Quick y'all

Na'ama Bay, Egypt

I wrote a really long blog entry the other day, but it didn't load. As I told Sarah, the short of it was:

Stayed in an old church B&B where the hostess was a grumpy South African that gave us attitude.

Visited Old Islamic Cairo, including oldest Muslim university and the bazaar. Bizarre.

Kevin Brady (LBJ friend) showed us around the US Embassy, where I got a spiffy American Embassy golf shirt.

Memorable moment: a boy came up to me at a cafe and tried to sell me a cheaply made Arabic phrasebook (really a xerox handout)...starting the bidding at $7. Yikes. He kept going lower and lower and I didn't bite. Finally he threw it in my lap and said to take it for free. It looked like he was going to cry. In the end, I gave him some money, but it was sad to see this little kid depend on some Western kid on a few cents for his next meal of rice and beans. Reminded me of my time in Ethiopia. Depressing, but more so inspiring.

Visited the Pyramids yesterday and today in the swank resort town along the Red Sea. More later.

On the road again...

Cairo, Egypt

I'm back on the road. After an absolutely wonderful time with my parents for the past week, I've left them in London/Paris for a 10-day trek through Egypt. I had a safe flight down here - actually got bumped up to first - and am about to hit the sack at our (me, Josh from Cambridge, and Heather from LBJ) cute little church B&B. We just finished a fun dinner with an old LBJ School friend, Kevin Brady. Tomorrow we're visiting the US Embassy and the old Islamic quarter...then we're off to the Pyramids.

More tomorrow!

Mom meets her pen pal!!!!

Mom and Marion meet for the first time



(Sorry that the picture isn't showing up above. I'll fix that soon.)

We have had the best time the past two days here in England! Mom has had a pen pal, Marion Colwell, for over forty years but they have never met. Until now!

We had a very memorable time visiting with Marion and her husband Simon in Bury St. Edmunds. We visited the old city and then relaxed in the afternoon at the Colwell's lovely bungalow in their little village outside of Bury. Then we had a delicious dinner at a local pub. Today we visited some beautiful gardens in Bury and then came back to Cambridge for a last stroll through the town. Then a huge dinner with my housemates.

Here is the updated link to the pictures for visit thus far. Check em out!

Welcome the parents!

Cambridge, England

Mom and Pops are here! Can you believe it? We finally got them to come across the ocean! We’ve been having a great time. Surprisingly, they were full of energy when first arriving to Cambridge on Wednesday, so they cleaned up a bit and then we went to Evensong at King’s Chapel. The Kings Choir performed and it was broadcast on BBC radio live…quite an impressive concert. Yesterday we spent the day touring my lovely little village, and saw Trinity, St. Johns, Fitzwilliam, and Queens’ College. They especially enjoyed a tour from my friend Imran at Queens’. Imran gave my sisters and buddies a tour of Queens’ earlier this year, and he deserves mad props for a job well-done. He definitely has some tour guiding skills. Kind of like my bow-hunting skills.

Last night we saw the English version of a classic American play – My Fair Lady. It was put on at the Amateur Drama Club, which is the major playhouse in Cambridge. The show was really funny, and I think that Pops even enjoyed it.
Today we’re off to Bury St. Edmunds to see Mom’s pen pal of over 40 years! They’ve been writing since the Beatles early days and now they will finally meet for the first time!

Here are a few pictures of the trip thus far.

Kaboom!

Computer lab, Judge Institute, Cambridge, England

Guess who's watching March Madness? Oh yeah, I'm currently watching Florida try and come back against Villanova. And how about Vermont hanging with Michigan State? Yeah, I got that too with a simple click of the mouse. Amazing.

Some of the games are blacked out and the quality is a little sketchy, but at least I'm getting to watch some of this tourney! Good stuff.

Whistling man...

Christ's College, Cambridge

This morning when I woke up, my clock read 80 degrees for the outside temperature. Surely this must be a mistake.

Turns out that it was a slight mistake. Slight is the key word in the previous sentence. The temperature is hovering in the mid-60s today. That makes me happy. Yes, sunshine makes me happy. It makes me smile. It makes me whistle.

And what better to whistle than the NCAA basketball tournament theme song -- "One Shining Moment." It makes for a tough tune to whistle, but in any event I'm pumped about the sun...and pumped about March Madness! Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to watch one game of the tournament this year. Seems like the only channel that carries any of the games is the North American Sports Network, and I just don't have that on my satellite.

It's been a good week. Lent term finished this week, so now I've just got Easter term and I'm finished at Cambridge. Pretty hard to believe that the time has gone by so quickly. I've spent most of the week working on papers (a few more left to do), and also continued my marathon watching of The West Wing. In one recent episode that I watched, President Bartlett mentions Christ's College at Cambridge. Funny, I was just there for a formal hall (see photo above). It's a lovely college at Cambridge, and I dined with fellow Rotary Scholar Jason Sauer (of Christ's) and our mutual friend John Burlew. I worked with John this past summer at NSA, and Jason and John know each other from Kentucky. They like to talk about bourbon together.

Not much going on this weekend besides more paper writing and getting ready for a visit from my parents!

Weekend!!!

Cambridge, England

It's been a busy week in Cambridge, and it's not going to slow down anytime soon. I just finished a major project for school. In short, I finished a semester-long consulting project for a high-tech startup company in Cambridge. I was in a group of four, and we presented to the client today. They seemed to appreciate our insight. It's a relief to be finished with that, but now I've got to get on about 10,000 words worth of papers. Awesome.

I should update folks on my current research, or my research next term for my dissertation rather. It's important to note because I'll be in the US (Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Austin, San Francisco) from April 8-27. It will be nice to be in the States for a bit, especially since I'll be working on an exciting project. Exciting to me at least...

So the deal is that Louisiana passed a tax-credit program a while back that's targeted at the film industry. Basically film companies get tax-credits -- that they can actually sell for cash -- to produce movies in LA. Although the ROI on the tax-credit is tough to gauge, it is clear that there has been an increase in the industry. Ray (filmed in LA) just won some Academy Awards and All the King's Men (Jude Law, Sean Penn, Kate Winslett) just finished up in BR...as did Jessica Simpson and the Dukes of Hazard.

The BR Chamber of Commerce and Louisiana Technology Park are going to sponsor my dissertation at Cambridge, and I'll be researching this tax-credit issue for the video game industry. I'm excited about this, especially because my conclusions should have an impact on state policy. I'll be in BR for a week and a half, and also conduct a bunch of interviews in Austin and San Francisco. Will keep the blog posted.

Andy and Jason in Stockholm

I had a great time in Stockholm this past weekend with Rotary Scholar friend Jason Sauer. We flew in on Friday and came back yesterday. Click here for some pictures. The pictures also include photos from a farewell dinner for my friend Yousuf, who moved to Oxford on Monday, as well as a few from formal hall at Queens' College.

Sweden was flat out cold. There was snow everywhere...probably the most that I've seen ina big city environment. The museums -- we saw the Nobel Prize Museum and the history museum -- provided a good break from the chilly weather. There were also a few giant indoor markets that we woandered through to warm up. Coffee is of course served in Stockholm as well, and that was a final warmup opportunity. You know what else is served? Tons and tons of hot dogs! Unbelievable...every corner seemed to reveal another hot dog vendor.

We stayed with my friend Niklas Ringby, who is a tall, sharp dressing Swede. And of course, Niklas has blond hair. That said, I was surprised that there weren't more blonds in Sweden. And as Niklas pointed out, many of those blonds are fake! Can you believe it? In short, those fantasies that you guys have about all the beautiful Swedish blonds are gonna be short-lived upon your arrival for a visit. In any event, we had a splendid time in the country. We didn't make it to the famed Ice Bar, but we had an awesome evening on Saturday as Niklas cooked us a fine dinner. And it didn't hurt that we were in the company of a few Swedish beauties (fake blonds of course).

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

Three Cliffs Bay, Wales

Written in Cambridge, England

We've had snow flurries several times in the past week or so, and the sun continues to shy away from this lovely little village. The days are getting longer, but oh how I miss the warmth of the sunshine. This weekend I am off to Sweden, where I'm sure to get tons of rays! Ha...

It has been quite a long time since I wrote, so it would be best for me to include a few random updates.

First, I was in the great ole USA early last month for an office visit in Washington. Believe it or not, this kid has finally accepted a full-time job. Yes, hard to believe it...but I will be starting sometime in the coming months as a consultant at Deloitte. I will be working for federal public sector clients on strategy and operations. And, believe it or not, I'm actually quite ready (finally) to be finished with school and get on with the "real world." I am excited about the work that I will be doing, moving to DC, earning an income, getting into a routine, and having nights and weekends to relax (and not focus on grad research). Of course, I'll be crying for university life fairly soon, I imagine.

Second, my time really is starting to come to a close over here, so I'm trying to squeeze in as much travel as possible. I had some visitors from Holland in January, Sjoerd and Ilse, and we had a great time in London and then in lovely Cambridge. I am hoping to go and see them next month. As I mentioned, I'll be in Sweden this weekend to visit my friend Niklas Ringby in Stockholm. There's a big crew going: another Rotary scholar and 4 Fulbright kids. We should have a grand time. The big trip planned though is a jaunt over to Egypt with Heather Hill (friend from UT and studying in Cardiff, Wales) and Josh Peters (in my course at Cambridge, Fulbright kid). We'll be in Cairo for a few days, and plan to see Giza, Aswan, Luxor, and hopefully some beaches, deserts, and an oasis. Watch for those pictures.

Third, speaking of pictures...I've got 'em! Here are some great pictures, including some truly gorgeous shots from my visit to see Heather in Wales last week. We had a great time...saw lots of sheep, had some great hiking, and of course planned out our upcoming trip to Egypt!

Finally, I should mention my recent addiction to the West Wing. I had never seen the TV show before...until Jon (Cambridge Fulbright kid) and Josh introduced me two weeks ago. Now I can't stop watching! Luckily, I was able to borrow season one and two, so I'm in business.