Public Footpaths.

I've made it to my new place, and have been through my first week of classes. There's not too much to report about the actual program except that it involves massive amounts of reading (to have been expected, I suppose), so I'm just glad once again that I've found a field that I'm a good match for, with my normally amorphous interests and all.

Per the location, I love it. Durham (the town, cathedral, and university) has more of a Harry Potter/Hogwarts ambiance to it than I would have thought possible.

Let me illustrate one apparently common institution here in Brittan that has no equivalent in America, that I think is just the bees knees. Public footpaths. You see these inconspicuous little signs all over town, that point the way to one end of a path designated for foot travel only. These signs are irresistible to me, because its impossible to predict what you're getting yourself into if you don't know the layout of the town very well. Most of them in town are narrow little back-alley shortcuts, but some on the edge of town represent the beginning of a trek through farm land and the countryside to the next suburb over (or even further). The paths are maintained and legally protected for public foot travel only, and network the entire country. I'm seeing how easily and joyfully one could walk all over Brittan if they wanted to. Like I said, there's no equivalent in America. As anyone who's ever had the idea of making a journey on foot knows, the only practical option is to follow the highways.... not at all a peaceful, meditative, stress-free or very enjoyable task.

So in conclusion, horray for public footpaths.

gathering no [more] moss

An opportune moment for an update has finally come, at long last. Yeah, the last post is both old and sparse, but it has been a more-or-less adequate appraisal of my situation for just so long. Now, there is activity and movement and kinetic purpose returning to my limbs!

I haven't exactly been idle for all this while. But there wasn't anything going on that merited an entry into my travel blog while it was happening and it doesn't merit a summary now.

The point is, I'm off to school again. I actually conceived of the idea (rather on a whim) last year in Greece to apply to some grad schools, and well, it panned out. (Lets just say... I mean, It took an awful lot of contrivance and effort by way of endless applications and letters and standardized tests and general displays of ambitions, but besides all that, it really just fell into my lap, this new direction.)

"Buy the ticket, take the ride."

So, in 3 weeks, it seems I'll be off to Durham University in the United Kingdom to work on a 12-month masters program in Evolutionary Anthropology. yeesh.