I again apologize for the very late blog post. Preparation and taking finals lasted almost a month. This blog post covers the time period of the month of April.
The month of April has come very suddenly and has gone just as quickly. Many assignments are all due in the weeks leading up to the last day of the semester, April 27th, and I have been very busy. In addition to stressing over assignments and papers, there are many year-end events that occur during this time period and that I was fortunate enough to participate in. April is the month of balls: there is literally a ball for almost every academic department, club, and residence hall. Balls are essentially a dance, with some consisting of a dinner, where you dress up and dance and have a good time. I went to two balls and an awards ceremony: the Economics Department Ball, my residence hall Agnes Blackadder’s ball, and the Korfball Awards Ceremony.
I went to the Economics Ball with one of my friends from korfball, as we both study economics and we are both in the same class. We had dinner at one of the hotels and there was an afterparty as well at the hotel. We essentially sat at a table with other economics students and ate dinner. I had a great time talking to my friend, as I did not know many other students. One observation that I made was that there were many American economics students and literally all of the students were very similar to the types of people who study economics at Whitman. It was a good experience and provided an interesting comparison and look at the types of people who study economics abroad versus at home.
My friend and I at the Economics Ball
A week later, I went to my residence hall ball. Almost all of my friends went and we had a good time. The ball was in a giant marquee, or tent, outside of the hall. We all dressed up and had a great time. There was free ice cream and popcorn with a live band and a DJ. I had to leave the ball a little early in order to register for classes for the fall, as the 8 hour time difference made it so I had to sign up very late at night. It all worked out, as going to the ball made sure that I was awake in order to register!
My friends and I before our hall ball
Lastly, the korfball club had their annual awards ceremony. It consisted with us getting dressed up and having dinner at Northpoint Café, which famously claims to be the place where Prince William met Kate for coffee. I was lucky enough to be nominated for “Most Improved,” even though I only joined this semester. I had a great time and it was nice to see the entire club all together.
The entire Korfball Club
Overall, going to balls and award ceremonies was a great experience. Everything is very formal here and the balls are very similar to a sorority formal at Whitman, but include dinner at most. Being able to go to multiple balls and an awards ceremony with friends showed me that I was able to integrate in with the students of St Andrews. The fact that I had friends to go with and was even nominated for an award showed that I was able to integrate into the culture of St Andrews. I came to experience St Andrews as a true student and I felt like I was able to do that.
The last day of classes occurred on April 27th. This now gives us two weeks to study, or revise, for finals and then two weeks of actually taking finals. Everything has gone by so quickly and I cannot believe that it is almost over!