The Time I Went to Uni at Bournemouth

Today was our first day of class at Bournemouth University. After a lovely continental English Breakfast (I love me some fried eggs), we were off to BU. Since the University is actually relatively far from our hotel (about an hour walk) we took the bus to class. As it turns out, the bus is free for Bournemouth students, so we didn't even have to pay fare! This whole week we're using an osteology lab at BU. We were divided into groups of two, each group at long tables set up parallel to each other throughout the room. Each group got to handle a real human skeleton, all from various archaeological sites. Because the skeletons are used so often for teaching, we all had to wear lab coats and gloves to protect them from degradation. Our TAs Amy and Carolyn ran the lab, and spent all morning and afternoon going over each of the bones and their features. There's a lot to know, and I'm really glad I have at least some osteological experience. Amy and Carolyn's explanations were really helpful, and I learned a lot of tricks for siding certain bones. One example is the patella (the knee cap). There is a point on the distal end of the patella called the apex. If you point the apex away from you, the lopsided patella falls toward the side it comes from; if it falls to the right, it's a right patella. After a long day of class and an early morning, I tried to convince myself to study or work out or do something productive...instead I wrote these past few blog entries and took a long walk on the beach with some friends. The beach really is beautiful; at low tide the damp sand reflects the light and looks like glass. It's a little strange to see such a pristine sight in opposition to the gaudy amusement park on the pier, the shabby beach shops and shacks, and the brightly lit and ornamented bars and restaurants along the waters edge. I can't put my finger on exactly what Bournemouth feels like... a little bit Atlantic city, a little bit Florida retirement community? We met a lovely older man at the hotel bar who told us he tells his son-in-law he should become a funeral home director in Bournemouth if he wanted a steady job, because so many people retire here. "Come to die here," as he put it. Must be British humor. As I was eating ice cream at the bar (not embarrassing at all), Dr. Fenton, Dr. Sauer, and their wives walked in after coming back from dinner. Dr. Sauer told us he just bought tickets for us to go see Sweeney Todd when we get back to London... maybe I am excited to go back after all! The big news of the day is that there is no internet connection here... No one is pleased, to say the least. I guess by the time you read this, though, the problem will have been fixed! *note: this post was written on Monday, the Internet at the hotel has not been and will not be fixed, but I'm posting from Bournemouth University on my lunch break. Desperate times. Link of the Day: Bournemouth University's forensic program: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/caah/forensicarchaeologyandanthropology/forensic_archaeology_and_anthropology.html