http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , United Kingdom , England , Cambridgeshire , Cambridge en-us Wed, 09 Dec 09 15:38:54 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 09 15:38:54 +0000 So last night I had a dream. In my dream I was riding on a bus. The bus driver stopped the bus and refused to move forward until everyone on the bus got quiet I am thinking that this means I need a vacation because it is symbolic of my life in the classroom at this point. I love my kids but they are definitely a chatty bunch. Consequently I am spending a lot of time trying to think up way http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-447298.html This is my first entry. We are probably sitting on the plane now so this is in fact two days late. So had to say goodbye for the first time to my parents who i won see for the next six months or even two years lol. We arrived at the air port at about 7.30 long time to wait until 13.45 flight. On the way here what with the nerves and the repetative drowning of the taxi we came in i managed to thro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-445691.html Dear all Herewith a quick update of my stay in the United Kingdom. I arrived on the 28th of September and was immediately drawn into the two week lasting fresher's week college induction. Recent activities included a few Graduate and Formal Halls Harry Potter style dinners with loads of very special ports and wines punting on the river Cam and an intercollege pub crawl with free chocol http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-443585.html Well this entry is really a test to see if i know what im doing before i start handing out the website to everyone. Just 10 days left til we set off to Tokoyo and i cant wait ive been dreamin of this trip since i was 13 yrs old and im sure ive driven everyone mad over the years talkin about doing it well 10 years on and finally my dream is becoming a reality. George has been away this weekend wi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-441949.html So I realize I haven't written anything since last weekend. Gosh there is just so much to tell. I made it through my secondand first fullweek of school. Sadly no mass this week. Although I did get a dose of RE on Friday afternoon seriously who do they have scheduling this stuff. And in a tragic turn of events due to some kind of scheduling miscommunication the kids in year 4 did http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-441848.html I want to start off with some EXCELLENT news I am the proud owner of a new lap tray. I am learning that it is ALL about terminology. Whereas no one seemed to have any clue what a lap desk was after doing some online research as I was in a panic yesterday thinking I would have to do actual work without so much as even a clipboard I realized by referring to it as a lap tray I could get t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-438842.html It has been a busy weekend here. Yesterday we went to not one but TWO festivals around town. They seemed to be like a cross between a farmers market and and a county fair no funnel cake though. There were lots of inflatable playthings for children including a trampolinebungy thing that Hilary really wanted to try. One of them had a parade see pictures and the other had a small train. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-438227.html Even more pictures http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-437719.html Here are more pictures from our punting tour of the river http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-437715.html There is good news and less good news The good would be that I AM going to get a reading light by my bed AND I am not going to have to pay for it In my bedroom you will see I only have an overhead light...which is sort of away from my bed As some of you already know it is my MO to do a large portion of my work sitting on my bed. Granted I have dealt with this kind of set up before http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-437585.html Well I made it to Cambridge Although I am still a bit jetlagged and groggy it has been an informative time so far. First of all my flight here was amazingly noneventful so British Airways is my new favorite airline I feel like international travel is more complicated than domestic travel with more potential pitfallsyet this trip was by far my best in recent memory. Not only did BA oper http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-437169.html George Jamie Hywel and Tim attended Downing College and then shared a house whilst completing their medical degrees. Tim and Rebecca were getting married in Cambridge and conveniently Hywel and Jenny were getting married the following Saturday near Ashford in Kent. We took the train from King's Cross to Cambridge checked into the hotel and put on our gladrags. Hywel and Jenny true to form http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-429854.html PianoBarMusic.Shubert.Mozart.Scarlatti www.roominfo.it http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-426674.html Itrsquos 1994 and Irsquom living in a freshman dorm again. The only difference is that I have my own room.There are thirty colleges in Cambridge University itrsquos a complicated system and made up of beautiful old buildings and hideous ldquomodernrdquo monstrosities. Can we just obliterate 1960s architecture from history Irsquove had a hard time giving up my romanticized vision of t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-421480.html I have been in Cambridge for one day. I was unable to get to a computer but in the last couple weeks I traveled from Dublin to Cambridge and met up with my peers. I am living on the same street where Charles Darwin lived while he studied at Cambridge. I also traveled by coach up to Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland. While in Scotland I hiked up a lake encompassed mountain in the Trossachs. I am ba http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-416127.html After a leisurely breakfast We got doing some school work for a bit before Rob and Pam showed up. Rob was at University in Grenoble France with Kirsty and Evy so this was a reunion of sorts. Evy and I haven't seen Rob since he came through Toronto many years ago and we have never met Pam his wife. Kirsty brought out photo albums and the three former Grenoble students reminisced over their ti http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-414216.html Leah and Caleb both have activities this morning so we used the time that they were all away to get school work done. When they all returned we had some lunch before heading off for a walk down to the docks. We stopped by Welsley college where Stephen was a student and has also taught to drop off Caleb's bicycle. At the docks Stephen had arranged for a boat for us to go punting. Evy and Kirs http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-414214.html We got a reasonably good start to the day today and after packing up had some time to play in the garden with Rusty before it was time to head out. It felt strange to be saying goodbye to Barbara and this house not sure when we will see either again.After driving for about 45 minutes we discovered that we had left both Evy's jacket and her purse with our passports behind. We had no choice bu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-414211.html The oneday trip we took to Cambridge was lots of fun despite sudden short rain showers and a cloudy sky. We had made a list of things and places we wanted to see before departing and it included the Botanic Garden which once there we decided to skip and of course punting which is one of Cambridge's MustDoes. We went round and entered 2 of the many Cambridge Colleges there Saint John's College http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-410739.html I have been finding it very difficult to write about our travels in the last few weeks. There is so much I want to write about yet when I start to type I become overwhelmed with everything that we have experienced. It is now officially 3 months since we have left Australia and we have met so many interesting people experienced so many exotic cultures heard so many foreign languageshellipit is http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-405603.html