pie). I plan on trying it at least once more before I leave, preferably in the form of a haggis, cheese, and cranberry panini. 

After the traditional dancing began, Victoria eventually dragged me out onto the floor. I never got the hang of the first dance she pulled me into, but I eventually caught on to at least the basics of the second, group-based one. Though I'm sure I looked quite foolish (given my impressive lack of coordination), and I would never have ventured out of my own accord, it was actually rather fun.

My classes begin tomorrow. I am rather frightened at this point. The course overview that I have for my social anthropology module makes the class look a bit traumatizing. If the reality is anything like the paper outline, I've never had such a demanding class in my entire life. If I don't absolutely fail it, I hope that I will at least emerge from this semester with amazing new academic skills. I think I have become more and more unmotivated and complacent over the past three and a half years, so I suppose this class (and my entire academic experience in St Andrews) could be the shock to the system that I need to reanimate the corpse of my academic career. Gross!

Anyhow, it is approaching 2:00 am, and as I have an audition for one of my music classes in the afternoon, it would be best if I got a bit of rest.