Twelfth & the thirteenth of August (Weather Report: Rainy) August 14, 2008

Ok I’m here to finish off on our last 2 days.

12 August

We met our new teacher, Jacob (from Costa Rica), who is teaching us human geography. It is was a lesson that made my brain juices churn and I’m sure all of us felt much more intellectual after that. In the morning, had a very interactive discussion cum debate. Have never done something like this before! So, we’re now brimming with ideas, concepts and arguments on the good/bad of Globalisation! It’s really different from school as we are encouraged and maybe even forced (in a good way) to think. We focused mainly on the impacts as well as the main players in this ‘process’ that has transformed the world drastically.

In the afternoon, Jacob brought us for lunch at this area where there are many asian and local shops. At this place, a new ‘Walmart’ supermarket is going to be built (a true example of globalisation!) We discussed how this will affect the local community and realised how globalisaion is so real to the lives of everyone.

We went to this fantastic Indian restaurant place with very nice curry and dishes. Even the plain rice is nice! And the shopkeeper talked to us about Singapore and how he likes to go to Mustapha!

YUM YUM

And then we went punting along River Cam! And its much more fun and exciting then I thought. Hahaha. My assumption before that was that we were just going to be floating slowly. But instead, we took turns the punt and it requires a lot of skill and strength! No wonder it is a famous sport in the history of Cambridge for a long time.

The ride along the river was filled with very old and beautiful bridges as well as buildings, such as king’s and st claire’s college. Ahhhh! Very very lovely scenery

We did an economics assignment as we attempted to calculate the money earned in the tourism industry in Cambridge town.

13 August

Okay today in the morning it was inter-disciplinary studies with the Econs students. We went from Girton college, the one we’re at, the Newhall, a college with a much newer and more modern building. We had a lecture on economics followed by a lecture on the economic implications of climate change. It was fascinating, how geography and economics were so closely connected!

After lunch at Cambridge town centre with our fellow Geography class classmates, we headed to the fenlands. I daresay, this is the best and most memorable experience in all our geog trips! We took a hike along big areas of grassland and through narrow paths along the marshes to experience physical geography for ourselves. I’m not sure how long we walked but it felt like about 4km. On top on that, it started raining, with winds that threatened to blow us away. We braved the muddy grounds, and endless paths to eventually reach a shop that served traditional black English tea. By then, all of us were wet and freezing but we admitted that this was what made the experience better! Jacob even commented that this was a good way to build character. We learnt about how governments are struggling to preserve lands like those that we walked through. This is indeed the best form of learning!

By the end of it, all of us were wet but happy! (Actually maybe only some of us were happy)

Farewell! Hope you enjoyed the updates!

10/11 Geogust August 14, 2008

10 August

This is guest blogger Timothy, from the land of Cuba.

10 is a whole number.
So is it that we spent a whole day in London.
thank you.

Thank You Timothy. (He did not own Geog)

Btw, this is Timothy. He is currently in Mumbai scaring people with his deep understanding of Humanity. (In other words, he’s weird) Instead of turning your head 90 degrees to the left, you can turn it 270 degrees to the right to look at him. (Timothy is questioning if this is possible)

Us sleeping on the train to London. And taking the tube.

Monica with the Big Ben! Also, the London flyer and River Thames. We also went to Westminister Abbey which was beautiful although I don’t have a photo of it.

THE British Museum with wonderful architecture. Good exhibits too. And yummy hotdogs!

We caught stomp which made everyone all hyped up afterwards. Then some shopping and a meal before we headed back in a long exhausting Journey from London back to Cambridge.

So, we learnt to be more independent when travelling and we appreciated lots of art and culture.

11 August

The geography, biotech and history groups headed out to London again! We went to the museum of natural history which, in my opinion, was the best museum ever. There was a really good and interesting earth exhibit that was closely related to geography, where we learnt about lithospheric processes, climate, natural hazazrds and mitigation, and much more!

Also, there was another wonderful exhibition on mammals where we saw a life sized giant blue whale that really overwhelmed us. ‘It was larger than life.’ -Tim. There were also dinosaur bones and various replicas of mammals, including extinct ones.

Us outside the best ever museum

The giant whale (too big to be captured), an elephant, rhinoceros and dinosaur bones hanging above. And a cool globe at the earth section!

We headed also to the science museum that also had really impressive exhibits. Sadly, we didn’t have nearly enough time at either of the museums. I must say though, experiential learning is great!

Bye I shall continue on another post.

9 August a.k.a. National Day :D August 14, 2008

Hello, Charis here blogging on behalf of the Geog students, using Monica’s photos, cos she has very good photos! And I’ll be blogging for the past 5 days since we haven’t been blogging. We’re really busy with work and activities!

9 August

First we had a new teacher, Adrian, to teach us about glaciation. We were a little lost at first since we’ve never done it. Anyway, the fun part came after lunch when we were brought to the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) which is supposed to be quite well known. We had already been there once to learn about physical and human geog aspects of ice sheets, especially at Greenland, the Artic and Antartic.

This time, we went down to the basement of SPRI to take part in snow-making! Both Miss Teo and Mr Rajoo were so excited by the notion of this that they both decided to follow us. Adrian described to us the various methods of snowmaking and about conditions at polar regions. We wore thick layers of clothing as we prepared to enter the room which measured -40 degree celcius! The process was interesting and it excited everyone, especially Miss Teo, since there were some parts of this related to Biology. Unfortunately, the ice we made wasn’t powdery enough, it was too wet and had to be disposed of.

This is us with the polar bear at SPRI! Turn your head to look at it, I don’t know how to rotate it.

A random photo of us outside Girton and another on a nice grass field

Us, mentally and physically preparing ourselves for the cold

A photo with Gareth and Adrian, our teachers

Ok, hope this was good! I’ll continue the entry on another post! Oh btw, its also national day and we had this really good celebration! Yay.

August 8, 2008

Sara here reporting on behalf of the Geoggers. Yesterday afternoon was really exciting as we headed down to the Sedgwick museum. It basically contained various rock specimens. This may seem boring but it was actually very cool and exciting. Shall let the pictures do the talking:

Passed by corpus christi college, its 650 years old!

Here at the Sedgwick earth museum (sorry, couldn’t rotate the photo)

And here is a rock found that has gone through folding, as seen by the folded layers of sediments

And this was found at a fault zone

Here are some rocks found at constructive margin

Rocks at a destructive boundary

We had a greater insight into the products formed from previous geological activities that include even meteorite invasions. (whoo) For physical Geography, I realised, it’s more of a hands-on subject. being there to experience every part of its technicality can only bring appreciation for the Earth and its mystics to a whole new level.

Today we went to the famous Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) and had a look-see of research the scientists are currently doing. Most are based on the glacial parts of the earth such as, for physical science, the mapping of melting/moving velocity to track changes in climate up there in the Arctic, and on the social science half, Ms Martina does anthropological work on polar bears and the Inuits in the Arctic and their ways of life in the North Pole. Had a mini-lecture on polar bears and its reaction to human behaviour, and vice versa. don’t have pictures right now but i’ll try to edit this post with livelier photos of polar bears, penguins and the late Captain Scott’s Research team who died returning from the South Pole. So, hold your horses and till i get hold of the amazing photos, have a great time anticipating them alright.

Cheers,
Sara

Geography Day 1/2 August 6, 2008

Hello everybody! Adela here blogging for Geography!

Yesterday, we got a pretty good Orientation of the town centre together with the History people. We picked up some essentials for lunch and enjoyed the sights of Cambridge. Although we didn’t enter all of the colleges like King’s, (I think it’s £4 per entry o_O) we managed to view the exterior of the buildings and we also managed to enter Queen’s college and we saw the River Cam.

Walking into the city centre and past Queen’s College.

At the bridge overlooking River Cam.

Crossing the Mathematical Bridge…

In Queen’s college..

The back alley of Queen’s college

We’re actually having our lunch break now. In 45 minutes, we’re going to head out back into the city centre and go to the Sedgewick Earth Museum to continue what we were learning this morning – Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Our teacher is very passionate about Geography and we strengthened our knowledge on plate tectonics and learnt some new and interesting facts that we did not know previously.

Here’s to gaining even more Geographical knowledge later today! (:

GEOG ROCKS :D August 5, 2008

Hello everyone, we just reached Cambridge! Girton college is lovely. Lessons on lithospheric processes start tmr, going to Cambridge town soon. Btw, we’re 7 hours behind Singapore! Its really nice and exciting. We’ll update again when we have more photos (: