Things every St Andrews student can associate with

There’s probably hummus in your fridge and Moët on your wine rack.


You’d probably rather live in a garage on South Street than a family home in Dundee

The Dundee/St Andrean rivalry is still pretty rife throughout Fife, and for those of you who haven’t yet caught on – you must have a seriously low Yakarma. Even if you prefer ‘Fundee’ to ‘Scumdee’, St Andrews students have a notoriously bad perception on what it means to live ‘far away’ from classes. Anything more than a five minute walk? We call it The Badlands. Anything more than five minutes past that? You’re in the wilderness. Whereas most students frequent the bus to get them to and from places, commuting via public transport is a sacrificial pilgrimage for cheaper rent.

Your social calendar probably looks crazy

82 events coming up this week? Nae problem. Committee meetings can start at 7am after a spin class and a night at the Lizard. In between classes we balance brunches, coffee dates, pot lucks, society socials, balls, student run festivals, fashion shows, whilst still probably averaging a 2:1.

The average student budget does not and cannot apply to our lifestyle

Rent on the ‘three streets’ can often exceed £600/£700 a month (see point 1 about why we won’t find cheaper prices) and yet we still don’t get the maximum student loan. Our Tesco is rumoured the 2nd most expensive in the U.K, and people don’t just ‘go out’ here. Balls and Fashion Shows are regular slots in our social calendars, and with some of these reaching over £100 for a ticket alone you’d be surprised anyone can afford to eat anything more than pot noodles (except it’s more like pot Quinoa).

Ballin’

You know at least one person who’s parents are CEO’s

You never need network properly again after a degree here.

There’s probably hummus in your fridge

Or several types, if you’re lucky.

One of your friends probably has DJ Ian’s number

Back in the day we were naive freshers, we probably considered ourselves super special because we’d bonded with the infamous Lizard DJ, acquiring many shoutouts and even a boogie behind the booth. Nowadays we realise Ian is pretty much on first name terms with the whole student population.

People at home tell you you talk about St Andrews too often

I know we won’t shut up about ‘this one time at St Andrews’ but you just don’t understand we can’t relate to the same generic club nights and carnage every other uni in the country has. Our lives revolve around odd traditions and spontaneity. It takes time to explain Raisin, May Dip and why we wear silly gowns in all our photos.

Appearing resentful on the outside about our royal connection but then talking about it when someone hasn’t heard of St Andrews before

*conversations go like*

Friend: Didn’t Will and Kate go there?

Us: OMG WILL U STAHP IT’S ACTUALLY SOOOO ANNOYING COZ IT MEANS EVERYONE OVERLOOKS HOW GOOD IT IS ACADEMICALLY AND JUST THINKS WE GO THERE TO MEET ROYAL PPL WHEN WE DON’T OK NO-ONE EVEN TALKS ABOUT THEM EVER

Or…

Friend: St Andrews. Where’s that?

Us: OMG U DON’T KNOW IT? WILL AND KATE MET THERE. DIDN’T U WATCH THE MOVIE?

Understanding ‘Where should we go for coffee?’ is the most difficult decision ever

Every second shop in St Andrews sells coffee. Afternoons can be easily spent hopping from one spot to another as a fun activity to add some diversity to your essay writing crisis.

Mo coffee, less problems

Despite this, we all know Pancakes= North Point, Scones= Gorgeous, Ice Cream= Janetta’s & Nachos= Whey Pat

Some classic locations are never to be second guessed.

Janetta’s is unbeatable!

You have at least one flaky academic relative

They got super drunk at Raisin and then you never see them again till you graduate. I quote my friend: ‘I lost my German postgrad son to the abyss.’

Just another day in St A’s.

Despite our small student population in comparison to other universities, we still can’t find seats in the library, treadmills at the gym and want to do some shopping in Tesco at 6pm? Nae chance

When we say human traffic, we mean it very literally. Some days, it takes you 3x as long to get somewhere because we’re constantly bumping into people we know.

St Andrews will always hold a special place in our hearts. We love you St A’s!

Raisin