Base Camp: Bristol

     Hi, our names are Harper and Dakota Wallen, we are attending the University of Bristol as study abroad students from the University of Idaho. At home in the states Harper studies Elementary education, and I (Dakota) am triple majoring in Anthropology, History and Secondary Education. Here at the University of Bristol we are taking a few different types of courses; The Archaeology of Myth, British Prehistory, and Classics of European Cinema.

     We come from the small town of Moscow, Idaho. Which for those of you who don't know is located in the Palouse region, so we come from a farming based community. Both of us grew up living in the country, so living in the heart of Bristol is a BIG change for us! But change is good and we are certainly enjoying our stay so far in Bristol.

     We have been in Bristol for a few weeks now -and it's great! =) Everywhere you go there are new things to do and places to see.  Here are a couple of highlights from our recent adventures:

Bristol Cathedral

• Bristol Cathedral (left) : Stunning (and gigantic) cathedral located right down the street from campus! They have a huge pipe organ we can't wait to hear!
• Pieminister: AWESOME pie shop with several locations in Bristol.  Pies are delicious and you have to get the Mothership: pie on a bed of mashed potatoes, covered in mashed peas, with crunchy shallots on top -absolutely delicious! And yes, I (Harper) ate all of those things mixed together and LOVED it!
• Bristol Museum: Museum with exhibits on mummies, art, local wildlife, and even dinosaurs.  Definitely a fun trip!

• Clifton Suspension Bridge: Amazing suspension bridge built in 1864 spanning the Avon Gorge. 

• Trip to London: We went on a quick daytrip to London with other study abroad students -went to see the Victoria & Albert Museum which houses ridiculous amounts of art including pieces by Raphael, Giovanni, Donatello and more.  We also went to the National History Museum which had an amazingly large dinosaur exhibit (with a life-size animatronic T-Rex!), along with just about every other type of exhibit you can think of. 

• Stokes Croft: The area we live in is called Stokes Croft.  Labelled the "cultural center" of the city, it is filled with little shops and lots of street art.  Very different from little our little hometown of Moscow, Idaho! It's fun to watch as the art covering a building one day might change overnight.