Northernmost England, and Scotland Too

After a couple days in Durham, we left and headed North. After a few hours of driving we got to Alnwick, a small Norman city near the Scottish Border. We ate lunch and explored the city, but the main attraction we really wanted to see was Alnwick (pronounced 'annick') Castle. The thousand year old Norman fortress was used as the backdrop for many of the early Harry Potter films.

(Alnwick Castle from afar)

(Dad posing by a Harry Potter sign)

(Inside the grounds)

We spent the night in Edinburgh, and continued our trend of staying in Premier Inns, a UK chain of hotels, somewhat like the British version of Best Western or Motel 6. They were cheap enough for us to always get two rooms, which was an unknown luxury for our family. I had been to Edinburgh a few times before, but none of the rest of the family had ever even been to Scotland. Everyone enjoyed the Scottish capital, and we took in most of the major sights.

(The Royal Mile)

(At Edinburgh Castle)

(Adrian and I watching an important US Soccer game at an Edinburgh pub. Note Adrian's small glass of Guinness- he's a legal drinker in the UK!)

The next day we drove westbound, across Scotland. We decided to skip Glasgow, only really driving through it. Instead we went North of Glasgow, almost into the highlands. We drove around on some scenic roads, stopping at a few lochs. It was amazing beautiful, somewhat reminiscent of the finger lake district in upper state New York.

(Luss, a small village on the West bank of Loch Lomond)

(Skipping stones on a loch)

(A pub meal in a tiny village in Southern Scotland)

(Adrian, looking excited for Fish 'n Chips)

(Dad's roast lamb plate)

The following day, we toured the English answer to the lochs- the famous Lake District. As I'd been reminded ad nauseam in my geography course, the Lake District was emblematic of Englishness, and landscape was/is an important part of English culture, literature and art. It's obvious why- the rugged peaks, rolling hills and extreme 'greenness' of the landscape was almost overwhelming in its beauty.

(Rolling countryside of the Lake District)

(Almost getting run over by a tractor!)

Check back soon for more on Stonehenge, Cathedrals and London.

The Summer Trip Begins

So, my year in England technically ended on Friday June 27th. It was the last day of term, and amount of people leaving college had been growing exponentially, day by day. After dinner that evening, I said goodbye to my friends who hadn't already gone home. It wasn't easy. I'm normally not very good at goodbyes, but this was worse than ever. It wasn't simply "See you next fall!"; there was an unspoken, yet implied, permanence to it. I really hope to go back and visit next year, but you never know.

I returned to my (mostly empty) room, and did some last minute packing while waiting for my family to arrive in Durham. They had landed in London that morning (after a 12 hour, overnight flight), rented a mini-van, and had spent the entire day driving North, jetlag be damned. They arrived in Durham around 8:30pm and I met them at their hotel.

I gladly played the role of navigator as we drove from the hotel back up to college so I could officially check out of my room, and hand in the key. After a 'very scenic' drive, about 30 minutes longer than necessary and involving 250 stressful yards in reverse, we made it (I'm not used to driving in Durham, I walked everywhere!). I checked out of my dorm room that had been home for the previous 10 months, and moved into the hotel with the family.

We spent the next two nights in Durham, as I showed off the city that had been home for so long. It was really fun for me to play the role of tour guide, because I'd gotten spoiled and the city didn't seem that amazing to me anymore. But being with people who'd never seen any of Durham before made it seem refreshing and new, even to me. Things I had begun to consider 'old hat' and mundane were apparently worthy of hundreds of photographs from my parents.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll ease off a bit, and let the pictures do the work.

(Adrian and Anna helped me to carry my three giant boxes to the post office. It wasn't too expensive to send them home, but lets just say they didn't come out in the same shape we sent them. Note the before look above for comparison to a later blog)

(Adrian and I take in the view from the top of Durham Cathedral. I'd never been up there before, because of a superstition amongst students that those who go to the top won't graduate. Obviously I didn't plan on graduating from Durham, so it didn't apply to me, but I couldn't get anyone to go up with me!)


(The view from the top)



(Me, Anna and Adrian on one of Durham's many bridges)

(I'll miss seeing this view every morning as I walk to class...)

(Durham Cathedral as seen from the riverwalk)

(Eating pasties for breakfast, which you may remember me talking about here, while waiting for a tour of Durham Castle)

(Resting. We established the precedent of engaging in ridiculous amounts of walking early in Durham, and would continue this for the rest of the vacation)

(More resting. Me and Adrian noticed Mom, Anna and Dad's outfits seemed to match perfectly with the building behind them)

(So naturally we made them pose)

Clearly this is going to take a while. I've only gotten through the first few days of an 18 day trip. I'll try to put up a bit more every day, or every few days, so keep checking regularly. Until next time.

The Summer Ball

Okay, it's been a while. For those who've been checking here fruitlessly for the last month, sorry. For those of you still checking- thanks, and enjoy the following. I am going to post a quick writeup of the Summer Ball today, and then I'll be back with much more about our family trip around Britain and France over the next few days.

A fun event right near the end of the year was the summer ball. Almost the entire Van Mildert College was there- around 750 of us in Tuxedos or ball gowns, depending of course, on sex. And many were also wearing ball masks, as the theme of the night was "Venetian Masquerade". It was a bit like a normal formal college dinner at first, with a 3 course fancy meal in the dining hall.

(Before the dinner, showing off nice masks)


(Me in my homemade sunglasses/mask)


(At the dinner)

Afterward, most of the party moved outside. It was a beautiful summer evening, and as was becoming common, it didn't get fully dark till well after midnight. With exams past, we finally had nothing left to stress or worry us, and the revelry continued until early in the morning. The two major highlights were the 'gondolas' on Mildert Lake and the large ferris wheel.

(Video of the lake, the boats, the fast moving ferris wheel, and my friend Chris)

(Some friends on the ferris wheel)

(At the top of the ferris wheel)

The fun shifted inside for the latter parts of the evening, with a performance by Be*Witched (an Irish girl band, pretty famous in the UK, basically like a poor man's Spice Girls. Not exactly my cup of tea) and then dancing for all hours of the night.

(Be*Witched on stage)

(In the crowd for Be*Witched)

(Dancing into the night)

(With friends in the dancing tent. The headphones are because it was a 'silent disco')

(Finally about to go to bed around 4:45AM, couldn't make it to the 'survivors breakfast')

Overall it was a really great night. I went with a large group of my friends, and it was really fun to have one last big night with all my friends, so close to the end of the year. The night really reminded me of how many friends I've made in Durham, and especially my college, Van Mildert, since I seemed to know almost everyone I ran into during the night. While I'm looking forward to going back to Santa Cruz next year, I'll definitely miss Durham at times next year.

As I said, I'll be back with a series of posts this week, showing photos and writeups of our big family trip, and my return back home.