Academic prestige and nice buildings are the epitome of St Andrews. St Salvator’s hall is what often comes to mind and after a simple search, lo and behold, there is a photo of Sallies Quad with a flowerbed in full bloom. Sallies is where the romance of Britain’s two darlings took flower in the early 2000s, and it is after all the definition of halls fit for royalty, if there could ever be such a category. The red flowers compliment the curious bleakness of the build.
Sallies sits at the top of halls hierarchy within the fresher’s kingdom of St Andrews. We all like to overlook ABH or the disparaging grounded ship of Andrew Melville and just think of Sallies, to think that we are either destined for a prison or a castle (or an abdominal shipwreck that was designed that way)? It has something to do with nationality, and lucrative backgrounds, word has it…
St Salvator's Hall, St Andrews – Credit: Louise Millar.
Safe word bop is in itself an innuendo for what constitutes this seaside town. St Andrews is a protected sphere of old money as the international jewel of golf. Studying here is a vacation in sorts (if one overlooks endless reading and impending deadlines) and the connection to the real, outside world via a small town of Leuchars that most have never heard of before venturing north. It gives the notion of a seductive mystery like the notorious platform 3 and ¾ from our childhoods. But it feels nice to get away from reality in this little corner of the world.
The return of kink night is perhaps the antithesis to what people think of St Andrews, despite being one of the most popular club nights. Yet it was far from reckless. Taking inspiration from Fetish club nights, it said more of the mediocre nights out of St Andrews. But that is said of people who don’t get out there enough.
St Andrews failed at kink. Identities are continuously being forged out and we all know each other’s secrets. The depths of 601 may as well be projected onto a screen. Clubbing etiquette in St Andrews is certainly different, students expect manners like you would on the street, but clubbing isn’t a party on the street – it seems people don’t know what clubbing is. It’s a realm where manners are turned askew.
Yet St Andrews is so galvanised with the idea of civilised behaviour that it risks becoming anti- civilised because the bubble is so intense, there are no such things as secrets, or the pretension of being civilised is quickly swept away as bondage sets in, like one sees of their family members.
But it was nevertheless an incredibly tame, civilised kink bop. From the night in question, the DJ was in a cowboy hat – that says something of the harmless mood. Songs included Chappel Roan’s latest and, of course, Starships by Nicki Minaj. One could say they got it completely wrong: the music didn’t push any boundaries. It was pop bops to everyone’s tastes. It was comfortable. Hook-up culture in this quaint town is anything but quaint. It’s disastrous. And this microcosm causes you to detest this place at times.
Credit: Unsplash/ Godefroy Boutet.
St Andrews is a melting pot of pretty buildings, nice academics and pretty faces. Sallies is a Gothic build modelled on antiquity, and of the notorious Oxford colleges. It is in some way but an imitation, but then it is wholly unique. It embodies a certain seductive secrecy, something kink bop could have been construed from. At the very least, it could have done with a splash of redness. And Americans lack that distinct English awkwardness that can divide people. Sallies beholds an impressive, imposing majesty that should in practice be a friendly hall. Is anyone outside the clique really welcome?
St Andrews is a successful, good-looking university, in every sense of the word. Good looking people are statistically more successful, but what does that say for talented minds. Talented minds with a nice face go further than the latter?
Appearances matters more than we think, but then they don't matter at all.
You can model this on Sallies, that comes with a general assumption that anyone in Sallies is happiest and most spoiled. At times, it can be an isolating clique, for anyone caught outside of it. The most beautiful halls may quite well be the ugliest. Growing into your character at university makes one realise you truly are a creation of your parents and sometimes that stifles us when we see we must contain a bit of something we resent.
Red is like this profoundly complex university, it can be astonishingly beautiful and unique, having earned its attention for a reason but it’s also place of heartache for home, or for this place when you finally depart. It’s a poignant attachment anyone who comes here will develop with this town and the people. We will all leave shadows behind.
If St Andrews is iconic for anything, it’s the colour red.
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