Today is our first official day in Liverpool. We had a guest lecturer at 10 who talked to us about the British education program, and that was fun. After that, Katie, Heather, Erin, Sarah, and I decided to walk to the chemist. While there, we visited the post office, McColl's, and some other random places before walking back to campus. Katie and I tried to show the girls our secret garden, but it was locked today. :( So instead, we decided to go take a tour of the laundrette. When we left the laundrette, we ran into Dr. Scho and Dr. [View Full Entry]

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This is London. Honestly, it was a lot of fun, but I don't think it was anything too special. Seemed like a solid cycling culture though. Stayed at the Astor Victoria hostel. Less than £20 a night, and you get a cheapy breakfast and a really comfortable place to sleep. My only complain: our room was on the absolute highest floor. With full backpacks, or after a day around the city, stairs are a real nut buster. The museums were great, because they were often free. British food is traditionally supposed to be very uninspiring, but I did try the Bangers [View Full Entry]

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The girls and I got away for the long weekend to Bristol and Bath. We spent Saturday in Bristol before heading out for the night which was interesting. Sunday we headed to Bath for a beautiful day. Unfortunately the british weather played up as usual and it rained most of the day. We took in the sights of Bath and then headed to the Thermal Spa in the evening which was great. Monday we headed back to sheffield where I hopped on a plane back to Belfast [View Full Entry]

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I've just spent the weekend with brother Doug showing him the limited sights of Belfast [View Full Entry]

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Nearly every day we are privilaged to hear from some of the most influential and accomplished library and information science professionals from here in the UK. While most of the lectures are about the model of change for Oxford's libraries in particular, some are very beneficial theories and practices that have been used successfully. It is a note of interest to mention that the recently hired director of the Bodleian library is a woman from the United States. Sarah Thomas worked in many successful US libraries all over the country including the Cornell academic library making her more than qualified for [View Full Entry]

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Back into the London life now just after a month has ticket past.. Got a great place to live in which is close to the city centre, the suburb is called Acton and on the bike it is 15 minutes to the centre of town so quite good. Yeah have the bike again and having near death experiences all the time once again. Na it is good fun cruising around the streets and having a look at the place, much better than travelling on the underground I think anyway. The people that I am living with are from all over the [View Full Entry]

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The town of Peebles can only be described in guide book terms. It is a quaintly cobbled place, not so much straddling the Tweed River as demurely placing one toe on either bank. Old ladies smile and make eye contact as they hobble past. The tourist office gives you friendly advice for free. In fact, it's the sort of place where you can tweedledee up the main street then tweedledum back down the river and end up where you started, sporting a silly grin and wondering if maybe you too could live happily in a county town. Of course there's no [View Full Entry]

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Wed May 14 Well we decided at the last minute to stay an extra half day in Edinburgh to check out a few more of the sights. Since the UK is best known for its castles, it made sense to check out one of the oldest, Edinburgh Castle, which is still an active military installation however its mostly a historical monument with museums that pay tribute to the Scottish military and lineage of the scottish royal family. Its here that the original Scottish royal crown jewels are stored under lock and key but on display to the public (unfortunately we were [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday May 14th Well I never. Instead of hopping in to London today we had a big planning day on the internet. That's planning for our fortnight touring Britain's National Parks in the campervan. Having a more recent map and the British walks books helps significantly <: We did look around the High Street of East Grinstead as well. It's the longest 15th Century High Street in the world. Gorgeous Church built in 1078, where three martyrs were recently unearthed. And lovely Tudor homes or shopfronts with original features and some low doorways by our 21st Century standards. It was Pizza [View Full Entry]

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The day has come and we are ready to go. Everyone has been so kind and helpful we are so lucky to have so many great friends. The weather was absolutely foul but it did not drench the moment when the limo turned up at the door the look on the boys faces was a picture the best kept secret and how else to leave Great Shefford in style 'A la Pretty Woman' but in a limo (shame Richard Gere could not make it!) The young children from playgroup must have wondered who these strange people were in the big car [View Full Entry]

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