Hello all!
I have decided to start blogging some of my adventures and experiences here on a blog that you can access! I was inspired by Kayla- hehe. I hope that I can keep up a blog on a daily/weekly basis.
Here goes- a couple of months late but oh well!

I have now been in Bristol for a couple of months! Hard to believe- time has flown by really quickly. Bristol has turned out to be the perfect choice for me. It is a big city with a population of over 400, 000. It is a lively city, but not as wild and busy as London. As well, it is a beautiful city. Bristol is historically known for trade, shipbuilding and aerospace design. The river Avon and the harborside of Bristol made its location prime for trade with Ireland. For this reason Bristol used to be England's most significant port for trade. Bristol's location also became central for the slave trade. Consequently, Bristol was a very wealthy city and its buildings and structure show this off quite a bit. The buildings here in Bristol are grand and detailed. I was not expecting the buildings to be as magnificent as they have been!

The University is dispersed throughout the city. It is quite different than the campus University I am used to at McMaster- and I quite like it. My daily route to school takes me from Stoke Bishop (the "posh" area of town where my residence is located), across the downs (acres and acres of green-space used for rugby, lacrosse, football, dog-walking etc.), down Whiteladies Road (many shops, real-estate offices, pubs, cafes etc) and onto Woodland road where my classes are located. This takes me about a half of an hour on a good day. If the winds across the downs are forceful it takes much longer.

My classes on Woodland Road, home to the Social Science department, are all in different old houses that have been converted into lecture halls, seminar rooms and small classrooms. From the outside you would never really guess that these are classrooms of a University Campus- something I really like about the school.

I am taking 3 courses while here at the University. They are all open classes as this University does not offer my program. I am taking Foundations of Buddhist thought (quite an intense class- feels as though I am learning another language, both Pali and Sanskrit, along with studying the culture and religion of Buddhist practices); Health and Illness (a Sociology course which has been quite interesting thus far- speaking about the biomedical model, stigma and the many links between gender, age, race etc with the way illness is perceived); and lastly, Deaf Studies (a course on the deaf culture, the struggles of the deaf community and the resurgence of positive images of deaf people in the community). My classes are each great. My favourite is Deaf Studies. My professor herself is deaf and signs the lectures, then communicated to us through interpreters. The classes are all small (8-25) and therefore use a great deal of interactive techniques. I am nervous as heck for my exams at the end of term- 100% PASS or FAIL!

After classes we make the trek back up to Churchill Hall in time for dinner- 5:45- 6:30. It is interesting to have the set times to eat. There are many differences between halls of residence here and at home. For example, each residence here has a bar in it. Fancy a drink?

There are many things to do here in Bristol and the surrounding area. Bath is a short train ride away, as well as many seaside villages. This past weekend I went to Weston-Super-Mare which has a grand pier with many cheesy amusement park activities. The view is beautiful, the cheesy atmosphere slightly takes away from it, but was fun at the same time. I took the above picture for my family there.

Anyway- its actually getting late here. I will post again soon.

Cheers for now!!! L