New Post for a New Year

Hello all,

I just had lunch with a friend who asked me (politely) whether I was done with the blog. I realize that I've been a bit behind on this, but it is not for lack of places traveled or things to say about them. It's been more the end of term crunch/grad applications/traveling home for Christmas.

What, you may ask, were we doing home for Christmas when we were in such a picturesque and relatively warm country already? Well, my parents graciously gave us plane tickets home for Christmas, which was a great break from work and a chance to see lots of friends and family. If we decide to stay in Cambridge for the next few years, opportunities to come home may become fewer, but it was wonderful to be able to do it this year.

I'm actually sitting in the Raleigh airport waiting for our flight to London as I type this, and our decision of whether to stay in England or not may depend somewhat on how annoying the new airline policies for transcontinental flights are.

At any rate, I vow to do a better job keeping up with the blog in the new term/year. We've seen plenty more places that we need to tell you about, and my thoughts on some of them have gestated long enough to be possibly interesting, or at least a nice distraction over your lunch break.

And if you're looking for more distractions until I get time to write something real, I got a piece in the current issue of Gates Scholar magazine.

Hope everyone is well - will catch up soon.