Bonnie, bonnie Scotland

This spring, I spent the semester at St. Andrews University in Scotland, living in a dorm room with a view of the North Sea and castle ruins. And that’s just the beginning of the magic of those four semesters.

I’ll write more later, but for now, I’ll just let you all get a sense of how extraordinary studying abroad can be by letting you in on the very first email I sent after getting there. It does the best job of conveying just how amazing those first few days really were:

Good morning everybody!

So, in case you failed to hear via another form of communication…skype, facebook, my mom calling you, I made it! (My bags didn’t, but I think/hope they’ll be here soon???). So, my room is nice, the dorm is unbelievably beautiful (the outside, dining hall and common room). I’ll put up pictures soon so you can see everything!

Okay, so onto exciting things, now that you know I am safe and capable of speaking to strangers (even though some of the adults here are not particularly easy to understand…) Instead of rolling over this morning after my alarm went off, I took the ever-wonderful advice of my friend, Carrie Daut (if you don’t know her, you should fix that). She wrote, along with a bunch of other great things, “You have the rest of your life to get adequate sleep every night and be frugal with your money. Your semester abroad is not the time.”

So I woke up and went on a walk this morning (after breakfast) and it was absolutely the most amazing half hour of my life. First of all, it’s sunny! So all my woes about becoming a brunette have ended. (Sorry to disappoint those of you who never realized how truly vain I am when it comes to my hair staying blond without the use of peroxide).  But it was mostly the most amazing half hour of my life because, nearly immediately after leaving my dorm, I ran smack into a CASTLE on the North Sea. Yes, that’s right. Apparently all those Disney movies have done permanent damage and I am now inherently drawn to castles.

After staring in awe for a long time, I kept walking and found the ruins of a cathedral (also amazing and beautiful) and wonderful picturesque views of the water. I took pictures of everything and will post them on a photoblog and facebook really soon- probably this afternoon before orientation officially starts tomorrow.

Sorry to taunt you with terribly short descriptions of very pretty things without following through with pictures (yet), but I have to go find the bookstore. Miss you all…please email me back and tell me about your lives, too. Everybody back home say hi to America and W&M for me!

Lots of love,

Ali

p.s. It’s not any colder than Pennsylvania, so everyone was exaggerating.

p.p.s. Pictures (!!!!!) alisanv.blogspot.com