Supervisor Meeting, England vs USA Soccer, & Ely
The weekend started on Friday with an event that I wasn't so stoked about--the conference call between me, my supervisor here, and my professor at home. I knew that it would go fine, but I always seem to get unnecessarily and overly nervous for things like this lately. Dr. Phyllis is such a caring and attentive professor and I knew that she wasn't looking to catch me off-guard or make me feel incompetent with the phone call, but I still wanted to choose my words carefully to really convey what I'm learning here. I've been known to really muff up words sometimes (really my own feelings), but the whole thing went swimmingly. John said very nice things about me and though it's good to know that he appreciates me and thinks I'm doing a good job, I still feel like I could do better.
Friday evening I didn't do much, but the weather was nice so I decided to ride to Grantchester, which is a very small town southwest of Cambridge. The bike ride was surprisingly short--I think probably only 20 minutes. Nice scenery along the river and a very picturesque little village. Apparently Grantchester was the hang out of a group of writers called the Bloomsbury Set, which included Virginia Woolf.
And so on Saturday, the England versus USA football game commenced. I was asked by Becky, Carrie and Ian's daughter, to attend a barbeque at her friend's house and then watch the game. It was a blast! I'm not typically much of a socializer, but I'm so glad that I went. I, of course, was the only "Yank" in attendance and I really tried to have as much home country spirit as possible. And it was good fun to get heckled for it. Haha! (I brought a wine made in California.) The game itself felt pretty anti-climactic with a tie and after that happened, we promptly darted to the local pub and just hung out for a few hours.
The pub has pet pigs and these two were so cute! Notice the little soccer ball with red crosses and the portion of the English flag. They were very patriotic! A great night with nice people.
Today I went on the train to Ely, another smallish town that's northwest of Cambridge. The train ticket was only £4 and the trip by train was only 15 minutes. The cathedral is what I went to see and I was just dumbstruck by its size and beauty.
After spending a lot of time in the cathedral, I went to the small and charming Ely Museum, where I didn't learn much because my attention span is growing shorter and shorter. I walked extensively by the river and just had a quiet afternoon of it.
I got back home pretty early this afternoon and made the mistake of going to see Letters to Juliet. I think I just need to follow my instincts, because I thought that it would probably be cheesy and not that good of a story line. However, I let myself be reeled in by the romantic nature of the being-in-a-different-country aspect.
So now it's already Sunday night and I'm preparing myself for the week. This week at work will be pretty busy--my project seems to have lately exploded with details that need to be explored. A lot of it is data which isn't my favorite thing, so I'll be glad when that part's over. Time to think about what next weekend will hold for me!
Friday evening I didn't do much, but the weather was nice so I decided to ride to Grantchester, which is a very small town southwest of Cambridge. The bike ride was surprisingly short--I think probably only 20 minutes. Nice scenery along the river and a very picturesque little village. Apparently Grantchester was the hang out of a group of writers called the Bloomsbury Set, which included Virginia Woolf.
Today I went on the train to Ely, another smallish town that's northwest of Cambridge. The train ticket was only £4 and the trip by train was only 15 minutes. The cathedral is what I went to see and I was just dumbstruck by its size and beauty.
I just marveled at this structure. I wish that my pictures could convey how huge it was and how intricately detailed everything part of it is. Simply beautiful.
I got back home pretty early this afternoon and made the mistake of going to see Letters to Juliet. I think I just need to follow my instincts, because I thought that it would probably be cheesy and not that good of a story line. However, I let myself be reeled in by the romantic nature of the being-in-a-different-country aspect.
So now it's already Sunday night and I'm preparing myself for the week. This week at work will be pretty busy--my project seems to have lately exploded with details that need to be explored. A lot of it is data which isn't my favorite thing, so I'll be glad when that part's over. Time to think about what next weekend will hold for me!