Flu, Cake, Party

In case we haven't mentioned how small St. Andrews is, let me take a minute to put the size in perspective. The population is roughly 16,500 people (maybe 40% students, or more) and the actual town itself is roughly 3 square miles. Don't quote me on that, but I heard someone say that once and it stuck. Anyways, the point here is that when there's an illness on the loose, it's pretty hard to avoid getting sick.

After teaching college freshmen, fresh from their disease incubator dorm rooms, I know all too well about the way germs travel in a university. I spent most of my first year of teaching losing the constant battle with variations on the same cold, courtesy of my students (and a close graduate cohort), so it's no surprise that St. Andrews offers it's own take: the "freshers flu." Essentially a bad cold, with a touch of flu for good measure, it's been going around since a little after we arrived. Literally, you can't go anywhere without hearing coughing and sneezing, which turns a simple trip to the library or grocery store into a hotbed of potential illness.

Last week, Matt was infected (yes, it's sort of like the zombie apocalypse) and my smug immunity was shattered this weekend. There's been a lot of soup, a lot of TV on the computer (Fringe, Bored to Death, and Flash Forward), and a well-timed dinner from Pizza Connection. Fish and chips and pizza can cure anything, right?

Last night we trekked down to our friend Arleta's for a dinner party and flatwarming, which took us into a part of town we hadn't really explored yet. Fortunately, we remembered the camera and grabbed some pictures to share with you. This is St. Rule's tower, and more of the graveyard we showed you a while back (the ruined cathedral is just barely visible on the left).



And here's where some of the boats live, down past the pier. We had to walk outside "the wall" that pretty much surrounds most of St. Andrews and it sort of feels like a fishing village when you get down by the water here.



The dinner party itself was a lot of fun, and I baked a cake. I had to beat the butter by hand (like a pioneer woman) and I was going to take some pictures of how pretty it was - but then everyone ate it. Here's what was left...



Matt and Yann provided entertainment by engaging in some judo, and I took a lot of awkward pictures.



And then we talked and talked and made weird noises (ok, that was mostly Elijah) and walked Mandy home to "the ghetto" (which, by the way, is quite nice), and came back home to sleep. And watch more TV on the Internet. And drink tea. This week, we have some lectures to go to and Matt has a bunch of seminars on "how to be a good PhD student" (basically) and my first coaching course is starting...so we're keeping busy.