[ SECRET POST #2008 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2008 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 088 secrets from Secret Submission Post #287.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 2 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

19. http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt205/technicolor_giraffe/fandomsecrets.png

[(Anonymous)]

Gotta tell ya, as an American at a uni in the UK, the traditions aren't really there. I mean they are, but aren't prominant and are not part of every day life. Hell, I don't think I've even seen any of these 'traditions'. I know they are there, but I don't know where.

[magog_83]

From what I've seen, it's only the older universities that have the traditions - Oxbridge, St Andrews, York, Durham etc. Newer ones (eg. 19th century onwards) don't have them so much :(

[kathkin]

If this secret is indeed about The Student Prince then the fic in question was by a student at/graduate of St Andrews' university so I doubt they misrepresented it that much. Also St Andrews has a reputation for being really weird when it comes to traditions.

[(Anonymous)]

As a St. Andrews' alumni I can tell you with absolute certainty that the traditions are definitely still visibly there.

[magog_83]

Was this 'Student Prince' by any chance? They are pretty big on their traditions at St Andrews!

[hwc]

I immediately thought of 'Student Prince' as well when I read St. Andrews! :D

[deadtree]

I don't know what that is, but it kinda sounds like a BL manga lol

[(Anonymous)]

Don't worry, they won't think you're there because of the traditions. They'll think you're a pathetic American hung up on ~Wills and Kate~

[sparklywalls]

Can't speak for St Andrews cos I went to Cambridge but I have a friend who did go to St Andrews who says there are similarities. Apart from small things like having to wear an academic gown to dinner sometimes and hearing bits of Latin before eating or at my graduation, there weren't really many huge differences between my uni experience and those of my friends not at Cambridge/Oxford/Durham/St Andrews. Just to warn you that the romantic view often depicted in fiction and fanfiction really isn't an every day thing.

Or maybe I just stopped noticing it cos I was spoiled by it being all around me all the time.

[hwc]

Was it perchance a Merlin fanfic?

[(Anonymous)]

Fantastic, more Americans coming to the UK because they're convinced life here is like a story. Just what we need.

I mean, good luck with your application.

[(Anonymous)]

Hah! I went to an ancient, posh 4-year uni that was allegedly awash with traditions and yet and yet and yet life was pretty much like at any other uni for most of us. The only people with the time, inclination and - yes - money to dick around at garden parties or in boats or doing things that required special outfits were rich, inbred idiots upholding some hooray-henry tradition and keen-bean Americans. No-one else gave a shit

[ooh_mrdarcy]

I'm a little jealous tbh. I've never had the funds to even consider doing the same.

[littlestbirds]

This is cute, but a horrible way to chose a university? When I make decisions like this, it's often because the more logical decision making process is too scary. Hopefully not the case for you.

As an aside, when I listened to the author read this fic I did enjoy it, but it turns out I'm a lot more anti-monarchy than I realized and I had all these feeeeelings about hereditary privilege heh

[(Anonymous)]

I don't want to tell you what to do, but if you're worried about your parents looking at you funny for wanting to go abroad, you can apply to Emory University in Atlanta. They have an exchange program with St. Andrews and when I attended Emory I met several students from St. Andrews who were spending a year or more at Emory, and I knew of Emory students who went to study at St. Andrews. You could always look into that.

Also, if it's tradition you're looking for there are a few US universities that have some weird old-school traditions. At Sewanee the students wear robes to class and if you're a girl (but I think they're opening up to boys too, you'd have to check) you could apply to Bryn Mawr, which is one of the seven sister schools. My friend went there and she told me about a bunch of weird traditions that they have.

Alright, enough info dumping. Good luck!

[(Anonymous)]

My cousin goes to St. Andrews and I was super jealous when I found out. Totally because of that fic and how awesome the traditions seen.

[thene]

My sister went there and she told me that there've always been quite a lot of Americans, originally due to parents sending them there because of the golf but more recently due to Prince Whoever studying there (and I remember one of her American friends saying that the international fees back then were the same or less as getting an ivy league education in the US); my sister even picked up quite a few US pronunciations due to being at St A's. They really do go in for the traditions, especially at certain times of year, and the town has a lot of its own as well (lots of ghost stories and ruins). The older dorms are the most traditional so if you get tired of it you can just move into private housing. It's definitely not the right place for everyone - it's a small city that feels quite cut-off from the world; when I was last visiting it was only accessible by bus, not rail. It's also very far north so has little winter daylight - I mention this in case it's a health concern.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm at St Andrews (postgrad, non-UK student). And I have to say... don't. The pier walk you've (probably) got pictured there? That all but disappeared, though there is one girl who is doing her best to revive it over the past year with some success. The only traditions that seem to survive are the ones where there's an excuse to get drunk, like the May Dip. Sure, there's also things like the procession, and this year we had a new rector so there were a few things regarding that, but basically the feeling you associate with students in gowns is 'tosser'. Let's not even get started on the reputation of "the Bubble", town-vs-gown resentments, or that whole Kate Kennedy disaster.

Just don't do it. It's a really, really, bad way to pick a university (also, I've heard the gowns are really expensive; I know I'm not renting a PhD gown when I'm graduation, they can get stuffed)

[(Anonymous)]

From personal experience (I was the other person who posted about going to St. Andrews b/c of TSP) ... well just be aware that it's not like in that fic. It's small.. like, really small. I've only been here for a year and I can't wait to leave next week. I've heard from several undergraduates that they got cabin fever, too. Especially after being here for several years.

It's not that pathetic btw. I know one American undergraduate who came here b/c of Dr. Who and a girl who did the MSc with me who came to St. Andrews because she loves Harry Potter...and it really is a bit like Hogwarts XD

The traditions described in TSP are all accurate, as the author studied here herself.

[(Anonymous)]

There's fanfic about St Andrews?

OT: St Andrews is a fantastic university OP, and it doesn't matter what prompted you to want to study here, you'll have a lovely time if you do :-)

[(Anonymous)]

The uni might be all nice and everything, but the town is basicallyy nothing else than golfer paradise and everything that revolves around it...

[(Anonymous)]

THERE IS NOTHING TO DO THERE. ALL THE LOCALS HATE YOU. UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AMAZING GROUP OF FRIENDS IT FEELS LIKE YOU ARE TRAPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE.

and jesus christ all these over enthusiastic americans going oh-my-gaahd that's so British/Scottish!!11!!1 over EVERY LITTLE THING that they think is so quaint and cutesy. its annoying. yes that castle/church is over 500yrs old but its really not as amazing as youre making out to be, we have tons of old shit in Britain. AND YOU DO NOT PRONOUNCE 'LOCH' LIKE 'LOCK'. JFC.

/bitter Scottish student of St Andrews tired of annoying Anglophile Americans.

[sci_five]

I just graduated from St Andrews last month. If you like the sound of the traditions you will LOVE this University! It's fun and extremely people-oriented, and the traditions do make your time here feel extra-special. The Academic Family tradition, in particular, is really important to a lot of people.(The graduation in particular is fantastic – you get doffed over the head by a piece of John Knox's old trousers and yelled at in Latin, and then the police shut the traffic down on the main street and you get to parade, degree in hand and gown a-swishin', all the way down to the quad. It's amazing!)

St Andrews is a really fantastic University (and the student population is 20/25% American, I think we're popular across the pond) and it's hard not to fall incredibly in love with most aspects of it. (Also, there is a really, really strong presence of geek societies and fandom-orientated stuff, which is triply fabulous.)

tl;dr – come to St Andrews. ONE OF US, ONE OF US

[(Anonymous)]

I read a fic with St Andrews in before. I'm already at Uni but it did tempt me to it ... then I remember I am far too stupid to get in, lol.