Summer

Well, I finally made it. I'm on summer break. I finished last Friday afternoon, and have really been relaxing and enjoying summer since. Overall, the exams went much better than I expected. I feel like I did well, and I did my best on every exam. I don't really know what to expect in terms of grading though, so anything could happen. We don't find out our scores for a few weeks.

Even though everyone is now done with exams, the year is far from over. The term doesn't officially end until June 26th, and the majority of students stick around until then. It's quite a contrast to Santa Cruz, where I have literally been in the car driving home within hours of finishing my last exam. Here it's very relaxed, everyone is excited to stick around, and hang out with their friends without the pressure of school and exams.

So although there are no academic commitments left, it's not as if I'm sitting around doing nothing. There are tons of events and trips over the next few weeks. There are outdoor concerts, formal meals, sports team socials and the summer ball. I've also been doing less formal things, like going over to friends houses, playing casual soccer and basketball, and leaving Durham on short excursions.

On Monday I went to a nearby beach with some friends. We went to Tynemouth beach, which is about an hour away by car. The weather hasn't been great lately, but luckily it was decent on the beach day. It was mostly sunny, but a bit chilly, probably low 60s. It was a very nice beach, with tons of sand and decent waves. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the water was freezing. Not literally, but it was pretty cold. It is the North Sea afterall.







We hung out for a while on the beach, soaking up the sun, playing soccer and American football, and just doing beach-like things.



Finally a few of us gathered up the courage to go in. I just wanted to be able to say I had dunked myself under at least once. The temperature actually wasn't too bad. It wasn't much worse than the Pacific, when I went swimming in January. It was pretty painful at first, but after splashing around for like 5 minutes, I sort of got used to it. Maybe I was just numb. Either way, it was okay for a little bit, but then when it started to get really cold again, I got out.

(That's a pained expression, if I've ever seen one!)

I felt really good while drying off, and then resting in the sun. But within 10 minutes, I started to feel really cold again, and had to put on my shirt and hooded sweatshirt. I kept shivering randomly every once in a while the rest of the day. Maybe it wasn't the most healthy thing in the world, but it was certainly refreshing, and now I can say I've swam in the North Sea.

After a while longer on the beach, we went and played some Mini-Golf at a picturesque course on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.






It was a really fun day, even with the less than ideal conditions. If the weather gets better, we're planning on going back up there again. Tomorrow I'm going back to Newcastle, next week we have our last Basketball match, and the Summer Ball, among other events. I've also been able to watch every Laker game since I've been done with exams, and have stayed up for every NBA Finals game so far. I even stayed up till 5:00AM the morning before my last exam, watching game one of the NBA Finals. It wasn't an easy decision, but seems to have been the correct one- with a big win for the Lakers, and a good performance by me on the exam.

I'll be back with more summer activities and photos soon.