Saturday Morning Market

How I love Saturday Mornings in St. A's. This morning I woke up before my alarm and decided that while I had an hour to spare before breakfast was served I would go out for a stroll. I have a regular walk I take, which goes along the coast and through the town. No one was up yet, and it was my favorite kind of morning, overcast and blistery (very Gothic drama). On my way back through town I stumbled upon a 'Continental market'. Normally, on Saturday mornings St. A's has a farmer's market where you can buy everything from minced pies to grilled fish. The 'Continental' Market is all foreign vendors. I was the only customer up for the opening minutes of the fair. I walked past stalls filled with cheese, almond horns, freshly made crepes, dyed flowers, as the vendors gossips among themselves in French and German. I didn't buy anything, I just walked past and enjoyed. Something I'm trying to learn is how to enjoy beauty without necessarily indulging. Looking at the fluffy rows of bread without having to eat it, or enjoying a bouquet without needing it in my possession. Although nothing is wrong with eating scrumptious food or filling a home with flowers as these are wonderful things, but I'm trying to learn how to savor without necessarily possessing to thus enjoy life all the more!

This morning was supposed to be my study morning, but Saturdays are filled with distractions. I did spend a hour or two reviewing in a funky little coffee spot called Taste, but then felt the urge to walk about town a little more. I absolutely love exploring town, even when I know it inside and out. I went to the library to pick up some more Frenchie music to inspire my for my trip (Django Reinhardt), and then saw a sign for an antique fair at town hall!!

(To the left are antique hand painted tiles. Some day I will decorate my kitchen in those things. Preferably Dutch, blue and white...they are the best!)


Now, you may or may not know me all that well, but it probably wouldn't be hard to imagine me as the antique fanatic that I am.
I don't know that much about antiques but there are certain things I always love to look at. I've been collecting mismatch silverware ( I love the image of setting a table with all different designs and patterns), so I studied all the different designs and pieces; simple sugar tongs, delicate butter knives, collectible tea spoons. Since I've been here I've also been keeping my eye out for toast racks.
Such a funny morning but what a joy! I love exploring this amazing town, and the pleasure is doubled when I have the opportunity to treasure hunt!

Bonjour Paris!

Spring break is soon approaching, but rather than hitting the gym and buying a ten pass at the tanning salon I’m dusting off the Edith Piaf album and cracking open my Larousse because I my friends, am going to Paris! In less than a week I am hopping on a puddle jumper, armed with an empty stomach*, and my chic pink pashmina, to meet Jewls and Inga in the ‘la ville d’amour’.
It’s very hard to believe that I’ve never actually been to Paris. Not because I’ve travelled so much, but because I feel like I’ve already been there. This year I have been perplexed with the strange phenomenon of visiting a city which one has already experienced through images, literature, movies, etc. Fortuitously, I just read an article for Art History called ‘The Eiffel Tower’ by this guy Bart. Bart explores this precise concept. On top of the Eiffel Tower the traveller in one glance can see all the monuments they associated with Paris before they ever can to visit the city. Through this panoramic visage the tourist begins through the union of sight and memory to possess the city. Tres cool, Je pense!**
I think what makes me most enthused about this trip is that for the first time I will be in a European city with my two best friends. Most of the travelling in my life has been a solitary affair, really all of it. I’ve been so independent my whole life! During high school I explored Italy virtually by myself. I loved being on my own and I wouldn’t trade those experiences for the world. But Paris! Oh Paris! It is a city to explore with those who know you inside and out, who love and appreciate the same things as you. People who understand why certain observations will touch you and why.


Only Inga and Jewls will know why I need to run through the Paris subway with black sunglasses, white scarf and trench coach, whistling Henry Mancini. They will be just as excited to find the Cordon Bleu and see if someone will teach us to crack an ‘oeuf’. They won't mind if I break into song and dance on the banks of the Seine (ok basically they will indulge me in all my recreations of scenes from Audrey Hepburn movies). We will sit in cafés, gorge ourselves on croissants, wine, cheese (I’m sure I will have to suffer through some major second hand smoke), cry together at the sound of accordion music, and stare at all the gorgeous Parisians!

Wish me luck friends...I plan on never being the same after Paris!




* 'I'm going on a diet so I can gain it all back in Paris'-Inga Headland
** 'Very cool, I think'-Audrey Headland

Semester Two Modules

Semester Two Modules:

Oh, the module. How does one define it? One couldn’t possibly equate a module with what the American student calls class. Class is a duty, an occupation. Class meets regularly. Class is tedious and is endured only when one is properly armed with starbucks and sodoku. A module is different. It goes by ‘guidelines’ rather than a ‘code’. Lecture is the occasional trail marker in the journey that is UK study. Forget 16 plus hours a week, for a module you need not see your professor more than two hours in seven days. And rather than a course pack and text book, the pupil will receive no more burden than a friendly ‘suggested reading list’ which they are free to browse at their leisure over the course of the semester.
But freedom of individual study was not all that was in store for yours truly. Just get a load of my module list. This semester I’m taking Twentieth Century Crime Fiction, and for Art History British and American Visitors to Italy (and yes, you counted correctly, that is only two courses). I don’t know how it is legal to give people credit to study things that they would do for pleasure, but there you have it! For my Crime Fiction course, I’ve already read Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler. Discussions and debates in this module are like fighting over which is the better ocean, the atlantic or the pacific (seemingly ridiculous and completely enjoyable). Currently, my research is on masculinity portrayed by Lord Peter Wimsey versus Philip Marlowe (see what I mean)?! The art history seems to have been created particularly for Audrey Diane. I’m studying how 18th century travellers received Italy. Basically, I’m reading amazing literature by Forester and James, looking a gorgeous art, and reliving my summer in Milan. Much of our focus is the philosophy of the traveller, which I feel well equipped to study. Needless to say I’m being cured of my senior-itus.
I’m still really loving my time here. St. Andrews is a dream as always. However, my thoughts have been increasingly turning to the dark obis of my blank future. Right now I have… let me see…oh yes..no idea what I’m going to do once I graduate. I feel that it’s not something to worry about, but if you think of it please pray for my wisdom in the matter.

Love to all as always!