Return to Bristol: Glenside Hospital and the Christmas Markets

This took place on November 27th. 

Swansea University has a Psychology Society on campus. It isn't like Psi Chi where there are weekly meetings and a philanthropy, though. Instead, it organizes a variety of cool psychology-related events in order for fellow students to meet and interact with each other. This trip would go to Bristol to an old insane asylum. I had heard about it from the beginning of the year and had been looking forward to when it would finally occur. 

 Bristol didn't take that long to get to, but the museum in Bristol was pretty far out of the way. Probably the citizens keeping the "crazies" away from "proper civilization" as there was such a stigma against mental health. 

Nurse manequin welcomes us inside.

 The architecture on the outside and inside was astounding. The museum part was built inside of the church, as even the mentally ill needed a place to worship. And it's actually nice as it was a real church before being taken over as part of a psych ward (and later a military hospice).

The organ,

The exhibits were tightly crammed into the little space that there was. Placards and a couple audios helped explain what we were looking at and what life was back then. There were also some geological sections telling us about the archaeological history of the place. Towards the front there was a small exhibit dedicated to when this was a wartime hospice. Glenside has had quite the rich history. Like the Doctor Who exhibition blog, I feel as if showing a few pictures with captions to give you a taste of the museum is the best way to approach it.

The front of the museum. Mainly geological stuff here.

The board room, where they would discuss finances, patients, and whatever else higher-ups with a hospital discuss.

Recreation of the board room again.

Various medicines as well as mortar and pestles for grinding if needed.

One example of a straight jacket.

Another version of a straight jacket. These were actually designed to be comforting as when the arms wrapped around
your torso, it was as if you are giving yourself a hug. This is proven to be a calming position.

Kitchen supplies.

Typical weekly meal plan for the patients. Notice the females and males are fed differently.

Behind glass display cases, there were many scenes depicted, many involving mannequins.
This would be a hospital bed.

For prefrontal leucotomies. Used to treat schizophrenia, acute anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder,
anorexia nerviosa, and violence. The procedures were done over local anesthesia.

Electrotherapy, a common cure for a myriad of illnesses including depression.

What the patient's day room looked like. It's hard to take photos with the glass.

They had a a large laundry operation and even did laundry for other hospitals. Part of this
must have included sewing as there were many vintage sewing machines. My family
used to have a vintage Singer in our garage for years.

Lots of old bedpans.

How to use the bedpan.

Lots of very old equipment.

On one of the walls was a large timeline of the history of mental health. This is just a tiny chunk.

My favorite part was that cake was important enough to the history of mental health to include.

The Beaufort War Hospital was created as the need increased.

What became of the patients during this change.

Fossils from the ground beneath the asylum.

They had a wall dedicated to various patients and their illnesses. Melancholia (as seen above) was one of the most popular ones. This is known today as depression, which is a very common mental health problem even today.

She tried on the straight jacket and is having it explained.

As seen in the lower right, a shock machine to allow you to try a small bit of what
electrotherapy felt. It's a strange sensation in your hands and intensifies over time.
They still tingled a bit afterwards as well.

An arm crutch.

Now apartments, this is where the patients lived.

The actual hospital.

 After exploring the museum, we had some free time to explore Bristol and go shopping. I didn't know anyone and didn't entirely fancy something like shopping all on my own, so I decided to find a group to tag along with. There was one girl there who I had talked to before to ask her how much reading to do for the Individual to Society class as the professor gave a lot and I was unsure of how much was expected.

It turns out that she was a part of the committee, who all welcomed me into their group with open arms. The girl I had spoke to before was also with her mum, who had an interest in psychology. Keep in mind, this was really a slightly older woman (married and pregnant) who is very close with her family. Not the same as if I had my mom tagging along.

Since it was raining and cold, our first stop was to Costa to get warmed up. For this, we traversed to Cabbot Circus. I am learning that "circus" essentially means a large shopping area. So if I ever visit Picadilly Circus in London, it's shops and not a real circus as I imagined as a child.

I was able to get a nice large black forest hot chocolate. A.K.A. My Christmastime addiction.

A view of the circus.

 Next we decided to do some light shopping and lunch. The mall was located near the shopping center. Always plenty of places to buy things in big cities. 
 

Everyone dresses up their town for Christmas in the UK.

 

Malls are always decorated for the holidays. In there is Father Christmas!

Ho ho ho!

The girl and her mum had a tradition of going to a jacket potato restaurant called spudulike. This was a new concept for me. People traditionally fill their baked potatoes with cheese and beans But there were even such strange add-ins as cabbage and the ever-popular tuna and sweet corn. Sometimes I question the British tastebuds. But I had tried beans on toast before and was pleasantly surprised (though wasn't amazed by it and therefore have not eaten it again; didn't taste bad, just not something I was interested in). Potatoes are similar enough to toast in that they are a very neutral flavor and so the potato should also taste just fine with the beans. And potatoes and cheese? I've been doing that for years!!!
 

British mall food.

Yay to trying new things!

They were all very delighted that I enjoyed it and pleased to share this very British tradition with me. After we all filled our stomachs with warm potatoes, we hit the shops. There was an American candy shop (they call them "sweets" so even American there) called Lone Star Candy Bar. I thought it was a pretty funny name. The American stereotypes always amuse me. 

The food of my people.

I was very disheartened to find a variety of specialty Milky Ways (such as Just Caramel and Dark Chocolate), but not the original I had so been craving and missing ever since not getting it at Halloween. Their Milky Ways are like bad 3 Musketeers bars. They live on a throne of lies. 

There was also root beer (another home flavor I had so desperately missed), but at a rather ridiculous price. I figured I would be home soon enough and didn't bother indulging myself on overpriced soda.

There were a lot of fun stores in that mall. I was able to get some authentic British tea from Whittard's and browse at a variety of books in another store. One of the most fun ones was a toy shop with a variety of novelty gifts. This was my personal favorite:

 Next it was time to hit the Christmas markets. This is a German tradition that pretty much every town in the UK has adopted. It's like the Art and Wine Festival in America in that there are many different stands with artisan crafted items. But there is also mulled wine, crepes, German sausages, German snowballs, hot donuts, and so much more at most places.

Tania's mom bought us all hot, fresh donuts.

I love nutcrackers. This one's for you Andrea. <3

Saw more of these fake tool chocolates (as spotted in Cardiff) and have since
spotted them a couple more times.

This was a very memorable experience for me an an excellent day out. I love old things and have a strange fascination with insane asylums. That meant the museum was perfect for a psych major like me! And I got to geek out there with everyone else who also has a love for the human mind. 

And going shopping around Bristol gave me a chance to make some new friends in my psychology classes. Always a good thing to have.

Until next time! Will I ever catch up? Who knows! But I sure as hell can try! I'm almost to Christmas!!!