hello bristol

Including today, I will have been in Bristol for 7 days now.  Is it a whole new world?  In a way, the answer is yes.

scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream

Clifton Suspension Bridge

It’s a whole mix of adjusting to the 40 minute walk from my flat to campus, the lack of skyscrapers in a ‘big’ city, and the fact that in classes, I’ll be the one that sticks out with my oh-so-obvious American accent.  I do love the fact that students in the UK dress so much better than students in the US.  Everyone here dresses up, whether they’re guys or girls.  It’s true I’ve seen people wearing sweatpants, but that’s probably 1 in a 100.  However, that does mean that I’ll have to put more effort in dressing up now that I can’t just get away with wearing jeans and a tshirt – aka the basics, and still look well put together since everyone else is so much more dressed up.  I think this calls for a shopping expedition.  BUT…walking to the shopping district takes at least an hour.  what the fuck place is this?

This place is gorgeous, but all the walking I have to do is sometimes a little preposterous.  Come on UK, what happened to your public transportation?

Also, I sometimes wonder whether I chose the wrong classes.  The topics are the ones I want to take – ‘Intellectual Dissent and Economic Development in China c. 1956-1989′, ‘Compositional Strategy’, and ‘Music in Soviet Russia’.  The catch is, they’re all 2nd year courses, which means that everyone in all those classes know at least half the people in the class since that’s how the system works here.

But hey, it’s only been a week right?  It’s bound to get better.

p.s. say hello to my new baby

vivienne westwood love!