For restaurants, I recommend the Grill House (2 course menu for 10.95 from 5-7) or either of the Indian/Bangladeshi restaurants. For lunch, if you're looking for something light, I would recommend any of the coffee shops, really. One of my favorites is the Coffee Shop and Tea Room on Greyfriar's Garden.

Make sure while you're here you hit both of the beaches: East and West Sands. Both have spectacular views of the different parts of town, and are very different experiences. West Sands is right near the Old Course, and East Sands is up near the harbor and the pier. However, I wouldn't recommend them at night unless it's summer (because during the summer there really isn't a night - the sun sets at 10 now and rises about 4:30). Also head down Castle Sands near the Castle itself, especially if it's nighttime and you want to build a bonfire.

Recently my running partner Ashley and I discovered a path that runs along a stream, and goes by a few parks and playgrounds, and behind houses with amazing gardens if you enjoy that sort of thing. It's called Lade Braes Walk and starts on South Street and heads for miles parallel to Hepburn Gardens. It's a great way to see the real St. Andrews, with football games and owners walking their dogs and children on the swings. If you're not into touristy things, and are more of a nature person, I really recommend it.

If you're more adventurous, I recommend the Fife Coastal Path to Crail. Ashley and I hiked this last week instead of studying (or revising, as it's called). It's 15 miles from St. Andrews to Crail, and some parts can be a little rough, so bring real walking shoes and some sunscreen, and you'll get some terrific views of the coastline:

maybe some golf courses:

and even a creepy house in the woods:

And if you're lucky, you might see a naked man sunbathing. Sadly enough I don't have a picture of this. The picture in my mind is quite enough.
If you do this hike, you can take a bus back from Crail, or you can take the whole day (and I mean whole day) and hike there and back. We took the whole day and were a bit delirious at the end.

Churches are abound in St. Andrews, and unlike a lot of churches in Europe, you don't have to pay to see them (I probably should mention that donations are accepted). Holy Trinity on South Street is incredibly beautiful inside, and it's open to all before noon on weekdays. St. Salvator's Chapel, the University Chapel, is open from 9-5 on weekdays normally, and is an incredible sight as well.

St. Andrews is a beautiful town, full of people on the sunny days and full of history every day. There is so much to be appreciated, I just hope I appreciate it by now.

St. Andrews is a bit like Mecca for golfers. Here is where it all started, less than a mile from my hall at the Old Course. Everyone who is anyone has played here. Tiger Woods won the Open last August, but more famous (shocking, right? More famous than Tiger?) players have included Mary Queen of Scots, King James IV (only after the ban on golf was lifted), Tom Morris and his son Tommy, and more recently, Prince William (a graduate of St. Andrews himself). Just about everything along the northern part of town is devoted to golf, from the street names:

The Links at Golf Place

to the shops:

The brand-new Old Course Shop

along with numerous hotels and bars. Incredibly exclusive golf clubs are abound, including the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.

The golf courses themselves are beautiful, and most of them overlook the ocean:

The Old Course

The golf clubs themselves are constantly looking out for the quality of the course. The R&A even has their own recommendations and guidelines for what makes a good course. I think there are six courses within St. Andrews, and Course No. 7 is on its way.

On a more personal, opinionated note, Course No. 7 will be the most beautiful course probably in the world, although I have no basis for this other than that I run by the construction site every day. Using the link above you can see from the pictures that the course sits atop a cliff on the North Sea, and this time of year when the flowers are out and the ocean is an incredible blue there is no sight more amazing. As long, I'm sure, as you don't hit your ball into the sea.

(For more info on golf in St. Andrews the St. Andrews Links Trust is a great resource for history and tourism.)

Of course, if you have money to spend, there is no point in reading this. I used to be a poor college student and now I'm a broke college student, so I'm usually on the hunt for good deals and will (sometimes) sacrifice quality and comfort for a few quid or euro. But either way, I've been there, and you may have not. So here's some musings on my experiences:

Trains: Trains, I think, are the best way to travel within a country. I've taken the train several times from London and Edinburgh up to Leuchars, travelling either on GNER or Scotrail. Train travel is (usually) much more relaxing and much less stressful than plane travel, and if you're travelling short distances and within a country, the security is nonexistent. (This really isn't to say I haven't felt safe. I've never felt unsafe on a train.) And besides this, you get to see things up close, like the countryside:

Now, the train to Paris is a little bit of a different story, since immigration and security are a must. I was patted down on the way to Paris (I always seem to set the thing off), but immigration wasn't terrible. From London Waterloo, I took the Eurostar to Gare de Nord, and slept the whole way since my train was at 5:30 AM one way and 6:30 AM the other.

Baggage can also be a little more of a hassle on the train, since you have to deal with it yourself. When my family came to visit over my Easter holiday, we had 6 people with 5 big bags, and it took all of us and some tight-space maneuvering to get the luggage on and off. Overall, though, I think trains are the way to go, if you can use them.

Planes: Unfortunately, you can't (usually) take a train over the ocean or the sea, so I flew to Dublin this past weekend. I flew Ryanair, which was possibly the most efficient airline ever. It also cost me 30 pounds, which is somewhere around 50 dollars (I try not to calculate it, it makes me sad), for my roundtrip ticket. Going into Dublin Airport I had to go through immigration, but not coming out. I still don't understand the immigration laws for the European Union although I am taking a class on citizenship this semester. Security is a big deal in Edinburgh, and there are signs up on the wall about flying near bird flu-infected areas. I was patted down again in Edinburgh.

Getting to and from the airport can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you live in a small town like I do. I took a train from Leuchars to Haymarket in Edinburgh, and then the airport express bus. From Dublin airport I took a city bus to my hotel. It seems that a trip never has just one or two legs of travel; I'm always getting on and off buses and trains and in and out of taxis only to get on and off of a plane.

As far as cheap airlines go, Europe is apparently the place for them. There's Ryanair and Easyjet, Jet2 and BMI, and I'm sure a host of other ones. All are booked almost exclusively online. However, the airfare that is posted is deceiving, and often doesn't include taxes and fees, which can run up to probably 40 pounds sometimes.

Hotels: I've stayed in a number of hotels this semester, but no hostels. I've had two "worst hotel ever" experiences, one in Aberdeen and one in Paris, but mostly I've had really good experiences. Overall, I recommend Expedia.com for hotel bookings, although good deals can be found on lastminute.com. If it's a deal you're looking for, and you don't mind public transportation, it might be worth it to look for a hotel a little out of the way. For example, my hotel in Dublin, the Jurys Croke Park, was outside of the city centre by about a mile, but it was a gorgeous hotel for only 100 dollars a night.

General Advice:
Get a guidebook. There are plenty to choose from; I recommend the "Let's Go" or Fodor's series.
If you have a lot to see and not a lot of time, use one of the hop on/hop off city bus tours.
If you're in a city, have a lot of time and not a lot to see, get out of the city for a day. Trish and I went to Howth for a day, outside of Dublin, just by taking the commuter train. We went on a cliff walk and sat by the ocean and had an overall relaxing day outside of the grime and bustle of Dublin.
Make sure you rest! If you sightsee all day and never get back to your hotel for a nap or never sit down for a real lunch, you won't get to experience the nightlife, which (at least for the younger set) can be the most interesting.

I'll leave off with some advice from a friend who was in London last semester. Before I came here, we had this conversation:
"So, as far as travelling goes, any advice?"
"Do a lot of it!"

If you're planning a trip to the UK, you've probably noticed on your hotel voucher that your room includes a Full Scottish (or English) Breakfast. Breakfast, to me, is the best meal of the day here, although it is no question different from American breakfast. There aren't Lucky Charms or any sugary cereals for breakfast. (Rumor has it Lucky Charms are illegal here, but you can order them online through AmericanSoda.co.uk) Porridge is usually on the menu, along with mushrooms, grilled or stewed tomatoes, fried bread, potato scones and black pudding. My grandfather tried black pudding while he was here, even though I warned him...I don't think it's exactly something Americans might call normal. At breakfast, you might find some kind of fruit, although I think America is bigger about fruit than the rest of the world.

I have a feeling that lunch here is generally lighter fare. Usually I have a jacket potato or some soup. "Jacket," I think, is a fancy word for "baked," although I've heard that some places will take the insides out of the potato and mix them up with the filling before returning it to the skin. Fillings for jacket potatoes include cheese and beans, coronation chicken (which is a bit like chicken curry), chilli, and a number of other things. The Scots truly know how to make potatoes, too, and I can see how a potato famine would do a number on these people. Potatoes are served with every meal, and are incredibly big.

Soup is another thing the Scots have gotten right. Soup here is not like American soup. It isn't Cambell's Chicken Noodle; in fact, it often doesn't have broth (unless the soup is Scotch Broth) and is pretty much just pureed ingredients. In my hall, it's not unusual to find an entire mushroom in mushroom (not cream of mushroom) soup. Sometimes it does need some salt and pepper, but everything here is a bit bland, so salt and pepper have become staples.

Fish and chips are just as big here as in Rhode Island on a Friday. They are very much like Rhode Island's fish and chips, too, but much less greasy. My family was very impressed. I haven't tried them, as I generally try to avoid fried things, but the grilled haddock I had was delicious.

Speaking of chips, chips and cheese is the Brit's version of pizza. Where at Colgate everyone would stop at Slices after a night out, at St. Andrews, everyone ends up at Empire for chips (french fries) and cheese. Not exactly chilli cheese fries you would get in the States, these are more like McDonald's fries with grated cheese on top.

Snack foods in general are a bit different here. I rarely find pretzels, and the times I have found them (in big cities, mainly), they have been made of (surprise!) potatoes. The crisps (potato chips) come in all sorts of weird flavors, like pickled onion, steak and lamb and mint. Chocolate chip cookies are hard to come by, but Cadbury eggs are abound, no matter if it's Easter season or not.

The most different thing of all, however, has got to be haggis. It's infamous, I think, and many people have asked if I've tried it (that's a resounding NO). Basically, it's a sheep's organs all mushed up with other ingredients and shoved in the stomach, and then boiled, usually served with mashed rutabaga (neeps) and potatoes (tatties). Not something for someone even kind of picky about their food.

If you've noticed, I haven't really included poultry on here. I don't think it's eaten quite as much as in the states, which is good in light of the bird flu scare. But we're all avoiding it, either way.

When I was in London the first time I checked my email to find two worried parents and several worried grandparents checking in on me, and asking me to maybe reconsider my trip to Paris, which was to be the next day (Thursday the 1st). As all normal people my age, I ignored the warnings about the protests from my parents and got on the train. (Mind you, to get on the train, I had to wake up at 3 am and leave my hotel in London at 3:30. Someone told us it was a 45 minute cab ride to Waterloo, where it actually was 15 minutes, and check-in for the Eurostar didn't even start until 4:45.)

The seven of us (five other girls and one guy) arrived in Paris at 9:30 and attempted to hail a van to our hotel, which, we found, was not on a map. The van driver struggled with his English while we struggled with our French, and somehow, eventually, we found it: the Hotel Amarys Simart (read: worst hotel ever.) We threw our stuff in the baggage room and headed off to the Louvre.

All of the sightseeing parts of Paris were amazing; as were all the shopping parts. I tried to get as much done in two days as possible. I climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower:

I saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, I looked in the window at Cartier, which, excitingly enough, is across the street from the Arc de Triomph:

and ventured out to Versailles:

The most exciting parts, however, were the glitches.

We didn't have hot water in our hotel for the first 36 hours. We lost a friend at the Eiffel Tower; luckily she (somehow) found the hotel after about three hours. We crammed our way into the smallest hotel rooms in Paris and bickered a little, as six girls often do. However, we ate the best crepes and pastries, saw the greatest sights, enjoyed the most beautiful weather, and now I can say I saw Paris in the springtime.

I was away from St. Andrews from the 25th of March until today, and I refused to check in with the "real world" via email or phone or internet or, for the most part, TV. That is, until this morning, when I woke up in my hotel in Edinburgh with my grandparents to find the BREAKING NEWS: bird flu has invaded the UK! Not a big deal, I thought, I think I heard it was in France and I was just there a few days ago. Plus, Europe is still big, and so is the UK. But then I heard it was in Scotland. And, even more than that, it was found in a dead swan near Anstruther, which is about 10 miles from St. Andrews. So I guess I should be worrying, even a little bit.

My parents are here visiting for the second half of my Easter break, and they seem to be worrying a little more than I am. Of course, they're heading home on Saturday, and their fears are more about being quarantined and leaving me behind than their next two days of possible exposure. I'm thinking about what precautions I'll be taking for my last two months here in Scotland, which will include avoiding my daily 2 hard-boiled egg whites as long as I can find some other source of protein that isn't lamb or pork (both of which seem to be staples here, and neither of which I like), and probably stiffening up whenever I see a stray dirty feather. But other than that, what can I do?

I would advise watching the AP websites for further stories about the fate of the Scottish and their poultry, while I'll be watching my own fate...

Those of you in the States may be used to clean air in bars and restaurants, but smoking is a definitive part of the culture here in the UK. Smoking is so prevalent in public areas that signs are posted everywhere about not smoking, including the Divinity Library here at school. Smoking is allowed in the Student Union, but not close to the bar. In fact, the only pub I know that has banned smoking is the Raisin, but other than that, I come home smelling like smoke far too often.

The law was passed in June of 2005 and will take effect this Sunday, so I hope to come home after spring break to a cleaner Scotland.

I find it interesting the number of smokers there are in the UK, despite high cigarette prices. Cigarettes here run about 5 pounds a pack I think, which is close to 10 dollars. I can't imagine that people can afford to smoke. However, they do sell smaller packages as well, but I'm not sure how many are in them or how much they cost.

The warnings on cigarette packages are also much bigger and stronger than those in the states. In America, from what I remember, cigarette companies get away with warning people in such a manner: "SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health."
Here in the UK, the warnings are much different. There are laws about percentages of the pack coverage, and what exactly you have to say. My favorite warning? 30% of the package has to say either "SMOKING KILLS" or "Smoking seriously harms you and others around you."

If you want to examine the laws a little further, I think Wikipedia has a great breakdown of the UK packaging, along with a picture or two.

I'm not sure how I decided on Aberdeen, but a weekend away is always nice. We took a train from Leuchars, and the train ride was absolutely beautiful. Some highlights:

The River Tay

Snow-covered mountains near Aberdeen

We arrived in Aberdeen, and it looked a little like an industrial city, which I suppose it is. We couldn't check into our hotel for a few hours, so we thought we'd look around. We found a cathedral:

Church of Scotland, Greyfriars John Knox Parish

and something that resembled a castle:

The Castlegate

and lots of shopping. But we headed to our hotel, the Hotel Britannia
and walked through the city to get there. Luckily, I had written down directions to it, but unluckily, failed to realize that it is 6 miles outside the city center. So, Dave and I hiked the 6 miles with our backpacks, finally collapsing in the hotel after a hearty meal of fish and chips for him (a Scottish staple) and vegetarian bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes) for me.

In the morning we took the bus back to the city center and walked down to the beach area, which I'm sure is a lot of fun in the summer, but on a cold and cloudy day in March, the only good thing it offers is some hot chocolate. I thought this photo op was ironic:

"Sunset Boulevard" on the Aberdeen Fun Beach

Dave and I walked along the beach for a while before hitting up the science center; always a fun event for everyone. That Saturday it was especially fun for every five-year-old in the area, and the quite random 21 and 25-year old Americans looking for a place to get warm. So, we enjoyed the Satrosphere until it became overwhelming and awkward, and headed back into town for more shopping and some lunch.

We ate lunch in a mall and got a quick dinner at Marks & Spencer before heading back to our hotel, where we crashed for the night after enjoying some American TV: the Simpsons, followed by Stargate Atlantis.

There was one thing in Aberdeen that I hadn't gotten a taste of in St. Andrews. First of all, St. Andrews, the University, is 20% international, 10% of which are American. So, we don't get a lot of Scottish fashion, which tends to be very dark and alternative, at least for the younger set. All the girls look a bit like Avril Lavigne. You won't find anyone wearing pink in Scotland. Maybe it's a reflection of the March weather?

Anyways, it's always nice to get away, but sometimes, it's nice to get away just so you can come back.

In "the States," it is generally acceptable to go out to the bars on Friday and/or Saturday and do the normal American thing. In St. Andrews, however, you can find people out at the pubs every night of the week, if you're determined enough. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are the big nights, as far as I have been able to tell.

In our town you can find any sort of pub you fancy. The Raisin, a favorite of my friends, has the feel of "someone's basement," as one of them described it. It's the closest to us on this end of town. There's also the Victoria Cafe, or the Vic as it's known, which is a little bit more lounge-y with a danceclub vibe on Tuesdays, when they have 1 pound drink specials. The Gin House has those specials on Thursdays, when it's "Back to Skool" night and some people dress like Catholic schoolgirls (and boys). The Gin House is, as far as I can tell, the biggest of the pubs in town. If you want dancing and a mixed crowd of locals, golfers and students, there's always the Lizard Lounge at the Inn on North Street, where you can gawk at the terrible dancing or participate in it yourself. Here's a picture from my night last night at the Lizard:

I think most of them were locals and golfers last night. If you're a student, the night usually ends at the Student Union, where there is usually a "Bop" (or a dance). The Union has the latest license in town, which is usually 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. on weekends. Things generally shut down pretty early here. And after that, if you're lucky enough to escape by 2, there's always chips and cheese at Empire.

I wore black, of course, and took a friend from Andrew Melville Hall, who also attends Colgate full-time, as my date:

Alisha Sedor and I, in the New Hall Lobby

A lot of the guys, especially JSA's (Junior Semester Abroad) wore kilts:

John Slefinger and Gabe Gates

There are two kilt-hire shops in town, and apparently you can pick your color. John's is reminiscent of the Scottish flag. Normally, if you were buying a kilt, you'd research your family tartan and have the kilt be of the same pattern.

We took a bus to the hotel, where everything was decorated like we were inside the Disney movie The Little Mermaid. There were about 5 separate rooms, with bars in every room and in the lobby and hallways. One room had a swing band at first, and then a student band that was absolutely amazing. The main room had a live Ceilidh band, which is a Scottish line dance that is incredibly difficult to do if you're wearing heels (and if your date has found a partner wearing a kilt).

Apparently the whole dance cost about 18,000 pounds, which is impressive, considering only 500 people actually paid for their tickets. The other thousand were given to New Hall residents and their dates.

The highlights of the night? The student band, which was not just your normal rock band with guitars and such. They were dressed up in zebra print outfits and wigs and had a saxophone and a trumpet, and played anything you can think of. The Ceilidh is always a highlight, although I didn't get to participate - just watch.

And. Of course. The kilts.

Thursday I had class from 2 to 3 and then I ran with my bags to catch a bus from St. Andrews to the train station at 3:15. Tricia, a friend from my study group, and I got a 4:20 train from Leuchars. The train ride was long, 6 hours direct to King's Cross. I couldn't see much because it still gets dark kind of early here (although I've heard in the spring it stays light until 11 p.m.). We arrived in London right on time, met some Colgate friends in the train station and hopped a cab to their flat. A cab, if you have 4 people, is actually cheaper than a tube ticket for each (about a pound fifty versus a 3 pound single ticket), at least for a trip that short. I fell asleep almost immediately - traveling is exhausting, despite the fact that it's 6 hours doing nothing.

On Friday we aventured to Portobello Road and the market there. It was much colder and windier than St. Andrews, which is actually saying a lot. I was excited to see Portobello Road, having been obsessed with Bedknobs and Broomsticks as a child. I'm also always excited by the rows of what we would call townhouses painted all different colors:

Tricia and I then went to Oxford Circus, which I don't have a picture of because my hands were entirely too cold to take out of my pockets. Oxford Circus, I felt, was ultimately comparable with New York City at Christmastime. Full of people, full of noise and shopping, terrible for those with claustrophobia or social anxiety. We enjoyed shopping at Topshop and H&M, neither of which you could find in St. Andrews.

Towards the afternoon we had mastered the tube, and I had found a deep appreciation and sympathy for those who experienced the 7/7 bombings, as they're called here. The tube is incredibly far underground, with escalators abounding, and they are extremely busy all the time. Here's a picture, which I risked security to take:

Friday night I met up with two friends who went to Cumberland High School with me, currently at Syracuse in London for the semester. We went to a few pubs in Chinatown, which is gorgeous at night by the way:

She lives in an amazing flat with 10 people in Hyde Park Mansions, and I thought they looked just like London should. But that's just a side note. In the UK, it takes a special bar, pub or club to have a late license, so most are only open until 11, and it's extremely expensive to go out past 11. A cover charge might run you 8 pounds, or about 15-ish dollars (I'm still trying to convert in my head) if you want to go out late like Americans do.

However, Saturday, after an adventure at the Camden markets and a failed attempt at Harrod's (the tube line was closed and neither of us had a map) I went with a few Colgate friends to a club on Oxford Street called Mean Fiddler. It didn't open until 11 and was a 5 pound cover charge, which apparently was fairly cheap. We were promised live bands and indie rock, but inside I found ridiculous crowds and clouds of smoke and an incredibly loud excuse for a DJ (can you tell clubs really aren't my thing?). It's still legal to smoke inside clubs here, at least until March 26th. I left Mean Fiddler, almost deaf and desperate for air, at 2 a.m., avoided a "minicab" (they're supposedly illegal), and grabbed a bus back to my friends' flat.

Sunday was a traveling day again. Tricia and I took the 6 hour train at 10 a.m., which was incredibly early after having gotten only 4 hours of sleep, but we truly enjoyed the view on the ride home. The King's Cross - Dundee line goes through the fabled English countryside, by English manors, the Edinburgh palace and castle and the ocean. For almost a commuter's train, it really is scenic.

I arrived back at St. Andrews exhausted and desperate for some clean air. London was fun, and I'll be back in a few weeks for a class trip and some touristy stuff and sightseeing. For now, I'm glad to be back in small-ish town life.

I don't think pedestrians have the right of way here. In fact, I know they don't. In order to cross the street, first you must decide which way to look first (you look right - it took me a week to figure that out) and then you have to be totally sure that no one is coming. If a car is coming, they will not stop. I've heard engines gunning for me. I have heard rumors that if a pedestrian is hit, the pedestrian has to pay for damage to the car. I'm not sure that is true, but I'm still careful.

I definitely don't mean to say that I never walk in St. Andrews. I have to. I haven't figured out the bus system, and most of my classes are in St. Mary's College on South Street, which is a good 15 to 20 minute walk from my dorm room in New Hall (Side note - New Hall is a Three-Star rated hotel used in the summer by golfers). St. Andrews itself is a small town, with four main streets:

Map of St. Andrew's with some cross streets and alleys.

I've managed the crosswalks so far. Crosswalks here look a little like those at home, although they're accompanied by flashing lightpoles, which I don't yet understand. There are also two of the kind that have the button and the red light, and they work fairly quickly and beep loudly when you're allowed to cross.

There's also plenty of space for leisure walking, if you want to avoid the cars. St. Andrews lies on the Fife Coastal Path which runs right in front of the Old Course Hotel and up along the cliffs of the Scores and right by all of the ruins. Here's a picture of me on the East Sands side of the path, and an example of the view from the path:

On the other side you can see the ocean. So, I guess getting around here isn't all that bad, as long as you know what you're doing.

The town of St. Andrews was founded in 1140...that's definitely something I didn't know before. For the first 400 years it was the religious hubbub of the United Kingdom, which I think is great, since I'm a religion major. I don't know a lot of the details about those first times...but there is a castle here!

St. Andrew's Castle, as seen from the Scores

St. Andrew is Scotland's patron saint, and his relics were the inspiration for many more structures in our little town, including St. Andrew's Cathedral.

St. Andrew's Cathedral

A lot of the town's history lies in its churches, including the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton at St. Salvator's. He was burned at the stake right in front of what is now the University's Chapel. His initials are in the cobblestones there, and it is said that you can see his face projected up in the bricks on the wall. You can see for yourself:

St. Salvator's, with a view of the quadrangle. The face is about 5 bricks up from the center.

That's what I know so far. I'm slowly getting integrated into the history, as is the town. It is so funny to see a cell phone store next to a real, live butcher shop (with carcasses hanging and everything) and a bus parked in front of the ruins of Blackfriar's Abbey.

You'll all have to wait for the golfing pictures...hopefully one day the sun will come out.

Just to give a quick sense of what it's like to be here, the sun has been out a whopping 2 whole days in the past week and a half. Today was one of those lucky days, and it got up to about 2 degrees C, which I believe is close to 35 degrees F. It never gets overly cold, like it does back home, and apparently this is the coldest it has been in a long time. But it is always wet. The ground is never dry. However, I've been lucky in that it has not rained but once.

As my professor said before I arrived...the sky is gray,

but the grass is green,

and the sea is sublime.

When I first arrived, the weather was what I (and my sinuses) noticed, so that's the first thing I'll tell you about. It's supposed to warm up in the next couple of days, with some rain. Finally.