9 hours riding in planes, and 3 time zones away from Gettysburg, I am in Victoria, British Columbia, for week 2 of the Digital Humanities Summer Institute.
After getting to the University of Victoria campus, it took the rest of the day and a better part of the next to get acclimated; travelling is always difficult and this trip it was even more difficult to get adjusted, since I couldn’t rely on my mobile as a crutch to get around ($10 a day for international roaming, when the border is 20 miles away, no thanks). It’s amazing how we get attached to the Maps on our phones to get us to where we need to go. Trying to find open wifi hotspots is something of a challenge as well. Thankfully, Canadians and fellow DHSI-ers are friendly people, and there’s no shortage of advice and directions if you ask.
I will say that I immediately regretted not following the advice of Douglas Adams, as I didn’t bring my towel; thin and small dorm towels are enough of a reason to try to cram one more thing into your luggage, in this case, a nice soft towel from home.
Day 1 was a half day, spent in a small workshop (re)learning XPath, but much of the day was spent wandering around the campus and learning the lay of the land. Deer are everywhere, but bunnies are not quite as prevalent as I was led to believe. The campus and surrounding area are quite beautiful, with a large hill going down to town; in all, it reminds me of the DH experience that ultimately led me to here, the 2015 ILiADS institute.
Looking forward to getting started with the Models for DH at Liberal Arts Colleges course this week!
