Cambridge in Textures and Patterns

                   

Guess what everybody! I am taking photography classes!  This means you can expect a series of blog posts within the next few months dedicated to photography.  It's been something that I've wanted to pursue for a little while now, so I thought, why not!  I'd love to improve my knowledge on the technical side of things and also get some feedback on the photos I am taking.  To me, travelling and photography fit hand in hand and I'd love to keep improving the photos that I take.  

My "homework" after my first class was to capture textures and patterns.  No, this does not mean just taking a photo of the pattern on your curtain... it means opening your eyes to what is around you and finding textures and patterns in a natural form.  I went out on a little photo adventure one afternoon and found that Cambridge was oozing with textures and patterns of all different sorts!  I barely made it out of my neighbourhood! haha.  Anyways, I'd like to share with you some textures and patterns I found that afternoon.  I hope you enjoy, and if you have any feedback, let me know!

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

 

I'd go back to Mallorca any day.  Wait, let me rephrase that: I'd love to go back to Mallorca when the temperatures are just a bit warmer.  Now, hold on-  before you go on thinking how much of a travel snob I must be to only enjoy a vacation if it's prime beach weather, let me explain.  Perhaps it's because we're Canadians and we just assume Spain = hot and sunny!  But what's that? Spain has winter too? 

Haha, the weather really wasn't that bad.  Just a bit colder than we'd expected.  For some reason, even though we fully knew that temperatures would be roughly around 10 degrees celsius, we packed sandals (just in case!), and bathings suits (just in case!), and sun tan lotion (just in case! Although, it got confiscated at the airport because it was in our carry on.  I can just picture the Airport worker laughing to himself when he saw the lotion.  He was probably thinking, "Oh, those naive Canadians...").  How were we supposed to know that we'd be wearing our wool socks all week and getting hailed on while huddling together under a palm tree (that really did happen! Though the hail did pass fairly quickly).

Now when I look back at our 6 days spent with my parents in Palma de Mallorca, I can't help but smile and chuckle to myself.  We had such a fun time, despite some minor surprises that caused slight changes in our plans.  In the end, those "surprises" are what made the trip memorable, and to be able to laugh about it later is all part of travelling.

A Delightful Vist from Home: Mom and Dad visit England!

No, we don't own that adorable Volkswagen camper van you see in the photo.  I know, I wish it was ours too.  And no, my parents didn't come visit us in a Volkswagen camper van (though that would have been pretty cool!).  So why am I pictured here with my Mom beside this happy little vehicle?  First of all, my parents did come to visit us in Cambridge!  And second of all, why wouldn't we want to take a photo here?  I think this photo captures the essence of our time in England with my parents.  Joyful, fun, special, and memorable.

It had been six months since seeing any family from home.  So, you can imagine just how excited we were to welcome my Mom and Dad here from Canada!  Zack finished work on December 19th for two weeks of holidays, and I was lucky to get the time off as well.  So, on the afternoon of Friday the 19th of December, I paced anxiously around our apartment until the time came to meet my mom and dad at the Cambridge train station!  After a long, tight squeeze from my mom and a big bear hug from my dad, we were chatting as if no time had passed at all.  I'm lucky to have the relationship with my parents that I do and was excited show them what life in England really looks like for us.

30 before 30

I feel like when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, there are two types of people. Those that love them and those that hate them. I (Zack) definitely fall into the former category. Over the past few years I have enjoyed looking at my previous year’s goals to help create new goals. This year I was away from my laptop which I had them saved on so I was unable to do this tradition. By the time by birthday rolled around (only 1 day later on January 2nd) I had still not thought of any resolutions. Over a pint of good English Stout, Sarah pointed out how I was now closer to 30 then 20.  This was a scary thought!  There are so many things I want to do and accomplish while I'm still young, hip and 20-something (because obviously there will be so many more "adult responsibilities" thrown my way when I turn 30, right?).  I better start living it up.  With that I decided to combine my new year’s resolutions and birthday goals and make a 30 before 30 list.  This list would be things I want to accomplish before I turn 30. They would be things that would enrich my life and bring happiness to those around me.  Sarah and I spent some time dreaming and chatting, and this is what we came up with:

Rhossili Bay, Wales (Gower Penninsula)

On the weekend of November 15 and 16, while friends and family at home were experiencing an early snow fall in Canada, we were headed to the beach!  And not just any old beach.  This is probably one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to.  Rhossili Bay which is situated at the end of the Gower Penninsula in Wales was voted Britain's Best Beach in 2010!

On the Friday night, we headed to Cardiff, Wales where our friends Kara and Zac are living.  Although my only photos on this post are of the Gower Penninsula, we spent the rest of our weekend in Cardiff, catching up with Kara and Zac.  We had such a good time (though we continually confused both Zack's by not specifying which one we were speaking to... sorry guys) and are planning to head back there again sometime in the new year!  

On Saturday we were given a beautiful day to take a drive out to the Gower.  Though the wind did pick up quite a bit, the sunshine was perfect.  We explored the cliffs and gazed out to what is called "Worm's head" at the very end of the penninsula.  After a decent hike, we were able to eat a late lunch on the beach, and watched the sunset as we sipped some hot tea.  Perfect day.  

The Highlands, Scotland

We loved the Highlands.  As much as we enjoyed Edinburgh, I really wish we could have spent more time up here.  It is breathtakingly beautiful.  There is something about the peacefulness of northern Scotland that I just love.  The downside of not having a car however, is that you can't get to a lot of the remote places (which is where you definitely want to go when you're in the Highlands) so we opted for a three day tour with "Haggis Tours".  There are pros and cons to signing up for a guided tour like this.  The pros being it is all planned out for you, they load you up with tons of history and stories that we otherwise wouldn't have heard (our tour guides were also hilarious), and you make new friends with others on the tour.  The cons being you are on "their" schedule (we became so used to doing whatever we pleased during our summer travels) and somehow the "peacefulness" isn't so peaceful anymore when there's 40 of you filing off a bus to take photos of the same view.  But nonetheless, we were very pleased with Haggis Tours.  It was a fairly young crowd (a lot of new teachers like Zack, because it was half term break) and our guides were native to Scotland which made the experience that much better.  The trip departed out of Edinburgh and we drove a big yellow bus (that read "Young, Wild, and Sexy") up through to the Isle of Skye.  We all stayed at a hostel in Fort Augustus (situated at the bottom point of Loch Ness) where we joined in on an intense pub quiz the first night and heard some live music the second night.  The pub quiz was a particular favourite night of ours and we found ourselves dressed in Scottish Tartan while enjoying some good ales.  Zack seems to have an abundance of random general knowledge so even though our team came in third place, I thought we did quite well.  We met some great people on the tour, and in a total of just three days we saw castles, mountains, lochs (lakes), tasted Scottish whiskey, and even went on a few short hikes.  I think the photos really speak for themselves....

Edinburgh, Scotland

"Fair and full is your honest, jolly face,

Great chieftain of the sausage race!

Above them all you take your place,

Stomach, tripe, or intestines:

Well are you worthy of a grace

As long as my arm"

- Address to a Haggis, by Robert Burns.

That, my friends, is just a small section of "Address to a Haggis" written by Scottish writer Robert Burns in 1786.  This man loved haggis so much that he decided to show his appreciation through poetry.  Scotland is full of old stories and proud culture just like this one here.  Oh- and if you're not sure what "haggis" is, well, just google it.  We ate it twice while in Scotland, and both times we were pleasantly surprised.  Though I can't say I'll be professing my love through poetry like Robert Burns.  I did take a few photos: