What to do with a five day weekend?

Yes, I have a five day weekend. How did that happen? Well, I only take two classes at the University of East Anglia (UEA), one of which meets once a week for two hours on Tuesday (Contemporary Writing), and the other, 18th Century Writing, meets twice a week--a lecture and a seminar--both an hour long, both on Wednesday. I do, however, have the class I take with the Dickinson program, which meets once a week on different days to coincide with the schedules of all 25 people in the class. 

I've been in Norwich for six weeks now. I'm completing my sixth week of classes and I handed in a paper for each of UEA classes today. I've been acclimating myself with the UEA campus and a bit with the city of Norwich. UEA is a terrible concrete atrocity in an otherwise beautiful part of England. The 1960s or '70s architecture is full of hard right angles and grey concrete so that the university actually resembles some sort of maximum-security prison. That being said, the way the campus is laid out is quite fascinating. It is contained within itself. There's a bookstore, food outlet, bank, post office, a pub (but no dining hall, grr...), even a booth to have passport photos taken. There are elevated walkways that take you to the Student Union building, the library, the lecture halls and virtually all other academic buildings. 

The Sportspark, I believe, is one of UEA's finer qualities. It has squash courts, a gym, four basketball courts that are also used for other sports (badminton, netball, baseball, cricket, etc.), a swimming pool, a climbing wall, and several football (soccer) fields. Okay, let's be honest, it's not that much better than the Kline Athletic Center at Dickinson (if at all) but the facilities are pretty nice. I've joined the baseball team and I'm on the men's basketball second team (not quite good enough to be on the first team). Two weekends ago the baseball team took a roughly three-hour trip to Nottingham for a baseball tournament where we played teams from Oxford (who we lost to and then beat the next day), Southhampton and Nottingham. It was great fun, and wonderful to finally be playing (somewhat) competitive baseball again. I'm sure you can imagine what the level of baseball over here is...We ended up coming in second place! When we returned home, however, I was experiencing soreness in muscles I didn't even realize I had. 

I've had some time to explore Norwich, which is a 10-20 minute bus ride from campus depending on traffic. Nrowich is supposed to be in the "top ten" of English cities for shopping. There's a mall, an open-air market, and winding roads of old, beautiful cobblestone streets. Two symbols of Norwich are the Norwich cathedral and Norwich castle. The spire of the cathedral reaches high into the sky, far above the rest of the city. The castle is a peculiar one. It's a large stone cube that sits atop a man-made hill. The ground in Norfolk is so flat that it was necessary to build a hill to provide an advantage against attackers. One of my favorite pastimes in Norwich thus far has simply been to wander the city alone taking in its small, beautiful streets and discovering what the city has to offer. I've heard there are places to go to hear live poetry, but I have yet to find them. That is a project for the upcoming month.

I've fallen in love with the winding streets of Norwich. They are picturesque and exactly the type of scenic backdrop I was hoping for before arriving in Norwich. A few friends and I discovered a tiny place to have tea called The Britons Arms. It is small, quiet and homey with a small selection of teas, coffee and homemade baked goods. I go there every two weeks or so with a friend or by myself to enjoy some quiet time away from campus. 

And now to answer my own question: What do I do with a five day weekend? Well I've been exploring, and I would like to explore more, although it takes all of fifteen minutes to walk across all of Norwich. However November 6-10 three friends and I will be boarding a plane and heading to Dublin for 4 nights. I am trying to plan to meet up with a couple friends in Bologna, Italy the weekend of November 14, and I'm considering a trip to Berlin for late November. When you have six hours of class a week, the possibilities are endless!

I do need, however, to remember to escape campus once in awhile. It is very easy to not leave the University Village (my residence) for five days straight between the days I do actually have class. Now is the time to take advantage of being on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, and I have every intention of doing so!

-ZMG