The Last Days of Winter

Haven't blogged in a while, and this one won't be too long- its been a very busy few weeks as the work begins to pile up. Classes are again a mixed bag. I don't feel like the American way of lectures, where there's a huge amount of reading but little independent learning or discussion, is as effective as at home. That's why the U.S and World Power class I take is the best one. We analyze a few sources each class, having already read up on the background which would normally make up most of the class time, and get new opinions and interpretations on the texts. Even though American Foreign Policy is something I've touched on before, this is genuinely providing a new way of looking at things. This is why you should want to study in another country, to learn something new or gain a fresh perspective or what you already know.

One day we got out of campus was a day trip to Baltimore. After weeks of bitter cold, minus temperatures and snow the sun finally came out for us, and it was a perfect day to explore Baltimore's Inner Harbour. It was a really nice area including a World Trade building, where you could go to the top for $5 and get great views of the city, a few stadiums including a statue of the famous baseball icon Babe Ruth, some interesting art pieces and the National Aquarium. Its a bit over priced but it is the biggest in America, and the Dolphin show was pretty great. A nice change of pace overall, and any excuse to go to Five Guys for dinner is a good one!

The Steve Buscemi Shark

A few days after Baltimore the snowstorms returned, university shut down for a few days again, we were ordering Dominos to live off, and it felt like Winter would never end. We did find ways to occupy ourselves, including an interesting addition to the 4th floor mural. Our family tree has some odd match ups and family links- well done Sophia and Sahrish on some great likenesses! How I ended up as the father of two Japanese guys I don't know, but I'll take it!

Finally the sun has come out and the snow is starting to melt, and we can enjoy a bit of Spring weather. The runners have descended back into D.C- including a Christian Slater lookalike who turned a corner, almost knocked me, Joe and Emily over. And then looked terrified and annoyed like it was our fault! We still had a nice day in Georgetown, apart from Joe who was practicing his moody Bob Dylan look. We're into Spring Break now but we're not doing any major travelling, some of our plans didn't work out but that's ok. There are a few places close by to check out and I can get ahead on the studying, which I really need to do. We've got some good travel plans coming up, and I can't wait especially for Toronto in April. Last semester felt like a long time but this one has gone by so quickly, we just have to do our best to make the most of it.

A