Name: Robert Baxter Gaston
Year: Second
Degree: History
Hometown: Austin, Tx
Robert, or Baxter as he is known, came to St Andrews as part of the William and Mary joint degree program (http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/admissions/ug/choosing/williammary/). Students in the program divide their time between St Andrews and William and Mary, a process that can be daunting, especially when having to start out like a fresher in your second year. “It was very strange, I didn’t know what to call myself when I first got here, so I said I was fresher for a small period, but then I stopped because I hated being treated like a fresher… again!”
Baxter, who is “related to Scottish people…” has always had an interest in Scottish history, and first came here in 2009 with his father. His family is distantly related to Clan MacBean. “Somewhere along the line, we were the fierce Beans! The family crest has a cat on it…I suppose we were a smaller clan? Probably not very militarily successful, I don’t know.” He tries to defend his distant kinsman, “It’s supposed to be a menacing cat!” but eventually accepts the hilarity of his familial situation, “I really don’t know. I wish they had chosen a tiger…” and laughs.
Having spent his first year at an American university, Baxter notes the differences between our ancient university and America’s colonial university. William and Mary is adjacent to Colonial Williamsburg, a colonial reenactment and ‘living history museum’ in Virginia. “I’ve pretty much been following a general line of going to places where the history is older than where I’m from. Austin, to Williamsburg, to St Andrews…” St Andrews students are proud of the absurdity of our town, something William and Mary can identify with, being within musket distance of an 18th century village. “I would go running in colonial Williamsburg, and it would be really weird, because sometimes there would be a ghost tour running at night with a bunch of school children, and then I’d go running by with my shorts, headphones and iPod, just like ‘Hey, I’m ruining your illusion!’ As students we get free admittance so we just abuse it. Go wherever we want…actually a fraternity at our school got de-chartered because a kid stole a hat from one of the actors as a pledge task. It was pretty easy to catch him though…because he had a tricorne hat. Pretty suspicious I say!” Baxter is a member of the Delta Chi fraternity.
Though he prefers the American system of teaching, “in America, there’s a lot more handholding…which I love. It’s very clearly laid out. I always know what I’m doing. Whereas here, there’s three: MMS, Moodle, or iSaint-why are there three? No one knows!” he is enjoying his time in the Bubble so far, and is one of this year’s new members to the improv comedy group, Blind Mirth. “It’s a great, phenomenal, fun, group of people,” he says with a cheeky smile. He goes on to explain how slowly but surely the group essentially started dating. “We pretty much have every meal together actually…thing’s have, erm, progressed since the beginning of the year…”
Baxter was introduced to improv comedy last year, when he started at William and Mary. One of his Orientation Aids (akin to a senior student), Stephen Bennet, was in the group, I.T (Improvisational Theater…those W&M Griffin’s are so clever!) and invited the freshers down to watch one of their shows. “I did, and it was hilarious. I could tell that they were having way more fun just doing it though, so I went to the tryouts. Now Stephen and I are beesstt buds!”
Originally from Austin, Texas, and then spending a year in Virginia, Baxter is accustomed to the large distance from home. “It’s pretty great…that’s mostly a joke, but only mostly…” LAUGH, “I do get homesick, but mostly for Austin. I Skype my family once a week, so I see them.” An avid traveler, Baxter has some adventures planned for the rest of his semester, including a trip to visit family in Paris, and some cheeky hops over to Amsterdam (for the museums and art…obviously!) and Berlin (for the…I really don’t know what.)
Along with the majority of us, Baxter finds innovative ways to distract himself from studies, including Netflix, working out, and collecting antique maps. “I’m kind of obsessed” he says excitedly, “the oldest one I have is from the 1300s”. He explains that his grandfather, who died when Baxter was only four, was an avid collector, “he was way more obsessed than I am. He used to go to Europe just to buy maps. He would go to London twice a year to go map auctions!” Part of the allure of atlases for Baxter is the identification, a skill he has honed the past several years. “I’m like Nick Cage…but only with maps…I just really like looking at them, and exploring them…I know it’s really nerdy.” Our very own Nick Cage, or Niche Cage rather, had an interesting find in St Andrews a few weeks ago. “In the Barron Theater—I’m really excited about this—I found an old atlas that was made after Hitler invaded Poland, but before he invaded France. So essentially, it’s in a one-year time frame before the big ‘explosion’ went down. Poland is depicted as completely German. It’s an amazing piece of history.”
Baxter is currently single, and while he isn’t actively looking for a girl, “if someone special comes along, I’d certainly be open for it.” He describes his perfect girl as “basically everyone’s perfect woman. I like girls who are genuinely funny, they have to be witty and intelligent…though, only a bit smarter than me! [laugh] And I mean, no one has ever said they hate attractive people…I’m joking! I’m a cat person too, so I guess I prefer another cat person? If you want, I can show you one of the million pictures I have of my cat Tigre…” After Tigre, Baxter admitted that communication is one of the most difficult problems he has with women. “Anytime a girl says something, I just take it at face value. Which is wrong….I don’t really get the ‘subtle hints’.”
If you want to see Baxter and the other Mirthlings in action, head to the Barron Theater for their free show Monday nights at 8pm. And keep an eye out for their upcoming Bubble Bath Comedy Panel Show in refreshers week. Thanks for your time Baxter!
Rapid fire:
Favorite place to grab a drink: I like going to Aikmans. Do you know the older guy there? The guy with the beard and the glasses? Glasses beard guy! He is hilarious! Phenomenal. He asked me what drink I wanted, and all I said was, ‘I’m not that familiar…’ and then he launched into a ten minute explanation of each beer, literally made me try each one, told me where they came from, how they were made. It was amazing.
Favorite place to eat: It depends on what I’m eating. Not the dining hall…that is not my favorite place… If it’s quick, and cheap I like the courtyard café, across from Tesco. It’s owned by a really nice Turkish guy, he starts to recognize you after a while…he’s always super keen to explain that they have very good pizzas. And they do, so now I’m telling everyone! (He offered my roommate to join him as a business partner, and he had to tell him, “I’m sorry, I don’t have 10000pounds, but if I did, I would join the Courtyard Café”) If it’s a fancier meal, I love Maisha.
Do you have any hidden talents? [Sings] I can sing! Well, technically everyone can sing I guess…people might not like it, but they don’t dislike it [said with a very cheeky smile]. I’m also good with accents; at least I’m told I am. ‘Gay southerner’ is the favorite of the Mirthlings. Because he’s from the south, it’s very taboo. He talks about his dad, and why his dad doesn’t like him anymore…I do pretty good Lucky Charms Irish… which is not how most Irish people speak…apparently. I may overdo it…. I can also do French, German, and Russian accents okay. Italian just sounds racist when I do it. I can do Mexican, but I’m pretty sure that just is racist…
Little known fact: I worked in landscaping over the summer…it was so hard. It was a horrible two months. I’m pretty sure I very nearly got heat stroke multiple times… it was a good life experience, bad work experience. At least it’s done now…at least that’s what I tell myself when I cry at night. They never wanted the white kid, because I sucked. You don’t think lawn mowing, weeding, leaf blowing has skill in it, but it does. It has so much skill involved, and I suck at it. The nice crews would let me do it, and try and fix it when they thought I wasn’t looking, the meaner crews would just tell me I suck and tell me to go wait in the truck. Or bag leaves. Which I would inevitably do wrong… You should not have opened that box of rant…I could go on for hours.
Biggest fear: This isn’t really a fear, but I have a whole lot of uncertainty going on in my life right now. Don’t really know what’s happening for the future…at least I have lawn mowing to fall back on…well, not really…
Big night out or big night in?: Either or! For a night in, I like to watch movies a lot, so I’ll watch a film, or hang out with friends. I actually go to the cinema a lot too, I enjoy the experience. I won’t go by myself though, I’ll just drag someone along. For a night out, hopefully not the lizard…I think it depends if there’s an actual event to go to. If there’s not something big happening, I probably won’t ‘hit the town’ just get together with my friends or something.