Hi Everyone, Time for another update.
I'm currently in the lab with a 20 minute break while my experiment runs so I thought I'd let you know what I've been up to the past few days. On Tuesday Fiona and I set off at 6pm on an epic journey back to London, We got the coach to New York, then the subway (really hot, dirty and full of weirdos) to JFK, then a 6 hour wait in the middle of the night for our flight at 7:30am. Once we made it back to Heathrow we then sat on the Picadilly line for an hour and a half until finally we got to Cockfosters and were picked up and given a lift back to RVC. We made it back at about 10pm UK time, so, that's a total journey time of 23 hours, during which I got very little sleep! On Thursday we had to give a presentation on our project and then have an oral exam to finish off our degree. In the end Fiona got a 2:1 and I got a First, the others on the course all got 2:1's or Firsts so everyone did really well!
After that we had a BBQ and got some well earned rest. Friday was also a restful day with a shopping trip to St. Albans and 10 pin bowling in the evening. On Saturday we flew back to New York (on separate planes this time) then coached it back to Ithaca, this time we made it in 20 hours, a distinct improvement! So, now I'm back at Cornell and I'll be staying here until the 10th August now so I should have a chance to settle in properly. I'll keep you all updated on any exciting times over the next few weeks. Hope you are all well!
Stephen xx
Monday, 25 June 2007
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Washington DC
Well, I don't know how many of you die-hard fans are still checking this but the subject of today's blog is the weekend's trip to Washington DC.
We went down as part of the course, leaving on Wednesday to attend seminars/talks on Thursday and Friday, but as a group we decided to then stay on for the weekend to do some sightseeing. So, we set off on Wednesday at around lunch time. DC is about 350 miles from Ithaca and we were being driven in a minibus by the two program organisers, Profs McGregor and Fraiser. Although they are both very nice people they are also both about 80 years old and their driving styles were unique and interesting. We had several close shaves on the way, including nearly hitting a car parked on the hard shoulder and almost crashing head on with a car coming out of the hotel car-park but after 7 hours on the road we finally arrived. The talks were alright but not really worth writing about, on Thursday we were at the National Institute for Health and on Friday we were at the United States Department of Agriculture. On Thursday night we ate at a place called the Mongolian BBQ, which was very cool. You made your own stir fry using the meats and vegetables provided and then took it to the BBQ, along with a sauce of your choice, and watched the chef's cook it on a big heated plate.
On Friday the holiday part of the week started, much to every one's relief! We stayed at a very old but also very cheap hotel, not very nice when compared to the Comfort Inn we had been put up in for the nights before but I've certainly stayed in worse places in my time. There was plenty to do in the city and most of it was free. Sights that I took in include the Capitol building, the White house, The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial, The museum of modern art, the air and space museum and the National Zoo. There are far too many photos for me to put up but I've included a couple below.
We also checked out a few bars and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe and before we headed back on Sunday I also managed to make it up to the cathedral and joined in with the Sunday afternoon ringing, which was nice. Then it was the long drive back, although thankfully this time with one of the Cornell students, so it was a much more relaxing trip.
Today it was back to work in the lab, to find that my experiment had not worked so all the work I have done so far was a waste of time. Tomorrow Myself and Fi are setting off for New York ready to fly home on Wednesday for our exam on Thursday, then it will be back to America on Saturday to carry on with the course over here. It's going to be a hectic few days but I'll try and get round to updating this at some point.
Hope you are all well.
Stephen xx
We went down as part of the course, leaving on Wednesday to attend seminars/talks on Thursday and Friday, but as a group we decided to then stay on for the weekend to do some sightseeing. So, we set off on Wednesday at around lunch time. DC is about 350 miles from Ithaca and we were being driven in a minibus by the two program organisers, Profs McGregor and Fraiser. Although they are both very nice people they are also both about 80 years old and their driving styles were unique and interesting. We had several close shaves on the way, including nearly hitting a car parked on the hard shoulder and almost crashing head on with a car coming out of the hotel car-park but after 7 hours on the road we finally arrived. The talks were alright but not really worth writing about, on Thursday we were at the National Institute for Health and on Friday we were at the United States Department of Agriculture. On Thursday night we ate at a place called the Mongolian BBQ, which was very cool. You made your own stir fry using the meats and vegetables provided and then took it to the BBQ, along with a sauce of your choice, and watched the chef's cook it on a big heated plate.
On Friday the holiday part of the week started, much to every one's relief! We stayed at a very old but also very cheap hotel, not very nice when compared to the Comfort Inn we had been put up in for the nights before but I've certainly stayed in worse places in my time. There was plenty to do in the city and most of it was free. Sights that I took in include the Capitol building, the White house, The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial, The museum of modern art, the air and space museum and the National Zoo. There are far too many photos for me to put up but I've included a couple below.
We also checked out a few bars and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe and before we headed back on Sunday I also managed to make it up to the cathedral and joined in with the Sunday afternoon ringing, which was nice. Then it was the long drive back, although thankfully this time with one of the Cornell students, so it was a much more relaxing trip.
Today it was back to work in the lab, to find that my experiment had not worked so all the work I have done so far was a waste of time. Tomorrow Myself and Fi are setting off for New York ready to fly home on Wednesday for our exam on Thursday, then it will be back to America on Saturday to carry on with the course over here. It's going to be a hectic few days but I'll try and get round to updating this at some point.
Hope you are all well.
Stephen xx
The Washington Monument seen across the lake from the Lincoln Memorial
The White House (not to be confused with the Capitol Building, which has a dome on the top)
Thursday, 7 June 2007
First week in Ithaca
Right, time for an update.
Firstly some general info...
Phone calls to/from my mobile are very expensive so I won't be accepting any incoming calls. Feel free to text me (as far as I know it won't cost you anything... but don't hold me to that) but again, texts back to the UK are expensive so don't expect an answer!
Please keep in touch by email (stephen_8983@hotmail.com) or if you want to talk to me you can download Skype (www.skype.com), my username is stephen.burr83 and you can just email me to sort out a time to talk :).
If anyone wants to send post my address until 10th August is
Zeta Psi Fraternity
534 Thurston Avenue
Ithaca
New York, 14850
United States
Now that that's done I can tell you all about the last week. We (myself and Fi, who is also from Bristol and was in London doing the same course as me this year) left the RVC at 5:45am on Saturday morning and got to Heathrow via the tube and train. Everything went smoothly at the airport and we left on time at 9:30. The flight was nearly 7 hours but thanks to the onboard entertainment and periods with amazing views out of the window it went pretty quickly. Immigration took forever and that, combined with the slowest, least organised bus journey I have ever been on (including a tour of all 9(!!) terminals of JFK airport) meant that it took about 3 and a half hours to get from JFK into downtown New York. We could see a few landmarks from the bus (Empire state building for example) but definitely need to go back for a proper look around. The delays at the airport meant that we missed the coach we were supposed to get and ended up getting into Ithaca at about 9:15pm local time (2:15am UK time).
So far, this week has mainly been admin/orientation stuff mixed with plenty of socialising. All the people on the course seem really nice and we've been having a great time so far. Cornell is a really pretty university, lots of green spaces and old buildings. We are staying in the zeta psi fraternity house, which is really grand and old. We have ll the mod cons, internet, massive TV, cable, DVD player, table tennis, pool table, table football, so we've been having a lot of fun! Next week we are going to Washington DC for a few days of seminars and then hopefully staying for the weekend to see the sights.
I hope you are all well, I'll keep you updated as often as I can and feel free to email me any time, I'll email back asap!
Stephen xx
One of the gorges running through the university campus
BBQ outside our house!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)