Bristol Snow

So you may have seen all the crazy news reports of snow in London basically shutting the city down by now. That was us yesterday. Bristol is a fairly large city to the southwest of London, home to the University of Bristol where the Concorde was designed and constructed, where Rolls-Royce has a huge firm, and where Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed and built a massive Clifton Suspension Bridge that spans more than 200 feet above the Avon Gorge, and is right down the road from me.

I've been in Bristol ever since my last post, but this time I am well-rested, well over jetlag and a bunch of other things. I've moved into self-catered housing, meaning I'm not on a meal plan, which is about a 45 minute walk from the main university precinct. It's a picturesque walk: as I walk up the hill to one of the older residences (Wills Hall where they still dress in robes for Friday night dinner), I can practically see the entire village of Stoke Bishop. Over the hill, past Wills, is a large field called the Downs. These extend all the way to the Avon Gorge, where the Avon river cuts deeply through the rocks and snakes its way past the Bristol docks. This is about a 15 minute walk across the Downs. Then it's down Blackboy Hill, along Whiteladies Road and then to wherever I need to go. So there you go, a two second geography lesson of the greater Bristol area.

I'm in three classes at the moment: The Myth & Reality of Mao Zedong, British Political Culture and Communication, and Contemporary Japanese Society. I'll be working on taking a Chinese course one-on-one with the prof, since Vassar has prepared me way too well to take Chinese here. Also, it's because nobody here signed up for the level I elected to take. Oh well.

On an extracurricular note, I've been rowing with the University rowing team, and it's been great. They're a great group of guys, and I'm in the 3rd VIII. Basically, the 1st VIII is a bunch of guys bred for rowing. They're all tall, lanky muscular beasts. Everything the ideal rower should be. Then you have the 2nd VIII, which are the guys which are also ridiculously good. Then you have the 3rd VIII, which looks like the rowing I'm used to. A bunch of average height guys who work hard at what they do, focus, and try to make up for what nature hasn't given them with crazy dedication (Third Eight, no faff!) Faff, for you Americans out there, means we don't mess around, in the most PG of terms.

Well, kids, it's off to start my reading, where here, there are no texts that you pick up at the beginning of term. You hop to the library after receiving your weekly readings, find em, check em out, and trek back to your room with them, and cuddle in for a good time. I kinda like that system. It saves money, and everyone reads something different. However, you're reading whole books instead of articles and excerpts, which I much prefer reading if I must read often. Just the way the cookie...err, crumpet, crumbles I suppose. Fair ways til next time.