To cap off the summer of graduations, I set off to Oxford for the DPhil degree ceremony, making a quick stop in Iceland along the way, and catching the Summer Eights bumps race while I was there. My parents met me in Oxford for graduation after a side trip to Paris. And after graduation, all three of us set off to explore some of the famous spots in Italy. The trip was a fantastic way to enjoy the last bit of freedom before residency starts: I got to catch up with old friends, have a few adventures in Europe, and spend quality time with my parents.
One of my first fun flights from the Durham area, many years ago, was to Ocracoke, a small town on the North Carolina Outer Banks. It has remained one of my favorite destinations: The remote beach can be reached by air in a little over an hour, compared to the 6-hour drive. This relative isolation makes it easier to explore the beautiful town and shore, somewhat removed from the bustle of other tourist beaches.
My latest flight from Lake Ridge out to Ocracoke was around beautiful cumulous clouds on an otherwise sunny afternoon. I filmed the trip and sped it up to just a few minutes; enjoy the view!
On a sunny post-medical-school-classes North Carolina day, two classmates and I decided to head out for the hills of western NC. We took off from RDU, circled Duke and Durham a couple of times, landed at Rowan County airport to re-fuel, and then set off west for Avery County. There, we rented a car and hiked a couple of the local trails, notably stumbling across Linville Falls, before heading back to Durham just before sunset. It was Riikka and Qihua’s first time in a small plane, and so pictures were copious…
To wrap up January, the Duke MSTP and friends organized a tour of the Duke Lemur Center. This research facility houses the largest collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar. These small primates, including more than 100 species with weights ranging from only an ounce to 20 pounds, evolved in isolation on Madagascar for tens of millions of years, likely after reaching the island on floating debris washed out to sea. The tour was fantastic, and we all enjoyed interacting with these amazing creatures!
Having completed all requirements of the DPhil degree, it is time to come back to the States and start my last year of medical school. To squeeze in one last adventure, I booked an IcelandAir #stopover on the way home. Sabine was able to join for three days in a Nordic paradise. We were able to fit in quite a few activities thanks to the incredibly efficient Iceland tourism industry. On our first full day, we traveled to the relaxing Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa set on a lava field in the Reykjanes Peninsula. The second day was for adventure, with a small airplane flight from Reykjavik airport to Rif airport on the Snæfellsjökull peninsula and back. The mountain and glacier views were stunning.
Fresh from our Sintra travels, Sabine and I set off for Porto, a city dating back to the Roman Empire and now famed for port wine and beautiful bridges.
After a December of intense (and often frantic) thesis-writing, Sabine and I snuck off to Portugal to welcome the New Year. We had a chance to explore Sintra, Porto, and Lisbon over our journey. Because of the outrageous number of pictures, each city will be covered in a separate blog post.
We set off on December 27, flying from Heathrow to Lisbon before grabbing the train to the historic town of Sintra. Sintra is full of history, from the medieval Moorish Castle to several nineteenth- and early twentieth-century palaces.
One of the more opulent Oxford traditions is that of the commemoration ball. Hosted by the larger colleges on a triennial basis, commemoration balls are generally white-tie affairs featuring performances, games, food, and drink all night long. This year, Sabine and I made it to St. John’s Ball to find a lavish array of activities. In addition to the performances and refreshments, there were a variety of carnival games (including mini-golf!) and the chance to spy some fireworks being set off at a nearby college.
As our warm-down on Saturday, we attended the St. Cross Summer Ball, a black-tie affair at Wolfson’s de facto sister college. It was also lots of fun, and predictably overrun by rowing club comrades.
In order to escape life for a while, Sabine and I ran off to Weston-super-Mare, a seaside town in Somerset. The town is across the Bristol Channel from Cardiff, and the tidal range in the channel is so wide that for most of the day, over a mile of mud flats are exposed. Twice a day at high tide, the sea appears.
Duke University
Natl Inst of Health
Oxford University