Archery, A Picnic, and a Tour

Nina has another intern this summer, Ariana, who just arrived at the castle last night. She's an English university student, so she arrived later than me because she was still writing exams. There's no official orientation or anything for her, and I can't imagine what it would be like to arrive here without previous experience! Nina asked me to meet Ariana for breakfast this morning, and I showed her around the castle and gardens and wrote out some key info for her (for example: the punch code to get into the castle! And how to get mail, when meals are, etc etc).

This afternoon, we and all the students were invited to a picnic with the Friends of Herstmonceux, a group of local residents. It was fun talking to them about life in the village, local events, and castle history.

Coincidentally, the castle was also hosting an archery and falconry event today, so we all went outside with one of the Friends to try our hands at bows and arrows!

In other news, today is the 14th annual NPIDA Ceili, and the first one that I haven't attended! I'm looking forward to watching the video of all the performances. Lauren sent me a photo from a bunch of the girls backstage right before the show, which made my day. Hats off to my mom and Cheryl for their work on the annual slideshow, and to Dad and Pat for what I'm sure will be another wonderful job on the sound and lighting. Below is one of my favourite Ceili photos from a couple of years ago; I'm on the far left, with friends from the championship class. 

Photo by Moira