An eventful week

I suppose the beginning is the best place for one to...begin.

Unless you're either living under a rock or over the age of 40, you know by now that Radiohead released a new album and did so in a fiendishly sly, backward way...by allowing the fans to pay whatever they want for it, including nothing, including 99 pounds, and download the album off their website. We fans waited almost five years for last Wednesday, and it arrived early, gray and with speakers blaring. I decided to take Thom and company on my morning run and, between the excellent countryside and even better music, I was in no way disappointed. Well played boys, well played.

www.inrainbows.com to find out what all the kids are talking about.


On a slightly (and only slightly) more important note, I've also made the decision to flip my majors and minor to history and English, respectively (from vice versa). This whole idea dates back to my London trip, where I was blown away by the British Museum, realized that history is really what I've always been interested in and mulled it over in St. James Park for a while, deciding that I couldn't see myself working at a newspaper for the rest of my life. I'm in the process of figuring out what this will entail, and considering I'm in England on an English major scholarship, it may be a bit complicated, but I'm optimistic it'll work out in the end - the real issue looks to be gaining admission to UVM's historic preservation graduate program, which is what I'm gunning for as the next step.

Also, I've taken up climbing. Sandy (my ex-roommate and friend from UVM who is in C-bury with me) informed me of UKC's excellent Mountaineering Club which, for a small fee, takes members to national parks around the island for climbing and hiking expeditions. After a quick training session last Monday, we all jumped on a minibus Friday evening for the 6 hour drive up to the Peak District National Park smack in the middle of England.

Apparently Canterbury has some of the nicest weather in the islands, because while it was sunny and gorgeous down south all weekend, we had nonstop misty rain. I was fine with it - what a better way to add a perfectly English atmosphere to a hiking trip? - but it made rock climbing unwise. Still, an 8 mile hike through what you're about to see made Saturday one of the better days so far since my arrival.

I tried posting more pictures, but blogger.com seems to be crapping out on me here, so that'll have to do. But yeah, it was gorgeous.

Sunday was again to wet to climb up anything, but not, apparently, to climb down, and I was taught the fine art of "abseiling" (that's repelling, to you Yanks).
Yeah, that's me repelling down a 100 foot bridge over a river. Fun and surprisingly easy, I highly recommend it.

Besides all that, I wrote my second bi-weekly column for the Cynic, as well as a last minute Radiohead review, so watch www.vermontcynic.org for my name all over the place. I'm heading to Italy on Thursday, so I have to write an essay beforehand considering I won't feel like doing it in the middle of Milan and I'll post with pictures as soon as I get back. Until then, keep in touch and keep reading!