I've managed to find myself a little more time to add something to this blog.

As I said before, everything's going awesomely in camp, and I thought I'd post a little more about it.

I've currently got a cabin of 9 kids, helped out by two other counsellors - Sam, who's also from the UK, and Zoltan who's a Hungarian. Actally, Sam's having to move out of our cabin today into another one to help out in a cabin where one of the counsellors is having to go for a few days to work out the Teen Adventure program.

We're all going to Teepee Village tonight with a couple of the other boys' cabins, a mock American Indian area a little way out from the rest of camp. All going well, we'll eat, play and sleep out there, all lit by a good old-fashioned camp fire.

That said, last night a load of the girls' cabins went to sleep out there last night but returned when the wind started picking up, making the teepees themselves dangerous for obvious reasons. Other problems with teepee village are the thousands of mosquitoes desperate for an all-they-can-eat buffet and (perhaps surprisingly) the cold.

While daytime temperatures are high and humidity stratospheric, making the conditions extremely sweaty, at night the temperatures can plummet, making sleep under the stars a chilly experience.

The musics playing over the PA system. That means my free period's over, and I have to go.

Graduation and Croatia

It's been a while, but at last I'm going to post an update up here.

The last week has been absolutely insane, starting with me as a student in Edinburgh and ending as a graduate in a summer camp in Croatia.

First of all, I'll tell you a little about graduation. Karoliina's parents came, which was pretty cool, and I wore a kilt (Welsh national tartan) to the ceremony. Karoliina graduated the next day, and I had to move all of the stuff that I wasn't taking with me to Croatia to Tom's flat.

After two hours sleep, I started on my journey to camp at 3:30am.

For those who haven't known me for very long, you might not know that I spent my summer two summers ago here in a camp called Camp California in Croatia, right on the North-Western Tip of Istria at Savudrija. Well, I'm doing it all over again, partly because I spent most of last summer wishing that I was actually here, and partly because I want to stall having to get a job in the real world as a graduate.

I'm here, kids are here, and the place is awesome. THings have changed in a few subtle ways since I was last year, like the main stage (called "Hollywood Bowl") has been completely rebuilt.

Oops! Time up.

Better get back to Work!

I'm going to be an uncle!

That's right!

James (my oldest brother) called me last night to tell me that his wife, Anya, is pregnant. I'm so happy for them, and I can't wait to meet my new nephew. I say nephew, because knowing our family, it couldn't really be anything else.

Maybe I'll be eating those words come September...

Quick photoshop

On the home stretch to a degree...

After an eventful week, I've finally finished my essays and dissertation - the relief is incredible. All that's left of my degree now is the project I'm currently working on (that I mentioned in my previous post) and a four hour synoptic exam that's going to test everything I've learned over the past four years. I'm slightly apprehensive about it, but it's not going to happen for a little while yet.

 

I've changed a few settings on the site so I can now e-mail in updates, which should make the process of updating when away from my own computer that much quicker, easier and more secure. I should even be able to do it from my phone. Incidentally, this post is a test to see if it's working properly.

 

Also, the gallery has had its software updated, so check it out.

Good news everybody!

I know it's been ages since I've updated anything here, but I thought I'd post on the off chance someone might see this at some point...

I'm going back to Camp Cal this summer!

I really can't wait. The 2004 season was brilliant, and I can't wait to get my degree out of the way so I can just get back out to Croatia. Check out my gallery for photos from my last time out there, and www.campcalifornia.com for the camp's official site.

As for the degree, things are coming along nicely enough. I'm in the essay week of hell at the moment, having handed in essays yesterday and the day before that, with only my dissertation left due the day after tomorrow.

I'm also working on a project at the moment, which I've been working three days a week on since the beginning of term - I start full time work on it from next week. It feels great to actually be doing real research, discovering previously unknown stuff that could ultimately help cure muscular dystrophy. It beats sitting in a lecture theatre, incidentally something I'll never have to do again as of last week...

The real world seems to be approaching ever more rapidly.

Hello from Helsinki!

Christmas is over and 2006 is rapidly approaching.

I'm planning on seeing 2006 in here in Helsinki with Karoliina, though there were times yesterday when I feared that I wasn't going to make it.

Over the past few days there have been some serious wintery storms across Europe, including England. My train was delayed by the snow, but seeing as I took it for granted that my train was bound to be delayed knowing GNER to be as it is, that wasn't such a problem.

I had a connection in Copenhagen to get all the way to Helsinki, but there was pretty much a blizzard there. Sitting on the tarmac for over an hour, I saw the takeoff time for my connection through to Helsinki come and go, and thought that I might be having to stay the night in Denmark.

when I found out that that flight was delayed, it was actually the only time I'm ever likely to be glad that my flight was delayed.

Eventually I landed in Helsinki three hours late, with poor Karoliina and her mother picking me up at 4:20am local time.

Sorry about that...