Just another day...

It was just another day in La Rochelle...
The sun was shining and the air smelled of iodine and salt of the Atlantic ocean. It was as though summer refused to leave...but things can never stay the same for long.

Anyway, just thought I'd post something here. It's almost midnight and I've just finished working on my presentation for tomorrow afternoon.

~shahiz_sk 

October in Montana, USA

Hello everyone! Hopefully we get more people posting again soon. But for now a quick update from Montana and some more photos (see my previous post for instructions on how to put in photos).

As some of you know, I just spent a fabulous month (most of August) in Spain with Ana (photos here). Now I'm back in Montana and super super busy. I'm taking a full course-load in Philosophy for a Masters degree and I'm also teaching Buddhism at the University of Montana.

This is probably the most beautiful time of the year in Montana, as the deciduous trees turn from green to yellow, orange, and red and the leaves fall to the ground, creating a yellow-orange carpet with bits of green grass poking through. The skies too are incredibly beautiful, with purple evenings and vivid red and pink sunsets. This is the time of year when I'm most happy to be in Montana.

Soon, though, it will get very very cold and I'll wish I were in England or Spain! Then I'll try to do some travels for school and work, including Hawaii in January (again) hopefully. Then in February I'll go to Ohio (not too interesting). But finally, in March I plan on coming back to BRISTOL!!!!! for a postgraduate conference and to visit schools in Liverpool and London to hopefully do my Ph.D. there.

So all of you still at Hodgkin House or elsewhere in Bristol, I'll want to see you! I hope to spend a whole week in Bristol, so I'll have lots of time to visit and catch up.

Well that's all for me for now. I'm super busy with all of my classes and teaching. And I miss you all, and miss being so close to the world (Montana is a long ways from EVERYTHING!) so do come visit me if you can! It's far away, but it is beautiful here.

Bestest of wishes to you all! - Justin Whitaker

hello everyone!

Hi again from the US. I've heard from some of you through email and others from word of mouth, but more, hopefully, will say hello here.

PICTURES/PHOTOS/FOTOS!! to put up a picture, there is an icon for you to click on when you are writing here:
Then it opens up a new window:
and you have to find your photos on your computer or if you have them online already (on flickr perhaps, like me) you can link directly to them.

So put up your photos!! And here are some of mine:

You might recognize the beautiful woman with me, Ana from Spain! She has been the most exciting part of my life lately. She visited in the end of March and early April and we drove from Montana to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, through Oregon and back to Montana in seven days! In August I will go to Spain to see her and we will probably travel about as much, but I think Spain is too small to go that far.

I'll be here in Montana for another year (maybe two!) to finish my MA in Philosophy. This year I've been awarded full funding to teach English writing to the incoming 1st-year students. I also might get a job as the University's Buddhism instructor, since the current one is taking a two-year leave, which would make me soooooooooo happy. For now I'm working at the Center for Ethics here at the Uni and I enjoy that very much. I'm not teaching yet, but I am learning a lot about teaching and very much look forward to this autumn when I will teach. I think my travels and studies in Bristol have made a lot of this possible (including meeting Ana and all of you at Hodgkin House!), so I'm very grateful that I could do that, and glad I did. This summer I'll get some pictures of Montana and Spain and put them up next chance I get. Hopefully everyone else can put up pictures now too!

I should send out special thanks to all my Italian friends for their football team letting America tie with them, and especially to the Italian player who scored the goal for the US! And congratulations to the French for beating Spain, my other favorite team because of Ana.

From Italy

Ciao!
How r u? I'm fine, just started my lessons again after Easter holidays. It has been quite hard I have to admit...!! I would like to post my pixes as to show them to u, but I dont know how :(
However, things here are ok. Moreover, summer -which is my favourite season!!- seems to have started...wow!
A warm hug to u all

A windy hello from La Rochelle...

Hi guys! It's been such a long time...

After I left Bristol July last year, I spent a couple of days (actually a week) in London with some of my friends who are studying in London. I got back to France just a day before the terrorist attack in London...

Now I'm in La Rochelle doing some stuff on Building Energy Management. It's still a bit general for the moment but I'll be specializing in Renewable Energy next year (if all goes well...) The university was in quite of a hectic situation the past few week because of student demonstration against French Prime Minister De Villepin after the law for a new work contract was voted. (If you follow any French politics)

Anyway, we missed a lot of lectures because the university was blocked (or rather barricaded) by some students!

Things are calming down a bit here in La Rochelle but I don't think the situation will change much in Paris.

I'll be on another practical training this April so might not have much time to post.

A plus!

Helloooo!!!

Hi guys!!!!!!
I'm really glad about this HH blog!Still missing Bristol a lot after 8 months....so sad!!!Missing all of u....but this is a great way to keep in touch with each other!Justin, u've had a great idea!!I'll post some of my pixes! Lots of love, Lucia

Introductions: Justin Whitaker

Hello everyone.

Hopefully everyone will be able to sign in and give updates on life soon. Here is what I have been up to:

I returned to Montana last August, after one last journey to London with Soorjya (pictures) August 8. I began studies for a MA in Philosophy in Montana in September, but still had to finish my thesis for Bristol! Early in September I went to Tucson, Arizona to see the Dalai Lama. Only in the end of October did I finish my dissertation for Bristol.

Then in January, when it was freezing cold in Montana, I took a week-long trip to Hawai'i for vacation and to present my dissertation at a conference. During the conference I was notified via email that my degree would be awarded 'with distinction' (I don't normally believe in miracles, but this may be an exception) which made me extremely happy.

All the while, Ana (also from Hodgkin House!) and I kept in touch with emails and she decided to come to Montana to visit, which also made me extremely happy. So now, in one week (almost) Ana will be here and we will travel around the US a bit. Other than that, I am busy working on my (2nd) MA, thinking about where I can go for a 3rd :) or maybe for a Ph.D. London looks good, and so do California and Hawai'i, but we'll see.

That's about it. I keep up another blog (see the list on the right) with my musings on Buddhism, Philosophy, Politics, and my life - so feel free to drop by there. Hopefully everyone will be able very soon to post here about what they are doing too! Best wishes, and I miss you all!

Welcome!

Merhaba (Arabic) - Zaprashajem (Belorusian) - Shagatom (Bengali) - Dobre doshal (Bulgarian) - Foon ying (Cantonese) - Tashi delek (Tibetan/Bhutanese) - Khosh aamadid (Farsi) - Willkommen (German) - Koj tuaj los - (Thai) - Irashaimasu - (Japanese) - Huan yin (Mandarin) - Bun venit (Romanian) - Bienvenido (Spanish)

for more, see here

Welcome to the Hodgkin House Blog! Here you can keep in touch with H.H. residents, current and former. Feel free to mention events, post pictures, tell stories, all of that! Just remember, this is for all the H.H. residents (and the whole world) to see and read and post to.

To join as a team member, just send an email to me, Justin Whitaker, at justin@mtfreethinkers.org and I will add you on the list as soon as I can. Then you can login and create your own posts on the blog. Good luck, happy studies, hope to hear from you soon!