A Grand Adventure

We are on a fabulous expedition this morning. It is known as the 22.
I'm taking a bus I've never taken before into the university. I dropped Iorwerth off at daycare all by myself (we are both so grown up, sniffle sniffle!) and headed into City Centre. And there was the 22 bus proclaiming its last stop at University UEA.
I have mates who use this bus, because it is near their houses. Everyone always just says "25 for the City Centre" though, giving no love to the 22.
This may mean that this bus ride is twenty bajillion years long. We shall see. Hopefully, it will take me through parts of town I haven't seen yet!
Expedition and experiment time, folks. Welcome to summer.

A Month in Review

The last month has been just a wee bit surreal.

From 28 March - 28 April, the following happened:

• I picked up Maddy Bohl, a 16-year-old family friend, from Heathrow Airport for her spring break.
• We traveled all around the UK and Ireland.
• I visited the Government of Wales with the Marshall Commission.
• I flew to America.
• I spoke at a conference at Stanford, the video of which will be online in about a month.
• I sat my masters exam.
• I flew to Northern Ireland to speak on Race Relations in 21st Century America.
• I spoke at a conference on the Future of Food Security at Oxford.
• I saw Pink in concert.

 Total list of cities I spent significant periods of time (read: meal and/or at least 2 hour tourist experience):

•  London, Cardiff, Caerphilly, Ayr, Belfast, Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Palo Alto, Norwich, Londonderry/Derry, Coleraine, Bushmills, Portrush.
• That's 15 cities.

Random cool things I can now add to list of life experiences for Becca:

• Met First Minister of Wales;
• Toured my namesake's PhD turf;
• Climbed to the top of a castle using a winding staircase;
• Seen a bajillion shows in the West End;
• Punted down Cambridge River;
• Seen David Tennant's suit from "Doctor Who";
• Attended a conference at the O2;
• Learned about a Roman Legion Museum.

May I just remind you all that life is cool?

Oxford Food Security Conference

I had a lovely time today at the 2nd Annual Oxford Food Security Conference sponsored by their "The Future of Food Security" Programme.
See: http://www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/events/oxford-student-global-food-security-conference-2013
My presentation went well, and everything else was really interesting. Met someone who works on food in Jordan and is looking to expand to Cairo. Thanks to AMENDS, I now have very concrete contacts in Cairo to match her with. Woohoo!
The conference was the perfect opportunity to coherently write up the dichotomy I've been ranting about for years. I may be working on getting it published now. One never knows...

Londonderry/Derry

Garrett and I had a great day in Londonderry/Derry, primarily in museums because we were really keen to learn more about the conflict from a local perspective. And Londonderry/Derry is the place to do it, as highlighted by the name dispute - Londonderry is generally preferred by unionists and Derry by nationalists.
We started though, rather apolitically, with a lovely little free aquarium highlighting life in the local waters!

Coleraine

Many of you may remember I visited Hull a while ago to speak on the Role of the American Presidency as part of the Marshall Speakers' Bureau. The Commission sends us out to chat about topics we have some experience in as part of the ambassadorial focus of the programme. This is definitely a win-win for all concerned: Marshall Scholars get to see a part of the UK they might not get to on their own, unis get American speakers very cheaply, and the Commission gets to strengthen ties to UK unis.
This week, my mate Garrett and I had the incredible opportunity to visit the University of Ulster, Coleraine, in Northern Ireland. We spoke on race relations in the US in the 21st century...and when I say "we spoke", I mostly mean that I provided some basic general information, told a couple really quick stories about encountering racism in different ways as a white girl in very different communities in the US, and turned things over to Garrett as quickly as possible, who then tore down the house building original poetry and music into his portion of the talk.
We had a fabulous time - Coleraine is very close to Giant's Causeway, and our uni host was good enough to tour us around a good deal.
We are touring the city of Londonderry/Derry today, so more pictures may be coming (though it's a bit rainy, so we may stick to museums and not have all that much to post). Flying back to London tonight, and quickly getting on a train to Oxford to present at a food security conference!

Exam sat

I just "sat" an exam for the first time.
One does not take exams in the UK, one sits or writes them.
Anyway, it was very fun. (Yes, I'm sorry. I'm one of those freaks who enjoys exams. Lots of blabbing about what you believe and arguments! In essay exams, anyway.)
And now, all that is left of my masters is my dissertation. And it feels weird. Where the heck did that time go?

In other news, it's actually blue skied and hot in Norwich. I seem to have brought California back with me...

Huffington Post, baby

In the world of "heehee, that's cool", my initiative got highlighted in a "Huffington Post" article on AMENDS. Read more about our week at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yassamin-ansari/stanford-amends-connectin_b_3114545.html.