Hi Everyone! I'm now living in Scotland, St. Andrews that is, where I'll also be studying for the rest of the year. I arrived just over a week ago but only recently did I receive my internet connection. So now I can finally communicate with all of you in the "outside world."

            It's been an amazing time since I arrived, but of course, nothing could ever beat Canada, eh? Surprisingly, there are a good number of Canadian students studying here at the University, not to mention a large American contingent. All the overseas students arrived last week and we were essentially given our own frosh week which turned out to be the best way to kick-off the year...just five days of absolute mayhem. There are people from all over--Europe, Asia, North America, South America...etc.

            Well, I thought I'd spend the time, for those of you who are wondering, to quickly update on what I have been up in the past week and what living here in Scotland is like. In short, St. Andrews is amazing! The residence where I am living is smashing, baby...yeah! The people here are incredibly open and friendly, and my entire floor gets along like peas and carrots. The hall in which I'm living is located in an ideal location by the golf centre, along the coast of the North Sea overlooking the beach and the 18th green of the world's oldest golf course, the St. Andrews Old Course. Golf is a pretty big deal here in St. Andrews, known as the "Home of Golf."  As such, you see plenty of golf shops along the streets and lots of older men practicing their chops.

            The weather has been unnaturally pleasant. St. Andrews is basically located on the northeast coast of the North Sea in the UK. Yet since I arrived just over a week ago, it hasn't rained at all. I'm already beginning to develop a slight Scottish & British accent as half the students in the school and in my residence are from the U.K. I'm also finding myself quickly adopting their lingo even though some of it seems kind of awkward when you say it at first. Here in the UK, for instance, to wake-up someone in the morning is to "knock-up" that person. So the first time my friend offered to knock me up at 9 in the morning, well, needless to say, I was a bit confused (though flattered).   The people are incredible, the school is busting with diversity and the camaraderie on campus is amazing and tight. The native food on the other hand is a whole other ball game. As we all know, Scotland is "infamously" known for some of the world's most dodgy cuisine; specifically haggis (stuffed sheep's stomach) and black pudding (deep-fried pig's blood and fat). I actually had the pleasure of trying both, and I have to say, it's not as bad as it sounds...it's actually worst!

Honestly though, haggis was surprisingly tasty (no guff), but black pudding...whoo-ahh! Though it looks like a deep-fried Mars Bar, it actually makes you want to down a litre of whisky just to wash the insulting taste out of your mouth. Scotland is also apparently the only country in the world where Coca Cola does not reign superior in the soda industry. Here they proudly brew "Irn-Bru" (prounouced, "IRON-BREW") which is basically a watered-down version of C-Plus drunken religiously by almost all Scots.

            The night-life in St. Andrews is doubly smashing and good times all around. Everyone pretty much goes to the pubs night after night, and given the relatively small size of city centre, every night feels like one giant street party. There are a good number of pubs to choose from, but most of the time, my friends and I always end up at the same places. There's the The Victoria, a bar/karaoke pub where talent is definitely not an issue; the Student Union, your traditional on-campus pub; and Ma-Bells, a posh British pub where the Prince and his "yah" posse are known to hang-out.

            Speaking of which, to all the ladies, No!...I have not seen Prince Willy yet, though I can say that I do know where he lives and I do know in which department on campus he has his classes. But of course I'm sure I have better things to do while I'm here than stalk the Prince, ie, taking bag-pipe lessons...watch out! Well, good-bye for now!

 

All the best,

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

Dispatches from Scotland − Number 2

By Chris Pang

Ed’s note: Former INMUN Secretary-General, Chris Pang is enjoying a one-year educational exchange opportunity from UWO at St. Andrews, Scotland.

Here at my residence in St. Andrews, there is a strange rule that prohibits us from placing anything on our dorm room walls that isn’t held up by the blue-coloured sticky-tack that they provide. As I look at the calendar on my wall that hangs on for dear life, I notice today’s date: “November 12, 2002.” For a moment, I don’t know whether to be more impressed by the fact that this cheap adhesive “goo” has actually kept this slab of laminated paper from peeling off, or that it has been exactly two full months since I arrived here in St. Andrews, Scotland.

It may not sound like a lot, however, when you are away from home and living in a completely different country and culture, it seems that everything you experience, from the people you meet to the food you consume, seems both unique and exciting. Well, what a better time to reflect and answer some of the questions thrown at me in the past two months about my experience so far:

WHAT IS SCOTLAND LIKE?

Scotland is one of the most underrated countries that I have visited. Tragically, it seems that foreign perceptions of this vast, incredible land have been confined to images of William Wallace battling the English in the movie, Braveheart. But there is much more to Scotland than bagpipes and men in kilts. Scotland has a profoundly rich culture which is visible in student life at St. Andrews with the many traditional dishes served around town and the ceilidh dances and balls held on campus.

The highlands are spectacular. Last month, my friends and I were in the Highlands for a weekend—a beautiful showcase of some of the most pristine, stunning scenery Scotland has to offer. But I can’t speak of Scotland without mention of its weather. In short, Scotland gets a great deal of rain, and living in St. Andrews along the coast of the North Sea, one must invest in a heavy-duty umbrella, prepared to take it with you whenever you venture outside.

WHAT IS YOUR RESIDENCE LIKE?

Aside from the draconian “sticky-tack” rule, my residence life is great! In Scotland, they don’t use the term “residence,” but rather “hall.” The name of my residence is Hamilton Hall which used to be a hotel a hundred years ago, a beautiful five-storey, red-brick building located adjacent to the Ancient and Royal Golf Club, overlooking the 1^st and 18^th Greens of the world’s oldest golf course, the 15^th Century St. Andrews Old Course. The residence also overlooks the coast of the North Sea offering one of the most ascetically pleasing views in town. The residence is located on a street called “The Scores,” which contrary to what I initially thought, actually means “cliffs,” not “scores” as in golf. 

There are 120 residents in the hall, with a 2 to 1 ratio of females to males, with most people from places across the United Kingdom such as England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Ironically, the floor-mate living across from me is also Canadian from Ontario. Because of the small population, there is a strong sense of camaraderie. At the same time, gossip travels quickly which can instantaneously transform the hall into another bad episode of “Neighbours,” Britain’s most widely watched soap-opera (after the Royal Family of course).

WHAT ARE YOUR PROGRAM AND CLASSES LIKE?

I am enrolled in the University’s Department of International Relations and taking Asian Security and International Terrorism, two incredibly interesting and thought-provoking modules (courses). The British university system is different from that in North America in many ways. The grading scheme is a lot different as they use a 20-point scale opposed to the North American percentage system. Another marked difference is in the approach to learning that the University has adopted. Particularly noticeable in the Junior and Senior Modules, St. Andrews promotes what is often referred to as independent learning whereby in-class sessions are minimal with a great deal of learning taking place outside of the classroom on your own. At first glance, this approach may seem like a bad excuse for having lots of free-time, but in reality, I find the approach very rewarding for the reason that while lecture and tutorial sessions are reduced to only two hours per week per module, the sessions are quite vigorous and are very demanding on the student to be constantly on their toes with the course material—ready to argue, debate, and defend their views on a particular topic on a regular basis.

 WHAT ARE THE PEOPLE LIKE?

St. Andrews is more of an English school than Scottish. I would say 35 percent of all students here at the University are Scottish, almost half are British with foreign students (those from around Europe and abroad including North America) making up a modest 20 percent or so. The people come from diverse backgrounds, giving St. Andrews an international character. It is hard for me to place the friends I have made into one region of the world, but essentially, my friends here come from all parts of the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, the United States, and of course Canada. I find the people to be extremely open and friendly and I can really feel a strong sense of community particularly within my own department where we often meet for a coffee or a drink at one of the many local caffeine depositories or watering holes.

I attribute this to the fact that with a student population of only 13,000 in a town of 18,000, it is very common to be running into the same people over and over especially since the popular gatherings points during the day—namely the University Library, the Social Science Quad, and of course Costa’s where we routinely get our daily injection of caffeine—are often saturated with students. Night-time is no different as the town has a fair number of pubs where you can just walk in and easily find your friends or people that you know from around the university.

WHAT IS THE FOOD LIKE?

 

Cafeteria food is satisfactory, but I cannot expect too much. The potato is probably the most widely used product in the making of our food, and as our brilliant chef, Roy, has shown, there are an infinite number of ways to prepare the potato. If you ask me, “tartar gems, potato wedges, chips, baked potato, etc.” they are all the same. As mentioned before, haggis and black pudding are popular items here in Scotland, but if I may say so, haggis is in fact delicious, but as for black pudding, I cannot accord the same degree of enthusiasm. Most interesting is the phenomenon in St. Andrews known as the “Deep-Fried Mars Bar.” It’s exactly as it sounds! There is a small take-away eatery called the “Kinness Fry Bar” in town known for deep frying almost anything you give them. In fact, their best-selling item is deep-fried Mars Bars though they are also known for their deep-fried Twix, Bounty, and believe it or not…Starbursts! All of the above are delicious!

 

WHAT HAS BEEN THE HARDEST ADJUSTMENT SO FAR?

 

I’m sure Canadians can sympathize when I say that one of the hardest adjustments has been the exchange rate. If you thought our exchange rate with the American dollar was bad, living here doesn’t get any better. The rate of exchange from the Canadian dollar to the British Sterling pound is roughly 2.5 which means that for every pound I spend, I’m actually using two dollars fifty cents Canadian. This reality is made worse by the fact that the price on goods and services here doesn’t seem to be any different than in North America for basic purchases from groceries and school supplies to clothing and cd’s. I purchased a cd the other week for 14 pounds which, if you do the math, works out to roughly 35 dollars Canadians…Ouch. But I can honestly say that having lived here two months, I’ve learned to adjust and sub-consciously block it out  to avoid getting depressed.

WHAT IS THE STRANGEST THING YOU HAVE FOUND?

That’s easy: everyone here has cell-phones, or to be more accurate, “mobiles.” Granted, I arrived from the University of Western Ontario where cell-phones, pagers, and palm pilots reigned and mobile companies inundated us with their corporate propaganda. But in St. Andrews, because regular phone lines charge as you speak (usually 20 pence a minute or 50 cents a minute in Canada), it is economical and trendy to have a mobile. I have not succumbed to the pressures to conform and have remained mobile-free, at least for now.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING SO FAR?

Hands down, the best aspect has been living in the same town and attending the same university with students from all walks of life. I believe that in university you can learn just as much, if not more, from the people around you than from the books you read and courses you take; and living and studying here at St. Andrews has reinforced this belief. With the school’s strong international character and the many diverse societies, clubs, and organisations on campus, St. Andrews not only fosters a great learning environment, but has also provided countless channels of meeting new people, many of whom have made this experience incredibly rewarding.

HAVE YOU SEEN PRINCE WILLIAM YET?

 

The question I get asked the most…yes, and on several occasions, in fact as St. Andrews isn’t exactly the largest town. An interesting thing to note however is that on almost every occasion I have seen him, there appears to be a “Bobby” following nearby, but I guess that comes with being the future King England.

Dispatches from Scotland − Number 3
An Ode to Haggis

By Chris Pang

 

                      For the record, ”I love haggis!” Yes, you read me correctly: I am a haggis-admirer. You can call me dodgy; you can call me deranged. Hey, you can even call me “minging” (as the Scottish would say). But I stand by my haggis, and I write this piece with utmost sincerity and with a goal in mind, that is to tear down the walls of ignorance and restore the haggis to its rightful place in the cookbooks and dinner tables of this world.

 

                      Surely, I could talk about the many wonderful experiences I have had in the last six months at St. Andrews, but more pressing matters come to the fore. Despite its bad reputation, I put forward the following: “Haggis is our friend!” Quite recently, all of the Halls here in St. Andrews lavishly celebrated Robert Burns Day (January 25th). This day, which dates back hundreds of years, honours the life of indisputably, Scotland’s greatest poet who produced such famous works as Bannockburn and Address to a Haggis. To commemorate this special occasion, the residents of my hall (Hamilton Hall) were all treated to a traditional ”Burns Dinner” consisting of authentic Scottish cuisine, the highlight of which was our beloved friend, the haggis!

 

                      However, not everyone in the Hall shared the same degree of enthusiasm as I and many others did for the haggis. As a result, there was much disagreement between the “anti-haggi” camp in the room, and those of us who enjoyed and sympathized with the lovable “meat.” Luckily, no sheep entrails were hurled across the room and the matter was resolved peacefully. However, the episode brought to my attention the pressing need to both dispel the horrible misconceptions that follow the haggis to this day and to educate and inform all those who get squeamish at the very mention of the word haggis.

 

                      To put the matter into context, perhaps it would be best to explain how my infatuation with haggis initially came about. I arrived here in St. Andrews, Scotland in early September of last year joining masses of Americans and Canadians on an exchange here at the University. Needless to say, none of us were fully prepared—mentally nor intestinally—for what was to come in the Scottish food department. In essence, we were confronted by an array of strange and ominously looking foods such as haggis, black pudding, and the infamous deep-fried MARSâ bar (please see Dispatch #1 for further detail on these delectable treats). Anyhow, to make a long story short, I was determined to overcome my mortal fear of haggis, and thus, I set out with a group of equally intrepid American friends to try the haggis experience for the first time.

 

                      To the point, it was brilliant!!! The little niblets of haggis, somewhat resembling that of ground-beef back home, made for a wonderful taste explosion in my mouth. Warm, robust, and full of flavour, haggis is absolutely delicious, and if I may say so, best served over a bed of warm cheese and mashed potatoes with a nip of whiskey on the side, and shortbread for dessert. To complete my love for haggis, I even received as a Christmas present from my good friends and floor-mates, Nathan and Lassi, my very own haggis whistle. And before we get any ideas into our heads, it’s actually not made-out of haggis. Instead, the whistle is skilfully crafted out of stone into the shape of a haggis—and I quote the inscription on the box—“in order to perfectly mimic the mating call of the haggis.”

 

                      But my fetish for haggis is not so absolute, which brings us to the Scottish phenomena known as vegetarian haggis. Yes, vegetarian haggis. If the term has yet to sink in, no worries, since I’m still trying to wrap my head around this contradiction myself. I guess at some point in the history of this beautiful country, someone recognized the need to democratise haggis consumption in Scotland. The problem was evidently solved in no time, so today we now have this “impostor-haggis,” a look-alike if you will who struts around like he’s the real deal. Sure, it looks like haggis, it smells like haggis...heck, it even tastes like haggis—but at the end of the day, I say, “No dice!” But who am I to judge, after all, the vegetarians seem to be enjoying it.

 

                      Well, if you were still wondering what exactly is in haggis, I’ll have to be entirely honest with you—I don’t know. Surely, I could give you my spiel of what I believe it is probably made out of, but ultimately, your guess is as good as mine. So therefore instead of trying, I thought I would let you read the following passage regarding the making of haggis in order to shed some light on the matter.

 

                      Note: the following section is not for those with weak stomachs and wild imaginations. If this description fits you, I genuinely caution not to proceed:

 

The Truth About Haggis:

A: Well, Colin, we've just killed a sheep. What do you think we should do
with it? We could eat it.
C: Eat it? That's disgusting!
A: No, eating its lungs would be disgusting. Actually, eating its heart and its liver and its lungs would be worse.
C: Truthfully, boiling the lot in its own stomach would be the worst.
A: Why don't you try it then?
C: Maybe I will, Angus. Maybe I will…

 

                      Okay, perhaps that’s exaggerating. But the truth is that haggis has been given a bad reputation, something completely unwarranted if you ask me when one considers the craze over hot-dogs, breakfast sausages, and general “street-meat” across Europe and North America. So if you are still unconvinced after reading this that haggis is our friend, at the very least, I encourage you to open your mind (and your mouth) to haggis whenever the opportunity arises. I repeat: “Haggis is brilliant,” and if you don’t believe me, simply ask the vegetarians.

 

Cheers,

Chris