One chapter closed...

So today I finally officially graduated from Royal Roads University with my Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies...

It felt strange - part of me was kind of 'meh' about it, but the other part was pretty excited! The day was soaking wet - a true BC special - which made the logistics a bit of a nightmare. But the ceremony was decent and I got to walk across a stage with a mortar board on my head, purple hood on my gown, and a tassle which switched from right to left.

The B-Jus was a pretty long and arduous process with papers competing with complaining... I definiately learned a lot from the program and I hope it will help me down the line.

It's nice to have that chapter completed - now all my attention is on the LLB!!

Year 2, the start...

It's been a slower start than it should have been. The main reason I'd like to blame is the delay in receiving my text books.. once I received the materials from London I had to order the text books for all my classes from online sources, and the shipping delays cost me about 2 weeks of studying.

Another problem has been my inability to focus or get motivated. The class material looks like it will be interesting, but it's hard to psych myself back up for long days of reading and taking notes, when I've been traveling and 'loafing' about...

Well time is ticking, so I'd better find that motivation soon! At least I have my schedule made....

Year 2 books have arrived..

Let the stress and groaning begin, because today the text books for year two have arrived. And man, do I have my work cut out for me..

But rather than worry, I think I'll head off on another trip for a week.. this time its to Mexico to celebrate my brother's 30th..

We'll worry about Trusts, Tort, Land and History later................................

final days

We have done so much!

We visited the central south coast, stopping at Phaestos, Aiga Triada, Gortyns, Myrtos and Pirgos. We then went in to Iraklio, Knossos, and also Gournia, Kritsa, Lato, Vasiliki, and stopped to take photos all over the island!!

the past few days have been cooler as a big windstorm blew in and cooled it down - and showed us some big puffy clouds. So we've felt quite a bit better touristing around.

Today is our final day on crete - tomorrow we fly to Athens, spend a night, and then start the long haul home (Athens to NYC, NYC to Seattle, night there,, then coach home)...

I've had a blast, and don't want to go home to the cold!

Trip to date

The trip has been fantastic so far. The weather is beautiful, but a bit too hot - every day is between35 - 37 degrees, from like 10am to 8pm.. so its very hard to get away from!!

But if you know me, you know that a little heat isn't stopping me from doing as much as I can!!! We have been all over the Peloponnese penninsula, seeing a bunch of Mycenean Sites (Mycenae, Argos, Larissa, Ireo, Tiryns) as well as visiting Sparta and Mystras, Corrinth, Nemea etc etc etc... fantastic!!

We are now on Crete, on the south easts coast, on the Libean Sea (part of the Med). If you are curious, look up Ierpetera on a map of Crete, then head west until Makrigolos- that's us. So far we havve been even more East, to Zakros and up the north-east coast to Palecastro and around to Sitia... lots more planned. Today (monday),we had to have a 'day off', as its the day everything is closed on Crete.

I have internet, but cannot upload anything, so no photos until I get home. sorry!

U of Ork on Summer Vacation...

So just at the time of year that everyone else is headed back to school, the University of Orkney's law student is on her summer holiday!!

Yup, the month of September is my first time in over 2 years with no school commitments whatsoever... so Mum decided something must be done.

We are on our way to Greece! We fly from Seattle to Athens (via NYC).. will have 3.5 days on the mainland, exploring the Peloponnese Penninsula (ie visiting Mycenea, Corinth, Tyrins, Pelops, Sparta etc).. before flying to Crete.

We will have a week on Crete to explore every possible Minoan site or palace or port or whatever... I'm so excited, as I can really focus on it, and at the same time enjoy the heat and sunsine! the whole trip is 2 weeks, and hopefully will do wonders.

The University will be back in operation beginning in October. Second year involves Land Law, Tort, Trusts and the History of Law... woot!

If I find internet Ill try update this, but otherwise you'll see something when I'm back!

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EEEEEIIIIIEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I passed them all! I can move into second year!

WOOHOOO!!!!!!!

Common Law and Contract were "Lower Second Class Honours"
Public Law and Criminal law were "Upper Second Class Honours"

The school tells you to expect Third class or Lower Second, so I did really well!!

WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(can you tell I'm happy?)

In case anyone is checking...

No results yet.

Yes, the wait is killing me.

No, no idea when they will come.

Yes, I'm checking the mail daily.

ugh.

They're Over!!!!!!!!

I survived.

August will tell me if I succeeded.

They were 'fair' in so much as they questions. We'll see how the 'marking' goes.. and if I measure up to the 'reasonable student' (har har har).

Oye.

As much as I'd like downtime, I have a summer full of Royal Roads - a Practicum and 2 more heavy philosophy classes.... but no Law until late September.

HORRRRAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 days till first one, 2 weeks until over.

Status: Exhausted.

first one is on Wednesday, then 2 next week, 1 the following.

I don't have enough energy to be terrified anymore.

Update - 2 weeks until first exam

2 weeks until the first exam.

I have dropped off the face of the planet. I study between 10 - 12 hours a day. I don't really exist and still fear I don't have enough time to cram it all in.

I will continue to not exist until the afternoon of June 2.

Please think good thoughts for me on May 21, 27, 29 and June 2.

sshhh!!! I'm home...

Well I'm home and somewhat unpacked.

Was a long day yesterday - had to drop off the rental car at 10am at Heathrow. My flight to Seattle was at 1pm, landing at 2:30 pm Seattle time. I didn't have any seat-mates so it was actually a nice flight. Pretty brutal though as I was totally awake the entire time. Fortunately the movie system worked so I watched 4 movies on the flight and read my book for the rest.

At Seattle I tried to get on an earlier flight home but had no luck at it, so had a 4.5 hour layover (yes, I could have driven home faster than flying).

Eventually at 9pm I got home to see Owen's smiling face at the arrivals lounge. Man was I happy to be home!!!

Now I shall shrink into obscurity and hopefully come out of exams happily. Until next time... Toodles!!!

castles and motor ways

Today was a long day! I was up and leaving Charlene's place at 9:30am after all the mad packing etc. My first stop was Pontefract Castle - one of the most important castles in English history. Like most castles in the UK, it was torn down after the civil war so its pretty much just ruins but it was really nice to be there. Its a 'Gaunt-place' for me, and where Richard II died/was murdered.

Then I headed toward Lincoln, one of my favorite places. I stopped at Kettlethorpe, the home of Katherine for many many years (after the gps unit took me on an insane farm road) and then drove into town. The Cathedral is huge!! I've been to Lincoln before, but wow, it just blew me away!! The cathedral is also the home to the tomb of Katherine, so I went and said 'hi' to her, as well as visiting their really unique library - half of it is medieval, the other have more modern - Wren built it.

Anyway, then I drove totally out of my way to Bolingbroke, birthplace of King Henry VI (Gaunt's son)... its so out of the way, no one goes there at all and the locals use it as a dog park. It was lovely and peaceful and still impressive, even though it suffered the same fate as all the other English castles.

Then I had a 3.5 hour drive south to my aunt & uncles place in Maidenhead, close to Heathrow. I'll be spending the night here and hopping on the plane home tomorrow morning.

Hope you've enjoyed this blog!!! Stay tuned for my next adventures (and check Flickr in a few days for the last photos!!!)

About ready to come home.

Got up and ready as usual today, making plans to see a number of places. Ate my Bradford special which is toast and juice for breakfast. Then hopped in the car, looked at the map, plunked in some directions into the GPS and was off.

My first stop was Shipley. I was surprised to discover that it is simply another section of Bradford. The area I went was pedestrian only, but didn’t have any specific characteristics to make it stand out – I’m sure had I been driving through I wouldn’t have considered it being outside Bradford. I didn’t stick around.

Another 5 minutes down the road was Saltaire, a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s a really cute little town, preserved in it’s Victorian state. The basic storey = rich textiles guy Salt wanted to build his own town to run his new factory, so he did. Everything is logical and layed out properly, with straight roads, logical houses and the proper amenities of a large church, very Victorian main hall, a school, and of course the huge textiles mill. The old photographs and drawings really do make it look lovely, particularly as he had a park designed across the river to ensure these Victorians had green time.

The problem is, they aren’t really set up for tourists. I wandered around quite a bit looking for the entrance to the mill, and then for the tourist info center, and was shocked to learn that the info center didn’t exist anymore!! I eventually found the entrance to the mill and was greeted with a large shopping center – the current owners scrapped all the old stuff and used the very valuable space for restaurants, galleries and shops. If I wasn’t so irritated at not finding anything historical I’m sure I would have thought it was cool!! They did have a small room devoted to the history, so I watched their little video. After a mini walk-about I decided it was time to move on.

I then drove to Knaresborough, a hill-top town with pre 1066 origins. Its big draw is two fold. The first (and reason I was there) is the ruins of the castle. It was constructed around 1100, expanded by King John (of Robin Hood fame) and then again by Edward I & II. The reason I was excited about it is John of Gaunt’s mother (Phillipa, Queen of England) really loved it there, so spent many summers up there with her family…. Which means there’s a good chance Katherine was there at some point (I’m obsessed, I know). The castle was destroyed after the Civil War, so not much remains, but it was fun seeing the views and pretending it was the 14th century!

The other draw is the cave of Mother Shipton and the Petrifying Well. Mother Shipton is an old prophetess of quite some fame from Henry VIII’s time – some of her predictions were quite interesting for an old homeless woman (“Iron will float on water like wood”, “Men will ride through the sky”)… What was really cool though was the Petrifying Well. The geology they explained = similar process to stalactites & mites, except running water, forming a ‘shield’ where it ‘waterfalls’ and will petrify any porous object in a matter of months. They had loads hanging mostly teddy bears. Apparently its takes 3 months for a teddy to turn to rock!

I then decided to be brave and do an alternate route home – I routed through Leeds. Well it was rush hour so a very bad idea. I did get to see a chunk of the city, going at 5mph. But I’m glad I went in and I’m proud of my driving!!!

Now I’m packing up my stuff in preparation of a big drive down to the outskirts of London tomorrow and then the big flight home on Wednesday. I have to say I’m starting to feel ready to go home. I don’t want to start the big study but I am feeling the need to breathe some home air.

A day in the North

Woke up to find that my cousin had laid a breakfast for me - so cute!! so ate that and stared at the horrible rain, thinking how ironic it is that I'm in scenic area and the clouds had decended.

Anyway, I hopped into my car and programed my route into the GPS unit and off I went!! First stop way Haworth, the home of the Bronte sisters. I went to their house, saw each of their rooms complete with the original furniture. Right down to clothes and shoes and bonnets, and creepy things like locks of hair.. but still very fun. The town was really sweet - up on a hill and difficult to drive through.

I then got as lost as I could get with a GPS unit - I started driving without it for fun. Drove through the moors for a while to see the sites and got 'yelled' at my a bunch of sheep. creepy!!! Then turned the unit back on and made my way to Skipton. It has a really awesome Medieval castle that is still totally in tact. Lots of fun, and the rain abaited for a while so saw some of the beauty of the town.

Then drove to Bolton Abby. Turns out its a full on park area, so you pay to park and then hike all over the place. Plus its the first river I've seen in the UK that isn't completely walled and set - it was totally wild and beautiful. The abby was really interesting - its mostly in ruins but they've kept part of it in tact for holding services - first time I've come across that.

Then drove on to Ilkley, but as it's sunday, everything was closed. So I did a bit of a walk around but then just drove back to Bradford.

I got home to find the gang heading out to their Church service, so I tagged along to see where Charlene spends much of her life (she works there and takes classes there too). It was a huge room with a 10 piece 'rock' band - about half the service was 'rock' songs (all faith based) and then a service. After we sat around having lemonaid etc...

Now the gang is sitting in the living room waiting to watch a movie, so I'd better go.. more traveling around the countryside tomorrow!

Driving to Bradford!

Driving on the other side is fun!! It was really strange at first but ended up being quite exciting. The only scary part so far was turning right - I cant just slip around the corner! That being said, having a GPS system telling me to 'take the second exit at the roundabout' REALLY helped. Like, fantastic, I never want to drive without one!!

The drive from Cambridge to Bradford took 3 hours through middle-England. Passed by Lincoln and Doncaster - was fun to wave at Lincoln. Bradford is near Leeds and York, and is a very much 'working' town. It used to be a big industrial town, mostly textiles, and it feels like its in the middle of converting from the late 1800-s into the 2000's. Some pretty buildings but also some areas 'in construction'.

After arriving at my cousins and meeting her house mates we went on a drive around Bradford, taking in Lister Park and it's museum as well as driving around the city to find the Cathedral. It turned out to be closed, but we only found that out after walking in, so got to hear their choir belting out some songs.

We went for dinner at Toby's Carvery, a buffet restaurant that piles on the food. I got made fun of by a number of people for saying York-shire (as in Sh-eye-er) instead of Yorkshire ('sure'), which was actually kind of irritating. Anyway...

not sure what the plan is for tonight, probably vegitating and watching a movie. I dont have regular internet access so unfortunately wont be uploading photos anymore - at least not until I get home... sorry!! I'll try keep the blog happening as often as possible.

Now I'm going to go plan out my next 2 days!

Random storm in Cambridge!

Woke up kinda blue today, don't know why. Sun was shining, birds were chirping - all in all it was great! Had breakfast, lazed about for a bit then started the day.

I decided to walk a new way into town, down through the Fens. This is kind of a marshy/boggy/tree area - and it was surprisingly lovely in the early morning light. I took quite a few photos!!

I then went to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Its Cambridge's public museum (many of the colleges/departments/etc have their own private ones). This museum was like a mini British Museum and National Gallery combined. Lots of interesting stuff, most unique being the pottery room. Mom, I saw some early early Toby Jugs!! No photos allowed tho (doh).

Then I walked up to St. Mary's Church and climbed up the tower. As per usual with me, if I can climb it, I will! Its the highest tower in Cambridge so I got some pretty nice views. The funny thing was, when I arrived at the church the sky was blue, when I got to the top of the tower it was starting to get cloudy, and when I got back down again I could tell rain was coming. The wind had really picked up and it was chilly. The timing was perfect though as I had to get back to Selwyn and prep for class. I made it back to my college just before the hail/thunder/lightening hit!

Class was interesting - and a bit sad, as it was the last one, and now I'm back to being my own teacher. I'm serious when I say I won't exist when I get home - I have SO much work to do... sorry in advance!

After class I had the horrible job of packing up my room... and it sure seems like my suitcase shrinks when I'm over here, and I honestly haven't done any shopping! I guess I'm just out of practice with my packing ha ha ha. It seems to be smushed in for now - but no opening it!

After dinner I decided to do another walk just to say bye to the town. And as luck would have it, a gate into town that normally had a person guarding it (to stop people like me using it) was un-guarded! do de do de do.. in I walked! got some great sun-set views of the town... of course it was too good to be true and the groundskeepers found me and kicked me out, but I still got the photos and was cold enough to be happy to come back to Selwyn!!

Tomorrow I hire a car and drive up to Bradford, near Leeds, in central England. I'll be visiting my cousin Charlene and seeing 'Bronte country' (the authors). It's also John of Gaunt territory (Katherine's husband), so I'll do some pilgrimages if I have time!

I don't now what my internet access will be like up there so my blogs may not be as frequent anymore! Toodles for now!!!!

Tackling Cambridge town.

With all the Colleges I visited today, I should be awarded more diplomas and degrees!!

I didn't understand the UK's College system until I got here, so I'm going to assume no one else does either: The University of Cambridge is the educational body which provides the education, awards degrees etc. It's made up of all the faculties and departments and so on. BUT, every student who attends the university (roughly 17,000 now) belong to one of the over 30 different Colleges. These aren't colleges like at home, these are essentially 'houses' or 'companies' or 'families'. The college is where you eat, sleep, study - its your home and you owe allegiance to it (in some cases for life). So the city of Cambridge is has 3 distinct units, all intermixed: laymen's shops, university buildings, and colleges. I am currently residing at Selwyn College, and it was established, built, etc in the Victorian era (mid 1800's). The majority of the famous Cambridge houses (Trinity, Kings, St. Johns etc) were founded in the later Middle Ages - roughly 1400 - 1600. The town has a large history of monasteries so many of the former monasteries have become colleges. Anyway...

The annoying thing about the UK is that everything only opens at 10am. So if you're a keener like me, you are up and fed by 8:30 and killing time... and then tapping your foot outside the tourist info centre when they open the door!

I booked a walking tour for 11:30 am, so had 1.5 hours to explore before it began. I decided to go to a number of Colleges that aren't on the tour. I visited Christ's College and Emmanuel College in as much detail as their renovations would allow (which means I saw their courtyards). I then did a long walk down past Parker's Piece (the namesake of which is also the namesake of the therm 'Nosey-Parker') and then past a bunch of the university buildings like biology, chemestry and exprimental psychology. Walked past Downing College, Pembook College and Corpus Christi College, but all were closed.

The walking tour was hosted by a French-man but in English. The joke is, I had already walked to all the areas he took us too!! It was still worth it though as I learned a lot about the town that I wouldn't have know without researching it more. He took us into Kings College - a Henry VII & VIII feat of wonders. The chapel for that place is insane. Fantastic. lovely. etc.

The tour ended outside Trinity College, so I visited it next - went into the Wren Library and saw original Issac Newton letters and A.A. Milne's copy of Pooh... and then ran around the rest of the college looking at their chapel and main courtyard. After Trinity I went to their big rival, St. John's College. Those two host the largest number of students and have huge contests over which is better - most visibly with their architecture. Ridiculous.

The big thing to stress is that all of these schools are very anti-tourist. You are allowed in the courtyard and the chapel but nowhere else as students are there year round. Makes sense, but still frustrating!

Walked up to a more vibrant part of town which happened to be where the origional Roman bridge crossed the Cam and is also the location of Magdalene College. It was closed so I walked along the river to Jesus College's green (aka big grassy area), and then back down into town via some smaller streets.

I had also booked a punt tour when booking the walking tour, and as it was now getting later in the day I decided it was time. So went down and had the punt to myself!!! And the light was just perfect for photos, so I was a very happy camper. Was on the Cam for 45 minutes and heard a bunch of repeat info, but that didn't matter. Also learned an interesting quirk: King's Bridge, which crosses the Cam at Kings College (for their students only) is a location where you can still legally have a pistol duel!

After the punt ride I found Peterhouse which is the very first College in Cambridge - 800 years old. It has been rebuilt since then so it looked pretty much the same as the rest of the colleges. And by this time it was close to 5, so I couldn't go anywhere else but back to my own college for dinner!!

I hope that wasn't too long for you all! Check out the photos on Flickr if you're interested - link on the right.

up and down day

I'm wiped. And I've still got another 2 hours of classes after dinner. sigh.

I've had a very big 'up and down' day today. Sometimes in class I start feeling alright, mostly by comparing my answers/thoughts/understanding to my fellow students. But then when the prof's are talking I start feeling really down, that there's no way I'll learn this all. Its very depressing.

Most of my classes are over now, although I still have 4 hours of Criminal law split over tonight and friday. The rest are complete and while they were very useful, they've left me wishing I had another few months to prepare instead of 4 weeks (after I get home). They've both inspired me and really scared me. I suppose that was the point.

I didn't make it out into the city today - had classes all day and I'm so tired right now I didn't feel like it. That being said tomorrow is a total day off so I'll be running around Cambridge with my camera trying to get everything in. So hopefully tomorrows blog will be far more exciting!

Sunny and warmer today, finally!

Finally a day that hasn't been freezing! Still chilly, but spring chilly, not winter cold!

Had a poor sleep last night - too much legal stuff in my brain right now. I also know this as I'm joking around with people about limitation and exclusion clauses in a contract for holding open a door. groan.

Today is my second longest day - tomorrow is longer. But today I have every class - so in addition to the ones from yesterday you can add Criminal law. I have that after dinner tonight. Right now I'm on a mini-break before supper.

Again I'm very glad to be here. Just hearing the professors speak about the material is really helping. I have so much to do when I get home but at least now I have some direction! Its pretty awesome that I'm learning from the professors who teach the cambridge students. I have John Hopkins who is the course director and has a bazillion titles under his name about where he's registered and a fellow and a professor ad so on - he teaches Constitutional law. His wife is another professor, she teaches Contract law, and is a barrister and a director of another college here at Cambridge. Then I have the Judge/lecturer for the English legal system, and finally another private professor at Cambridge for Criminal. Pretty humbling in the grand scheme of things - these are the people who turn out the Cambridge grads who generally end up running England (or so they'd have us believe).

At lunch today I didn't mimick my fellow 'moss-growing' students (ha ha thanks SW for that quote), instead I marched around more of the city. I took a different bridge over the Cam today and ended up behind both Kings College and Trinity College, two of Cambridge's oldest. Now remember, we're talking 800 years old, not 40 like SFU!!! The architecture leaves Canadian schools a bit wanting...but I'm sure they'e drafty! I somehow ended up in the middle of the town, right by a market, so decided to have lunch and people watch for a bit. All the proper students are away on their Easter break (5 weeks no less) so the 'real' people of the town are out (or loads of british tourists). I really quite enjoy walking around this town - so many little streets that will take you to cute little areas, but you can never get lost!

Anyhoo I'll be grabbing dinner in a bit and then be back in class from 7 - 9pm, then hitting they hay, to do it all again tomorrow!