From the Sundial BridgeSundial bridge, mom & dadLithia Park, Ashlandme in Lithia ParkMe & dad in Lithia Park

Family on bikes

Dining al fresco

Deschutes River

Dad & Mt. Bachelor

Panorama from a bluff in the Deschutes National Forest

Carol Ann vs. Polish golf

Jenny vs. Polish golf

McCoy vs. McCoy

Panorama in the house

Jenny with flowers

Fish Lake

Mom at Fish Lake

Me at Fish Lake

Olympic sign in Eugene

Bike bridge over the Willamette River in Eugene

Crater Lake panorama

Family at Crater Lake

Wizard Island on Crater Lake

One for the road: a representative picture of my adventures, having climbed something tall (castle mound) to see a view only to look a little silly in the wind.

In any case, the last few days have been splendid. After cricket and karaoke on Thursday evening, I headed out with some friends for a half-weekend in London. We spent some wonderful time in Gordon’s Wine Bar, a fantastic 15th-century cellar full of atmosphere converted into a crowded location for Londoners to enjoy some wine and cheese at the end of the day. Way out of our price range, but worth a look.

We spent the evening in Trafalgar Square and Soho, and then returned to our Kensington hostel for a brief sleep before we got up bright and early on Saturday to head back to the West End. We chose our sold-out play of choice and then waited in line for three hours to fight for tickets to the matinees: a friend and I saw Hamlet with Jude Law, and others went for Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart (yes, Gandalf and Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Excitement!) Following that we had some delicious Indian food and killed some time playing cards in a pub before our late bus back to Cambridge was to depart–unfortunately, the remarkably cheap “funfare” we booked was fun only in that you get to guess whether or not the bus will pick you up at all. Long story short, we ended up in Cambridge a little later and a lot tireder than intended.

On Sunday I went with a different friend to Great Yarmouth, a delightfully tacky seaside resort town. It was very much like the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, with an unironic 70′s American theme and lots more cheap neon clothing. Priceless. We had travel difficulties this day too, but it took us to an unintended lunch stop in Norfolk on the river, which was quite splendid.

All in all, a good weekend, even if I did wake up this  morning feeling like several of my internal organs were in open revolt. Today I napped liberally and managed to go to class, an afternoon cream tea, and a lecture on “A 21st Century View of National Security” by a former head of Britain’s security body (ever-so-slightly unsettling, for reasons that are hard to describe) but got home and regretted my optimism. So now I’m bundled up and I’m calling it a day.

Will post more pictures and stories soon, I promise. For now I’m determined to get over this and be able to enjoy my last three weeks thoroughly! Of course, I’m also getting very excited to be home and see David and family. Everything is good.

Cheers!

I’m feeling bad that I haven’t kept more in touch with this blog. I’m off to London today after class–we’re staying there tonight, maybe going to Kensington gardens or seeing a play in the West End tomorrow evening. Saturday night I’ll be back in Cambridge to sleep, then off again on a day trip on Sunday to Great Yarmouth to see the sea and relax. Anyway, I’m going to start writing more often to keep in touch.

Quick version: yesterday I was feeling a little bummed that I tend to have class all afternoon (3:25-6:05, generally), which means my mornings and early afternoons are free when all my friends are in class, and prime afternoon adventure hours are spent learning things! The horror! So I made a pact with myself that, whether I can find a morning adventure buddy or nay, I will do Something Novel every day. This may mean–gasp–waking up early, but I will get up, go somewhere neat, go on a jog (this may or may not be to somewhere new, or it could be my usual “dusky-rusky” run through the woods), and thus make the most of my mornings. Adventuring alone around Cambridge bright and early? That actually sounds pretty fantastic.

Yesterday’s novel things were seeing Little St. Mary’s Church, which is I suppose my neighborhood parish church, and playing cricket for the first time. The church was lovely: just a smallish, one-room stone building, but I was struck by both the preserved oldness of its appearance and the life of its community. A man was praying quietly in a pew, and the back of the church was full of flyers for donations to charities and local community help, like finding college-age companions for house-bound people here. Anyway, a nice start. And on a much different note, in cricket I scored two runs! But then quickly struck out as I became cocky and convinced that ball was headed nowhere near my wicket, only to watch it thud into the sticks I was meant to be defending. Oops. My friend Jess and I then proceeded to our local ice cream shop, where we are swiftly acquiring loyalty points. Only four more cones and a free one is headed my way!

I must  now run to class, and then my bus leaves directly after for London. Love to all and look for more updates soon! Huzzah!

In any case, here are some pictures from the day trip to London we took last Saturday, which was rainy and a pain in the incorrectly-shod feet but still ten types of awesome.

We all bussed down there in the morning and promptly hopped on a commuter ferry boat that took us across the city by river, which was a great way to see some of the sights.

Friends on the rainy boat ride through London.

The Tower Bridge from the boat.

The Globe by daylight.

My group got off at the Millennium Bridge, which spans the river from the Tate Modern to St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Walking across the Millennium Bridge to the cathedral.

Alison by St. Paul's.

Rachel and me in front of St. Paul's.

After this, Rachel and I proceeded to spend about four hours in the Tate. It was overwhelming but quite wonderful. The gallery is arranged into themes, like “Dreams and Surrealism,” in which the pieces aren’t all necessary from one genre or period, which makes things interesting. There would be Pollacks, Picassos, and Rodins interspersed with lesser-known [to me] names and concept pieces. Definitely worth seeing but we were completely exhausted by the end (I started to doze off in one darkish room; bad sign.)

For this reason we made the questionable decision of spending the better part of an hour in a Starbucks adacent to St. Paul’s. We certainly could have found a classier establishment but the caffeine, sofa, and company were quite splendid and my weary feet did not regret it.

We then walked the length of Fleet Street in the rain, and seemed to find lots of places impacted by the fire in 1666.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, rebuilt 1667. Crypt-like interior. Excellent.

Rachel in front of Samuel Johnson's house.

Me with Fleet Street and St. Paul's in the distance.

Rainy London.

After this, we met up with some friends at Ye Olde London (side note: those in the know have ranted to me about the annoying “ye” business. I know it’s not actually correct but who doesn’t like a good yee oldey? Exactly.) Predictably, I had steak and ale pie for only about the twelfth time that week. Everyone else had fish and chips. We also had a fabulous waiter who was old and surly but had a heart of gold, naturally. He mocked us gently and made fun of me for no end for not being able to make my camera flash, which explains the absurd darkness of this photo. Oops.

Somewhere in here we are eating delicious pub grub. (Me, Agnes, Ashley, Menaka, Shivani, Rachel.)

To end the day, we all went to the Globe to see “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Our feet protested painfully since we had to stand and it rained off and on during the performance, but we were right up front in the pit and the play was absolutely fabulous. Such a talented cast and completely hilarious.

Nick, Rachel, and me right by the stage!

Following this we piled into the buses and slept very well. Quite a nice day. Speaking of which, I have had a lovely day today as well (more on this later) but it is once again bedtime. Love to all!

I have pictures from the first week I was here, wayyyy back in the end of June! Shall we go rummaging through the not too distant past? Unfortunately it is late and so I will not be narrating much…I hope it all makes sense!London:

Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the Eye of London, all in one.

Me, Enid, Grandma, and Mom on the Thames.

The Houses of Parliament.

I thought this was Whitehall but that may have been too literal...

As promised, the oldest door in Britain! 1050!

The ladies in front of Wellington Arch.

All of us in St. James's Park, with Buckingham Palace beyond.

Disneyland on the horizon?

Me in front of some gate or other...

The girls on a stroll.

Pelican making way for serious police business.

Awaiting the changing of the guard.

Marching band.

A little goose-steppey?

Classic.

Not such a great job during tourist season.

Floriferous shrubberies in St. James's Park.

Mom in front of the National Gallery.

Me in front of the awkward statue.

Cafe in the crypt. Recycling of space.

Cambridge: Darwin College I think?

Cambridgeshire and Essex (Hadstock, Saffron Walden, etc with grandma’s cousin Lennie)

Flowers in front of the Pembroke library.

King's Chapel from the road.

Peacock wandering around Little Walden.

Sunset over the fields.

Lennie's back garden.

Grandma and mom above Lennie's conservatory.

Hadstock church.

The oldest working door in England. 1080.

Lennie laughing in front of her house.

In front of the fish pond in Lennie's garden.

Not much head room.

In the Bridge End gardens before the thunderstorm.

Running to the church for sanctuary from the thunder.

I so wanted to see a humped zebra cross the street here...

Oldest publicly-owned turf maze in England...are you in awe?

Audley End from the gardens.

Grandma and Me in the deer park.

Grandma and mom in the Grecian temple...

Lavender in the kitchen gardens.

Mom and grandma in front of the lavender.

End of Audley End.

Largest burial mounds!

Atop the burial mounds.

Grandma and Lennie.

Me and Lennie, last day.

So, since I last wrote I packed up and got on one of several busses (“coaches,” excuse me) to leave for Edinburgh. We took off from Cambridge at 8:30 in the morning and didn’t arrive until about 8 that night, but the trip was lovely. Partly it felt like an experiment in total hedonism: when I was hungry, I ate from the lunch I had packed. When I was sleepy, I immediately slumped over and fell asleep. I listened to news podcasts or music or chatted with my friends at will, all while some poor soul drove all day in intermittent rain. Luxury!

On the way we stopped at Fountains Abbey, a ruined Cistercian abbey in Yorkshire. It was beautiful weather for it–just misty enough to make the skeletal building Wuthering Heights-worthy rather than just sad. A few hundred yards away on one side is a 17th-century mansion partly built with the crumbling stones of the Abbey, and a half mile or so in the other direction are 18th-century “water gardens.” Lots of layers of people there over the centuries…

Tay & Jess in front of the Abbey ruins

Jess & Me in the Abbey

It was a little cold and rainy, not that we’re showing any sign of it…

Me in front of the 17th-century house.

The time in Edinburgh was pretty short and even though I didn’t actually get a chance to see the must-sees (the Castle, the National Gallery, the preserved medieval street…) I still felt like I got a great sense of the city and a little piece of Scotland. We ventured out and met the nicest locals at, of all places, a heavy metal pub replete with a noisy metal concert going on in the back room. I actually tried haggis! Also I ate a much less well-known but still authentically Scottish (apparently) dessert known as a Butter Tablet, which is exactly what it sounds like but sweeter.

We also went on an incredible hike in the Trossachs on Saturday, which was quite a muddy climb but had stunning views of a few lochs from the top. It’s known as the “highlands in miniature,” so now I feel a little more well-traveled than I am…

Some of the group overlooking the lochs.

Laura, Alison, and Me over Loch Katrine.

That night we all went to a 4th of July celebration, “Scottish style,” which turned out to be square dancing along with a Scottish fiddle band playing. Great fun, and it felt somewhat appropriate to celebrate defiant independence in a place that might be a little jealous of America’s distance from England. (Sometimes the hostility was palpable…although none as blatant as the outrage of a Northern Irish student we met upon being introduced as simply “Irish.” An unrepeatable faux pas.)

Action shot! Square dancing on July 4.

On Sunday we saw Rosslyn Chapel, which was incredible despite our sheepishness at having heard of the chapel only through The Da Vinci Code‘s (disappointingly?) inaccurate assertions about it. Oops. It still was incredible. The inside is unbelievably intricate, filled to the brim with carvings of Pagan “green men” alongside angels playing bagpipes, masonic symbols, and what some people think is corn cobs over one window (before corn existed in Europe. I didn’t see corn but there’s no accounting for taste). One famous story about the church is carved into it: the master builder killed his apprentice in a rage upon discovering that the apprentice had secretly carved the all-important front pillar, and had made it more beautiful than the master could have imagined. After the master was executed for the murder, the remaining masons carved his face in one back corner of the church, staring at the offending pillar for eternity, and across from him is the apprentice with a fatal wound in his forehead. “Very exciting,” as my medieval history lecturer always says.

(The church is waterlogged and to keep it from growing algae, they covered it in a metal “umbrella” which is unsightly but we got to climb up it and see the top of the church.)

Unsettling gutter carving at the top of the church.

Front window from the scaffolding.

Pillars showing the beautiful damp sandstone colors.

That afternoon I split up with my lunch buddies to meet up with some others who wanted to go see the Castle et al, but unfortunately I took a wrong turn (at the cafe where Harry Potter was first written!) and wound up accidentally getting a solo walking tour of the city. When I eventually found my friends, we ended up just about everywhere exactly 5 minutes after closing time, so we went into a pub for tea. This turned out much more satisfactory than doing the real tour, after all.

The lone piper, across the street from a persistent Bob Dylan cover artist.

Me overlooking Edinburgh's New Town.

Dad: The only MacMillan memento I found but, alas, did not purchase.

At sunset we climbed up Arthur’s Seat to get truly incredible views of the city from above, as well as the ocean and countryside and a fast-approaching thunderstorm. Terrifying at times but completely exhilarating and such a great end to the weekend. (On the way down I was ambushed by a BYU student on my program who wanted to know what I thought about Proposition 8. A long debate ensued. I say this because, to get the flavor of my trip, you will have to understand that a significant portion of it involves philosophical/political debates with BYU students. Who knew?)

One side of Arthur's Seat from halfway up, facing town.

Surviving the rock climbing and the elements at the top, over the sea.

Town and the castle under a storm cloud at sunset.

Me and Rachel on the way down.

On the trip back we stopped at Hadrian’s Wall, which I admit was ever so slightly disappointing. We only had about a half hour to explore it, so maybe if we had had more time to let it soak in it would have proven more impressive. As it was we were tired and very ready to get back to Cambridge, and no surprisingly-old pile of stones was going to astound us. Forgive me, more sophisticated readers.

Alison, Jess, and Tay demonstrating their awe and excitement about the wall.

Me cowering in terror in the forbidding Roman fort, with the wall behind.

Forgive me my historical sins.

So after getting back on Monday night, my days have been suddenly school-filled. Yesterday I had the wonderful pleasure of lunch and dinner with Grandma and Paul, who are lovely people as always. We ate dinner in the Eagle, which is the pub where Watson and Crick used to eat and where they rushed to celebrate after figuring out the structure of DNA. And the back room’s ceiling is covered in graffiti from the airmen who were stationed here during WWII, written with cigarette lighters and lipstick. It was neat to see it, especially since my grandfather had been stationed somewhere near here at that time. Very exciting!

Tomorrow will be another exploratory jog in the morning, a bit of shopping in the market with a friend in the afternoon before classes, and then another formal dinner event and karaoke in the evening. Can’t complain!

(Thanks for bearing with me and my plethora of Wikipedia links…I don’t want to bore you more than I already did [clocking in at 1300 words and so many parenthetical remarks!] I figured it was a good way to suggest “background reading.” Which is what I should be doing for classes. Hrm.)

Love to all and please write to me! I’m having a great time but I do miss home and you lovely people. Take care!

Do any of you know of a free site (or one that allows monthly payments, as I don’t want to pay for a whole year) that has high picture-holding capacity?

In any case, I promise sooner rather than later I will figure out a way, or a mosaic of ways, to show you where I’ve been.

This week continues to be a whirlwind, but I’m still having a great time. I’ve been meeting lots of the Americans on my program and a respectable number of actual British people! Last night a few of my friends and I held a housewarming (streetwarming?) party for everyone who lives in this area, as we can be a little cut off from each other in our separate houses. It went very well and now I’m happy to know my neighbors! Also, we did a little shopping yesterday so I was able to have some morning tea and yogurt with fresh raspberries for breakfast without having to drag myself to the cafeteria, so it’s looking more and more like home all the time…

The Formal a few nights ago turned out to be a blast. I had to run home and drop off my backpack, so I ended up arriving after everyone else had gotten seated. One of the only remaining seats was at the end of a table next to two of the professors on this program, and talking to them was a highlight of the dinner. I grilled them about politics over here and one of them, a film professor, told me about his years living in Africa and elsewhere. Also, while most of the cafeteria food here is somewhat shy of gourmet, the food was amazing.

I’ve also been doing a lot of exploring, both on my own and with friends. Yesterday I went on a lovely jog down by the river, and was amazed to meander through pastures with cattle so near to a busy town center. I’m making a list of all the places I want to make sure I see before I leave–there are still seven more weeks, but there are so many museums and colleges and nearby little towns that I don’t want to risk missing any of it.

Classes so far are rather more intense than I had been led to expect (and, if I do say so myself, more intense than my friends’ as far as I can tell. Hmph.) The History class, “Conquest and Colonisation in Britain, 400 to 1330″ kind of blew me away in the first two lectures by explaining that entire time period in just under three hours of class time. The lecturer pauses ever-so-briefly a few times to spell out a particularly difficult word, but most of us still emerge from the room with an overwhelmed look and aching note-taking hands. Apparently the pace will slow down now that she’s outlined the time period, but I have a feeling the several hours of daily reading will remain in place. The subject fascinates me though, so it’s worth it.

My other class at the moment, “The Scales of Biology,” is similarly overwhelming–doubly so, because the whirlwind of information the lecturer has covered has been complicated (to me) cell biology I haven’t even thought of since my freshman year of high school. I emailed him to explain my concern that I wouldn’t be able to keep up, especially if this was just the simplest background material, but he reassured me that it will be doable at my level. He also explained that I shouldn’t have called him “Professor,” and I’m not sure if I offended him by accidentally implying he was rather more senior than he is…oops.

Anyway, this has been kind of lengthy and I see the aforementioned pile of history reading for this afternoon looming ever larger on my desk, so I will go tackle that. Tomorrow we leave for Edinburgh all weekend, and then on Monday or Tuesday I will hopefully get to see Grandma & Paul while they stay here.

Love to all and take care!

Important word from our sponsor, my mailbox: please write to me!

Cambridge so far is lovely and amazing: it’s been gorgeous weather (a little hot and humid for my taste, but I’m not particular) and I’m having a great time. On Sunday mom and grandma left and I checked into my program(me) here. I’ve got my own quite generously-sized room on the first floor of a house just south of my colleges. For your amusement, I have pictures! My room, pre-decorations (decorations being a scarf hung on the wall etc. I’m not so classy)

My two windows look out on the street and my right-hand desk proudly houses David’s Buddha

I have cleaned since I took these pictures, I promise. But look! A sink in the closet.

A plaque across the street. We’re also just a few doors down from the Darwin Museum, which I can’t wait to see.

My house is somewhere a little more than halfway down on the left, and the Darwin Museum is the big white thing at the end of the road.

So I’m sorry I’ve been so slow at updating you all but I promise I will not forget you! Now I’ve got the morning free so I’m going to exercise and then do the large amount of reading I was already assigned for class this afternoon. Oh boy. And then tonight is the first formal hall, which will be fancy dancy.

Much love!

We arrived here at the crack of dawn yesterday and did our best to disguise our jetlag and lack of sleep while we walked around the city with Enid and grandma (for all the non-family members who may be reading, Enid is my grandma’s sister). We spent the day walking from our hotel down to the Thames amid waves of commute-hour foot traffic. We wandered around various bridges and around Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We did the tour of the Westminster Abbey, which was very curious. All the life-size carvings of various people buried there made parts of it seem like a crowded, haphazard terra cotta soldier collection. Highlights: the creepy distinction of being next to the graves of various illustrious people (Queen Elizabeth, Geoffrey Chaucer) and my predictable delight at finding the self-styled “Oldest Door in Britain.” Ooh.

In the afternoon (after an embarrassingly long nap) we strolled through Hyde Park and had dinner at the pub across the street from our hotel before hitting the sack very, very early. Today all I know is that we’re off to the changing of the guard and later tonight we’re seeing “Wicked.” More updates to follow, and perhaps even pictures! I know you’re excited.

Another piece of news: I have a UK cell phone. If you want to call or text me, my number is 077-428-689-54. That means you. (Not entirely sure if you need a country code for that. 044 maybe?)