1st Week of Classes

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days, but there really hasn't been anything to post.  The excitement starts up again tomorrow with Laurel (my roommate from Hamilton) coming in from London on the afternoon train, but for the last couple days, I have just been hanging out waiting for classes to start.  I only have two classes at St. Andrews for the semester, since I am taking what they call Honours courses (or upper levels).  They are the classes taken by 3rd and 4th year students, who by this point in their education, have had significant background in their major.  Apparently, in their last two years of schooling before university, UK students often specialize in one or two areas of studies as opposed to being required to taking english, science, math, and history like in the U.S.  Although I haven't actually attended a class yet, based on what people have said and the course outlines I have received, the courses (or modules as they call them), are based much more in independent study and reading than assigned work.  I might have 3 required readings per class with a weekly recommended reading list of 15-20 books.  Although we aren't expected to read all of them, students are generally expected to pick a few sources that interest them, and read through them, bringing this additional knowledge to seminars.  Since I am taking honours modules, there is even less class time and more independent reading, meaning that I only have 4 hrs of class time each week.  In fact, my schedule for this week is 9-11 am and 3-5 pm on Friday, so I am basically having a 6-day weekend.  I am enrolled in a Social Anthropology class called Regions in Ethnography I, which focuses on studies of South American (specifically Brazilian and Amazonian) indigenous peoples, and a Scottish history class about the early Stewart Dynasty from 1306-1467, in which we will compare the reigns of the first four Stewart kings.  I am a little worried about having absolutely no background in Scottish history except for Braveheart, but I guess I will see what happens :)  I will definitely have more to post after my first day of classes, and Laurel's trip to visit me, so keep posted! 

Lots of love,

Heather