Rotary LINK Weekend

Link 2008, an orientation for Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars and Peace Fellows in Great Britain and Ireland, was held in Birmingham, the District in the Heart of England, from September 26th-28th. Birmingham is also the site of the Rotary International Convention next summer. The city of Birmingham has a population of 1 million. Birmingham has an industrial heritage as the place where all the important wealth creating industry has traditionally been situated. Nowadays, Birmingham has had a great upsurge of retail, service and financial industries and is one of the most attractive and modern cities in Europe. Just outside the city, famous towns like Rugby (birthplace of the sport) and Stratford upon Avon (birthplace of Shakespeare) can be found.

On Friday, Dave, Eric, and I arrived. We were than given host families for the weekend. Well, actually Dave and Eric were given host families, but they ran out of host families for all of the students (I wasn’t offended though because there were over 70 scholars and that’s a lot of volunteers). It worked out great though because I got to share a room in a hotel with Mallory, another Academy grad attending Edinburgh.

On Saturday morning, the Rotarians arranged a special treat for those scholars having to stay in the hotel – a walking tour of Birmingham. We visited Birmingham’s famous Jewelry Quarter. I wasn’t able to spend much money though because most of the shops are closed on Saturday. We visited the Museum of the Jewelry Quarter and saw a display entitled Earth’s Riches: jewelry from the Natural World Gallery, where I found this necklace made of human hair! We also participated in “walking the pavement trails,” which consists of finding charms placed in the sidewalk which commemorate that spot’s historic significance.

A typical street in Birmingham

Beautiful view of one of Birmingham’s many canals



In the 1890’s plain clothes officers in the Jewelry Quarter were issued with “silent boots” to apprehend thieves

Washington Irving’s classic tale was written during his stay in the Jewelry Quarter in 1818



Made by the Jewelry Quarter firm J Hudson Limited they still manufacture these whistles on the original equipment today



The Chamberlain Clock: erected in 1903 to commemorate Joseph Chamberlain’s visit to South Africa



The previously mentioned necklace made from human hair!



One of the Jewelry Quarter’s most famous badge making firms which was targeted by the Germans in WWII


St. Paul's Square: once a popular promenading spot for Victorian nannies nicknamed “Tittie Bottle Park”

After the walking tour, we met up with all the other scholars for a boat tour of Birmingham’s canals. Did you know Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice? All of the scholars were so excited to meet and greet each other that we barely heard the tour, but the must exciting part was getting to see the city from the vantage point of the canals.

Another canal pic

Tucker and Eric (two Academy grads) showing off their new beards


Inside the canal tour boat

Then the Rotarians arranged for us to attend a mock city council meeting with the Lord Mayor of Birmingham (Chauhdry Rashid). The Council House is a beautiful building designed on a theme of a Venetian palace. There are plaques in the Council House of famous people from Birmingham, some of them include, James Watt and J.R.R. Tolkien. The semi-circular Council Chamber was designed for 80 Councillors. Now the chamber holds 117 members, three for each of the City's 39 wards.

A beach in the center of town next to a fountain outside the Council House

The stairs are dominated by a chandelier with a spread of 6ft 8in and a drop of 50 ft from ceiling to its base. It was converted from gas to electricity at the turn of the century.

The lord mayor is actually originally from Pakistan, but has been a public servant in Birmingham for three decades. As you can see by what he is wearing, you can imagine the snickers that went through the room when he entered. The Lord Mayor informed us he does not usually get this dresses up for day-to-day work, but only wears this particular garb for ceremonial occasions. Could you imagine how interested Americans would be if our public servants dressed up like this? It's sad to say I think it might get more people to tune in.

Here's a riddle for you: How do you entertain seventy 20-25 year-olds for five hours (in a safe and healthy environment)? Well, leave it to Rotary to come up with an answer. Saturday night we had a barn dance! Can you believe it? I think most of the scholars were originally very confused and a little leery, but they eventually joined in and everyone had lots of fun! There was a band on hand to walk everyone through the square dance steps and they made it so easy anyone could understand (even if English wasn't your first language).

Before the barn dance started we had a flag ceremony where ever country represented at the LINK weekend brounght in their country's flag. Andrew, a three-year-old South Korean, was one of the many new friends I made during the weekend.

The barn dance in full swing

On Sunday we met for a scholars briefing meeting. The morning started with welcome speeches by the Past District Governor (David Robinson), Past RIBI President (Norman Proctor), and District Governor Peter Smith. I met Mr. Robinson in Kansas City at my scholar orientation seminar. He is a very nice man who has been very helpful. He even helped me to arrange to present the District Governor with a District 6420 banner and a gift from District 6420 Governor Jim Prather (a John Deere tractor). Unfortunately, they do not have district banners in England, but not to worry, they gave me two Birmingham pins instead.

My presentation to the District Governor

The Birmingham pins I received

We then had a presentation about Rotaract, which looks like something I might be interested in volunteering with and a presentation about the Scholars and Counsellors Conference in London, which is an opportunity to exchange ideas about your experience in hopes of improving future rotary ambassadorial scholars' experience. The morning session was followed by a break for tea and coffee and biscuits (which in America means cookie). I have only been here a week, but I've gotten a pretty good idea of how much the English enjoy their sweets and pastries. That's fine by me, I'm happy to join in! The afternoon session included 3 presentations by former ambassadorial scholars on how to make the most of your experience. They all had some great tips and hints! Then we all dispersed to the far corners of Great Britain and Ireland. However, not before I was able to take some pictures.

Myself, Dave, Mallory, Matt, Eric, and Tucker, all academy grads and all rotary ambassadorial scholars

Me and Mutamba Musimba, who is originally from Africa but now living in Nashville, Tennessee – he has a very cute accent!

Me, Sam, and Erik, two American guys I enjoyed hanging out with over the weekend, they are both studying in London

We had some time to kill while waiting at the bus station and a group of us decided to check out this odd building in city center. The building turned out to be the largest shopping mall in all of Europe and it is located 10 feet from a centuries old church. How cool is that? I guess nothing stands in the way of progress.

The shopping mall

The mall next to St. Martin’s in the Bullring (Birmingham use to be home to bull baiting in medieval times)

Inside St. Martin’s

First Week in Cambridge

I have survived my first week in Cambridge! The city is beautiful, with everything you could ever want and need within walking distance (if your in shape). Everyone either walks or bikes everywhere, which makes sense because the average gallon of gas cost over $10.

This past weekend Rotary District 1060 hosted LINK 2008, an orientation for all incoming rotary ambassadorial scholars and peace fellows in Great Britain and Ireland. The orientation events allowed me to meet a number of other students, mainly international students with the majority of them coming from the US, Asia, or Africa. I will write a separate entry about the entire weekend later.

My master’s program courses have not started yet. On Monday the 6th of October, registration begins. Registration will be followed by a short introduction to the Engineering Department's Center for Sustainable Development staff and then we will join new graduate students from the rest of the Engineering Department for a series of introductory talks. On Tueday, we will take a required course on safety followed by a careers talk and an introduction to the double module in Management of Technology and Innovation. On Wednesday, the course director, Dr. Fenner (my advisor), will give an introduction to the various aspects of the MPhil program. On Thursday, lectures will begin. However, when I went to find out when I needed to show up for registration I was given a stack of reading materials to go through before then (I have a lot of reading to do before next Thursday). On Friday and Saturday, a one-night residential field course to Stonehenge to explore the relationships between roads and landscape is being arranged. Can you believe it? I'll have only been in England two weeks and I'll already have been to Stonehenge!

I’m staying in university-affiliated housing, in what they refer to as a hostile on Churchill grounds. I live in a very old house which has 9 single rooms, 4 shared bathrooms, and 1 shared kitchen. The building is beautiful from the outside (it looks like something out of Pride and Prejudice) and there is a greenhouse in the backyard. However, the Navy is willing to pay for my housing so I'm trying to see if I can get a place with its own kitchen and bathroom. I haven't met many of the other students living in the hostile yet because most of them haven't moved in yet, but today I did meet Carlos from Portugal who was very nice. So far, I have been eating breakfast and lunch in my room from things I was able to buy at the grocery store and I usually go out to one of the local pubs for dinner. Everything is so expensive though so I still need to check out Churchill's dining hall.

I will be meeting my host Rotarian, Paul, and his wife on Friday night. They just got home from a trip and are leaving again for France next week. So it will be awhile before I attend a rotary meeting, but said he would take me to one as soon as he gets back. He is very nice and made sure I got to Cambridge OK even though he wouldn't be able to help. I look forward to getting to know Paul and his wife over the coming year.

One last thing I should mention, I am trying out for the University of Cambridge Women's Crew Team. It will be several weeks before I know if I have made the team or not. It is very challenging with two practices a day and the girls on the team are very good. My hands are rubbed raw because they do not have enough time to heal between practices, but one of the girls on the team was nice enough to tell me where I could buy some tape to tape them up so the didn't hurt nearly as bad this afternoon. I am enjoying getting to know the girls on team. Most of the team is British and I am enjoying getting to know each and every one of them. One of the girls' names is Hermione, which I only though existed in Harry Potter! Some times they have trouble understanding me when I talk so I am learning to talk slower.

One more little tid bit, I am at Cambridge with 4 other Naval Academy graduates, Will, Eric, Dave, and Leland. Dave, Eric, and I have been spending a lot of time together. They helped me get settled and even cooked dinner for me last night! They are great guys and I am looking forward to getting to know them better over the next year. Last night, Dave and Eric convinced me to help them commandeer a punt (a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole). They are convinced they are going to refurbish it and paint it blue and gold and pass it down to the next Academy graduates who attend Cambridge.

A picture of what punting looks like

Dave with his newly acquired (somewhat illegally) acquisition.

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for checking out my blog. I'll try to keep you posted on my experience through regular updates and photos here.

We'll start with the basics...I'll be in Cambridge, England on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, studying at the University of Cambridge with hopes of obtaining a MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development. I arrived in Cambridge on 23 September 2008 and will return to the US in early September 2009.