samesies

So, different country is different.  I swear I didn't mean for that to come out as a meme.  BUT the actual city of Bath isn't so much of a different world from the city of Charleston.

THEY ARE EVEN KIND OF THE SAME SHAPE.

Bath is surrounded by a river rather than a harbor, and Bath is significantly smaller, but ISN'T THAT SO WEIRD???  A lot of the sidewalks in Bath are paved with the same flagstones as King Street, and the most posh bits of both cities are located near the tips.  Bath Abbey stands out as 16th Century Norman, but most of the rest of the city is Georgian and dates to the 18th and 19th centuries so even the architecture looks similar to parts of Charleston.  Or rather parts of Charleston look similar to Bath.

I'm living at point A, so the city center is just a short walk down a really steep hill away.  I think the hill might actually be called Beechen Cliff and the stairs down tend to be covered in damp leaves, so don't be surprised if I die or break something.  Point B is my University, which is super tiny and completely lovely.  I've been taking the bus, and though it's only five miles, the commute is about 45 minutes since my nearest bus stop is a 15ish minute walk.  I intend to acquire a bike soon so I can sleep in an extra half hour. :)

 
This is the whole university.  Well, actually this is just the Newton Park campus, but it's the only one I go to.  There are three other campuses--one for arts, one for education, and one for... I want to say nursing or something?  Mine is the main campus and is home to the social sciences and whatnot.  I'm completely obsessed with the fields and hills that surround it, and I'll get some real pictures on one of the deliciously foggy mornings we keep having.

And one last map for the geographically challenged so you can see where I actually am in the world:

JK guys.  I don't think you're actually geographically challenged.  Most people know London and that's it.  If you don't know where England is though, you are definitely geographically challenged and should immediately start spending as much time on google maps as I do.  Bath is about 13 miles from Bristol, which is where they film Skins.  I never got to stalk Rachel Maddow in Noho last semester, but I will absolutely attempt to stalk Dakota Blue Richards.  And Matt Smith should go ahead and start expecting me because there is NO WAY I will leave this country without crashing the set of Doctor Who in Cardiff.

I kind of keep forgetting that Harry Potter is also actually of English origin.  I should add them to my 'to be stalked' list.  But Emma Watson is in Providence, Rhode Island.  She should have been on last semester's list with Rachel. 

an observation of difference.

So, a different country is bound to be slightly different. These are some things I've noticed:

-The toilets all seem really difficult to flush. Some of them are really neat and have these buttons--little for a little flush and big for a big flush. Others just have regular levers, but it's like they know when it's yellow and should mellow and when there's brown that needs to go down. I think they probably use a lot less water than american toilets, but its kind of a pain sometimes.

-Everything is still green. Most trees are bare so you can tell it's winter, but probably 60-70% of the grass is still green. I guess it doesn't really get cold enough here to kill everything. My campus is absolutely gorgeous and apparently is frequented by sheep in the early mornings. I'll have pictures of it eventually.

-Tea! This one should be fairly obvious, but its basically a ritual. The first thing you do when you come in the door is put the kettle on.

-School. They just do less of it here. I don't know much about education prior to GCSE's (exams taken at the end of what would be 10th grade), but for college (equivalent-- 11th and 12th grade) I think they generally take 3 a-levels per year. So imagine only doing three classes your last two years of high school, and your last two years are optional. Though I think a-levels may have been made compulsory recently. Anyway, for Uni (college to us) you do three years rather than four and you're only taking 6 classes a year. Classes also only meet either once a week or every other week depending on your year, and just for two or three hours. Students are expected to be much more independent and readings lists appear to be generally a few required readings plus a huge list of optional readings that you ought to choose a some things from but no one ever does. I haven't encountered any sort of busy work--you basically write two big essays for your whole grade. None of the professors get very fussy about attendance or punctuality either, though that may have more to do with them being used to the unreliable buses.

-They drive on the left. Duh. But they also seem to be much more reckless/confident drivers. They'll just speed around turns and kind of drive in the middle until they have to move over for another car. It's kind of like Bull Street all the time except faster.

-Row houses seem to be the norm and you can forget private bathrooms. Maybe this is just because I'm closer in to a city center where things are more cramped. I know row houses exist in northern cities in the US, but I don't know about their bathroom situations. Here, expect to share with the whole house.

-A lot of the sinks operate on two taps so your water is either really hot or really cold. Mixing to get lukewarm is not allowed.

-Compost and recycling! The city of Bath seems to be really awesome about these two things. At home, I can think of a total of maybe three people I know who compost, and if you want to recycle you have to take it yourself to the blue bins at walmart. Here, they collect both. Repeat: they collect compost.  You just collect it in a little bin in your kitchen and then the city picks it up for a city wide compost.  You can then buy some of the mulch they produce and they use the rest for something awesome, but I can't remember what it is.  Probably for the parks, etc.  Public works.

-I think I already said about the money, but it's all different sizes.  This gets kind of confusing for me as the 5p coins are dime sized and the ones that look like quarters are only 10p.  There are also coins for 20p and 50p but not 25p and £1 comes as a coin as well.  I think there are also £2 coins, but I haven't gotten one yet.  Bills start at £5 and go £10, £20, £50, etc. like ours do, but the £50s were too wide for my american wallet when I had them.

-The bus drivers are usually friendly.  I always felt like the bus drivers in Charleston were very upset with their jobs most of the time.


That's all I can think of so far.  Next up, everything that's the same!

this is essentially how i feel about england