Going from mingling with the top 1% in St. Andrews, Scotland to staying in a shared coed hostel room in London was quite a parallel.
My good friend from high school, Savannah, goes, full time, to the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. I had the honor of being her first non-familiy, non-boyfriend visitor. Morgan and I stayed in her apartment for 3 nights while we explored the stunning campus, surrounding area, and interesting people of St Andrews.
My first night I accompanied Savannah to her polo-team house party, which, unsurprisingly, surrounded me with trust-fund kids who have access to more money than I would touch in multiple lifetimes. One kid I talked to was flexing that he just sold his $300,000 horse for $17 million. I tried to keep my jaw off the floor. Savannah told me about how last year a reality TV crew was looking into making a show about the students there, and they interviewed her as the token “pavo” (what they call non-absurdly-rich people.) The show never came to fruition but it’s representative of the culture of elitism and wealth at the university. The school where Prince William and Kate Middleton met absolutely lived up to its royal reputation.
Similarly to how I felt walking through Toledo and San Sebastian, the architecture was magnificent. On every corner I turned there was a different chapel, castle, or vibrant green quad. I am accustomed to Duke University’s campus as it’s right next to my home in North Carolina, but St. Andrews felt like what Duke wishes it looked like. The three of us attended an interesting debate on whether or not private property is the cornerstone of democracy; giving me a taste of the academic environment there as well. We also were very lucky to have seen the highland cows in the flesh on one of our walks–I was almost trampled and impaled but some otherworldly being was looking out for me that morning. It was lovely to see Savannah in her European habitat, as I’ve heard so much about it during breaks we share at home.
After St. Andrews, we headed to Edinburgh for a day trip before London. I got to see another friend Alicia, who is a student at the University of Edinburgh but formerly studied abroad at Berkeley. She showed us her favorite thrift stores, the beautiful campus lawn, and the hotel where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter. It was not shocking at all to me to learn that Hogwarts was based on Edinburgh, the gothic churches and cobblestone paths resemble a fantasy wizard land if I’ve ever seen one.
London greeted us with an early St. Patrick’s day festival in center city and a very hospitable hostel environment. I got to see a third friend, Willow from my 11th grade research program in the Southwest. Fortunately for us our trip lined-up perfectly with her birthday celebration. I got to surprise her at a bar called Trapeze for a fairy-esque themed get together with her actor friends from college. We didn’t stay late because we had a flight the next morning but it was so nostalgic getting to catch up with her on her birthday because when we were traveling together 3 years ago we had a joint birthday party while working on a small farm in Soccorro, Texas. It is probably my most memorable birthday to this date. After her party Morgan and I got to ride a double decker bus home, crossing one more thing off my bucket list.
