Author: David Parton

Being from the United States myself, I’ve spent every free moment I’ve had over the last two weeks planning adventures around Europe. It’s been incredibly exciting knowing I’m going to see so many of the places I’ve read about in my history books for the first time, and if I’m not careful I find myself […]

For my Year Abroad, there was an element of being thrown in at the deep end. I wondered if I would sink or swim under the pressures of living in a new country. If that was not enough, the thought of speaking a foreign language in a different country left me feeling slightly anxious. Any […]

Having passed the colourful, retro sci-fi themed façade of Atomic Burger on many a G&Ds or 02 Academy trip, Atomic Burger has long been a source of meaty temptation, beckoning me in with its promise of big burgers, bigger milkshakes and an endless, and amazing, 80s-90s soundtrack. Mired in the pre-5th week blues last week, I […]

Covering last January’s Greek elections for The Guardian, Maria Margaronis quoted a Syriza community project organiser saying: “It’s not that the people have hope, it’s that they hope to have hope.” Now, 6 months later, over 4,000,000 people, 49% of the population, don’t even have the stomach for a trip to the polling station. After […]

Like any other visitor to Marseille in 2015, upon stepping off the train at the city’s main station, Gare Saint-Charles, I was greeted by posters celebrating the 20th year of an initiative known as Euroméditerrannée. This is the 7 billion euro urban renewal project that, since 1995, has sought to transform the city centre and […]

Now, as researchers, the really controversial debates get thrown up when you find *THE FIRST* example of a certain *special* trait. Even though, really, all new sites should be as valuable as each other for studying human evolution, we do really get excited about finding the first of something. Whether it’s pushing back the first […]

I appear to have been adopted by two Italian ladies. One of them is Rosina, my landlady. She has children and I have the mental age of a child, so we get on famously. In preparation for my arrival, she has provided spare linen and stocked the cupboards generously, neither of which I succeeded in […]

 For the vast majority of us our time in Oxford is limited. For some it may be only a term  or a year, for others three or more. But most of us will eventually have to leave the University and city behind as we explore our careers and the journey that life has in store. […]

We all have that one annoying friend that’s taken over our Facebook newsfeed with tedious updates about their uneventful life. Ever wish you could publicly demonstrate your disdain? You might actually get the opportunity to very soon as Facebook is introducing a Dislike button. A few weeks ago in a Q&A session at Facebook’s headquarters […]

Perhaps it was naive of me, but I didn’t come to Germany expecting a culture shock. Schnitzel and S-Bahns aside, I’ve never felt that Germany was particularly foreign. We have much in common: a national penchant for beer and football; languages from the same roots; weather that fluctuates between miserable rain and sunshine that makes even […]

Canada’s francophone province has much more to offer than we may first expect.  Quebec and its vibrant city Montreal are well known for their bilingual nature and the divide between Francophones and Anglophones.  We are all aware of the separatist question and the strong independence movement, which gained momentum in the 1960s.  Whilst this movement […]

A year abroad is, by its very nature, riddled with potential pitfalls and sometimes unexpected difficulties. For the vast majority of students, it is the first time that they have lived in a different country, and setting up a new life amidst an unknown culture’s quirks and customs is far from easy. Finding somewhere to […]

With his quizzical look and flyaway hair, Ben Goldacre’s departmental photo makes him look every bit the mad scientist, but this scientific polymath (currently an author, broadcaster, doctor and academic) is at the forefront of one of the biggest medical movements in the last 50 years. With the enthusiasm of a Teach First chemistry teacher, he describes himself […]