Day 6: Let it snow

Yesterday we relaxed in the coffee shop and the jungle and admired the snow, which continued to fall overnight. We went for a run which was so refreshing and pleasant. Moscow is super cute, all the houses and old buildings and the park looked especially nice covered in snow.

Then I read some more of Natasha Walter, who called Germaine Greer 'overly optimistic' about what sexual liberation should mean for women. She cited several studies and examples showing that growing up, girls are taught that the way to success is physical attractiveness and all their role models are highly sexualised. One example I found interesting was the eveolution of the Disney Princesses, from the original Snow White in a conservative gown through to Jasmine and Ariel with their skimpy outfits and made-up faces. Studies have also found that children's media predominantly feature males, with female characters usually appearing either highly sexualised, passive and vulnerable, or both. 'Self improvement' is now taken to mean a makeover, new clothes, losing weight and therefore becoming more confident - not a focus on values and intelligence as it once did. I think this idea of sexual attractiveness leading to success follows us through to adulthood, as women are constantly encouraged to 'take pride in their appearance'. And by this they actually mean change your appearance to better fit an idealised version of beauty, not actually take pride in your self and your body.

This morning I decided on icecream for breakfast, so we went to the Pony Espresso cafe and icecream shop. It's western themed, they have dozens of flavour options and the ice cream was fantastic. I had a suitably American trio of peanut butter and chocolate, cookie dough and pumpkin with caramel topping and a white chocolate mocha on the side. Every bit as delicious as it sounds. Again, a niche small business which relies on students for revenue, and gets it. There is a great eating out culture here because it's not that expensive and the food is great. https://www.facebook.com/Buckingoodtime

So then we did the shameless tourist thing and Bethany showed me round the campus. First we walked down Greek Row, some of the houses look so nice. I'm hoping to visit a sorority while I'm here because although I've heard a lot of negative things about them, I'm sure there must be some really nice ones. It's surely  not too different to being in a special interest group combined with accommodation and events.

Again, pretty similar to the movies:

Next up was the university which has some beautiful old buildings. For a relatively small school (14,000 students) the campus is quite spread about and there are a lot of open spaces and trees. I can imagine it being amazing here in springtime, apparantely the seasons are very pronounced.

Then we walked around the arboretum, which is a huge collection of trees in a park owned by the university. It's divided into geographical areas with their different species and also features a lake. What a nice thing to have right on campus. The pictures speak for themselves..

The squirrel was so adorable, we saw him eating a stash of buried nuts. And the way they don't run, but bounce, over the snow is awesome.

That's enough for now, tonight we are making trifle for a dessert night and I'm getting ink done so I'll update later.