epi conference 2009

I spent last weekend up in the Lake District with my former MSc classmates. We're such dorks* and refer to these yearly meetings as our annual 'epidemiology conference'.

I just love meeting up with these girls. We are quite spread out around the UK and see each other only once or twice a year, but we just fall right back into the swing of things so easily.

The weekend was very rainy and rather cold - certainly a lot different weather wise than the weekend with my parents in June. Even though it was just tipping down with rain on Saturday, we were determing to do some walking and conquer a few hills. We managed a short walk around Ambleside and ended up looking like drowned rats. Five hours of walking is a great way to catch up with friends you haven't seen in ages.

Checking the map before we set off






Oh look, something in the fog. Oh no, it's just another sheep.






We returned to the Ambleside youth hostel, where we were staying, completely soaked and replenished our calorie stores with lots of teas, cakes, and Eccles cakes.

On Sunday we hopped onto one of the many boat tours for a trip around Lake Windermere.







Next year we may choose somewhere with a greater probability of sun and warm weather. Berlin perhaps?

** We even used to call pur pub quiz team 'epidemiology is not the study of skin'