Student Blog

Katie Girsch

Traveling Mercies, Part II

Posted on December 22nd, 2009 under Travel

Speaking French in France would have been helpful. We accidentally bought toothbrushes and gum medication instead of toothpaste. After Amanda and I left the hostel in the morning, we ended up at Charles de Gaul Etienne which we soon realized was not the same thing as Charles de Gaul airport. No worries. We had somehow ended up at one of the drop-off points for the airport shuttle, which we happily boarded. Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. After five minutes on the shuttle, Amanda got a bad feeling. True enough, we were on our way to the Orly airport not Charles de Gaul!

By this point, the comfortable window of time before our flight was starting to shrink. We flight was scheduled to leave in two hours and we were still in the middle of Paris, standing by the Arc de Triumph were we had exited the subway the first time. We raced back to the subway cursing ourselves for not realizing you couldn’t fit an airport in a city.

Traveling Mercies, Part I

Posted on December 22nd, 2009 under Travel

After two delayed flights, two cancelled flights and one exciting, serendipitous night in Paris, I am now happily back at home in Maryland. The trip started uneventfully in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I boarded an airport shuttle at 5:15 in the morning in St. Andrews for a sleepy ride into Edinburgh. I got comfortable, because, for some strange reason, I’d decided to stay up late enjoying those last few hours with friends before saying goodbye for Christmas. After all, I’d have the whole transatlantic flight to catch up on lost shuteye. Yeah Right.

My traveling buddy Amanda and I made it onto our flight in Edinburgh, with only one minor hitch, a hitch that ended up making a world of a different 48 hours later. Amanda had some trouble getting her boarding pass to print. Another boarding pass was printed for her by one of the receptionists. We didn’t know it then, but the receptionist had made an error on the boarding pass that would mean another line to stand in and eventually our return to the United States by Sunday evening not Christmas Eve.

As soon as with touched down in Paris, Amanda and I took off running through the airport to catch our next (cancelled) flight. Somehow the cancellation took everyone by surprise, including the airport staff. When I finally reached the top of the first queue, I got up to the desk and handed the receptionist my boarding pass. She informed me that this plane had already left. If it had left, I would have been on it. No, sadly this plane was not going anywhere. Thus began a long day of standing in one line and then another. Some seven hours later Amanda and I were still standing in the airport.

Good Times During Reading Week

Posted on November 9th, 2009 under Travel

Here at St. Andrews we have arrived at Reading Week (ironically named since most students don’t do any reading at all, but you didn’t hear that from me). But it’s not much of a secret. Classes are canceled during Reading Week to give the students a chance to read and catch up on their work (or even get ahead, what a concept?!), but many students travel and go to wonderful, exotic places or head back home for a nice reprieve.

I’m staying in St. Andrews, but before you call me boring, I do have a plan (or at least so far I’ve been planning one day in advance. I’ll take it as a plan). I’m going to visit local places. Today I visited Dundee, which is the closest big city to St. Andrews. I decided I’d mosey on over, ramble down the streets, take in the sights, and stop by the library to pick up some divinity books. I got three out of four. I look a scenic bus ride through the countryside to Dundee, got off in down-town Dundee and decided to find the library (eventually). I didn’t really know where I was going, but somehow I found the University of Dundee campus and from there getting to the library was easy. Once I got to the library, I realized that there was one little think I’d forgotten to check: University of Dundee doesn’t have a Religion Department. I realized this when I was found the two shelves devoted to divinity squeezed in between philosophy and the sciences. Oh well, that just meant it was time for a bit of shopping.

Dundee has some really good shopping, if you’re ever in the area. Besides all the big name brands, there are also some good charity shops, where you can find some great treasures if you have a spot of luck.

Tomorrow I’m heading over to Anstruther to sample some of their world-famous fish and chips! I hear it’s really beautiful, so if the weather is nice hopefully I’ll have some pictures to post as well.

Since I have time this week, I’ll also hopefully be getting to do some extra reading that I wouldn’t normally have time to do. I’d really like to read through Isaiah and let the images and theology sink in. So there it is, I’ve said it on the internet, I guess that means I better stick with it!