Holiday in the USA

After 3 weeks of wrangling I actually managed to get two weeks off work all in one go. A good amount of time to make my first visit to the States. We flew into Chicago for the start of our trip. During our two and a half day stay we had a look at some of the local sights including the aquarium and Sears Tower. However perhaps the most impressive were the sculpture called Cloud Gate and the view from the pier. Cloud Gate is a piece of modern art that I actually like and judging by the number of people looking at it, so do lots of others. The most difficult thing about it was getting a photo that does it justice. The pier where the aquarium and planetarium were gave brilliant views of the cityscape which were uninterrupted across the lake. So impressive in fact that we thought it worth a visit in the dark to see it all lit up. Even if our taxi driver thought we were mad, it was worth it.

From Chicago we drove in a hire car East towards Buffalo. The idea being to take four days and stop at anything interesting along the way. We soon discovered that interesting things were lacking so apart from a night in Cleveland we decided to speed up this part of the journey and got to Buffalo in 2 days. Perhaps the most eventful part of the drive was getting a flat tyre which had to be changed and then swapping our rubbish Chrysler for an almost as rubbish Hyundai. Oh well.

Once in Buffalo we made the trip to the Canadian border to see the Niagara falls. There was still snow on the ground when we were there so some of the best look out points were closed. Unfortunately there was ice in the water too so the famous Maid in the Mist was not running trips for tourists to see the falls from the bottom. Still worth seeing though. Strangely enough there seemed to be a lot of static on one of the viewing posts, mine wasn't the only hair standing on end. Of course as were were on the Buffalo part of the trip, we had Buffalo wings for lunch.

A day early we made our way to New York City on a night bus. It seems they have the Megabus in the States too. In our five days in NYC we made a point of seeing all the sights including the statue of liberty from the Staten island ferry, the Guggenheim museum of art, the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Times Square, China Town, Little Italy and of course Broadway. By the time we had finished in New York our feet well and truly ached. I did manage to get James to watch Chicago so I can now say I have seen a Broadway show! We also met up with one of James' friends from his time living out in the States. It was a fun night and ment we were able to see part of NYC that was off the tourist trail.


To See more pictures click on this link.

From New York we caught a second Megabus to Philadelphia. We struck lucky and were upgraded to an executive suit in our hotel which acted like a cherry on top of the cake. Whilst in Philly we visited the Liberty Bell, the museum of modern art and the Mutter museum. Of course at the museum of modern art we had to walk up the steps from Rocky and stand in Sylvester Stallones footsteps. The Mutter museum was put together by a doctor who thought the only way to study medicine was to see real diseases. Therefore it was full of jars of specimens, just on a much larger scale than the old library at university. I was surprised at how clean everything was in philadelphia. Considering it was a large City it didn't feel it. We also met up with one of James' old work collegues for dinner which was good too.

In summary,I think the most impressive thing I saw was the skyline of Chicago at night. The best meal was some amazing ribs in a small brewery/pub found in a back street in Philly - I only had the starter but still couldn't eat it all. The nicest thing was how friendly everyone was and how willing they are to help, e.g the guy who insisted on helping change the car tyre. The funniest thing was how people didn't understand what I was saying unless I spoke slowly. Seems they don't hear our accent that often especially outside of the cities. I only got an "I love your accent" once.

Prancing On Ice

It may be the last place people think to go to in the winter but recently James and I went walking at the beach. It was freezing cold and really windy but a good excuse to dust off my walking boots from Nepal. Still had to tog up with lots of layers though. Probably looked very silly driving down there in a roofless car with hats, scarves, gloves and thermals on. However the sky was clear and the sun was out. Thats out excuse anyway. There were an surprising number of people out walking their dogs and sailing their yachts. Having bought himself an new camera on the way back from Amsterdam it was a good chance to get in some practise. Luckily the sunset gave a very pretty background to the scenery.


The beech has not been our only walking destination recently. A few weeks ago we went for a mini trek up to Kingly Vale, a hill with some impressive landscape around. While we were up there we decided to go up over the top on the hill. This meant wandering off the normal path. However it also meant we got to see a herd of deer. Initially we only saw three. Two females and a stag with huge antlers. Once they saw us more were revealed as they ran off into the woods. There were probably about ten in total. Amazing.

Last weekend was the coldest by far yet this winter. So cold that the Mill Pond in Emsworth froze over completely. This obviously gave a chance to go ice dancing, well sliding anyway. Slightly nervous at first that we would get wet feet the confidence quickly grew when a couple of 16st ish guys jumping up and down didn't make it crack. The whole town seemed to make the most of it by playing ice hockey, curling bricks with garden brooms and dogs skidding in all directions.

Last Minute Holiday

What should you do on a long weekend? Skip the country of course. This was exactly the idea James and I had when we decided to book a last minute get away. Having surfed the interweb to find the best deal possible we made a snap decision to take a risk and go for a short break in Amsterdam in a mystery hotel. Risky you might say. However we got lucky and ended up staying in pretty nice hotel not far from the Schipol airport and a short train journey into the centre of Amsterdam.

A picture of one of the canals with an example
of some typical architecture in the background.

Once in the small city centre we made the most of being able to walk to most places though on several occasions we came close to being run over by bicycles. We went on the obligatory canal trip to get an overall view of the city sampling views of the strange tall houses they have there. We also wandered down to the Van Gough museum and had a nose around some botanical gardens.

Amsterdam is a city full of museums and loads of tourists. However it does also live up to its name. It is a very forward and liberal city and mixed in amongst the houses and shops were the brown cafe's and red lit windows it is now famed for. All very bizarre. All in all our weekend was a short trip away but definitely worth while.

My Summer

Well as it has been so long since my last blogg several things have happened. The first of which was my friend Ashmai's hen party followed by her wedding. For her hen do the theme was 'the wild west' which of course meant that we all had to dress up as cowgirls complete with hats and cowboy boots. However there was one big surprise and that was Jez, who as the token male at the party, decided to go all out and dress up as an Indian including the long black wig and giant feather head dress. We must have looked ridiculous as we caught the tube to the comedy club for the evenings entertainment. Though it was all good fun.

Ashmais wedding was on the 8th August and was held at the conservatory in the Barbican center in London. Ashmai looked lovely in her dress and Ted looked great in his suit complete with blue swede shoes. Lucy and I along with some others were her bridesmaids and it was our job to make sure the isle was sprinkled with rose petals as she walked down the isle. The conservatory made a pretty backdrop for the wedding photos and when I finally manage to get mine off my camera I will put some up for you to see.

I suppose the biggest thing that has happened in the past month is that I have started work. I have moved up to London once again and am living in the grotty doctors accommodation at Epsom hospital. I have been lucky though, my surgical firm is fairly quiet compared to the medical firms that I will be doing later in the year so it has been fairly gently getting used to having to work. It is strange though finally being able to sign the prescriptions that I write rather than getting someone else to sign them for me. As a speciality urology is not bad. Very few patients seem to have post op complications and are quite often very cheerful which is nice.

Working full time (well on average just over 50 hours a week) means that I have tried to make the most of my weekends. A couple of times I have been out on the water trying to learn to sail. Its really hard, when the wind gets up I get very nervous. There are lots of expensive boats on the water I don't really want to crash into to. Lets just say that I'm not a natural, I am determined to get there though and hopefully will be able to do a sailing course during some of my holiday next year. On one of the windier days I let James show me how it is done. I'm not sure I want photographic evidence of how poor I am at sailing just yet.

The next exciting thing is I have a short week this week as I have taken a few days off work so James and I can go to Amsterdam for a short break. Hopefully it will be good fun. It is our last minute alternative to camping in Devon and going surfing. Didn't fancy our chances with the great British weather.

Graduation

Well I have finally done it. I graduated on the 11th of July in the grounds of Charterhouse square which is the original setting for the St Bartholomew's medical school. In a ceremony held in a giant marquee a few hundred of us collected a certificate after a nervous walk across a wobbly stage in heels that were threatening to go over any second. Possibly the most impressive part of the day was the correct pronunciation of every ones name by the lecturer calling us to the stage.

To see other photos click here

The final part of my university career came today when I received my degree certificate through the post. So that's it then, I am officially a doctor who is registered by the general medical council and who is on call for her first ever day at work. Just my luck, I have been landed with a extra long shift where I will be on my own in the evening covering the surgical wards. Well at least I will find out fairly quickly if I can put all that training into practise.

Holiday in France

I have just returned from a nice relaxing holiday in the South of France. James and I were lucky enough to spend a week in a huge house based in the Dordogne region. In the very peaceful setting of a beautiful golf course, Maison des Pruniers was large enough to sleep 6 people and had its own swimming pool, though we had it all to ourselves. Our first day there was a Sunday and we discovered very quickly that nothing was open so we were forced to sit by the pool and catch up on some fiction reading ... such a hardship... a lovely change from all those medical text books.

Maison des Pruniers

During that week we made several trips, driving into the surrounding area. We spent an afternoon in St Emillion, a hill top town that is at the center of Bordeaux's wine making industry. There we climbed a tower to get a great view of the town and some of the surrounding vinyards, followed by a tour of one of the local vineyards. We had an introduction into the process of wine making, the history of St Emillion as well as a chance to taste some of the local wine.

Looking over St Emillion

We also made a trip to the prehistoric caves at Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil where we had a tour of the cave Font de Gaume. The cave was discovered in 1901 and is believed to have been first inhabited by stone age people approximately 25,000 BC. The tunnel like cave is now the only cave still open to the public that contains multicoloured paintings. The paintings included pictures of mammoths and bison. Some included carvings into the rock, others followed the natural shape of the rock to highlight features of the painting but all were more like artist impressions of the animals rather than the stick animals I was expecting. On the way back to the house from the caves we made a quick stop into Bergerac to have a short wander around the city.

Another afternoon we hired a canoe and went for a paddle along the Dordogne river. It was less hard work than we were expecting due to the fast current, thankfully we weren't going in the opposite direction. The river is wide and enclosed by all the trees on the banks so you feel enclosed from the roads running along side it.

On our final day in the South of France we made a trip to Bordeaux, where we parked the car and then caught a tram into the city center. We had a wander around the city, saw a strange fountain which sprays water onto the pavement to reflect the surrounding buildings. We also went on a climb up over 200 steps to get a view over the city from a bell tower and ate lunch in one of the cafes which spills out of the restaurant onto the street.

The fountain in Bordeaux

After packing up and leaving the house we decided to make two stops on the way back to the ferry port at Caen. First was the port of La Rochelle, a small town with lots of posh looking yachts in the harbour. There were a huge range of fish restaurants and creperies to choose from so we sampled one of each and followed them by watching the Wimbledon final in an Irish pub. Yep those pubs are everywhere!

The second stop on the way back to Caen was at the town of Vannes. In the center of Vannes there are some really old looking streets which are cobbled and have what can only be described as Tudor esk. They looked almost cartoon like as the architecture was so different from everything else we had seen around France.

It was a lovely and much needed holiday, though I have to admit although James and I made the effort to try with the French language we don't feel we have improved much. Quite often we spoke in French and got replies in English. Sometimes we managed a combination of French and English, accidentally using English words without realising. At least we tried.

Have a look at some photos from our holiday.

End of an Era

Well the time has arrived. After 20 years of full time education I have finally finished with school and am about to leave the East end of London and enter the grown up world. Things have changed a lot since I was learning how to make bubble pictures by blowing through a straw into a cup of paint and washing up liquid. Three schools, one college and two universities later and I have found myself with a degree in medicine.

Admitttedly I did use the long route to get here. It may seem that I have avoided growing up and going out to work, however I think that my first degree put me in a great position to cope with the medical course. Being that tiny bit older certainly seems to gain you that extra bit of patient trust.

The last few weeks have been a little sad though. First I had a BBQ at my student house as a leaving celebration with a few of my friends. Then my family came to London to help me move most of my possessions out of the house. I am now rattling around in my room without much in the way of furniture and only the bare minimum of essentials.

It will be a shame to have to leave however it is also exciting. I will be moving onto the next stage. I have a job at Epsom hospital so I will finally be able to put a use to all that knowledge I have spent the last 20 acquiring. So amid all the promises to friends that I will keep in touch (and I will) there are mixed feelings. It is sad, exciting and nerve racking all at once though I feel it is definitely time to move on.

It is the end of one great era but happily the start of another which I am sure will be just as challenging but hopefully just as enjoyable too.