Saunt Aundraes

The first thing you notice when reaching St. A is the Golf-Course-Of-Course, I believe it was the very place it was invented in... balls in holes, in lawns. Yeah, ok, but... THE SEA!!!! 

We caught a fair enough glimpse of the shoreline as we approached out precious destination. Man, our journey had us beaten like the waves do the sand! But our spirits were increasingly kindled as we neared our respective residences.

Fife Park was first. Juju and Jan got out along with their personal belongings, we said we'd mail each other later on (for we had no working cell phones yet). "Send me smoke signals when you're able, will you? Oh, and do get some rest!". Their place seemed nice from a distance. Trees and stuff.

Next stop: Albany Park, sir! Completely on the other side of town, away from my friends :s But as I said before, I was passionately engaged in a conversation with my driver, who ended up giving me a discount (ha-ha!) out of being moved by what I told him I wanted my projects to be like. So we had some light at the end of the tunnel, as they say.

I became a human-donkey for what I hoped would be the last time, and consequently directed my bulks towards the reception area. 'Got my keys, my student card, a bunch of leaflets explaining how things worked at the Uni and then a fellow student walked me to my room at the postgraduate section (right at the end). There were several blocks around with patches of grass in between. Each of those little houses contained two or three floors, and on each floor there were rooms for four people (with only a single bathroom! NOOO). I dropped my stuff, arranged a couple of things, and headed out to get a first impression of my brand new surroundings. There was a BBQ going on, to welcome us "freshers", so I got in line, snatched a plate and helped myself to some crappy student food for the first time since our fancy-nancy British dinners. I met a couple of people, but wasn't really in the mood for socializing, so I gulped down two plastic cups of cheap wine, and left early to go to bed.

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St. Andrews is graaaaaaand, y'all! The place looks like a well drawn fairy-tale village dappled with tiny shops, and medioeval Gothic ruins here and there; everything is so neat, and tidy, and cutesy-wootsy. EVEN THE PEOPLE ARE ADORABLE! You just want to swallow it all, piece by piece. And then there's the Sea, the Sea!

There are only three main streets along which everything is situated: North, Market and South Street. That's it folks. But it gets trickier as you go unfolding St. Andrews' many little secrets, for there are enchanting whispers that emanate from within all the hidden corridors and pathways, meant only for those willing to listen.

St. Mary's and St. Salvator's Quads are just mesmerizing, the grass is so neatly cut it makes you want to cry... We did, of course, lie on it (sobbing with infinite joy) gracefully basking in the splendor of that awe-inspiring architectural aura belonging to our new house of study. I felt as if I had just arrived at Hogwarts (haha I know, I'm really that pathetic), for we're to take some classes at the department of "Arts and Divinity" (weirdly so, as if we were taking "Defense Against the Dark Arts" haha ok, I'll stop now).

There was a bit of sunshine, so we decided to go to the beach, passing through the Cathedral Grounds, where there's an ancient cemetery, just alongside St. Rule's Tower. We took some touristy pictures, posing like dorks and all, and then we got into a shop and had some coffee. After that we walked for a bit, tracing the place with foreign shoes, and then headed out to Fife Park, so that I could get to know the place where I was most likely going to spend many of my study hours (we had agreed to help each other out in any way possible).

... to be continued...