Visiting Campus

This morning, David and I met with the International Studies office at St. Andrews to get our email addresses and network codes. Then we were shown around St. Andrews a bit, though we’ll take a proper tour on Thursday as if we were prospective students of the university (our guide today kept pointing out historically-significant buildings with a wave of her hand, saying “It’s historically significant. I can’t remember why right now, but be assured that it IS historically significant…”). She did show us the building along the sea that was currently the “principal’s” house (assuming that’s like a college president in the States), and said that while Prince William was at St. Andrews to study art, they had to move the WHOLE art department to the building because it was more easily secured. Fancy that!

David was also given his office in the Edgecliffe Building which is, as promised, a “small room on the top floor.” Edgecliffe is a beautiful building on the Scores, which is the street that runs parallel to the ocean. Every window in the building has a gorgeous view of the ocean…except David’s small room. If you stand in the very corner and lean to the right, then press your head to the glass, you can maybe just catch a tiniest sliver of a blue color that might be some part of the skyline above the ocean, but that’s about it. Instead, he mostly has a view of the grey stones of the building across from him. The stones are quite lovely, and I’m sure they are somehow historically significant as well, but they don’t really make for the best office view.

While we were being shown around various departments, I noticed that all the doors were closed. This is in stark contrast to the “open-door” vibe that most American colleges seem to want to portray. It made me a little nervous, frankly, to go into any of the offices, since one cannot be guaranteed what one will see on the other side…a private office, a classroom, a lab, or something else…And since St. Andrews is so old, many of the buildings are labeled in beautiful stonework, but are now used for something very different. So, the building labeled “Medical Sciences” is actually where students would go to have their ID cards made. It all makes for one confusing campus!

There are also a few instances where the British English used on signs around campus is a bit jarring. My friend Claire said that most Americans get a kick out of the road sign that encourages drivers to slow down with the warning: “Humps Ahead.” Many of the small alleys in the town are called “closes” or “wynds,” so I know that every American who visits St. Andrews has slyly taken a photo of the street sign off the Scores that marks “Butts Wynd.” And all of us enjoyed the directions to bus drivers at the leisure center to “drop off and lift up passengers here.” I suppose your bus fare of £2.40 includes an inspiring message from the driver?