Her Campus W&M and Her Campus St. Andrews have teamed up to give you content from the other side of the Atlantic. Hannah Anderson, a student at St. Andrews and a leader at its Her Campus chapter, tell us why we should take advantage of the multiple study abroad and joint-degree programs between W&M and St. Andrews!
1. Scotland is awesome, and so close to everywhere else in Europe. Take advantage of a long weekend and low fares from airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair and see as much as you can. I highly recommend Amsterdam, Italy, and Madrid!
2. This tiny town has a lot of history! The university itself is 600 years old, and the settlement goes back much further. It used to be the religious center of Scotland, and the ruined Cathedral is an amazing place for an impromptu photography session.
3. People are really friendly. Although they will call you a JYA all year long, it stands for Junior Year Abroad. You can relive your freshman year by going back to halls, except this time you can drink.
4. There is always something new going on. Whether it’s a new sport, a cool society, or a charity ball, you’ll have something to do every weekend, and usually every weekday as well! Try something you’ve never tried before, like rugby, cricket, or shinty.
5. At what other point in your life are you going to be able to live in another country for a year with a legitimate reason for it? Trust me, you’ll love St Andrews and be very sad when it comes time to leave. You might even have to come back and do a masters.
6. You’ll get to participate in all of our funny traditions, like Raisin Weekend where you get adopted by 3rd years and have a Sunday Funday followed by a huge foam fight in the quad. There’s also May Dip where you run into the sea at dawn on May 1st to be cleansed of all of your academic sins.
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All photos and text: Hannah Anderson