Blogs from Northumberland, England, United Kingdom, Europe

So my birthday-trip-blog-entry took longer than expected to finish, and I apologize for that. But the explanation is very simple. Just kidding. No this didn't happen to me (no car, out-of-country driver's license). What happened to me for real was (is) the end of the semester clinic/case reports/exams/essays/working out Student Loans for next year/realizing I analyzed an assessment wrong and had to do it again, twice... etc. The fact that I'm typing coherently is actually pretty good, all things considered. Anyway. Last week I had the pleasure of turning one year older, and in honor of that I took a trip over the weekend, to a little island (or a TINY island, depending on the tides) called Lindisfarne, or Holy Island. It is just off the northeast coast, slightly south of Berwick upo... read more

Said my coursemate's boyfriend, seconds before the three of us were hit by a sudden and surprisingly intense snow shower. Luckily it lasted only a few minutes, which is one of several reasons why Saturday was the most British day that ever Britished. I went with a coursemate and her boyfriend on a walk through the countryside near a small town called Allendale, which is not far from Hexham. On this short trek, we walked through (I am not exaggerating) sun, brief snow, sun, hail, wind, hail, sun, MASSIVE HAILSTORM, sun. All of this in about three hours. At times, the sky would go from being almost clear to completely overcast in minutes. But sometimes it was very nice. We started by following the River Allen. img=http://i12.phot... read more

(QUICK EDIT. I published this before I realized I hadn't mentioned King's Cross. Possibly because it was a rather disappointing experience. Not only is there NO barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 (I knew this from when I visited in 2007, but it's still sad to see), but the whole station is under heavy construction right, so the 'Platform 9 3/4' sign they posted in the lobby area is completely obsructed.) (Also my train left from Platform 4. Oh well.) The Stroop Task is a famous test in cognitive psychology, requiring a person to look at a word and say the color of the ink. In the most difficult version of the task, the words are all colors and ordered in a very specific way. So for example: The word 'GREEN' pops up, written in red. ... read more

10 days to go until the big day, we've been counting down since March 2011, can't believe it's nearly here!... read more

To my coursemates: Thank you so much for your comments over the past week. At the risk of sounding attention-seeking, so much of why I do this blog is for the people reading it, and feedback makes it so much fun to write. I'm glad to hear that the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) US/UK differences are as interesting to you as they are to me. Which brings me to the US/UK mix-up of the week*: Sign Language Mistranslation. *Technically fortnight, but week sounds better. Many of you already know that although we speak the same language, the US and the UK have different sign languages. Most signs in American Sign Language mean absolutely nothing to a speaker of British Sign Language, and vice versa. However, there are a few signs that appear in ... read more

US/UK mix up of the week: When I asked my coursemates what paracetamol (a medicine I've seen in drugstores) is*, one girl replied "Do you know Novocaine?" After a few seconds of "...WHAT?!" I realized no, that was not right and we had a laugh about it. Apparently she got the word "Novocaine" from a Green Day song and didn't know what it was, except some kind of medicine for not feeling pain. Which, to be fair, is true. It has continued to surface as a funny in-joke between us, from when our Anatomy lecturer described the muscles targeted by the real Novocaine, to seeing Children's Paracetamol on shelves and imagining giving a dose of that to a kid for a headache or something. *It's tylenol. Anyway... Berwick upon Tweed is a small town just outside ... read more

Apparently the batteries I bought last week for my camera weren't good enough, because yesterday I took one picture before the red battery symbol started flashing. I managed to coax out two more (with the screen off) before it died altogether. Apologies in advance; I did find suitable batteries today, so (hopefully) it won't happen again. After spending Friday afternoon reading about connectionist models of literacy development and the structure of the thoracic cavity, I decided to give myself a break and take another hike in Northumberland National Park. This time I took a bus to a small town called Rothbury at the park's eastern edge and hiked across some moors, through a forested area, and to the top of a crag called Simonside. Again I used the "Best Walks in Northumberland" book as a guide. ... read more

I went on another trip today. As you might be able to guess from the title it was to England and consisted mainly of castles. Our first stop was actually an unofficial stop that was not supposed to be on the tour. We went over to Holy Island. Holy Island is a tidal island. The road over there is only uncovered when the tide is out. We got there just after the shuttle went up to the castle so I ended up walking up there. I didn't go into the castle since it cost money (and there were still 2 castles to come). I did however walk up and look out from above. I got back down to where the bus would take me back at 10:49. The bus was supposed to leave at 10:50, it ... read more

In the second century AD, the Romans had conquered the southern half of the island of Great Britain. Having decided it wasn't worth his while to attempt to go north of the Tyne river, Emperor Hadrian instead maintained a border to keep the Roman lands to the south separated from the northern tribes. But he was soon to discover that those crazy barbarians today known as "Scots" caused a lot more trouble than a simple border control could handle. So he built a wall. Hadrian's wall (aptly named "Hadrian's Wall") was constructed between 122 and 130 AD. It is 73 miles long running east-west from coast (near Newcastle) to coast (near Carlisle), is estimated to have been 13-15 feet high, was manned by Roman soldiers at every mile (at posts aptly named "milecastles"), and - like ... read more

After being imprisoned at home by the rain for a day, we awoke the next morning eager for some action. Alas, the rain didn't go away during the night so, whatever was on our agenda, would have to accommodate the rain. This was going to be our last full day in our home exchange house in Saltburn by the Sea; tomorrow, we would be cleaning up and driving back to Manchester. Since we didn't make it to Alnwick Castle the day before, due to a late start in the morning, we would have to go there today. I had been to Alnwick Castle in the 80s but, back then, the castle was not famous for being Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. Even though none of us are Harry Potter fans, we felt obligated to go ... read more