These boots were made for walkin'

Boots I do not have...yet.

Walking I have done...lots.

Bath is a bigger, more bustling city than I was expecting. I'll have to look up how many people live here.

The Roman baths were beautiful. So many roman artifacts! The self-guided tour was cool. I'm so glad we went before they stopped openging them (and lighting them up) at night.

Yesterday I got my books, and walked around the city some, got a tour of Bath University nearby, walked back rather than taking the bus, which turned out to be about 25 minutes of a downhill walk...my calves are still tired. Then we had a study skills session which was really intimidating. The professor leading the session was from Oxford, and I quote him from his schpiel on the importance of citing sources correctly:

"If you misquote a line from Shakespeare, I'll know it. But if it's a comma I think is out of place, I may have to go back and check so you should have your sources cited with all information."

A man who knows every (punctuated) line of all of Shakespeare's works by heart? That's not natural.

But basically, the biggest difference between classes here and classes there is the reading. At home, there is required reading. And if you're a good student, you do all of the required reading. Here, if you're a good student, you do all of the required reading, and then the RECOMMENDED reading. So maybe I have to read a play for a class, and that is required. But the suggested reading might be a book on the author's life, or another play from the same time or author. And if you want to contribute to the seminars here, (25 percent of your grade), you will need to have read from the suggested reading list.

I'm going to be very busy these first few weeks. What people on the program have heard from people before is that eventually you figure out how much work you can get by with, and it really isn't that bad at all.

My first class is at Oxford on Monday. I have to take the train, and then the bus, and find my tutor's house. I'm a little nervous about finding my way. This first week I'm just going to go in really early in the morning, because my tutorial is not until 2, and wander around the colleges at Oxford for awhile.

Today is shopping day. Everywhere is having big sales, because the fall collections go up after today. My roommate and I walked around for awhile in the middle of our grocery shopping. (Grocery shopping is by far the most difficult thing so far, but if that's all, then life is not worth complaining about). I found a cute flouncy denim skirt for 3 pounds. That's six dollars. But the annoying thing is, it's a size 10. For anyone who might not know girls' sizes, I'm nowhere near a size 10. I'm a 2 or a 4. Luckily Julie had already warned me about how skinny European women's clothing is, so I'm not panicking about suddenly wearing a size 10. I might go shopping some more, just to look around. I'll be happy if I find a black clutch, and some rainboots. I don't plan on buying a lot of clothes while I'm here. It's too expensive trying to travel and eat and go out.

We had a reception last night with all of our tutors. We sipped wine and strolled around a Victorian art gallery and mingled with students and tutors (a tutor is the equivalent of an american professor...in england professors are more like the very top of their field). I felt about 25. Then everyone went out to this club, my first European club experience. I didn't really like it. I guess you have to be drinking to enjoy yourself at those kind of places, or at least be a really great dancer. I don't think I'll be going along from now on.

But aren't you proud of me for at least trying these things? I'm really putting myself out there. And as for new experiences, I think I'll go try to catch some of the cricket match in town before walking around some more. Tonight feels like a good night to settle in with a cup of tea and do some reading, because we have to be up early tomorrow to go to Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, and Avebury.