I’m in St Andrews in Scotland today to see what the town is like.\u00a0 Tomorrow is the St Andrews University post-graduate open day.\u00a0 The university has an excellent reputation for peace studies so it needed to go on my shopping list, despite it looking too expensive with too few work prospects and, therefore, an unrealistic option.<\/p>\n
We’re staying at The Inn at Lathones<\/a>, a very comfortable and welcoming hotel just outside St Andrews.\u00a0 They kept the restaurant open for us when we arrived quite late last night and the dinner was excellent.\u00a0 So was breakfast this morning.\u00a0 The staff are great and, as every visit to Scotland has confirmed to me, the Scots are friendly and generous people.<\/p>\n The wander round the town was interesting.\u00a0 It is obviously a university & tourism & golf town.<\/p>\n I stumbled across Student Accommodation Services by accident, popped in and they could not have been more helpful.\u00a0 Lots of information and advice and a map of the town.<\/p>\n I had an excellent pint and a couple of free tasters in The Central<\/a> in Market Street, a Victorian boozer with an excellent atmosphere and surroundings.<\/p>\n We picked up some bits for Christmas and gizzits for people in the friendly shops.\u00a0 I got speculative costs from the letting agents for various forms of private accommodation of various sizes (although Premier Lettings was a bit snooty and unhelpful, warning me it was a bit expensive and not even wanting to give me a business card when I asked).<\/p>\n A bit disappointed the public loo was 30p and I had no change.\u00a0 Also, I tried to buy a free bookmark in the Salvation Army shop for 20p so I could get some change, but they said it had no code on the till so could not take my money.\u00a0 So, back to the pub to use theirs, and make a booking for dinner.<\/p>\n Then I saw the university’s Student Careers office.\u00a0 I had to pop in.<\/p>\n When I first expressed an interest in working in the peace sector, one of the very first things I found was a page on the St Andrews University Careers Service web site about the peace sector.\u00a0 That page was the start of my research.\u00a0 I could not resist the opportunity to pop in and have a happy exchange with these good people.<\/p>\n At the desk was a young chap.\u00a0 I asked if I was in the right place for student careers advice.\u00a0 He sat back in his chair as if avoiding a leper, pulled a face as if encountering a blocked toilet and said:<\/p>\n “Yes.\u00a0 This is for students only.\u00a0 The Job Centre is over that way<\/em><\/strong>“, flicking his hand in the general direction of ‘away’ like a dowager duchess dismissing a beggar.<\/p>\n I was at a loss for words.\u00a0 I had been dismissed and was expected to depart from his presence at once.<\/p>\n The arrogant, stuck-up, public-school, elitist prick had, in a few words, managed to undo an awful lot of good impression created by the town.\u00a0 I felt embarrassed and not posh enough to be in this town of big expensive cars and daughters of rich daddies.\u00a0 Suddenly the attitude in Premier Lettings explained itself, the 30p for a wee, the types of shops (no mobile ‘phone or 99p shops here!, just a M&S Food Hall the size of most supermarkets elsewhere), the inflated prices of everything.\u00a0 However, the caff with the sign “Kate met Wills in here<\/em>” still seemed tawdry.<\/p>\n Is this a good university?\u00a0 Or merely an expensive one?\u00a0 They are not the same thing.\u00a0 Right now, it feels all fur coat and no knickers<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 Tomorrow, we shall see what the academic side is like.<\/p>\n Update:\u00a0<\/strong> we went back into town for dinner.\u00a0 At the table next to us were three men.\u00a0 One was saying to one of the others (amongst other, similar comments):<\/p>\n I’m in St Andrews in Scotland today to see what the town is like.\u00a0 Tomorrow is the St Andrews University post-graduate open day.\u00a0 The university has an excellent reputation for peace studies so it needed to go on my shopping … Continue reading \n