The Old Course (now w/ 16, 17, and 18!)

I finally got to play a full round at the Old Course last weekend and it was a perfect day for golf. With barely any wind I somewhat recovered from a rocky start to shoot a respectable 86. Here's a couple of pics on the 17th tee and then atop the Swilcan Bridge.

Hall Ball Pics

One More Raisin Weekend Pic...

The Foam Fight!

Raisin Weekend Pics

I know these are small but if you click the picture it goes to full size. From top to bottom: My name and dorm in case I pass out somewhere; at my academic dad's flat party; my academic mom's flat party; the resulting carnage of the foam fight (I'm on the left, Sean my golfing buddy in the middle, my roommate James on the right); Frank(my academic dad) and Luke as the bartenders at the shanty party.

Raisin Weekend

I have now officially completed Raisin Weekend, a 24 party that has been a tradition at the University for over a hundred years. The partying started off on Sunday afternoon around 1:30 at my academic mom's flat, where many games involving beverages were participated in (clean version), then moved on my academic dad's flat, then to the Shanty party in my hall, were basically the entire second floor in my dorm was converted into a bar/dance club. I remember having a bunch of fun at my mom's party, relaxing with my friends at my dad's party, and then waking up on my bed at 2 in the morning. Needless to say I had a bit to much to drink, but then again so did everybody that night. I was just happy to wake up in my bed, clean, with no signs of anything terrible happening. That wasn't all for raisin weekend though, because Monday morning at 11 was the foam fight in the quad, participated in by the entire freshman class of St. Andrews. I was dressed up along with my academic siblings as a domino, and we all walked to the quad in freezing cold weather, with the rain falling sideways, to the quad for the fight. The fight was crazy and when it was finished we were all covered from head to toe in foam. Finally, after a nice warm shower, I could finally say that I survived raisin weekend!

1-9 Sounds a Hell of a lot Better Than 0-10

Well, Stanford football finally got into the win column this season by beating Washington, who they hadn't beat since 1975 at Washington. It was especially pleasing to me that their first victory came against former Stanford coach (from the 1999 glory days) Tyrone Willingham. All I can say is watch out Cal, because Stanford is on a roll!

Finally, the Old Course*

I finally had the honor of playing the Old Course yesterday when my friend and I went out at 1 PM and hopped on the first tee. It was an amazing experience playing it for the first time, and I was having a pretty good round as well. The highlight of my round was paring holes 8 through 14, with number 13 being the second hardest hole on the golf course. The only big problem was that since we are so far North here in St. Andrews, it gets too dark to play golf at about 4:30 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we ran into some slow groups on the back nine and could only finish 15 holes, leaving out the legendary 17th and iconic 18th holes. I was having a decent round as well, I was only seven over par after 15, so that was a little disappointing, but fear not my friends, for this Saturday morning we will go out early , and play a full round at the Old Course of St. Andrews.

Florence, Vol. 2

Florence, Vol. 1

I finally got back from Italy Wednesday night after a very fun and very eventful trip to Florence, Italy. The transportation both ways were quite eventful as well, including my friend Jack and I barely missing the last bus to Prestwick airport (after our train to the bus station in Glasgow was delayed 25 minutes), which forced us to spend 30 pounds each on a cab. Not the greatest way to start a trip when you are on a budget. Still, we got to the airport, flew into Pisa, where on the way there was some amazing views of the alps, and took a bus into Florence. We managed to check in successfully at the hostel despite the language barrier between us and the old woman who ran the place. That evening we strolled around the city and had our first authentic Italian pizza at a nice little cafe in Piazza della Signoria. The next day, we a took a walk outside the city and up into the hills, giving us a great view of Florence and the surrounding area. We then strolled back and visited the Galleria degli Uffizi and looked at many famous sculptures and paintings. Monday was spent mostly at the Duomo, the world's 4th largest cathedral. It is an amazing building to look at, especially because of it's enormous dome that took over 150 years to build. We finally left Italy on Tuesday to spend the night in the Pisa airport, where at 1 AM Jack and I were awakened by the airport security guards who told us the airport was closing. We got to spend the next three hours huddling up right outside the airport in the freezing cold. My first travel experience on my own was an extremely fun trip and even more of a wild adventure than I had anticipated.

Going to Italy

Next week is reading week at the University of St. Andrews, a week designed to give students time to read and catch up on their school work. It just so happens that it is also a perfect opportunity to travel around Europe, which is what most people end up doing anyway. I will be leaving Saturday morning from Glasgow airport with three of my friends to go to Florence, Italy for three nights. It should be a really fun and exciting experience, and I'll be sure to take and eventually post as many pictures as possible on this blog. Stay tuned on Wednesday of next week for the complete report of the trip.

Bruised and Battered

After playing my second Sunday league football game (it's soccer) yesterday, I realized how different football in this continent is compared to soccer in the U.S. On Sunday my team played the beavers, a team composed entirely of third and fourth years who were all German. They were also big, strong, and intimidating. Still, we felt pretty confident we could win, and I felt pretty good about playing. The only problem was that in Sunday league, the referee doesn't always show up, which was the case yesterday. It ended up that a substitute player from their team reffed, which proved to be a huge disadvantage for us. We ended up losing the game 6-3, although I did get "man of the match" for giving all three assists. What was frustrating was the physical pounding our team, especially me took. The first header I went up for was uncontested, but after I jumped and was on my way down I was completely blindside by this guy who basically spear tackled me straight into my ribs. My entire right rib cage was extremely sore when I got up this morning. With a inept referee you can probably imagine how thins escalated, and by the end of the game it felt more like I was playing American football. My right ankle is swollen and I have plenty of cleat marks all over my legs, along with a pretty nasty bruise on my left foot. It was still loads of fun to play though, see as I got to return the favor to many of their players. Next Sunday should be fun.

Rain and Work (and Fun)

Today marks the first of potentially many days to come of torrential rain in the town of St. Andrews. It also marks the first day that I have come to the realization that I have a ton of schoolwork to do before we get a week off in early November. I have an essay about the "Sanctity of Gerald of Aurilac" due next week on Friday, and by November 3rd I am supposed to have written a 1,200 word report on the economics of Dundee for Geography. There is also a group project due that same day for Geoscience on the Yellowstone Caldera. This comes immediately following a very fun and much more interesting Tuesday night in which:

1. John Burnet (my dorm) dominated at interhall basketball (I scored three baskets)
2. I went to a pub with my friends, one of which was still wearing the pink bunny mascot suit.
3. I went to the "bop" and danced the night away.
4. I went to a flat and ate hash browns with my friends at around 2 AM.

Now that the work is really piling on, I am devoting the majority of my free time this weekend to school work, which won't be hard seeing that I will be in Dundee all day Saturday taking notes about the different neighborhood structures. Well, enough of my whining. I guess I am in college after all.

Kinlochleven- Day 2

This morning we drove north to Fort William where we started our second hike up to a munro that supposedly had great views of Ben Nevis, which is the highest point in the UK at 1340 meters. Once again, we started the hike at sea level, so I spent the entire morning and the early part of the afternoon walking slowly but surely uphill. Unfortunately, the batteries in the camera died at the summit of my 4th munro, but I got some good photos of the surrounding area from the shoulder just below along with the video, so the beautiful day in the highlands did not go completely undocumented. The weather was PERFECT today. Barely any clouds in the sky and very warm in the sun while nice and cool in the shade. The view from the top of the munro was amazing, and Ben Nevis was looming large across the massive valley we had hiked up. It was another great hike, and another very tiring hike, but it was a great way to finish my first weekend away from St. Andrews and let me get away from the stresses of school work. Cheers!

Kinlochleven- Day 1

After spending the night in a very nice hostel, we set out at around nine in the morning on Saturday from the town of Kinlochleven with a goal of reaching the summit of three "munros". For those of you who have no idea what that is, which should be all of you, a munro is a Scottish summit of over 3000 feet. Compared to the mountains in California that may seem pretty small, but if you consider that we started the hike from sea level, it was definitely quite a climb. The first summit that we reached three hours later was called "Sgurr nan Iubhar" at 3284 feet (see video), and I had a nice lunch at the top. Unfortunately it was covered in clouds, so there wasn't much of a view. The second munro we reached was "Am Bodach" at 3392 feet and finally "Stob Coire a Chairr" at 3225 feet. The only thing harder than climbing these mountains was trying to pronounce their names! All in all the trip was about 8 miles and gave me my first real taste of the Scottish highlands. Luckily, Sunday would prove to be much clearer with better views of the surrounding mountains.

Kinlochleven Trip

After staying up until 3:30 in the morning two weeknights in a row only to feel the anguish and suffering of two A's home losses, I have decided to go on a trip this weekend. Okay, in all seriousness this has been planned for a couple weeks now, but this weekend I will be hiking (it's called hill walking over here) through the beautiful terrain of Kinlochleven. This is a trip organized by the hill walking club I have joined, which has a very good website at. There are also plenty of good pictures if you just google "Kinlochleven". It should be very fun and I will finally be able to see some of the countryside of Scotland that I have not yet experienced. Hopefully by Sunday I will have plenty of pictures/video up for you to see from the trip. Cheers.

Random, But Funny

I just can't get enough of the Oakland A's right now. Hope everyone will be watching on Tuesday!

Geography Field Trip

I had my first geography field trip today to Arthur's Seat, a large hill made up of two volcanic plugs that sit on the East side of Edinburgh. We got a good look at all of the various rock types around the Arthur's seat area. In the first picture you can see the "Lion's head" and "Lion's Haunch" volcanic plugs that make up the mountain. Although it was extremely cold and windy, I had a really fun time and the 3 hours of riding in the bus gave me a chance to recover from the night before. Enjoy.

Is This a Dream?

I am still not completely convinced that what I just saw on the internet was true. The oakland athletics have done it. We swept the Twins, and now its off to the ALCS. WOW!

Dunhill Championship- Round 2

Got up early today, meaning 8 AM, to get a good spot to see all of the pros and celebrities that were out on the Old Course today. Along with three girls from my dorm who would not stop talking about Hugh Grant, I camped out at the 2nd tee and waited for everyone to come by. I know some of the pictures are small and blurry, but the celebrities never came very close. There is Hugh Grant, Michael Douglas, Bill Murray (kneeling down acting like a dog), Monty, and Vijay. Enjoy.

Dunhill Championship- Round 1

There weren't many big stars out on the old course today, but I did catch a couple people I was familiar with. On my way to a mediaeval (British spelling) history tutorial I stopped by the 18th fairway to catch some of the action. That is when I saw Stephen Dodd hit his approach short into the 18th green. After watching about four or five more groups after that I came to the conclusion that, for the pros at least, they were either putting for birdie from within 5 feet or all the way to the bottom of the "Valley of Sin" ,as they call it, for their 3rd shots. Then it started to rain :( so I figured I better get on to my tutorial. Oh yeah, about that. Now I have essays to write. I guess you really do have to do some work in college. If any of you are planning on watching on the golf channel, tomorrow the big stars are coming to the old course. I will wear my USC red sweatshirt so I'll stand out in the crowd. Look for me on the 1st, 17th, and 18th holes.

A's Win Game 2

Another great victory. Mark Kotsay hits an inside the park home run Brilliant. Unfortunately, we've been in this situation before, and we all know how it has turned out.

A's Win Game 1

Frank Thomas is the man. That is all.

Dunhill Championship- Tuesday Practice Round

I stopped by the 18th green on my way back from a Geography lab today and caught a couple of pros finishing a practice round. The first picture was taken when I just arrived of Angel Cabrera going back to his car. The second shows an unidentified pro (I couldn't make out the name on his bag) practicing putts on the eighteenth. After waiting fifteen more minutes, a big name finally came through, as you can see Padraig Harrington (light shirt) walk of eighteen with his buddies. Apparently I also just missed Bradley Dredge, so sorry about that Jeff. There have been no celebrity sightings yet either, but believe me, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled. I should have another post tomorrow.

P.S. Everyone who read this best be rootin' for the A's these week as they are set to take down the Twins. Go A's!

Dorm Room Pics

Here are some shots taken from inside my dorm room. Hopefully you can make out the great views I have out the window to the golf course and the beach. Top to bottom: My sleeping area; the house that blocks my view of the Swilcan Bridge; James' sleeping area; my view of the 1st/18th fiarways, the beach, and the ocean.

America vs. United Kingdom

One of the biggest things that has caught my attention in these first couple of weeks abroad is the amount of little nuances of the American and British cultures that constantly cause confusion when having conversations. They’re usually little words like “skint”, which means “broke” to us that I have never heard used before. Then of course there are all the parts of our daily lives that we usually take for granted that, to a British person, seem totally foreign. TV shows, for example. I have been trying to get everyone into the American version of “The Office” while all the British people here swear by the British version which, I’ll give them credit, did come first. Luckily, the TV show Lost has made its way over here so we can all talk about the crazy happenings of that show together. Another example is sports. Everyone here can’t stand baseball, it’s “the most boring sport in the world.” They can and do, however, enjoy cricket, which is just as boring as baseball, but last five straight days! Go figure. My point is that it is very interesting to see the intensely different cultures mix (there is about 25 other Americans in my dorm) and to watch what happens as a result. Even more interesting is that the one thing that seems inherently identical throughout both cultures is music. We all have listened to and heard of the same bands and musicians, although techno is quite a bit more popular over here. Anyway, I just felt like sharing this to you as my culture shock is beginning to die down. Hopefully when I come back during Christmas I won’t be completely Scottish.

Fernie Castle, Golf, School

Last night, almost the entire hall went to an annual party at a place called Fernie Castle, about a 25 minutes drive away from St. Andrews. It was the first semi-formal party of the year. Unfortunately the castle was not as grand as I expected, it is more like a hotel made out of stone, but the party was great. Also, I think I can tie a neck tie now. Don't laugh, that's big news for me. Anyways, the party was great with lots of dancing and fun and I got to me a lot more people from my dorm, and I think I have pretty much met all 106 of them now.

As for golf, I played the New Course on Wednesday, similar to the Jubilee, but enjoyed the New Course a little more. My friend Sean, from the Orkney Islands to the north, and I were going to put our names in the daily ballot for the Old Course to play on Monday morning, but the Dunhill Links Championship is coming to town next week, so we'll have to wait. This is a Pro-Am Tournament featuring many European Pros plus Ernie and Vijay and then celebrities like Samuel L. and Hugh Grant. It should be really fun to watch and students get in the ropes for free.

The first official week of school has just come to an end today. I've plotted points on maps in a Geography practical, identified different types of minerals in a Geoscience practical, and learned about the importance of the clergy in the middle-ages of Europe. The work hasn't been terribly difficult and the reading not too intense, but it seems it will get a little heavier as the weeks go on. I'm also getting great workouts power-walking across town from History to Geography in 10 minutes every day.

To conclude, it is surprisingly staying virtually rain-free so far in St. Andrews apart from one afternoon a couple days ago. I'm sure the rain will come, but I'm enjoying the nice weather as it lasts. So long!

*Any questions? Post a comment to ask me and I'll try to answer back.*

Freshers Week Pics

Finally, some pictures of my last week in St. Andrews. Clockwise from top left: Getting ready to teach the Europeans about wiffle ball; finding another pot bunker; my roommate James from the South of Scotland; Pub Crawl; my first St. Andrews Ale.

Freshers Week Over

It's back to reality for me as today was the first day of classes at the University of St. Andrews. After eight straight days of total partying, I had to get up nice and early this morning for breakfast and then head off to my first class, medieval History. Before I go into more details about my classes, let's take a look back at probably the most fun I've had in a week in my entire life:

-Played golf on real Scottish links
-Played football in a country where it is actually appreciated
-Purchased alcoholic beverages at a bar
-Consumed too much of said beverages
-Bought my own groceries
-Woke up at 1 in the afternoon with very little recollection of the night before
-Picked up a slight Scottish accent
-Played extreme rounders (American Football and Baseball in one)
-Watched "Top Gun", my dorm's "Official Movie"
-Drank tea (it's not very good, but better than coffee)
-Joined Golf, Sunday League Football, Table Tennis, and Breakaway (Hiking) clubs
-Shorted my room's circuits with one of my electric adapters
-Met numerous guys and girls from all over the world (Singapore, Australia, Scotland, Italy, Connecticut, L.A., Canada, Germany...)

So, now for my classes. My first was medieval History, which sounded moderately interesting, and I'm sure will get a lot better. The good news is that throughout the semester, there are a total of about nine or ten lecturers, so it won't be the same old boring Englishman teaching every single day. Another good feature of this class is that it is only 3 lectures a week as opposed to five for Geography and Geoscience. My next class was called "Foundations of Geography", and is quite a long way to walk for the ten minutes I have to get there, but it's manageable. This seems like a very good subject. I especially look forward to "human geography" which looks at how we as a people inhabit, utilize, and change the land. Finally, there is Geoscience, which is similar to Geography, but deals more with rocks and volcanoes and how the earth was shaped into what it looks like today.

Other than that, there is nothing much more to say. I'm settling in nicely and am really having a great time. If you ever have any questions you would like me to answer feel free to email me or use the comment link on the blog. Cheers!

Classes Start Tomorrow

It is finally Sunday and Freshers week is coming to an end. It has been very fun so far and I'm sure it will only get better. Yesterday I went to the Sports fair and signed up for golf, table tennis, mountaineering, and the Sunday league football team. Today is the society fair. I am also getting ready to start classes tomorrow. Medieval History at 10, Foundations of Geography at 11, and Geoscience at 12. Also today was the first day so far that it has actually rained. I woke up this morning, looked out the window and saw the 18th hole of the old courses covered in puddles. I am really have a great time though and I hope to hear from anyone who wants to write.

spenner13@hotmail.com

Settling In

Two more pub crawls, a soccer game, and a "beach brawl" later I think I have finally regained my consciousness enough to tell everyone a little bit about what's going on around here. Amazingly, the weather has been spectacular. I'm looking out my dorm room right now at 4 in the afternoon and all I see is blue skies. A couple days ago a bunch of guys from my dorm went down to the "pitches" and played a game of football (soccer). Today our entire John Burnet Hall went down to the beach and soundly defeated University hall in British Bulldog, football, and hardcore rounders (its a mix of baseball and full contact tackle football). I'm pretty tired right now and unfortunately tomorrow I will have to start working on school-related things. Time to get some rest though.

First Night Out

I have officially completed my first night roaming the town (pubs) of St. Andrews. It seems strange because its only 8:45 PM local time but considering that I have been awake for 24 hours, I think it is time I get a little shut eye. First we (my entire dorm of about 100 people) went to this pub whose name has now slipped my mind but it was amazing. A hundred of us packed into this tiny pub about, oh 20 meters (that's right, I've converted!) away from the 18th green of the old course where I ordered a pint of Tennant's ale which for me was absolutely delectable. After the fire alarm went off in that pub because it was so hot from all the people crammed into it, we headed on over to the Union Pub. While there I ordered a tall glass of St. Andrews Ale which was much darker and harder to drink. It's okay though, I'm already making progress. After the union I decided to call it quits because I haven't got a wink of sleep for a LONG time. Other than that, I might be playing the new course at St. Andrews tomorrow with my dad and mom. By the way, I forgot my camera this time but next time I promise there will be pictures! Cheers!

Packing for School

So it's three days before I leave for Scotland and this morning I realized how incredibly bored I've been at home for the past three weeks. I'm posting about packing clothes for crying out loud. Apart from a quick trip to LA to visit my friend at LMU, I've spent the last three weeks looking for anything to do to pass the time. It's getting so bad that even the daily trips to the Cheese Steak Shop and the nightly Super Mario Strikers tournaments have gotten pretty old. Just let me go to Scotland already.
Backing up to the original point of this post, after getting together all the clothes I'm bringing to Scotland I have realized two things: 1. The sheer amount of clothes I own and will be bringing, and 2. The insane amount of clothes that girls must be bringing to college. If I'm bringing a total of almost 20 shirts to Scotland, I don't even want to think about how many blouses the average girl takes to her freshman dorm. I'm even bring four pairs of shoes which, for me, is completely ridiculous. Each freshman girl will probably bring a duffel bag full their "favorite shoes" to bring to college. As little as I care about my own clothing, there is one thing I'm truly happy about, and that is the abundance of fresh new socks I'm packing. Believe me, you can NEVER have enough socks.

5 Days Left

5 Days left until I leave for Scotland.