Before coming to St Andrews, I had only visited the town once before. For those of you that haven’t visited, it’s a small coastal town in Fife, famous for its golf links and stunning coastline. The beaches happen to be one of my favourite things about St.Andrews. On previous visits to the town my family and I would set off early in the morning, the back of the car filled to the brim. It’s an incredible scenic drive to this little University town and I feel incredibly blessed to call it home for the next four years.
On moving day I arrived with my parents, carrying a suitcase, a sports bag, a box of kitchen utensils and a bag with some toiletries. I arrived at my accommodation and swung the door open to what at first was a very bare room with one crooked health and safety poster hanging from the wall. Very quickly the bed was made, and all of my things were in their new rightful place. Time flew by and I said my final goodbyes to family and off they went. I felt anxious to say the least, but also hopeful for what was to come.
Now that everything was in its place, it was time to explore the kitchen. I lived in a flat that had 5 different bedrooms and an open plan kitchen with two couches. Going into the kitchen was the first interaction I had with one of my flatmates. We got chatting asking the usual “where are you from” and “what are you studying?” By the end of the week, I met all of the remaining flatmates and got to know them all as we gathered in the kitchen in the evenings to cook dinner.
I arrived halfway through freshers week so I missed out on some of the freshers events but I made the most out of the ones I did attend. When people come to university, they don’t really know anyone and are very open to meeting new people, so it was very easy to strike up conversations and make new friends. It’s also a very small town, so you can’t really go anywhere without bumping into a university student.
One thing I wasn’t so much looking forward to was the beginning of teaching – A necessary part of university life of course but I was really enjoying the Freshers bubble. For pandemic reasons at the time, most of my classes were temporarily taught online. It wasn’t quite what I had envisioned, attending such a prestigious institution just to sit in front of computer, but we’ve all had to make do and I’m no different. The only in-person classes were tutorials that happened once a week and that was the only interaction I had with my fellow Computer Science students.
Just like that, the first week of university was over. It’s incredibly how quickly the year ahead is mapped out. New home, new routine, new learning environment and some wonderful new friends to enjoy the journey with.
Andrei Podaru – Class of 2020