Highlands & low-lands: a summer to remember

This has been a summer for the record books. I gave my first big-deal conference talk, turned 25, had my first real journal article accepted, submitted two new articles, and found and moved into my first real Cambridge house (no more dorm! for the first time since... well, high school). And this is all since my last post! Omg. Whoever said summer was a vacation?!
In between, though, I did have some serious vacation (although honestly, my life is a vacation).

Big Deal Conference was in Aberdeen, Scotland, near the Scottish Highlands, so afterwards my friend Susannah and I hiked in some HIGHlands - whoa. She's from Dublin and "misses mountains", but wow, for someone from the prairie these were a little unnerving.
Here's me at the top pointing at the spot where we started going up the mountain.
Then Susannah and I took lots of trains way south to a friend's house in Cornwall, which has AMAZING beaches! We made good use of them - the sand sculpture in the back is the Sphinx! (I made the nuclear reactor in the front...)
This island is called Dinosaur Rock. Can you see the stegosaurus? :)
And I got my first tattoo of the summer. Yes, Mom, it already washed off... so I had to get another one this weekend. :) And this one has GLITTER!
In between these adventures in the surprisingly strong English sun, I did a ton of work and some serious playing in Cambridge, including rowing, eating ice cream, sight-seeing, and punting on the Cam. We punted all the way to Grantchester, the next town! It took forever, but we kept the beer cold by holding the cans in the river...
Now it's 1AM and I'm waiting for the 3AM bus to Heathrow. Whoa. I've been planning this research trip for months and it's actually going to start tomorrow?! Where did the summer go?
Whatever, this two-month adventure in New England will be fun travel-based learning with lots of figuring out new places. Sounds like a "holiday" to me!!