We discuss two main aspects of the GRB 000301C afterglow ( ( 1 ) ; ( 2 ) ) ; its short duration and its possible connection with a Damped Ly \alpha Absorber ( DLA ) . GRB 000301C falls in the short class of bursts , though it is consistent with belonging to the proposed intermediate class or the extreme short end of the distribution of long-duration GRBs . Based on two VLT spectra we estimate the H I column density to be \log ( N ( H I ) ) = 21.2 \pm 0.5 . This is the first direct indication of a connection between GRB host galaxies and Damped Ly \alpha Absorbers .