WHERE THE ROMANS BATHED

since it's reading week, i took last monday and tuesday to do some traveling to bath and bristol, two cities about three hours west of london. i went with hannah, an associate student majoring in film from johns hopkins who is in two of my film classes. bath was quite pretty, small town with roman architecture and cute old people. there's a university there, but the parts we went to were mostly frequented by tourists. we left early monday morning and arrived about noon. we had lunch in the oldest house of bath at sally lunn's (known for her buns), took a free tour, went to the fashion museum, checked into our hostel, wandered a bit, and had dinner at the raven, best pub i've been to yet (i really liked their house brew and our bartender was really friendly and had lived in the states).


the one on the right was our tour guide, he wasn't the most informative of tour guides, but he certainly was the sweetest old man. whenever we had to cross the street, he would give detailed instructions on how to do so! and he would talk at length about the shutters of the houses we passed by.


we walked past many narrow streets


leather and lace alexander mcqueen dress at the fashion museum


in our wandering, we came across the riverside

we stayed in bath until tuesday morning, during which we visited bath's main attraction, the roman baths, and the abbey next to it.


as we were having our breakfast, there was a cute old woman looking at meat of the butcher shop across the hostel


steam from the springs


abbey

we went to nearby bristol for the rest of the day, had lunch at a pub by the harbour, and then visited arnolfini, their contemporary art center. it had two exhibitions ongoing, one was photography on '70s american culture with quotes accompanying the images. i liked their education center and bookshop, which stocked a typography magazine that i wanted to buy but was too expensive (18 pounds). there are still many churches that remain despite bombing from WWII, we passed a few just wandering. there wasn't too much else to do, so we left soon after.


i suppose the weather was warm enough for ice cream! taken from the second floor of arnolfini.

during the last two days, i've been mostly resting and reading. last night, i cried in my sleep for the first time! my uncle had died in my dream, but i think i was more saddened by the idea of his dying than his actual death. in my semi-conscious state, i felt tears falling on my face and pain in my chest. perhaps it was caused by the metatonin i took that night...the experience has made me wary of sleep for the time being.

i heard back from the lang center and got a S2A2 grant to work at a nonprofit this summer!!!!! i can't decide whether to look for organizations in london or new york city. at this point, it really depends on whether i'd be able to start working at a nonprofit early spring and how closely their summer programs would coincide with the project idea i proposed in my grant application. i don't know how hard i want to look for an organization here, knowing that there's a new summer photography program with young women of color that's happening in new york city. if i stayed in london, i would have to find housing and would have hardly enough money to enjoy citylife. WHAT TO DO.