Surviving Fresher's Week

I have now completed my first major university accomplishment: surviving Fresher's week. Now every school has some form of orientation, but Fresher's Week is legendary at St. Andrews and in the rest of Britain. Fresher's week is a unique experience. Fun yes, but also crazy, busy, exhaustion, wild, chaotic, and most definitely memorable!

The Student Union and the different societies hosted events throughout the entire week. The Student Union took care of the big events at night. Here are a few things I have learned through some of these Student Union events:

1. Pre-gaming is a fact of life. I don't know if all halls do this, but my hall pre-games everything! This worried me at first, but I found a group of people who aren't into crazy drinking. Pre-gaming really isn't all that interesting though. If you're not into drinking, it gets old quickly.
2. Nothing really starts up until 10 or 11. Ever. And everything starts late. 
3. Drunk people are funny to watch. They do some pretty crazy things. And it's funny to see them at breakfast when they are completely hungover. But after a week, drunk people begin to get irritating. They are loud, have no concept of personal space, and seem to think it's okay to spray their drinks over a crowd of people (seriously, if you just payed for that drink, why would you pour it on people???). Oh, and drunk people love storming into the hall screaming at all times of the night.

Clan Warfare! JOHN BURNET!

I went to 3 of the Union events: the Bubble Rave, Clan Warfare, and the BOP. The Bubble Rave was the very first night. The Union brought in this huge bubble machine, and we had a big rave with bubbles everywhere. Bubbles glow in UV light, so we were all fluorescent by the end of the night. Most people thought the Bubble Rave was lame because there weren't a huge number of people there. I thought it was fun. After a chaotic day of moving in, I couldn't handle anything too insane. So it's a good thing Clan Warfare was the next night. Clan Warfare is when people dress up in their Hall colors and have intense Hall pride for a night. Each Hall has a representative and they compete in a series of events. The Hall that wins gets a £300 pub tab (oh the joy of going to school in Europe...), and bragging rights. The colors for John Burnet are green and blue, and we went all out with face paint and everything. This event was truly crazy. People were chanting for their halls, trash talking other halls, and just generally screaming and jumping around. Unfortunately, John Burnet didn't win; our biggest rivalry University Hall did. The last big Union event of the week was the BOP last night. The BOP was supposed to be a big event were they played all the popular and kind of cheesy pop songs that aren't actually any good but are super catchy (like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, etc). It wasn't actually like that. They played like 2 goods songs and the rest was super repetitive techno. Definitely not worth the hype. 

During the day it was hard to pick what to do! There were events going on all the time everywhere! On Monday night, a bunch of us went to a ballroom dancing session. Most of the people there had no experience. We were taught 3 different dances: waltz, cha-cha, and the jive. The whole experience reminded me of middle school. Girls and guys had to stand on the opposite side of the room and the instructors taught us the steps individually. Then the guys had to go find a girl to dance with, and I had the whole "I don't know who you are but I'm going to dance with you" experience. Kind of awkward, but it was fun!

On Thursday my hall put on a costume party. I didn't have much of a costume (more of a neon theme going on), but my friend dressed up as Cruella Deville! After the party, the majority of the hall went to the Lizard (a super sketch pub/nightclub). My friends and I decided to stay in. We had a mini party in our room where we played Disney music and reminisced on our childhood movies and T.V. shows.

Finally I joined a group called the Christian Union. CU is the main Christian group on campus. Earlier in the week, they brought in Dr. William Lane Craig to speak. Dr. Craig is an American apologist. Dr. Pendergrass mentioned him in Apologetics Junior year (don't worry, I didn't remember this until I looked him up on Wikipedia). Anyway, he was interesting to listen to. I actually knew what he was talking about! CU meets once a week and puts on different events throughout the semester, and I'm excited to get involved!

So classes...I was in denial that lectures would ever begin. But they have. Great, now I actually have to think again and be productive (and by "be productive" I mean find new ways to procrastinate). 

Journey to St. Andrews

Well, I finally made it to St. Andrews! It feels weird. I've been waiting for this day since I read my acceptance letter in December, and now it is here. So I left Houston on Wednesday morning and arrived in St. Andrews Thursday morning (extremely jetlagged, I might add). My parents and I spent Thursday and Friday walking around the town and getting important stuff done (like setting up a bank account, getting sheets, pillowcases, etc.,).

The town is beautiful! The buildings are old and full of history. The North Sea has a wild, rugged beauty to it. I can see the appeal, and I know I'm going to grow to love it here! At the same time, the experience has been a little overwhelming. I know that is to be expected, but sometimes it is hard to deal with. But everybody I have met so far has been extremely nice, and the staff/older students are very helpful when it comes to answering questions.

So I moved in today! I HAVE A HUGE ROOM.  It's way larger than I feel like I should have, but I'm not complaining too much. :) There is a big window in the back of the room and it looks out onto the back garden. It's a beautiful view! Unfortunately, my wardrobe (yes, I have a wardrobe! The entrance to Narnia hasn't appeared yet...) doesn't really match the size of my room, so I've had to be a little creative in hanging up my clothes. Let's just say the bookcase won't be holding any books... It doesn't help that my coats take up so much room! I also met my roommate. Her name is Isabel and she is very nice. We get along very well and seem to have a lot in common.

I can already tell that orientation is going to be exhausting! There are parties and other events going on all the time all week! Tonight there is a Bubble Rave. I'm not entirely sure what that will be like, but I'm guessing it will be interesting. I wondering just how wild things will get. I feel like if I can get through Fresher's week, I'll be able to survive anything here at St. Andrews.

the North Sea!