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The exams are finally finished. It was a mixed bag, but at least it’s over. Now about that article I’m supposed to be revising…

Two down and two to go.  I am perplexed to no end by the mysterious St. Andrews grading scale, but I’m fairly sure I don’t like it.  In any case, the two-hour exam I wrote today determined 100% of my grade in Forecasting–a scary thought.

Measure theory is going to be brutal…

According to recent polling data, I am the third hottest member of the board of ten.  Here’s the breakdown:

And no, I haven’t voted for myself (yet).

On Monday, November 20th, I took part in an ancient St. Andrews tradition: Raisin Monday. For many years the custom has been for new undergraduates to take on academic parents, older students who are supposed to show them the ropes, as it were. Somehow this practice evolved into an elaborate ritual that plays out every November, involving a receipt written in Latin, humorous costumes, and a foam fight in the Quad.

In days of old, the story goes, each academic “child” was supposed to thank his academic father by presenting him with a pound of raisins. Eventually, the university decided to enforce this requirement. Academic fathers were to give their children “raisin receipts,” written of course in Latin, to prove that they had indeed been thanked. Each child was then to bring his receipt to the Quad on November 20th. Any student caught without his receipt was punished by the university.

These days, the pound of raisins is usually a bottle of wine, the university does not enforce the business about receipts, that the receipts themselves are typically large unwieldy objects, making it difficult to carry them to the Quad. I’m not sure when the tradition of foam fighting developed, nor the accompanying crazy costumes, but develop they did. Here I am dressed as a martyr from the Scottish Reformation:

It took a while to get all the foam out of my ears…

To celebrate the new year, here are some economic resolutions from Greg Mankiw.

Studying:

• Generalized Linear Models
• Measure Theory
• Statistical Methods
• Forecasting

Listening

• Beethoven: Complete Symphonies (HVK, Berliner Philharmoniker 1963)
• Electric Six: Fire
• Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas
• Annie: Annimal

Eating

• Tesco Brand Chorizo
• Capricorn English Goat’s Cheese
• Tesco Value Still Water
• Tesco Apple Filled Doughnuts
• Tesco Baguette

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I took my first real trip outside of St. Andrews the weekend of November 18th to participate in a debating competition in Durham, England. The train ride down the coast lasted around 4 hours, with a quick change in Edinburgh. Before I’d been to Durham, I considered St. Andrews the most attractive British town I’d ever visited. Now I’m not so sure. I’m sure you’ll see why:

Unlike those in St. Andrews, the Cathedral and Castle in Durham are completely intact. The castle even serves as a University residence. Only steps from the Debating chamber in which the final was held is the gorgeous Durham Cathedral. Within its ancient walls are housed the remains Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, both of whose tombs I was fortunate enough to visit. Bringing everything full circle, the plaque marking Bede’s tomb was donated by, you guessed it, Rotary. The experience was heightened by beautiful singing from the cathedral choir.

A bit of trivia: parts of the Harry Potter movies were filmed in Durham. Does this courtyard look familiar?

As for the competition itself, I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, but I still had lots of fun. After an exhausting day of competition on Saturday, the Durham Union Society threw a big party in the Union. Sleeping on the floor of the Snooker room was nowhere near as uncomfortable as it could have been thanks to Gwynaeth loaning me her sleeping bag! Still it was a far cry from Durham castle, which is still in use as a university residence:

Durham is well worth a visit.

The end of the semester is always rough, and this one was especially so.  Now that I have a little more free time, I figure it’s a good time to get started on my New Year’s Resolution: posting regularly!

In the next few days, I’ll be filling you in on everything I’ve been up to during the past few weeks — lots of exciting developments. After that, I resolve to post at least once a week.  If I don’t, feel free to post nasty comments upbraiding me for my profligacy.  Until then, wish me luck as I try to decipher my accursed Measure Theory notes…

In memory of one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, one of my favorite clips from youtube.