USA - Summer 2007

Hi everyone,

Sorry I didn't post a final blog before I came back to Scotland. The whole thing seems so long ago now that I don't really believe I was ever away. All of my photos from the summer are online, but because of the number of photos and the file sizes of all of them, I've uploaded them to Facebook. That means that only people signed up to Facebook and who have added me as a friend can view my photos. It's quite an easy process if you want to see them and a great tool for staying in touch with people all over the world, so definitely worth having. It's basically another MySpace, but I think it's a better format and quite easy to use once you get used to it. Let me know if you have any problems!

If you were subscribed to my Eurotrip Blog in 2006 (http://eurotrip2006.travellerspoint.com), you might remember that's when I first thought about going to America in 2007. Although I have no plans set in stone for next summer, I'm seriously thinking about spending a few months in South East Asia and Australia but would also love to go back to New York for a while. I graduate at the beginning of the summer so a lot of what I do next will depend on what sort of situation I'm in with my studies and career.

Thanks for reading my blogs!

Mark

Hi everyone,

I know that it's been ages since my last update, but I've really not had any chance to get online other than for five minutes at a time in the past few days.

We spent a week at our log cabin in Asheville at the start of September which was a great chance for the three of us all to relax. The cabin wasn't really close to anything and the only way for us to get anywhere was by taxi which was going to be really expensive, so other than a trip to the supermarket to buy a week's worth of food, we didn't leave the cabin at all. The hot tub was amazing and I spent most of the week in there and in front of the tv. The weather was so hot that it was impossible to be out in the sun for much longer than 15 minutes at a time.

After our week in Asheville, we took the bus back to Raleigh and saw my aunt Elspeth again for an afternoon before flying to New York City. We also managed to meet up with Nicole and Callum in the airport at Raleigh as they were just arriving as we were checking in to leave. Finding accommodation for New York was really stressful. I'd been waiting on a few people to email me back about renting an apartment for the two weeks that Steph and I are here, but didn't hear anything and by the time it came to booking somewhere to stay, most places were close to fully booked. We've had somewhere to stay every night, but have had to move from one hotel to another a couple of times.

So... we arrived in New York on Tuesday night and didn't do much other than take a walk to Times Square which is just round the corner from the hotel we were staying in. The next morning we managed to get half price tickets for the matinee performance of A Chorus Line on Broadway. We were in the centre of the second row and the show was amazing. That night, Gill and Kieran went off to try to get tickets for another show and managed to get cheap tickets for Les Mis. Steph and I went out for something to eat and just after they had served our food, I got a phone call from Kieran saying that Gill was really unwell and they were coming back up to the hotel. Steph and I left the restaurant we were in to meet them. When we all got back there, Gill was really sick and having a lot of trouble swallowing. She didn't get much sleep during the night and in the morning I took her to the hospital. It turned out she had epiglottitis, an infection which had caused her throat to swell up. The doctors said we'd done the right thing getting her to the hospital because if it had worsened and become more swollen it could have blocked her airways and she wouldn't be able to breathe. Because it's considered a life threatening infection, they kept her in Intensive Care for a couple of nights and then moved her to another ward just to keep an eye on her before allowing her to fly home on Monday, 3 days later than she was supposed to. Thankfully she's now fine and is visiting a friend in Wales who she met at camp.

Before Gill flew home on Monday, we managed to get tickets for the three of us (Kieran had to fly home on Friday) to see Rent which was incredible. Nicole and Callum arrived in New York just after Gill left on Monday and we've spent the last couple of days with them. We saw Spring Awakening with them last night which is probably one of the best shows I've seen in my life. Steph and I also managed to see Les Mis last week as the manager of the theatre told Gill and Kieran to come back and see it the following night since they missed most of it with Gill being ill, but because she was in hospital, they gave the tickets to Steph and I.

Nicole and Callum left this afternoon and Steph and I are in another new hotel, just off Times Square. We don't have much else planned for the week apart from a wedding on Sunday and the opera on Monday night. We fly home on Tuesday and will arrive in Glasgow on Wednesday morning. I'm sure the next six days are going to fly in and we'll be back in no time. I'm definitely looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone!

Mark

So...

The last week of camp dragged by quite slowly but by the end it was quite sad saying bye to everyone. The last night was packed with sentimental cheesiness like only the Americans can do. The video department showed a DVD of the highlights of the summer (complete with ultra-cheesey soundtrack). It was actually quite nice and had a lot of funny moments. They then had a 'burn out' where they set fire to wooden letters shaped as "FWF 2007".

I managed to get out of camp on the first bus in the morning at 7.30pm. The bus dropped me at Newark Airport where I took a train to Providence, MA. The train was running about 45 minutes late but I was in Providence by dinner time. From there I took two buses and a ferry to get to Martha's Vineyard where I arrived around 9.30pm after fourteen hours of travelling through 5 states.

I stayed with Steph at her house in Edgartown and used the day and a half that I was there to chill out. We went for a really nice meal in the Harbour View Hotel where Steph had been working. Her coleagues had kept the best table in the restaurant for us by telling other diners that they were holding it for a newly wed couple! Steph and I turned up dressed from head to toe in black.

After arriving on the island on the Sunday, we were leaving on Tuesday morning to go to Logan Airport in Boston where we were flying to Buffalo from to go to Canada. We got to my mum's cousin, Josephine's, house in Canada just after 9pm that night after another long day of travelling where we met Gill and Kieran. It was really good to see them and to see all my family in Canada.

We spent most of last week relaxing and not doing much other than spending a day at Niagara Falls and the quaint village, Niagara-on-the-Lake. Most nights we were in bed between ten and midnight as the lack of sleep from the summer caught up with all of us.

We left Canada yesterday morning and took a taxi to Buffalo Airport again where we flew to Raleigh via Atlanta, Georgia. Another long day, but we were met at the airport by my aunt Elspeth who we didn't think we were going to have the chance to see, so it's been really good spending just one short night here. We went out to dinner with them last night to a Mexican restaurant and came back to the house where once again we were all in bed around 11pm.

It's now just after 7.30am and we're getting ready to go to the bus station to take the bus to Asheville to our log cabin. It's going to be about 6 hours on a bus today, but Asheville looks amazing and I'm sure there'll be some nice scenery on the way up to the mountains. We're there until September 11th when we fly to New York.

Sorry that was a bit rushed and not very detailed! I'll try to get online during the week (I've still to book accommodation in New York!).

Mark

Hi everyone,

I'm typing this from Atlanta Airport, on my way to North Carolina from Canada. Sorry it's been so long since I updated, don't have a lot of credit left here but I'll update in the next day or so to fill you in on what I've been up to since camp. Having a great time with Steph, Gill and Kieran.

Mark

Hello!

I'm currently standing in the Mac Store on 5th Avenue in New York! I left camp this morning at 8am with three other MDs: Michael, Simon and Alex. We arrived in the city around 11am and have had quite a relaxing day. We took a walk through Central Park when we arrived and down here to the Mac Store where Simon and I bought new iPods. We then took the Subway to the Village where we had lunch in a really good pizza place before walking to "The Brandy Library" which is a really classy whiskey pub. It was closed. It's Sunday afternoon and it won't open until 5pm. So, we sat outside it for a while and chatted before taking the subway back to the Mac store. Simon and Alex made appointments when we were here earlier to have their laptops looked at to be repaired.

In about half an hour, we're going to meet Michael's Czech friends, who we met up with last time I was in the city, and are going to a concert to see a performance of St. Mark's Passion by a living Argentinian composer whose name I can't remember. According to Michael, it's going to be really good. Afterwards we are planning on heading back down to the Brandy Library before going to Petra's (Michael's friend's) apartment for cheese and wine. We are going to be staying there tonight and will be leaving to go back to camp early tomorrow morning. I have 6 more working days! You have no idea how exciting that is after 12 weeks of camp. This time next week, I'll be on my way to Martha's Vineyard!

I remembered one of the things I was supposed to mention in my last update but had completely forgotten about... Bernstein's daughter, Jamie, was at camp last week and I attended a couple of really interesting talks that she gave. Some of it was quite cheesey as the talks she normally gives are for high school kids, but it was a great experience to hear her talk about her father and his work, especially West Side Story!

I'm going to go have another look around this amazing shop and try not to spend any more money. I'm going to be completely skint when I get back!

Mark x