First day of class – running too fast, and a little history

I went running in the morning with Seamus and Elliot – Seamus is a second year and I ran at his pace for most of the way, until we got to a hill and they started sprinting.  I tried to keep up, pushed myself too far, and puked.  A little embarrassing, but they tell me I ran farther and faster than most other first-years.  I'll try running on my own next, and work up to that pace on the hill.  2.5 miles total, in under 15 min (of course, not counting walking back after puking).

Enrolment in the morning (paperwork), then a tour, then an aerial lesson (learned safety bits and then how to ascend the rope, also a suspension on the rope, and Hock Sit Stand Sit Hock on the trapeze.

They are REALLY strict about being on time here.  Five minutes early is late.  It's a good thing I'm on campus, and that for the most part we're staying in the same groups throughout the day.  Most students are here for aerial it seems.  There are a handful of jugglers here, very few among the second-years, but all can pass.  This should make things interesting :).

There's a the Bristol Juggling Convention this weekend – tempting, but probably ill-advised so soon after arrival.

In a lecture from co-founder and artistic director Bim Mason, I learned some neat history of Kingswood  (this area of Bristol) and the school.  "Kings wood" was originally the king's hunting woods (16th century), with a special hunting lodge castle.  The state eventually sold the land, and Kingswood became the dodgy 'outlaw' area outside of Bristol.  Missionaries came in to save everyone, which is why there are so many abandoned churches around here (saw a neat one later, actually, walking with an Israeli student Odelia).  On this site, the first Methodist school in England was built, in the 18th century, and then turned into a school for "naughty" children.  These kids were taught to build walls as a form of constructive activity, and they built the original layout of the grounds to expand on their school.  It was then turned into another naughty children school, but where there was much abuse (19th century).  Supposedly, the choir in the church nearby would sing louder to cover the screams from the school.  Scandal!  It was then closed, abandoned for decades, ransacked by 'gypsies' (the locals called them) in the 1970s, then the south wing caught fire (damage is still visible now, a bit) rebuilt in 1986 as Fooltime.  Fooltime was an ambitious project meant to rival other European circus schools, but ultimately failed in the 1990s due to a lack of funding.  Circomedia was created from its ashes in 1993 as part of the Kingswood Foundation, which holds much charity programs for youth, and eventually developed its accredited 2-year FdA course (Foundation Degree in the Arts) with Bath Spa University.

Psyched to see Box of Frogs tomorrow!