PhD in Philosophy from the University of St. Andrews in 2000-01

At the beginning I was a bit apprehensive about the prospect of spending a year away from home. The adventure turned out quite well though, despite a rather poor outcome of my many ghost hunting expeditions through the haunted castles of Scotland. My other main objective – tracking down Nessie (the Loch Ness monster) – didn’t go as planned either (rumours are she left Scotland for the south of France). But, again, in spite of all these failures, I did get to thoroughly taste the exquisite academic environment: I did a lot of reading from the classics (Tennent’s, Guiness etc.) and also, encouraged by my wonderful philosopher colleagues in St. Andrews, I did get to taste some hard and rather obscure Scottish (or should I say Scotch?) authors. Rewarding indeed!

Town with a stunning medieval look, St. Andrews takes its name from the Apostle whose relics, legend tells us, were brought to this place in antiquity by St Rule and who was later adopted by Scotland as her patron saint (interestingly enough, St. Andrew is also the patron saint of Romania). Situated on the shore of the North Sea and the St. Andrews Bay, it boasts – among other attractions – the oldest golf course and a wonderful wide beach together with a small seal colony. For a sea(l)-loving philosopher things couldn’t be more exciting: Edgecliffe, the Philosophy dept. building, is situated precisely on the edge thus giving way to a splendid and intensely inspiring seascape. It is therefore no wonder that the department shelters one of the most productive philosophical communities worldwide.

The education style I was confronted with in St. Andrews has some advantages over the one practiced at my university of origin, the main one being that, by relieving (postgraduate) students of the chores of coursework, it allows their creative energies to be channelled exclusively towards their respective areas of interest, most likely leading to the successful and early completion of the thesis. I was actually expecting a more Scholastic approach to education; to my (pleasant) surprise it turns out that the Old World is more liberal than the New one overseas. But perhaps I am generalising too hastily. Anyway, the clashes of ideas experienced during tumultuous mixed faculty-students seminars have contributed a great deal towards shaping my views on many aspects of my research. Clashes of ideas experienced during the unforgettable cooking sessions in our common kitchen in the student residences (eleven men and a woman) have opened new and impressive culinary horizons making my Scottish escapade a truly memorable one. The credit goes, of course, to the British Council and the Chevening Scholarship, to whom I will remain.

Eternally grateful,

Cristian