Author Archives: Quin Nelson

WEEK TEN: IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN ST ANDREWS

After a couple weeks of moving all around and seeing the sights, this week was a welcome reminder that where I’m at is pretty gosh darn swell too. Unfortunately, much of my time was also spent writing an essay, which I turned in this morning. While a lot of college kids tend to procrastinate, I’m pretty good at just spreading out my work so I don’t stress out much, so writing my paper was a very #chill process. I have another one due on Friday, so I’ve got to keep cruising on that paper grind. Once I’m done with this next essay, though, I won’t have any more assignments until my finals in late May. So for those keeping score at home, I will have four essays and two final exams for the entire semester. I’m not complaining.

Otherwise, I had lots of time this week to just hang out. I got out and played golf a couple times, and I think I’m getting a lot better. I had a great round early in the week, and then got absolutely humiliated this weekend. Baby steps. I’ve also been working out a lot, which is nice, especially after literally not eating any fruits or vegetables over spring break. Like, other than the tomato and lettuce in my burgers, and the grapes in my wine, I consumed only meat, bread, and cheese. So this week I’ve been eating a lot healthier and hitting the gym more frequently as an apology to my body for what I put it through over spring break. I’m hoping that I’ll be like 220 pounds of straight muscle, and come back to Whitman as an absolute tank, but we’ll see how that goes.

I also spent this week reading a ton. I’ve been reading a novel a week for both of my classes, which is a lot, but not too bad once you get to used to it. However, this week both of my classes assigned 600 page books, so I really had to get down to business. You might ask, “Quin, you had two weeks of spring break. Couldn’t you have used that time to get ahead on this reading?” I’m not going to respond to that. Fortunately, both books were really good. So if you’re bored and need a good book, check out To the End of the Land by David Grossman (about a mother of an Israeli soldier) or Lanark by Alasdair Gray (this bonkers split narrative about a guy in both Glasgow and its dystopian equivalent).

I had a real nice weekend too. On Saturday, I went to this printmaking workshop, which was interesting, especially given my current obsession with art, and then I watched the Arsenal game at the pub with some guys. I definitely haven’t watched enough soccer at pubs, so that was pretty fun. Then I had my aforementioned terrible round of golf, but hey, it happens.

For Easter Sunday, I grabbed some coffee and walked through St. Andrews Cathedral and along the coast. There were a ton of people in town, and the weather was the best it’s been in my time here, so it was awesome to see the town with so much energy. I went down and hit some balls at the driving range, and then came back and finished my essay sitting on my windowsill, overlooking the park next to my dorm, which was full of frolicking college youths. Then I got a burger with some guys. It was a pretty good day.

The weather is supposed to stay sunny for the week, although as I’m currently looking out my window, it’s just super foggy. You never know here. Earlier in the week, I was walking down to play golf, and suddenly got hit with hail blowing sideways in the wind. I actually thought I was going to die, right there in the street. But hey, I’m still here! This week will probably be more of the same, lots of essay work and golf. Then maybe a little weekend trip, who knows. I can do whatever I want. How cool is that?

WEEK NINE: HIGHLAND ZEN

My week in Paris was amazing, so amazing that I almost forgot I still had another week of spring break left. Because I like to have free time and also because I am very disorganized, I had nothing planned. So, for the first few days, I played golf. A lot of golf. I am a poor golfer, and I golf very rarely, but I really went to town. After playing about 18 holes over the past year, I played 45 holes in four days. Now, golf and I have had a difficult relationship for many years, so this was a somewhat significant moment in my life.

My dad loves golf, and he has always wanted me to enjoy it as well. Not in a pressing way or anything, but he always encouraged me to play, and play with him. I’ve told myself a lot of reasons why I don’t like golf; it’s too slow, none of my friends play, it’s for country club white kids, etc. But really, it’s sort of a perfect game for me: it’s quiet, it’s relaxed, it’s independent. These are all things that I like. The real problem is that I don’t like to fail, and specifically, I don’t like to fail in front of my dad. It’s not his fault or anything; I just get very uncomfortable even considering disappointing him. And this is a feeling that I associate with playing golf with him, even though he really doesn’t care if I’m any good at golf. This has kept me from playing golf very much, and because I don’t play golf very much, I never get better. It’s a bad cycle.

So to go out by myself and just play, not think about anything, and enjoy walking around by the sea in Scotland, it was a big step for me. And I’m excited for my dad to get here in May so we can play together.

After my little golf marathon, I headed up to Inverness, the unofficial capital of the Highlands. I wanted to take at least one trip by myself during my semester, and this seemed like a good candidate. I took along the book I got in Paris, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and went exploring.

The first day I arrived, I took a little ride to Fort George, a very cool old military fort near the small town of Adersier. I chose this day trip not just because of the fort, which was very cool, but also because it required a couple mile walk along the shore of the Moray of Firth to get there. It was a nice sunny day, so I wanted to take a walk.

I walked, read, and went back to look around Inverness. It’s a nice city, not very big, but very scenic, especially by the River Ness, which cuts through the middle of it.

The next day, I headed to Loch Ness so I could see Nessie, which is pretty much the only reason I came to Scotland. I was unsuccessful, and considered flying back to the US right then and there, but I got over this crushing disappointment. I checked out Urquhart Castle, which is a dope ruin by the Loch, and walked along the shore some more and read.

I got back to town, checked out Inverness Castle, and watched soccer/football at a pub. I got to talk to some nice middle-aged Scottish guys, and we got along really well. Now if only I could learn to talk to college-aged girls like that.

I took a train back to St. Andrews on Friday. It’s sort of a tedious journey because you have to change three times, but the landscape is so beautiful that it was a pretty enjoyable journey. I spent the rest of the weekend playing more golf, reading, and drawing a lot. I think all the museums in Paris made me want to doodle.

Now the dorm is filling up again and classes have started back up. I have about two more months here. I think I’m going to play a lot of golf.

 

 

 

Side note: you’ve probably noticed that I never post photos. That’s because I don’t know how. If you want to see some of my pics, check my Instagram (@quinstagram___).

TRIPPIN, PT. TWO

After that, Dylan and I were basically on our own, and we killed it. After the torrid pace set by Hannah and Taylor, we dialed it back a notch, and had a relaxing few days while also seeing a lot of cool Paris things. We also knew our limits; we only went to things within walking distance unless we were with Emma. Fortunately, Emma found us to be tolerable company, so she hung out with us a lot.

We all went to Sacre Coeur together, which is a gorgeous church up on this big hill overlooking the city. Then, Dylan and I ate a picnic dinner at the park by the Louvre, which is about as romantic as two heterosexual bros in Paris can get. It was lovely.

The next day, we stumbled onto the Pompidou, a modern art museum that ended up being really cool, especially the Jeff Koons exhibit they currently have going on. We got some back-to-back museum action later that night when we went to Louvre, which pretty much drained us of all museum-going energy for the week. However, we still found the energy to go out that night, and although the Irish bar we went to for St. Patrick’s Day was pretty lame, the other two bars we hit were very cool, very chill.

After a busy Wednesday, Thursday was pretty relaxed. Emma took us to the Eiffel Tower at night though, which was really cool. Friday was also relaxed, and then we took off early Saturday morning.

After spending just a couple days on other trips, it was great to have a whole week in Paris and get to know the city a bit. While it was very interesting to see all the various sights, it was also just nice to hang out, get coffee, and talk with friends. We also had an awesome apartment that was literally a block from the Louvre, so there was plenty to do right there.

It was also interesting to be in a place where I didn’t speak the language. I really was not prepared for how little French I knew. Like, I was aware that I didn’t speak French, but I was not totally aware that I would feel like a complete idiot every time I interacted with a French person. But it was kind of fun to really feel like I was ina foreign place. And I got to be there with some of my best friends, which was tremendous.

This week has been lovely so far, but I’ll talk more about it next time. That’s how you keep your readers coming back for more, take notes kids. Ttyl.