Sunday, September 30, 2007
Abbey
Outside the Royal Hospital for Rheumatic Ailments
Bath Abbey with ladies in Regency costume, for the Jane Austen Festival
Square in front of Bath Abbey, adjacent to the Pump Room and Roman Baths
Bath Abbey
Jane Austen Centre
Tea & writing display
Admiralty display
Outside the centre and shop
Entrance to the Centre
No. 25 Gay Street, one of the places where Jane actually lived in Bath. It's now a dental surgery.
Cassandra's watercolour of Jane
Period dress
Period lace shawl
A first edition of Lady Susan
Another tea display--I love that mahogany table
Saturday, September 29, 2007
More scenes of Bath
So, this is a reference to 'Little Britain'--when Vicky Pollard said she showed somebody her "Muller fruit corner"...it's a plain, very creamy yogurt with a fruit topping on the side, up in the corner. Not really that exciting of a find, unless you're as into Little Britain as I am, and never understood what Vicky was saying...
The Circus
The trees in the middle of the Circus are huge & obviously very old
The Royal Crescent (it's Saturday, so there were lots of tourists)
A house on Sydney Place that reminded me of "Persuasion"
The Royal Crescent, seen from across the park
A side street in Bath--the wall on the right is part of the Medieval city wall. It's had centuries to grow all that moss.
The Royal Crescent
Bath
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Down to business...
European Union Policies and Policy Making
Monday, 13.15-15.05
http://people.bath.ac.uk/mlsab
Societal Modernisation and Political Renewal
Wednesday, 09.15-11.05
http://people.bath.ac.uk/mlsib
Comparative Social Policy
Wednesday, 11.15-13.05
http://staff.bath.ac.uk/sssekc
International Security
Friday, 09.15-11.05
http://people.bath.ac.uk/agvhp20
We have one unit that's compulsory (the 1st one on the list there), then we can choose 3 from 7 others. I've just got one more intro lecture tomorrow, to a unit called "Comparative European Politics" that I probably won't be choosing, b/c I'm happy with the ones I've picked, and b/c it sounds pretty much like Euro 301 at UW... I like having just M, W, F, because then I've got Tues. & Thurs. to catch up on reading and work on papers.
Our grades are based completely on these essays--1 for each class, 4,000 words each. They're due at 4 different times during the quarter, so we can't put them off until the last minute. It's nice to see procrastination isn't strictly an American student thing.
A Room with a View
Monday, September 24, 2007
Text to accompany the photos...
So, here’s some commentary on my trip so far. I’ve been typing it up since Saturday, but now I can actually post it on here, now that I’ve got the internet again.
I landed in
When we landed, it took awhile to unload the plane and get to customs—I must’ve looked like I knew where I was going, ‘cause an American guy asked me if this was the way to customs. So, I had a long line at customs and the lady at the desk was rude to me. However, all the bad stuff that has happened on this trip hasn’t fazed me at all. I love it so much that I overlook all the bad details. It’s just like how I feel about UW—when I have an issue with housing or something, I don’t get upset, because I’m just so happy to be there.
After customs I followed signs to the Underground station. I bought my Oyster card with little trouble. It cost £3 and I loaded it up with £12. It was really easy to use and reload later, just like the metro card, but I think the touchscreens here were better. Once actually on the train with my suitcase, I figured out where I needed to transfer to the other line, and picked up the Metro newspaper. British journalism is so biting and fun. I looked over the sports section, with news about footie and cricket—I love it! Then an older couple came in and sat across from me. They asked if the train was going towards
The only other people in the car were a group of Asian students, speaking and laughing loudly. Now you can see why I’ve felt right at home, haha.
Right away after leaving the station, you could see the little rowhouses of suburban
The hotel was very close to the station, about a block away. It had a nice lobby & the desk employees were nice. They’d overbooked and needed to put me in another hotel, just round the corner and up the street a bit. I didn’t mind. They offered to get me a taxi (and pay for it), but I turned that down. I’d made it from
First off, I went to Tesco Metro to get something to drink. It’s a smallish grocery store, with overpriced other things, like cosmetics. I tried an apple blueberry drink that was really tasty. Then I stopped at a red phonebooth (they’re everywhere!) and called Mom. On my way back to the hotel, an Indian guy basically accosted me, but since I was in
I left the park on the wrong side (I’d meant to head towards Piccadilly to meet Cody at noon), got lost but thoroughly enjoyed myself. I caught the tube at
That street led me to the National Gallery and
I headed towards Big Ben, because I knew the Parliament was just around it, and as I walked on, I passed all sorts of other sights. I saw
Parliament is an amazing building. It seems like a palace or castle, and I believe it was at one point. The architecture is unbelievable, and the guards are those adorable Bobbies, with the little black hats, just like in the movies. I find myself constantly thinking things are just like in movies of
My dorm is ok. I think it’s a bit bigger than mine at UW, and it’s definitely bigger than the one at Vandy. The bed is crummy, but the desk, wardrobe, bookcases and sink (“washbasin”) are lovely. The kitchen is much bigger than I expected—it has 2 stoves, 2 fridges, and lots of counterspace & shelves.
They gave us a desk calendar sheet with ads for various campus bars and restaurants. The deals aren’t that bad, really. “Lunch: A baguette, crisps & a bottle of coke £2.95” At UW, the sandwich, chips and pop combo is $5.95, so this is roughly the same price. I got a kick out of this ad for the Blues Café, “Campus’ premier venue to watch sport”—the English are just so formal and adorable!
In the grocery stores, the produce section says “fruit and veg” and I couldn’t for the life of me find normal salt & pepper or other normal spices. They had little bottles of whole peppercorns, and bags of salt, or a box of expensive sea salt. I think I need to go to a bigger grocery store for normal things like that. The fresh herbs were just flat leaf parsley and another one I can’t recall, but it wasn’t normal like basil or rosemary or anything.
We met up for lunch at a pub across the Avon called the
Sunday night we went out to the pubs again, and this time I stayed out later than I did on Saturday. When I was just getting back to my building, I found a few of the Euromasters kids out front, and joined them across the river at the Green Park Tavern (yes, the same place we’d had lunch). The bartender (or barkeep?) was still there, still remembered us, and was so adorable. Katharina and I were the only girls, and we went to get the wine. She made a joke about the girls paying for the drinks, and I said “Is chivalry dead?” and the bartender goes “It’s not, luv, I promise!”
I got chatting to one of the boys about everything—music, movies, our cultural differences, stereotypes, etc. Occasionally the other guys would cut in and ask me a question, but this dude and I were just lost in conversation—it was a lovely moment. He wasn’t even drinking the wine, but he thanked us for paying and turned to me and said “I’ll buy you a drink some other time,” with a cheeky little smile. I absolutely love it here.
This morning I had to be up at school for orientation at 10:15. The bus ride was quite scary, a huge normal-sized bus on these tiny little winding roads. I arrived a little late, along with 3 other girls who were on the same bus, and it was hard to find the building at first, too. It’s a small campus, but complicated. During the break between the intro and the first course lecture, Cody and I got lunch at the gym’s café (“campus’ premier venue to watch sport”) and I got my Ethernet cable and registered online to get resident internet access. While we waited for the next lecture, we got chatting with a lovely guy, and he sat by me at the lecture, and was so sweet. It was like Edward Ferrars, but just slightly less socially awkward. So adorable. I seriously have come to
After lecture, we chatted a bit and then Cody and I went down to the city for coffee and to explore a bit. He introduced me to a great coffee place, Café Nero, where the prices are lower than Starbucks (still higher than American Starbucks, though), and the quality is excellent. We spent awhile at Waitrose, the grocery store, after a long walk around the city looking for the bigger Sainsbury’s. I found normal-enough salt, pepper and basil, and went with that.
When I got back to my room, I set up the internet, emailed Mom, posted photos and checked email & facebook & myspace & kel’s blog. It was so good to be back online. Not long later, it was time to meet up with the Seattlites for dinner. We went to Pizza Express, which was delicious and our waiter was absolutely adorable. After dinner, we chatted a bit more, then went home and I went to call Kel but she wasn’t home yet. So, I’ve had a chill night, no going to the pubs, though I wouldn’t mind it with some of these boys.
A few strange notes: without realizing it, I haven’t been biting my nails. I only noticed when typing for the first time. Also, I feel completely at home here. Walking around