Bristol

Bristol
Global Heritage Hall at Roger Williams University
Site Information
College	Roger Williams University
Location	Bristol, Rhode Island
Dates	Session 1: June 25 - July 14 | Session 2: July 16 - August 4
Years of Operation	2001-present
Avg. Number of Students	250 - 300
Courses Offered
Humanities	Foundations of Psychology | International Politics | Logic: Principles of Reasoning | Macroeconomics and the Global Economy | Model United Nations and Advanced Geography
Writing	Crafting the Essay |
Math	Cryptology | Inductive and Deductive Reasoning | Paradoxes and Infinities | Probability and Game Theory | The Mathematics of Money
Computer Science	Data Structures and Algorithms | Fundamentals of Computer Science | Introduction to Robotics
Science	Examining the Evidence | Fast-Paced High School Chemistry | Introduction to Astronomy | Introduction to the Biomedical Sciences | Marine Ecology | Principles of Engineering Design | The Physics of Engineering | Zoology

Bristol is a CAA and Baby CTY site located at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Site Overview

While considered to be one of the stricter sites in the program, Bristol is still enjoyable for students. It rarely rains in Bristol, and the sun is always out, making it a pleasant 80 degrees most of the time. There are beautiful views of the ocean and it is a very green, open campus.

Bristol has all-site meetings, which have been weird ever since Baby CTY merged with this CAA site in 2014. The site director has attempted to make jokes and the Baby CTYers just annoy everyone when they perform their "skits". (Read below, 14.2 Notable Occurrences for more information on that.)

The Site Director and Administrative Staff will give a stern presentation on consent, respect, etc. on the very first day, including hilarious skits (in which she never actually says yes).

Stonewall Terrace I-IV

The four Residential Halls. Stonewall 1 & 2 are the boys' dorms and Stonewall 3 & 4 are the girls' dorms. There are no more kitchenettes on the dorm floors; you have to ask your RA to go down to the staff lounge and heat food in the microwave for you. A kitchenette was removed from a dorm building before 13.1 and replaced with useless shelves. Stonewall I is is home to the CTY offices, including the nurse. All Stonewall buildings lack paper towels in the bathroom. Don't be surprised to find mold in Stonewall Terrace. Being that close to the ocean, it is everywhere. In 08.1, two girls' halls on the first floor had to move up two floors to get away from it. RAs recommend that CTYers keep windows in the rooms closed because of the humidity. Later on, most floors in the residential halls had microwaves again, which are not to be used after 10:00 at night, but some RAs let that slide. In 19.1, one CTYer tried to microwave ramen, but unfortunately the microwave miraculously broke, causing smoke (and a potential fire) and the removal of the microwaves for all 19.2 students. RAs patrol the buildings after lights out - the rules are enforced strictly. Closing the blinds and plugging in the door with a towel allowed one room in 08.2 in Stonewall II to keep desk lamps on, however.

23.2 Edit:

Stonewall 1 & 2 are the girls' dorms, and Stonewall 3 & 4 are the boys' dorms. Each floor has a microwave, but no fridge. Stonewall still has all of the administrative offices, including the nurse. The nurses are all very kind, but if you get injured in any way and need some ice, you will be given a frozen sponge to quell the pain. The RAs tell the students not to open the windows to keep the salty air and humidity out. Two individuals on the first floor of Stonewall 4 opened their windows and went outside, only to have another person in their hall lock them outside all night. On the second floor of Stonewall 2, a CTYer microwaved popcorn incorrectly, causing the fire alarms to go off, and people who were showering to go outside in their towels. No removal of microwaves was issued after. The staff are strict about lights out and ISOs, and will give you a very judging glance if you need to use the restroom at 10:01.

Most of the Stonewalls have a vending machine, but Stonewall 1 has the best drinks and food (you can get into the building by going with the kids who need medication). Stonewall 4 has no vending machines or water fountain.

For any musically gifted CTYers, there is unfortunately no private space to practice. You must store your instrument in your room/dorm, and practice there as well. You may use an empty dorm room for storage and practice, if space allows, but it makes little difference compared to your room.

There was an issue with items being stolen in Stonewall 4 session 23.2. CTY and RW Safety has looked into the issue, but there are no updates currently. Lock your doors!

The Quad

The Quad has an actual name, but nobody refers to it as anything but The Quad, so knowing it is completely useless. The Quad is home to social time, meals on the Fourth of July when the Commons is closed, and many activities. The Quad used to have a lovely ocean view, but the addition of a new research facility (called the Global Heritage Hall) has blocked it. The Quad has a statue of Roger Williams on a giant rock, but no CTYers are allowed to go on the rock.

The Frog Pond

Many classes choose to take their breaks, or even have their classes, here. It is halfway between Stonewall Terrace and the Commons. All students pass the pond a minimum of six times a day, but students are forbidden to go near it unless brought there by a faculty or staff member. Frog watching, an activity that pops up now and then, takes place here. During 12.2, Plasma swam in the Frog Pond!

The Couples' Rock

The Couples' Rock is a common place for the CTY couples to hang out and not get punished for PDA during social time. While no one is allowed on the Rock itself, campers are allowed near or around the rock. The Rock sits in front of Stonewall III and in front of the Frog Pond. The Rock is surrounded by a few picnic tables and is the location for social time five nights per week.

As of 23.2, the Rock is not used at all, except for Passion Fruit. Speak loudly if you are presenting a speech, because it is impossible to hear.

As of 24.1, the Rock is available for all during both breaks and quad time.

Dining Hall

The cafeteria's food quality is good, although the variety is low. The salad/fruit bar has a wide variety of healthy options for those looking for it in dorm food. The fries or onion rings with the cheese sauce are quite good together. "Home-made" mac & cheese, which is adding the cheese sauce from The Grill to the macaroni from La Cucina, is good. Sometimes they have tea, which is also very good. The strategy is to take many tea bags when they have it to make tea on the days they don't have tea out.

Other Locations

• Recreation Center (AKA The Field House): Home to the gym, a small billiards room and the swimming pool. Most assemblies (e.g. talent show, opening ceremony, all-site meetings) and dances occur in the gym.
• The Commons: Home to the Dining Hall and Bookstore.
• CAS: Where the humanities, writing, and math classes are held. The only science class held here is Whales.
• The School of Engineering: Where some of the classes are held, including Engineering and Astronomy.
• Marine and Natural Science: Abbreviated as MNS, it is where most of the science classes are held, including Biotech, Zoology, Chemistry, and Anatomy.
• The Business School: Located on the opposite side of the library on The Quad, this building houses the computer science courses, but other classes occasionally take advantage of the computer labs inside of the building. The building is always open, and there are bathrooms if you ever need them during Quad time.
• The Soccer Field: It's a soccer field. The Staff v. Student soccer game is played here.
• The Basketball Court: It's a basketball court. The Staff v. Student game is not played here.
• Tennis Courts and Staff Lodging: The tennis courts are located past the basketball courts and soccer field. There's little shade and a lot of blinding sun, so bring sunscreen, a hat, and/or sunglasses. If you ask nicely to go to the bathroom, the RA will take you to the building where Staff live (it's nicer than the Stonewalls). In the common room where the bathrooms are, there is a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream vending machine (bring a few dollars and a spoon), ping pong with no rackets, pool, table hockey and various other games to play instead of tennis. It helps if the RA you are with is willing to pretend going to the bathroom takes a while. Don't stay too long though, the other RA in charge will get suspicious (and jealous about the ice cream).
• The Beaches: If you follow the path behind the Global Heritage Hall, you will stumble upon a wonderful view of the ocean. Activities such as "Walk by the Water," "Nature Walk," "Wave Watching," and "Rock Skipping," are held there. There are cool rocks, crabs, broken knives, and plenty of other cool items to find. On seashell path by the water, there is an apple tree next to the frisbee golf station. They are good apples.
• The Huge Field above the parking lot that I don't know the name of: As the name suggests, it's a huge field. This is where Water Day is held. It also hosts activities, such as kickball.
• Global Heritage Hall (GHH): The thing blocking the view from the rock, where dances are hosted, and where some classes, namely International Politics and Astronomy, are hosted.

Student Life

Dances

Dances occur on the first and second Fridays and the third Thursday. They will be held in the Global Heritage Hall. The auditorium will have a movie, or on the last dance, a slideshow with all the fun memories you've made. The outside patio is also open. Despite Staff insistence on it only being used for those who "need a moment" from the dance and to be used only for five minutes, people will openly hang out and chill there. Snacks and water are offered.

Casino Night happens on the first Saturday. The Talent Show normally is on the second Saturday. Water Day is in the afternoon on the afternoon of last Saturday or Sunday. Other activities take place on the first weekend, for example, a carnival, trivia day, Harry Potter Day, a scavenger hunt etc. In case of inclement weather, alternative activities are offered to those who signed up for outdoor ones. The alternate activities may include board games, arts and crafts, a movie or an open gym with a bunch of random sports equipment.

As of 24.1, Casino Night has been sadly discontinued.

Canon Songs (As of 24.1)

• American Pie
• Mr. Brightside

• Love Story by Taylor Swift
• Let it go from Frozen
• Iris by The Goo Dolls

(To be updated further)

Sleepovers

Sleepovers are held Friday nights after the dances and Saturday nights as well. In 11.2, most of the guy halls were permitted to have sleepovers every night as long as the RA was not able to hear them and their lights were out. This caused many problems with staying awake in their classes. In 19.1, one dorm hall tried to have a sleepover in the lobby with mattresses on the couches, but that was disbanded after the SRA said that having sleepovers in the lobby violated the fire code.

As of 23.2, sleepovers are mostly banned, except maybe on the last night, where RAs choose not to look.

Traditions

• The Game, as at most sites, is prevalent at Bristol. As of 23.2, The Game goes unknown at Bristol.
• Blammo has been independently organized every session.
• The carnival/fair, "Colombian Fathers."
• Instead of the carnival/fair, the mandatory fun event "Game Show" is put on. It's like Water Day, but indoors and with no water. Activities include a spelling bee, nocking down cups blindfolded, hanging stuffed animals, relay races, and ping pong but with tennis rackets. The top two teams select an representative to compete in a trivia competition. In 23.2, The winner of said trivia competition got to skip the lunch lines for one week.
• Movie Festival is time allocated to just...watch movies. They give out popcorn!
• Castles (It was the best when Jay Ben was in charge)
• Casino night is held on the first or second weekend of camp, which consists of betting games and fake money. While RA's discourages the act of stealing fake money, many CTYers steal hundreds of dollars from each other and the bank. If caught stealing, the perpetrator gets sent to "jail," a corner in the Global Heritage Hall. A secret white bag may appear during casino night, but beware that putting money in the white bag as storage may result in forfeiting all the money.
• In 14.2, "Mr. Brightside" was added to the Canon per request of Dom, the Engineering and Design instructor.
• Bristol tried out Color Wars in 19.1, except no one wanted to watch.
• Water Day is a common tradition, but it was not upheld in 14.2 because of rain. It was upheld in 23.1 and 23.2. It includes games such as drip drip drop (duck duck goose without duck or geese), beer pong with no beer but water instead, tug of war and more. The prize is to dump a bucket of cold water on on RA of the winning team's choice.
• Spirit week is during the last week, but students are not required to participate. In 15.2, spirit days included Twin Day and Jersey Day. In 23.2 this included Wacky Wednesday (the friendly way to advertise drag day/swap day) and Dress Like your RA Day.
• There are staff versus student games. The first weekend was a basketball game but we ran out of time to play the staff so it was just students. The second week was soccer, and it was better organized. There were rotating student teams against one staff team. In 23.2, it was the opposite, with the soccer game being first, on the second weekend, while the basketball game was on the last Thursday. They held an activity the day prior to make a student team, and that chosen/winning team would face the adults. The soccer game was poorly organized and narrated, but students won! The basketball game was well done, but despite valiant efforts, students lost.

The Fourth of July Parade

During Session 1, students attend the July 4th parade and Carnival in Bristol. (Bristol held the first July 4th Celebration in the United States.) This tradition, for no apparent reason, was not upheld in 2008 or 2010. Students in 12.1 were not taken because of a big chance that it would rain; it never did. In 13.1, there was a petition that the majority of the site signed; Tracy (or another nevermore) wrote the letter. During a hall meeting, students received the response of the Site Director: there weren't enough staff to supervise CTYers. At night, students skipped class and watched a movie on the grass. Lots of couples had the time to make out, but RAs would walk around and cock block with a flashlight on. Fireworks were being shot on the other side of the bridge. In 19.1, the July 4th parade was not upheld.

The Yachtsman

The Yachtsman is an urban legend told by the RAs to explain and enforce Bristol's strict rules. The story goes something like this...

In the summer of 2003, CTYers at Bristol were allowed to take kayaks out into the water near RWU. CTY was always careful about which students they would allow on the outings. For one thing, you had to be able to swim and your parents had to sign a release form. However, one student, whose name has been lost through retellings, managed to bypass this rule. The waters in the bay were a little rough that day, so the chaperone called the students over to finish for the day. Most of them did without a fuss, but the one boy who didn't have a release refused. He fell out of his kayak and (seeing that the boy wasn't swimming) the professor jumped in after him and managed to get the boy back in his kayak, but hit his own head in the effort. The professor passed out in the water and was announced dead at an all-site meeting later that day.

For the next few days, life at CTY went on as planned. Students went to class, meals, and activities like they always had, and talk of the professor's death faded. This didn't last long.

The same male student who had weaseled his way onto the outing went missing a few days later. The site passed it off as an expulsion for breaking such an important rule and, again, life went on at CTY Bristol. Rumors spread until the entire site was dominated by one story: The drowned professor had left a warning that he would be handling misbehaving students in his own manner, and he was the reason for the boy's disappearance.

Activities

Bristol is an athletic site, so sports are an important part of activities and general site fun. Popular sports include Foursquare (yes, it's a sport), basketball, volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee, and soccer. Most sessions, a student versus staff sporting event is held. In 13.2, there were two: a soccer game and a basketball game. In 14.2, it was an Ultimate Frisbee game. In 23.1 and 23.2 there was a staff versus student basketball game and soccer game. Students won soccer, Staff won basketball.

Weekly:

• Ultimate Frisbee - a popular activity at Bristol
• Cloud Watching - the most popular activity at Bristol since it does not involve any physical or mental activity or participation. It is like another social time in which most people play cards, talk, or play Four Square
• Four Square - a classic for students during 19.1 and 23.2
• Soccer Four Square- created by RA Joe in 11.1
• Swimming - in the Rec Center but in 11.1 and 11.2 it was changed to a daily (in 15.2 it was changed to a weekly)
• Boot camp - extreme work out
• Hunger Games - Training, rules and the Games. For more information, see below Notable Occurrences of 14.2.
• Volleyball - at the outdoor volleyball court outside the Baby CTY dorms on the north side of campus. A terrible experience for anyone who wants to play volleyball. If you don't want to play volleyball, cloud watching is allowed.
• JD's Hip Hop - activity led by computer programming instructor JD; this activity performs at the talent show on the second Saturday of the session.
• Tabata- An exercise course in which the RA doing it will make you work out.
• Gallon - A replica of "Keep The Balloon Up in the Air", but the balloon is replaced with a gallon can. This activity was created by RA Jon

Daily:

• Absolute Abs - what was supposed to be an assortment of "ab" exercises was soon labeled "LEGitimate legs" by RA Sara's girls in 16.2.
• American Sign Language - created by RA Myles, one learns the way of making sign language.
• Castles - writing poems, playing Monkey-in-the-middle, and getting rolled up a hill.
• The Best Activity ever - will either be the worst activity ever or the best activity. No one knows.
• The Worst Activity Ever - like The Best Activity Ever, this will either be the worst activity ever or the best activity. No one knows.
• Not Swinging Your Lanyard - anything but swinging your lanyard.
• Braveheart - invading other activities.
• Espionage - spying on other activities, which lets you join them.
• Pokemon GO! - sometimes referred to as Pokeman Geo and created by RA Aric in 19.1, one walks around the campus catching em' all!
• Zumba - actual Zumba dances with the RAs.
• Latin Dancing - you dance cumbias - RA Ali!
• Absolutely Nothing - One is forbidden to do anything.
• Hulu Appreciation - You appreciate episodes on Hulu.
• Gordon Ramsay Appreciation - like Hulu Appreciation, except more censored.

Activities as of 23.2:

• Jane Fonda Appreciation - Work out with Jane Fonda!
• Goofy Mediation - Do you ever feel, like a plastic bag, drifting though the wind, trying to start again? Open up your imagination!
• Berry Hunting - Where did Site Director Barry go???
• Fitness Circuit - Impress your future Casino Night spouse with muscle
• Bookstore - Go to RWU's bookstore. This activity was banned because the bookstore staff no longer wanted CTYers inside
• Cloud Watching - ooo it looks like a rabbit (really just free time)
• Wave Watching - ooo it looks like a wave (really just free time by the ocean)
• Walk by the water - physically move adjacently to salty H20
• Nature Walk - See "Walk by the Water"
• Glowsticks - Poi class
• Boot camp - Get yelled at and told to stand in a straight line
• Sabotage - Annoy and epically prank other activities
• Origami - Victims of sabotage
• Friendship Bracelets - Learn to make a bracelet :)
• Relaxation Station - Cloud watching, but inside
• Karaoke - Tear your vocal chords
• Just Dance - Prepare for the Friday dances and bust out some RAD moves
• Soccer - Soccer
• Tennis - Tennis
• Basketball - Basketball
• Volleyball - Volleyball
• Four Square - Four Square
• Swimming - Swimming
• Fruit appreciation - I have no idea what this is.
• Card Games - Social hour
• Ninja - It's a nonviolent game
• Self-Defense - They taught some Jujitsu, but you can't try your newfound moves on other CTYers.
• Spa Day - The card game
• Mind Games - Sudoku is fun
• Sounds of the 70s - Learn about socially and culturally important sounds of the 1970s. Taught by a CTY instructor
• Tag Games - One plays tag on the quad with a twist
• Movie - Watch a movie!

More activities were offered, but this list encapsulates the most popular ones, as well as the overall vibe of activities this site has.

External Links

• Site Information Packet