First day of class

This is the way to the university building from our apartment. It's a lovely 15-minute walk through the woods. Bob went to the university in the mid afternoon to meet informally with a group of students before the class begins. This way the students can practice their English conversation. They are planning to do this each week.




The main building of the Novosibirsk State University in Akademgorodok, Siberia.

Bob came from his class surrounded by students, all chatting happily. His first official class meeting was from 5:45 to 7:15. The class has about 50 students. Bob says:
The students are a very interested and interesting group. I had had an opportunity to meet with a few of them prior to the class and found that they come from many places in Siberia. They are representative of the many cultural differences in the society: White Russians, Mongolians, students from the Stans, those with Turkic backgrounds. All assembled here by the vicissitudes of history. And all interested in some connection with America.

We discussed the historic bases of the Anglo-American common law tradition. I am hoping to use the (mostly) non-forceful changes in our tradition to illustrate the importance of the rule of law. The students were very interested and took a lot of notes, being particularly interested in my descriptions of trial by ordeal and the wager of law. I will have to keep finding equally gruesome examples to keep their attention. Perhaps the death penalty.