Lake District Trip!

My room - 4 beds all to myself!

A few days before I left Manchester to return to the US, I had the privilege to go on a 3-day trip with some of the students in the Creative Technology Masters program, basically the equivalent of the ETC at the University of Salford. We spent a few days exploring the flora, fauna, and notable sites in an area of the UK known as the Lake District. Specifically, we were in Grasmere, staying in a hostel called Thorney How. The Lake District was so beautiful!

Also on this trip, I got to know the Creative Tech students and some of the things they were working on. Their projects were quite innovative, just like at the ETC! For example, one of the students is working on a game where the protagonist is an actual person in the world, being controlled remotely by another player. He's even created his own headset, complete with webcam for remote viewing of the world the "avatar" is traversing, for that purpose. I also learned about the use of the Microsoft Kinect for real-time 3D modeling. I think this in particular is quite exciting. There are so many useful applications for being able to extract this data that the Kinect comes up, especially for 3D modelers! So, not only did I get to relax and see some absolutely gorgeous scenery, but I also returned from my trip inspired and excited to delve into some new topics--I've brought quite a few ideas back with me, both for independent projects and perhaps for a future ETC pitch!

One of many stunning views!