Independent Learning Week with WaMStAs

Friday 8 November 2019

It’s that time of the year again! The Christmas lights are up in town, the sun now sets at 4pm, and it has rained five of the past six days. It’s hard to think that just a week and a half ago I was on holiday with my friends over Independent Learning Week.

The fall term at St. Andrews is split into two parts by Independent Learning Week. While the purpose of this week is to give students a break from lectures and tutorials in order to catch up and learn independently (as the name suggests), many WaMStAs use this time as an opportunity to learn about the world through traveling (rather than sticking to their coursework).

As it turns out, though the bubble that is St. Andrews can feel somewhat detached from civilization at times, Scotland serves as a great launch point to the rest of Europe. Some students, like myself, used this week to escape to somewhere warm. Three of my best friends and I went to Portugal and got to absorb Vitamin D under the Iberian sun for the week. In our short time there, we got to see Lisbon (the capital), Sintra (the countryside), Cascais (a beach town), and Porto (a small, hilly, but quite hip city). I think we rode every mode of transportation the country had to offer — planes, trains, Ubers, a sailboat, and an off-road open-top Jeep. My favorite part of the trip was definitely the food though, with a special shoutout to this wee Portuguese pastry called pastel de nata. To describe it simply, it’s a custard tart (but to describe it more accurately, it’s a pastry straight from heaven) and I enjoyed no fewer than two a day every day I was in Portugal.

Lighthouse at Cabo da Roca, the western-most point in continental Europe.
Enjoying the sunset on a sailboat on the Tagus River (Lisbon).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me and my friends taking a selfie in the gardens of the Quinta da Regaleira Palace in the Sintra coutryside.
The amazing, spectacular, life-changing pastel de nata.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie Weinsheimer and Ian Doty chose to explore two historical Central European cities— Prague, Czech Republic, and Krakow, Poland. About her trip, Katie said: “My favorite part about travel in general is being able to wander and explore; to soak in the sights sounds and smells of the places I visit. I loved Prague and Krakow because they were both cities we could get lost in. That is how Ian and I found ourselves at the best butcher in Prague for lunch, and how we decided to spend our last afternoon at the base of Wawel hill enjoying the last warm day we would have for six months.”

Ian and Katie on the Charles Bridge in Prague.
Katie in Wawel Castle with views of Wawel Cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But you didn’t have to hop on a plane to quench your wanderlust. Many students used this time to explore Scotland. Skye Clark retreated to Newtonmore in the Highlands this week for some nature-filled R&R. The mornings were spent on hikes serving spectacular views, and the evenings were set aside for warming up with tea, kicking back at quaint village pubs, and watching The Office.

“I never knew Scotland could be so out-of-this-world beautiful until I saw it for myself.” Skye Clark.

 

And this is just a small sample of the adventures that WaMStAs embarked on this semester~

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