Buses and Brollies

Yesterday was the beginning of academic orientation, starting with receiving our class syllabuses. I have three classes plus my internship, and they are British Detective Fiction; Worlds Beyond Oxford: Tolkien, Lewis, and Pullman; and Ghosts and the Gothic: The Literature of Terror. Besides getting to read very cool books for class (Dracula, The Lord of the Rings, The Hound of the Baskervilles, etc.) our classes require us (ha, as if we would complain) to go on some weekend study trips. Some of mine include a second trip to Oxford (the whole program goes in late March), C.S. Lewis' home, and Agatha Christie's home, among other things. But I have to say I'm most excited for my study trip to London which includes a recreation of the trail of Jack the Ripper. Morbid fascination, but fascination nonetheless.

We haven't met our tutors yet, but we have been completing diagnostic tests for them these past two days. (Side note: our director, Jonathan, told us the professors are officially called tutors. If we call them professors, he said, they won't get annoyed because we'll have raised their status a few levels. I enjoy saying tutors though, because it makes us sound like rich boarding school students with our own personal teachers.) The diagnostic tests are essays that we have an hour and a half to finish, but they only have to be about 800 words so it never takes that long. They don't count for grades or anything; they're just a way for our tutors to gauge what we know and how we write, so they're a small annoyance more than anything.

I got to skip the second diagnostic test yesterday because Andrew Butterworth took me to show me the bus route and to meet my internship mentor. The bus stop isn't far from my house but Andrew kept getting distracted by the abbey and little bits of history he wanted to tell me. Of course, I can't complain: I got the personalized Andrew Butterworth mini-tour. I also got a new piece of British lingo: "brolly" instead of umbrella. (Andrew: "Oh, you don't know that word, do you?" No, sir, but I sure as heck am gonna use it now!) On the bus, Andrew told me about the home and my mentor and said he could tell we would get along. I also learned that he shares one of my dearest mottos: "Never pass a penny!" (He stopped in the middle of the bus to pick one up. Anyone who's walked with me across campus knows I also can't physically walk away from free ground money.) The bus didn't stop for us even though Andrew pressed the button ("I've never had a driver ignore me like that before! He must be sleeping up there."). It just went straight on to the next stop at Bath University. But it was actually a good thing in my mind because if it ever happens again I know where to walk to find the right stop.

At the home, I met my mentor. Her names is Rachel Jones and I can tell I'm really going to like her. She told me to wear whatever I like, as they keep dogs in the office during the day and I'll come home with fur on me no matter what. She also told me they'll treat me like one of the staff: I get my own desk in the fundraising office, I can help myself to their snacks and drinks (and squash, which is apparently a British drink. At this point Andrew and Rachel had a good laugh at my American ignorance: "Oh, she probably thinks we serve vegetables with our coffee! Ha ha ha!"), and I may even get some free rides back to town to avoid the bus. On Thursday, my first internship day, I'll get a tour of the place and then be given a first project to work on. All in all, it was not as nerve-wracking as I expected it to be. It's hard to be scared of a place where they put the smaller dogs in jackets when it's raining and the office dog is called Rupert.

On the way back to town we had a very nice bus driver who let us stay on even though I had a ticket for a different bus company. (Again, another happy mix-up. Now I know in no uncertain terms which buses to look for.) He even let me ride for free. He was very funny, and reminded me of the talking head in the Knight Bus in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban because he would yell out little gems of humor. ("22 minutes of sunshine spotted today! Hundreds fall over in shock!") The road we had to travel down to get away from the university and back into town was thin and STEEP, and to add to all this there was construction going on. So, it worked like this: if you were driving a little car and a bus came toward you, you simply had to drive up onto the sidewalk to give yourself enough room to pass. At least, I saw that happen once or twice. I'm also pretty sure my bus driver was playing chicken with another bus driver who he seemed to know quite well. But we got back safely. The bus drops me pretty much right outside my front door -- couldn't be more convenient!

To end the day we had a quick (30 minutes -- NOT enough time!) tour of Bath Abbey and were given tea and dessert. The British are nothing if not hospitable. That post will have to wait for another day though -- I'm afraid the pictures will clog up this already exceedingly long post. Instead, here are finally some pictures of my flat.

the view from the side of our house, where my room is

my lofted space (Yes, there is an extra bed -- strictly no overnight guests though.)

view from the back window, which is right by my dresser

Our kitchen and bathrooms were remodeled last summer. They're top notch!

Heated towel rack, aka my new best friend. I don't know how I've lived without one for so long.

our dining room

View from the front. We're the last house before the bridge.

We live over a Greek restaurant appropriately called Opa! We haven't had any noise trouble though.

 

 There's also a common room downstairs for the whole house to share. It's stocked with a random assortment of books, 90's VHS tapes, plenty of couches, and a TV, DVD player, and VCR. Last night we used it to watch About a Boy with Hugh Grant. I'm sure we'll be repeating that a lot because there's a pretty nice assortment of old school Disney movies.

When my roommate gets back we're finally going grocery shopping -- though our house manager, Peta, left us a small stock of food for the first few days, we're looking forward to getting our own things to make actual meals. This girl can't eat out forever on her current budget!

I'll be posting again soon -- Bath Abbey needs its own post and Stonehenge is coming up! Enjoy your snow, east coast!