Libby, Lily, Rachel, and I ventured on the way to St. Andrews University to meet up with Rachel’s friend from high school who attends the University, Adam. We were able to apply a lot of what we learned on our tours in Edinburgh to our tour of St. Andrews. One of our faculty leaders, Mary Pull, informed us that the word undermined came from people digging mines under castles to overthrow the castle. We were able to crawl through the mines at St. Andrews Castle where the Scotish Reformation happened. Adam, our freelance tour guide, told us about all of the history of St. Andrews Castle. He brought us through the mines and informed us that we were at the point where the Catholics and Protestants fatally met. We also got to stand were Cardinal Beaton was hanging where the protestants hanged his body after killing him. They also wanted to preserve his body, so Adam informed us that they soaked him in salt.
After the castle we wandered into St. Mary’s to witness the tree that Queen Mary of Scotland planted a tree. It is still alive and pretty underwhelming. When we first walked in there was a large and plentiful tree as the focal point of the courtyard. To the right. there was the tree Queen Mary had planted being held up by two branches strapped to the trunk of the tree. However, the tree was not the immaculate tree that I had imagined it was very intriguing to witness a tree planted so many years ago by such a famous hand that I learned so much about the day before.
We also got to learn a lot about the history and traditions of St. Andrews University. Adam brought us around the University and showed us the castles that he got to attend class in. The buildings, while old, were incomparable to our old building like Dunbar and Ladd Hall. It was hard to wrap my head around that the students sitting in the middle of the courtyard studying for their finals surrounded by castles and a world-class education thought as this as their normal. Adam showed us around a cathedral, two libraries with royal blue carpet and chandeliers where he informed us that the first students to study at the University in 1410 were simply learning to read and write and were among the most educated. The University has kept a prestigious status but has evolved to educate their students in Geography, Economic, International Relations, Philosophy, etc.
While the history was very enriching the traditions of the ancient University is what was most interesting. We all went to get a pint with Adam, and he had to leave early to go pour a bucket of water on members of his academic family after they got done with their final. While standing on the peer, he told us how on the first of May the students celebrate spring by skinny dipping into the North Sea. Overall, the day was full of information and meeting new people. I was happy to spend the day in one of the oldest and most prestigious University in the UK.
Posted By: Hannah Holzhaeuser
popcultureabroad2018 