ULTRA cool field trip!

Honk if you love field trips! I know I do. So. Good thing we got to go on one.

On Sunday we took a trip out to Bletchley Park, and on the way we stopped at the American World War II Cemetery at Madingley. It was so reverent and pristine. The sacrifice of those young men is staggering. The cemetery contains the remains of 3,812 soldiers, along with the names of 5,127 of the missing. It was a very powerful experience.

Thumbs up for photo placement! 

Crud, I can't get it right. It's fine.


After about an hour we left Madingley and headed to Bletchley Park. 10 points to Gryffindor for anybody who knows what they did at Bletchley. Don't worry I didn't know before I took this class. Here's the skinny:

Bletchley Park was the top-secret location of the top-secret code and cypher school where they worked on the top-secret decryption project called "ULTRA" (I bet you understand the title now), which decrypted codes from Germany's top-secret Enigma machine.

The Germans thought the Enigma was impossible to crack, but thanks to some fortuitous U-boat captures, Hitler's arrogance, and, of course, Poland, the Brits were able to crack the codes and read the German's mail for the rest of the war. It's pretty cool.

So Bletchley is where they stuck the boffins from Cambridge and Oxford. These guys were the best and the brightest. Harry Hinsley, Tommy Flowers, Max Newman, Alan Turing. If not for them, we'd all be speaking German right now. And I'd have a brother named Fritz. Also, I wouldn't be writing this, because they kind of invented computers.

You may be asking yourself how they chose Bletchley Park. Or you may be waiting to see pictures. If it's the latter, feel free to skip this paragraph. Otherwise, stick around.
The best part about Bletchley is its location. 60 miles north of London (out of range of prime bombing targets), and halfway between Oxford and Cambridge. All kinds of young minds ripe for the picking. So they decided they needed to get a feel for the pace, so they sent a load of officers undercover as servants at an artificially contrived social weekend. They liked it, so they took it.The place was built by some 19th century "new money" individuals with poor taste. It's kind a hodge podge of architectural design. And here it is, for your viewing pleasure:

Dr. Martland. Sometimes he reps the ivies. 

The COLOSSUS. Pretty sure I could build that.

Killer propaganda. 

That's definitely a real gun.

High-fives all around.

In all its glory.

Ohp, here's another cool story.

How secret was Bletchley?

Bletchley was so secret (yo mamma so secret), that a husband and wife that worked there didn't know the other worked there until after the war. 

Also, the secret wasn't released until the 1970's, because they used it through the Cold War. Neat huh?

Finally, I want you to know what I woke up to on Sunday morning.

Beautiful, no?

Keeping up with the Joneses.

Warning: I've contracted misleading title disease. I'm not trying to keep up with an elusive ideal of perfection, I'm just trying to keep up with this blog. Sorry for my shortcomings. Fortunately, Facebook is bridging the gap between social networking and social archiving, so I was able to reconstruct a tentative timeline of my last week (timeline... facebook... see what I just did there?), based on my online interactions.

Monday & Tuesday, July 9 & 10


I can only assume (and hope) I was studying on these days, trying to get back in the swing of things after Edinburgh. Apparently sub-standard memory isn't a deterrent to the Cambridge admission team.

Wednesday, July 11


The trifecta celebrates its one-week anniversary.
**Note: Do not try Wispa Gold McFlurry, it's not worth it.
Some things just taste weird in England.
****More important note: On the whole, I've been getting on with English fare just famously. You may or may not think of me as a relatively (relative to what?) picky eater. I steer clear of all things cheesy, creamy, or of otherwise unappetizing consistencies. In America, this haunts me. In England, I've never been happier. The English don't seem to care a great deal about sauces/ condiments/ things I don't like. So I'm in a pretty consistent state of contentment.

Plenary lecture by Dr. Jonathan Steinberg on "Why Cambridge is Unique."
You're probably asking yourself that very question right now. So here's a few answers:
-College system (31 in total - I'm in King's)
-Tradition of mathematics (this is more unique in contrast to Oxford)
-No University governing body

Jordan turns 21.
Obviously we went to the pub. Obviously we sang "For he's a jolly good fellow."

Black Currant Lemonade. You should try it sometime.

Harry Potter Studio Tour booked.

August 9. We are going.

Night run.

A lot of things are better at night. Running is one of them. The run was initially going to be a short little guy. It also didn't initially include any guys... Fortunately, Kelsey and I ran in to Carson and Josh before we took off, so the four of us ended up running for about an hour. It was nice. There's a 98% chance we're going again tonight. 

Thursday, July 12

I spent the majority of the day working on my mid term paper for Spooks and Spies. 1500 words on whether signals intelligence shortened World War II. Considering it's not graded, it's just a practice run for our real term paper, I fear I spent far too much time on it. It was interesting though. 

On a side note, if you'd like an indication of what a typical spooks and spies lecture is like, check out Averill's blog. I laughed out loud. 

That night I skyped my mom for like 2.5 hours. That's the best. Among other things, we talked about what I would do if I didn't get in to the Information Systems program. 

Later that night I found out I got in to the Information Systems program. So that was fortuitous. I'm actually really excited about that. So excited to experience life. 

Friday, July 13

Once again, the better part of my morning and afternoon were spent working on that paper. 

Fortunately, I finished. Then we went to dinner at a little gem called Wagamama. Talk about tasty teriyaki (3 points). After we ate, we decided to walk around. 

And then...

Who here is excited that I got that video to start right where I wanted it? 

We got caught in the ran. Sans umbrella. It was the MOST fun. I mean, we were 0.7 miles away from our respective rooms, so the only thing to do was embrace it. And embrace it we did. There's this little hill, "Castle Hill," which is the highest natural point in Cambridge. For obvious reasons, this landmark proved irresistible to us that night. 

During.

After.

Finally, we come to the prank. Shelley, an old roommate, has this tradition of pranking me every Friday the 13th. Usually she does this:

But this time she did this:

I apologize to any of you who were adversely affected by Shelley's antics. That said, hats off to Shelley for ingenuity. 

The trifecta finished off the night in grand fashion with a quasi sleepover. Holla for going to bed at 4 AM. And for a dolla. 

Saturday, July 14

The day after a sleepover is always weird. Always. I just feel like I'm not firing on all cylinders. A few of us went to this terrible place called Fitzbillies where they make terrible soup and terrible salad and give you terrible water. But apparently they have good fruit tarts. They need to sort of their priorities. 

Next we went to the Fitzwilliam museum. They had some nice items. Of particular interest was the impressionism room. Always. 

Mostly we just liked this giant picture frame out front. Unfortunately the camera balanced on a rock and set on timer wasn't sufficient to capture the frame to its full potential, but now that I told you what we were going for, I can only hope you'll be able to see it. 

Corey, Me, Jenessa, Jordan, Kelsey

After the muze-am I got to skype with these perfect people:

On a scale of 1 to good, it was soooo good. 

Then Jenessa and I went on a night run, because night runs are the best. And what a treat to be running around Cambridge.

Alright, remind me not to wait so long to update this guy.

10-4 good buddies. 

We had a choice, we chose rejoice.

There's a little catch phrase that's been floating around our circles: "this is the yes trip."
The premise: when in doubt, just say yes (this has a few limitations for BYU students).
The modified premise: if a wholesome opportunity presents itself, embrace it.

I tend to say no 66% of the time. Ward functions? No thanks, I'd rather study. You're gonna go hit the non-alcholic bar? Sorry, it's past my bed time. Game night? Nah girl I'm in for the night. Shout out to K Bear. So this little "yes trip" mantra has been just the ticket.

Night run? yes. Hike to the top of the mountain? yes. Dessert? Duh. Devotional? yes. That was harder than it should have been.


I am living life with no regrets. You should try it sometime. It's incredibly freeing.

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to say no.


Ok, I'm willing to bet you want to hear about my trip to Edinburgh (Ed-in-bur-uh), Scotland (Scot-land), so here's the skinny:

Thursday, July 5


Departure: 8:30 in the AM
Commence 2 hour segments on bus, broken up by various rest stops and castles, proceed to travel for a total of approx. 10 hours.

More about that castle: We stopped in a quaint little town called Richmond, which is fortunate enough to house a nice little castle. Obvs we explored it.

Annie, Molly (bus buddies for life), me

From the tower.

This tower. 

Several hours later we got settled in the University of Edinburgh dorms. Dr. Kerry, our BYU program director, successfully secured an entire floor in an entirely separate building exclusively for the LDS girls. It was the best thing ever. So fun being on the same floor with errybody. After a 5 star comped meal from the caf a few of us ventured out in to the city, where we stumbled upon this little gem:

Lichrally, the BEST park I have ever been to. It was so unconventional.

Then we saw Edinburgh at night. Takin' out the trash... at niiight. It was so mist....erious... see what I just did there? Then I came across this place:

Not even a big fan, but still kind of cool.

Friday, July 6

We went for a little hike in the highlands, during which I put my lungs through the ringer and then soaked up some seriously aesthetically pleasing views of the town (Killin) and the lake.

But wait, you need to know about Satan's sandwich. We stopped in town before we reached the trail head to get some lunch. So we went in to this little place that sold sandwiches. If you're reading this blog, you probably know me... so you probably know how picky I am. I exercise a blanket moratorium on cheese and almost all things creamy. So when the lady at the store told me that the ham sandwich was just ham and margarine, I promptly asked her sub the margarine for some mustard. Jenessa tried to warn me about the European mustard, bless her heart, but it was too late. So we got on the bus, and I decided I would take a bite of the sandwich...... I almost had a heart attack. It was quite possibly the vilest thing I have ever put in my mouth. Apparently it was laced with horse radish and dark magic. It almost killed me. 

So naturally we passed it around for everyone to try. 

That's her apprehensive face.

On the bright side, I didn't have to bother with carrying the sandwich up the mountain.

Also on the bright side, we had some really perfect weather. Behold these views:

Go Jenessa.

Power animals. I dare you to try to portray a gazelle in a photograph. 

That night we had a traditional Scottish Ceilidh (kay-lee), which is essentially line Scottish line dancing. Depending on the dance, you might be dancing with a group of 2,4,6, or 8. I appreciate it. I mean I'm a really horrendous dancer, but having a set of prescribed moves definitely makes things easier. 

Saturday, July 7

Rain.

Elephant house, where JK penned some of her best work. 

Rain.

Edinburgh castle.

Rain. 

Tom Riddle's grave.

Rain.

Taxi home due to rain.

Great day.

Pics:

It's kind of like I'm wearing that scarf.

Sunday, July 8

Departure: 9:00 in the AM

New lunch stop: Fountain's Abbey

This place was the MOST serene, beautiful, perfect, ruinous abbey I have ever had the pleasure to encounter. There were so many families there for a Sunday afternoon outing. It was perfect. Mark my words, I will take my family there for a Sunday outing some day. 

And now I'm back in Cambridge, and it feels pretty good. 

Over and out.