As I wait to board my final flight from Heathrow to Philadelphia, just a pond away from being at home with my loved ones, I cannot say that I am not excited. It's been long road from where we began. For me, the summer that started in Myrtle took me all over- San Francisco, New York, Martha's Vineyard, Durham (NC), cities and towns across Northern England, and finally back in the City of Brotherly Love, my home.
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Celeste again! These past ten weeks have flown by! I have truly enjoyed my time in both Durham, NC and Durham, UK! Yesterday, evening, we had our final reflection session. It was so inspiring to hear about all of the new things everyone has learned this summer and all of the things they plan to take back to the states...I, for one, plan to drink a lot more tea! :)
In preparation for coming back to Durham, NC, check out this BuzzFeed article on some of the best things to do (and eat) in Durham, NC! http://www.buzzfeed.com/christinalan/reasons-its-practically-impossible-to-leave-durham-nc#.gh1K5zmkp Hi, it's Yasmine!
Before I came to Durham, I imagined Durham to be a countryside with a university pulling the economy, and thus developing slightly around the campus. After having been here for over two weeks, I see Durham as a small compact town rich in history. It’s not carefully planned like some big cities, but all the bridges, brick buildings, the Cathedral and the Castle fit so well together in the most natural way. It’s small, but has everything you’d need in daily life. Everyday, I walk from Grey College all the way across the town, via the beautiful city centre, and finally to Waddington Street Centre, a nice and cosy place building inside and out. Waddington is a mental health centre. Over a span of three weeks, my work is divided into the 3 major parts of Waddington- Health Training, Education, and Support. It’s been exciting for me everyday since I’m always doing something different and seeing all parts of Waddington. At the same time, everything’s consistent and centred around mental health. In the past two weeks, I’ve been exposed to some general mental health issues and realized how little I knew as well as how distorted stereotypes are of this group of people. At Waddington, I’ve been able to see the struggles people face associated with mental health as well as the obstacles they’ve managed to overcome. At the same time, I’m constantly amazed by how talented everyone is. Every day, I go to work expecting to see more surprise that’s yet to come, whether it’s with badminton, football, painting, etc. Words cannot describe how incredible things are here, and how glad and grateful I am to be immersed in the warm and welcoming atmosphere at Waddington. Time has flown by so fast, and it’s hard to believe that this week would be my last week here- but of course, I’m still looking forward to seeing all the wonders that would never cease here. Grace checking in. It’s been a busy past three weeks, and I can’t believe we only have 1 short week left until we’re back in the states! We’ve had a lot of day trips and discussions dealing with the past and present of Durham: the mining history with Beamish & Killihope, medieval history & Bamburgh & Lindisfarne, a panel with the Durham City Council discussing economic development, a tour of Netpark, and the weekly DukeEngage group reflections. These trips were supplemented by my own weekend travels, visiting Newcastle, Edinburgh, York, and Leeds.
The strong sense of cultural heritage in Durham, and in various towns and regions of the country have been deeply impressed on me. [I supposed I should say city, since people here will correct you if you say town, but I tease my Southern friends that Durham, NC isn’t a city either.] I’m amazed how much we talk about mining [and frankly, how much there can possible be said about mining]. At present, Durham seems very quiet and lackadaisical, but since it is summer and the majority of the population i.e. students is gone, it makes sense. Durham, and England in general, distinctly differs from the US in that just about everything except pubs and the Tesco closes up at 5 pm, whereas hours are much longer and more convenient for people working 9-5 jobs in the U.S. From talking to various parties, it seems that Durham’s primary economic problems are geographic, cultural, and educational. The portions of the population that are seeking higher education are also leaving Durham to seek better jobs and more affordable housing. It seems that Durham, UK has a similar economic inequality issue as in Durham, NC. We see a lot of nice cars and large houses, and prices here are very high, so there is clearly a lot of wealth here, but poverty and whole families of chronically unemployed persons aren’t uncommon. I’m excited for the upcoming week with our largest camp of scullers, which will be travelling to Newcastle daily to row on the Tyne. |
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