hiking!

4.7.10
Woke up and took advantage to the internet while everyone else was still sleeping. I’m looking up some summer camps that I might be able to work at over the summer in case I don’t get any architecture related internships- working at the gym sucks.

Tech in the morning so we could go into Richmond later when the pool is open. I forgot how hard swimming is! I’m beat- total body workout. Once we got back to Kiplin I took a nap then did studio work until dinner.

4.8.10
Honestly- drawing a bit of a blank for what we did this day. I know we went to Richmond to go grocery shopping and get some movies from the library there. They STILL don’t have Pride and Prejudice again so we got the Dark Knight and the Fantastic Mr. Fox. We decided to watch Mr. Fox tonight- great. Love the part where he salutes the wolf at the end. Now everyone raises their fist to me as a greeting, its great.

4.9.10
Today we went to Leeds to meet some people from the architecture firm that did the renovation on the study center at Kiplin Hall. It actually ended up being one man, who didn’t really seem to know what we were doing there/why we were there. Oh well, it was cool to go there, the firm seems pretty interesting. Plus we learned there is a 5,000 pound fine for every bat you kill on a development project- apparently they’re endangered. After meeting with him we walked around Leeds for a bit then went off to see Harrogate.
Harrogate was a great town. It was a ton of topo (kind of reminded me of Bath), and there are some amazing parks and grand houses near the edges of the town. Once we drove around for a while we headed back to Kiplin.
After dinner we played Ass Whole (finally!) for a while and watched the masters a bit. After cards most everyone watched the Dark Knight, but I got some internet work done and cleaned the kitchen- I wasn’t tired and that’s what I do when I’m bored, I can’t help it. I blame mom. ☺

4.10.10
Another early start and off to hike! We went to a place Damien (the gamekeeper) told us about. It was apparently the highest altitude pub/inn in the UK. We found a trail- which wasn’t too hard there are farms surrounded by stone walls everywhere with little gates and holes in the walls for people to walk through and hike! The farmers just let people walk all throughout their land. Its great. We hiked up a MASSIVE hill all the way to the top (sweating- it was at least 65 today). The view was amazing. I’m officially converted, I want to go hiking all the time now!!

We climbed back down and ate lunch. The next stop was a waterfall- a bit more difficult to find. It was amazing we climbed to the top of the waterfall- walking over literally an I-Beam of a bridge and had a beer at the inn there. We stopped at another waterfall/rapids area and went home. We were beat, but it was too nice of a day to not play soccer. It was a great game; we’re getting a lot better.

Shower, dinner, relax, probably bed early. I’m beat.

To the COAST!!

4.5.10
(Happy Birthday Grandpa!)
We worked on studio in the morning until tech at 2. I don’t even know the last time I had to sit and work/think/focus for that long a period of time! School is rough sometimes! We had individual crits then played soccer after. We were all dead tired- playing soccer three days in a row is not in our athletic/conditioning abilities just yet. Dinner then we watched Troy. I forgot how good Brad Pitt looked in that movie…

I started to read Maus today- excellent. It’s a fast read because it’s a graphic novel, but the content intense and it brings a really horrible time in our history to the public. It’s a man essentially interviewing his grandfather on his experience in the Holocaust. I’ve gotten a little carried away though- I’m almost half-way done and its over 200 pages! I need to pace myself…

4.6.10
DuPuy was getting restless so he took us on a trip to Craigside and the coast today. It was an early start, but it was worth it because we had a great day. Craigside is an estate in Northumberland (near Scotland) where the owner essentially designed nature. He ordered for almost every tree and plant that is currently there to be planted in its spot and yet its purpose was to appear as if it were there naturally. Great concept- and extremely hard to pull off! Nature’s beauty is hard to replicate. It was so weird though because it literally looked like we were in upstate New York. Really gorgeous and we got to hike around a bit.

After, we went to the coast to see an old castle that is currently in ruins. It was right on the water and the walk there was phenomenal- a 1.25 mile walk along the water, walking on the beautiful green grass with sheep grazing literally yards away. So England.

Back home we ate and relaxed a bit. I read more of Maus until everyone wanted to watch a movie- I opted out. I’m tired of watching movies!! Plus I finally got the internet to work so I need to take advantage!

Happy Easter!

4.4.10
Everyone went to the York Cathedral this morning to mass except Sara and I so it was a quiet morning. Almost too quiet- I’m used to eight people running around the place. Emma and Jenny had bought 9 chocolate imps in Lincoln when we went the other day and left them out on the counter for everyone so Sara and I hid them. It was as close to an Easter egg hunt as we could get. I finished reading my book while everyone was out- good ending. I’m excited to be moving on to a new book though. Jenny is going to let me read Maus- it’s a graphic novel set in the holocaust.
Once everyone came back we went on a mini imp hunt and then geared up for soccer. It was another perfect day for soccer, and today we had a bit of an audience. Kiplin Hall officially opened to visitors on Easter so there were tons of people here- at least 20 cars. Every once in a while I would look up and see people crowded around the gate watching us play. Zach broke my shoes- he stepped on my foot and stayed put while I kept moving and ripped my laces from the whole left side of my shoe. I had to wrap my laces around my shoe so it would stay on. Dave and I went for a quick run around the lake after the game and then we all freshened up for dinner.
Sara essentially made the dinner, but since she used to be a vegetarian I helped her in gutting and stuffing the ducks and Cornish hens. Dinner was excellent though, and we finished with some cake- courtesy of Zach. Great meal.
We watched the Secret Window- way more creepy than I thought it was going to be, but the ending was pretty predictable if you thought about all the clues they gave you throughout the movie. Its all about the perfect ending…

4.3.10
We started work on site analysis this morning after everyone woke up. I am starting to get pretty excited for this project. The site has a lot more going for it then just a walled in green space- there is a stream running along the backside of it and a greenhouse etc. I have been charged with designing a Georgian Garden- a picturesque, geometrical, organized garden set in nature.
I bought blood pudding at the grocery store the other day at the deli counter- the woman told me how to cook it etc so I decided to make it before tech class today. Honestly, not bad. Not bad at all. I might even buy some more next time I go shopping.
After tech and some studio work we played soccer (!!). It was amazing outside. Perfect soccer weather- sunny and a little bit chilly. I missed soccer- yet another reason its nice to be back at Kiplin.
We watched Braveheart after dinner. I couldn’t even make it all the way through- it was SO LONG. How long can you drag that on!? Not exactly my favorite. Reading then going to bed- I’m almost finished this book!

4.2.10
Went running in the morning- there are so many geese around the lake!! I might have to start running in the area instead of around the lake from now on. I’m not trying to have a death by geese.
Already starting on studio- we went out and did site analysis for out next project, which is conveniently just a walk outside. We are designing a garden in the space next to Kiplin Hall that we are currently using as a soccer pitch. After we fixed lunch and settled in for some tech- so not used to that. We hung out and then went grocery shopping. I bought way too much- I love grocery shopping! We bought food for Easter dinner- girls get Cornish hens, boys get duck and everyone gets stuffed peppers. Yum!
Getting ready for a nice night of cards and a movie. Oh how I missed Kiplin…

Kiplin!!!

3.30.10
I woke up in the morning to run. Bad idea. I could only run for 20 minutes because I was nervous about my face and hands- it was so COLD!! I made it back to the hostel in time to eat before the French kids came down for breakfast and relaxed the rest of the morning until we set off to explore the town on our own. Jenny, Zach and I went up a church tower to get some aerial views of the city, then sketched a gate to one of the colleges and ran into Emma and Dave there. After we had enough sketching we went to lunch and we went to sketch a round church we saw the day before with DuPuy- plus it was inside so extra bonus for staying warm. Jenny and I wandered around after that to find some Easter candy for ourselves then went to the botanical garden. It was really helpful since our next project is a garden project- plants are so hard to design and create layers of color with. This next project will be interesting.

Jenny and I went for coffee then met up with everyone at an Indian restaurant I had found earlier. I am really starting a love affair with Indian food- it is so good!!

After our dinner we went back to the hostel and found a few people watching Pirates of the Caribbean- so good. After the movie I went to bed- busy, cold day- I really like Cambridge! Sad to leave tomorrow, but ecstatic to be back at Kiplin not living out of a suitcase.

4.1.10
I didn’t even know it was April Fool’s Day until about 2:00 so go me. We left Cambridge in the morning and headed for Lesceister to see a Sterling building at the University there. DuPuy loves Sterling. He was very innovative when DuPuy was in architecture school, and –honestly- he did experiment a lot with window types and glazing. He is one of te main reasons why we are able to do such amazing things with curtain walls and double skins…but why we went an hour out of our way to go walk around it is beyond me…but I did kind of like it.

We made our way to Lincoln after that and saw the castle and cathedral. The weather was crazy while we were there. During the two hours it was sunny and WARM, then freezing and windy, then raining, then hailing, then just cold and cloudy again. Honestly, the weather here is phenomenal. The cathedral here is definitely one of the largest I have ever been in- and it has the famous imp! DuPuy sent us on a mission to find it but we sort of cheated considering the handout they gave us had the answer on it- whoops! As an Easter gift he bought us all a keychain with the imp on it- very cool.

After some traffic and grocery shopping we made it back to Kiplin!! The place had been cleaned and was beautiful. I made dinner right away- steak and vegetables, yum. I had been needing some quality iron for a while now. Its just so expensive to buy a steak! We chatted and I unpacked and organized my life while most everyone watched the Departed. Sleep soon.

Cambridge

Yesterday we had to wake up super early for breakfast at the hostel- there is a group of 50 french middle schoolers who were eating at 8am so we had to sneak in before them in order to get some food.

After that we had a busy day scheduled. We went around to a lot of the different colleges here: King's, Queen's, Trinity, St. John's etc. I think I like this better than Oxford. The schools are bigger and all have beautiful courtyards and parks that go right up to the river Cam. The gardens make the river more accessible and all the bridges over it make you feel like you're in Venice. There is a sport called punting here- basically it looks like you're the person taking people on a gondola ride- DuPuy wants us to do that today but it is frigid outside so we may opt out. The streets are great here too- lots of cute shops and cafes. Plus there is a lot of chocolate shops with easter candy- I decided in lieu of my parents giving me one I'm going to make myself a basket :)

DuPuy is trying tolock up the computer so I;ve got to go. Not looking forward to the 6 degree weather today. ..