Thursday morning I woke up and told my host mom I was leaving for the weekend. I don’t actually see her that often lately, as I tend to stay in my room and she isn’t here for dinner that often. So I told her as I walked out the door that, “Oh by the way… I’m going to Scotland!” She scolded me for missing my classes and I shrugged it off. Classes here are a joke, especially after I aced all of my midterms without studying. Then it was off to the airport! I hopped a plane to Charles de Gaulle, then another one to Edinburgh. Once in Scotland, I somehow managed to make it to the train station and then met Merit when I got off the train in Leuchars, a small town near St. Andrews. It was a long day, but it was really good to see Merit! I was exhausted so we got takeaway from a nearby Indian restaurant (still not as good as Bengal Tiger, dad) and Simon, Merit’s boyfriend, came over. As the night wound down, we got a drink at a local pub and watched an episode or two of Sex & the City before bed.
Friday morning, Merit showed me around the town and its three main streets (no joke). Adorable town, but I don’t think I could stay somewhere that small for four years. She gave me a mini-tour of the historic buildings, the ruins of the castle, and cathedral. The cathedral ruins still have a tower standing so we climbed up the vaguely dangerous stairs and I got to see the whole town spread out before us. It was gorgeous. St. Andrews is so different from Lewis & Clark or even the Université de Strasbourg just because it obviously has so much more history. Pretty incredible. After our thoroughly touristy day, we went to Starbucks and had a really good conversation about life. That night, we got fish and chips with Andrew, Betsy, and Simon. All of us, excluding Simon, were in the same UPrep class so it was like a mini high school reunion. The fish and chips could easily cause a heart attack at age 25… which of course means they were delicious. After dinner we decided to head out to a pub, where Simon and Andrew tried to teach me how to play darts. It was really fun, though I can go to every country in the world and there’s no denying that I will still have horrible hand-eye coordination. I also had some good Scottish beer that was on par with German and Alsatian beer. Eventually Merit, Andrew and I head back to Andrew’s flat to watch a hilarious British TV show called “Peep Show”. Finally Merit and I returned to her flat and promptly fell asleep.
Saturday was surprisingly relaxing. Merit had work all day until five and I was left to wander by myself (and perfectly happy to do so). I went to Starbucks, bought a gingerbread latte, grabbed a comfy chair in the corner, and sat down with my book. Surrounded by stressed out university students and jazzy Christmas music in the background, I felt more at home than I have for a long time. People criticize me for going to Starbucks abroad, but it’s a wonderful feeling for me to feel so at home so far away from the Northwest every once and a while. Anyway, I read and wrote in my journal for several hours until I realized that I was close to finishing my book. I met with Merit for her lunch break, went to purchase another book, and made my way over to the café where Andrew works. After sitting there for another hour or so and finishing one of the books, I went back to meet Merit. We went grocery shopping at the infamous Tesco and then ended up going back to Andrew’s bar. He made us some yummy drinks and after a while we said goodbye. Merit and I went back to cook dinner for Simon and us. I must say, it was really nice to be able to cook. I’m definitely looking forward to that next semester. Simon had to go do some work after dinner so Merit and I decided to have a girl night. We watched some more Sex & the City, drank wine, and ate far too many brownies. It was wonderful… sometimes you just need those nights.
Sunday was fairly low-key as well. I met up with Alice, another friend from U-Prep who is now a freshman at St. Andrews, for lunch at a small café nearby. It was really nice to see her and catch up before I left Scotland. I spent the rest of the day shopping and reading with Merit. I quickly realized shopping, however, is not worth it in the UK. Pounds make everything seem cheap… until you do the math and realize that the 20 pound shirt you’re holding is actually 40 dollars. Crap. We made dinner again and around eight, we walked over to the bus stop and sadly said our goodbyes. Then it was onto the train, onto another bus in Edinburgh and I finally arrived at the Edinburgh airport at 10:30 pm.
It seems like it all went fairly smoothly, right? Well, here’s where the fun part begins. My flight didn’t leave until 6:10 am the next morning. Ugh. So I settled down in an airport café and read my book. And read some more. And checked my email. And read some more. I didn’t actually sleep, as I was too nervous that I would sleep through my plane. I did, however, consume a lot of caffeine. Some people pull all-nighters easily, but I am sadly not one of those people. Around 4 am, people started to groggily line up to check in. I managed to check in, get through security, and then waited for the plane until 5:45 am when they started boarding. The minute I got onto the plane, I shut my eyes… except the flight was only an hour or so and I grumpily got up to brave the nightmare that is Charles de Gaulle airport. An overpriced espresso later and I was waiting at the gate for another two hours. I managed to arrive back in Strasbourg around 2:30 pm and then the trams weren’t functioning properly. It was clearly not the best day so I opted to skip my remaining classes. I spent the rest of the night recovering and passed out early. And that’s the end of yet another crazy European adventure. The moral of the story is that I hate Charles de Gaulle airport more than life itself.
Now that I’m back in Strasbourg, the past two days have actually been really nice. I only have two weeks left and I am quickly realizing how sad I’m going to be to leave. That always happens, I suppose. Still, every minute seems valuable all of a sudden. I’m trying to walk more places and take unexpected routes to soak up as much of Strasbourg as possible. This may not be the smartest option possible, as I have a ton of finals quickly approaching, but I know I’d regret it if I spent all my time studying (not likely anyway). Instead, I am discovering new stores like Le Serpent Vert, an organic store that feels much more like the Northwest than I would have ever expected to find in France, and I am enjoying leisurely conversations at Chez Christian, Café Brant, and Café Broglie over chocolat chaud and café au lait with good friends. It will definitely be hard to say goodbye to all of this and return to the pressures of real life.
The front of St. Andrews Castle.
Merit and moi!
St. Andrews beach... very cheery at this time of the year.
More castle...
The ruins of the Cathedral, which were really cool. We climbed the tower to the right.
St. Andrews is pretty.
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