Spring!

So it's been awhile since I've written, mostly because I haven't actually been in Scotland for the past week or so. I left here on the 13th to go back to the United States for my Model United Nations Conference, which took place the week of the 16th. I got to spend a few days at home for a nice break before going into the city. It was also really convenient that Mark had the same flight home as I did, so I had someone else to ride with on the train and bus to the airport. Since we had to leave St. Andrews at quarter to six in the morning to catch our train, Mark and I actually ended up staying up all night watching movies and helping him pack. He's a very last minute type of person, as he started packing around 2am.

It's interesting to come back after a week or so to find St. Andrews in full bloom for spring. It's not particularly warm here, and still very windy, but flowers have appeared everywhere. There are large patches of crocuses and daffodils all over the place, which is really pretty with all the old buildings. Students are really great about not taking them as well. At UVa, there are usually signs next to the tulips saying not to pick them, but I haven't seen anything like that here. Maybe because there's so many it doesn't matter! It's a really big contrast to how brown things still are at home.

The conference itself was a lot of fun. It's nice to have friends like the ones I have on staff- it's possible for me to go almost a year without talking to them but still have them run over to give me a hug when I show up in the hotel. They're very low maintenance. It's great. Possibly the only downside to the week was the complete lack of sleep I suffered. Unfortunately, when we have 71 college student to take care of 2500 high school students, it's a lot of responsibility. A big part of this is trying to stay on the good side of the hotel, so we arrange and run our own security patrols on the floors that have our students on them. It was really effective this year, with a record low number of noise complaints, but it was also exhausting, as security shifts keep us up really late. Then we have to be up before our students as well, in order to be in our conference rooms before them to get everything set up. So over the end of the week when students were there, I think I averaged 4 or so hours of sleep a night.

But the funny part is that even when we had a chance to sleep more, most of us wouldn't take it. Instead, we spent the time hanging out in the Penthouse, where our Executive Staff lives, in order to spend more time with each other. It's actually very interesting how close to people you can get in a week or so, even if you didn't know each other beforehand. Of course, we also spend a ridiculous amount of time together, so I guess it does make sense.

When the conference was over, Dad actually came down to spend the day with me, since my flight didn't leave until ten that night. We spent most of the day at the Museum of Natural History. It's a huge museum, and we didn't really get a chance to read too much of the material, because we were trying to see everything at least briefly. The Butterfly Conservatory was probably one of the coolest parts. We got to go into a room filled with butterflies and walk around to see them all. There were hundreds of them and all really close, since it wasn't a very big room. Dad and I managed to get some great photographs. After the museum, we walked through Central Park to the Carnegie Deli for dinner, then went for a quick drive through Battery Park before heading to the airport.

At this point, I was beyond exhausted. Thankfully, on the way home, I had three seats to myself on the airplane, so I slept the entire time, not even waking up for food. I've also been sleeping a lot since I got back, and think I'm finally back to normal. Which is good, because I leave this weekend for Germany and my Easter Break trip! Hopefully I'll be able to update throughout the trip, but we'll have to see. None of us are planning on bringing our laptops, so it will depend on what kind of internet setup the hostels have. Either way, I know I'll end up giving a full report eventually. I'm so excited!