Sunday 27th: rambling? bowling.

I'd signed up for the rambling mystery walk for today. This is where the secretary of the club picks a location which is secret to everyone else. I'm not exactly sure what the benefit of that would be, but I was interested because we were just taking a minibus for this day, which apparently would mean that we could get to some places which were not accessible with the normal large coach bus that we normally take.

I got ready and then waited at the point where I was supposed to be picked up. The times were slightly different for today since there were limited people coming. The bus stops at multiple locations throughout the campus and in the suburbs, so I was the only one getting on at this stop. I was 5 minutes early. The bus didn't show up. After some time, probably about 10 minutes, it was 5 minutes later than when the bus was supposed to arrive. I wondered if I'd missed the bus. I decided to walk to a different bus stop which was the last place the bus would be picking up people. I got there and met another girl also waiting for the rambling bus. I'd met her a few weeks earlier. She's from Manchester and studies nutrition. She was early as well, so it looked like we hadn't missed the bus. At a time about 20 minutes later than the bus was supposed to arrive someone stopped by us in a small car. He told us that the secretary couldn't get the minibus to work, so the walk was cancelled. Damn.

I walked back home and had some relaxing time in my room. I missed brunch because I changed my phone clock forward an hour but forgot to do the same to my laptop. The clocks changed last night. I was annoyed at missing brunch.

Some other people had talked about having a picnic today, but it was cancelled because the weather was not that great. Grey overcast.

In the afternoon Matthias let me know that they were going ice skating. I walked to Fred's house and met Fred, Matthias, and Charlotte. We walked to the ice skating place. Their last ice skating session was finishing in 15 minutes, so we'd have to do that another day. The bowling place was just around the corner. We decided to bowl instead.

We played two games.I won the first, and Matthias won the second. Fred had an unlucky streak for both games after a pretty good opening performance.

After bowling, I played some air hockey against Matthias. I won the first game, Matthias won the second.

The winning score card at bowling.

Fred and Charlotte.

 After that we went to find a chinese restaurant. We found a buffet chinese restaurant. It was fairly cheap and good. We ate lots of chinese stuff. I remembered again that food is supposed to taste like something. For dessert I ate lots of jelly and a few other things. I like jelly.

Then we walked home. Fred asked if I wanted to hang out for a while but I was feeling pretty tired so I went home.

Saturday 26th March: gliding

I didn't take any pictures today.It was really cold outside, and I was focusing more on flying well.

I went gliding this day again. Last week I borrowed 10 pounds from Bjorn because he wanted to get back as early as possible and when we stopped at an ATM later in Nottingham it turned out that I couldn't withdraw any money with my card. So, I went there so that I could put 10 pounds on his account. Also, gliding is fairly good fun.

The weather today was really lousy though. Lots of grey cloud and it became quite windy throughout the day.

But I had lots of food. Last weekend gliding I had no food. This time I had lots. So I had energy. I helped out people with things like we're supposed to, apparently. I talked with some airforce people about stuff. One guy has been posted to Afghanistan a few times. He was telling me that the enemy weapons are fairly basic, but they can use them in a way which makes them effective. They were able to shoot down at least one British plane. They know some common routes that the planes fly through. They put some people in this area to fire at the plane. Then, it had limited logical routes which it would turn to in order to evade this firing. At those locations they had other people with guns who then somehow had a much better shot angle and were able to take down the plane. After that, apparently the British Airforce improved their tactics a little and added some extra technology to the planes. It was really interesting.

I did 4 launches in the glider today. I continued my training, this time including some extra controls. I learnt how to select a certain 'attitude' in order to control the speed of the glider. To do this you adjust the angle of the glider relative to the horizon in order to adjust the speed, then keep it at that angle by adjusting the trim control. The trim is connected to the forward and backward direction of the stick.

I did some turns, this time also using the rudder controls to counter the drag which pushes the nose around a bit when you tilt the plane with the wing ailerons. So the rudder controls keep the aircraft facing into the turn, which is pretty much required in order to turn properly.

Mostly my flying time was spent focusing on doing these sorts of things while keeping the speed constant and comfortable. When you turn, the aircraft wants to shift around in different ways, so it requires attention to get it right. Afterward the instructor said my flying was really good! He wrote a comment on my progress sheet. Hooray. Maybe soon they would let me try and land it. *nervous*

We finished a bit earlier today because the weather was really bleak. After packing up we went to the bar where someone gave us a talk about how to maximize effectiveness when taking long distance journeys. It was all about understanding the air systems in order to predict where the best choices of updrafts would be to maximize efficiency. There is quite a lot in it! It's all fairly logical, but it's interesting how far you can go with predicting where they would be, while being fairly accurate. A big variety of situations can generate a significant effect. I think it's really cool that gliding requires you to understand atmospheric systems. It's a good practical motivation to learn that stuff.

We eventually got to leave. I got back to Nottingham and bought a cheese pizza. Delicious.

Monday 21st - Friday 25th March: studying, procrastinating, and picnic.

I'm not really sure what I did for all these days. I've written this blog too late. I think that I was feeling a bit frustrated for quite a few days probably because I didn't get enough sleep. I think I didn't get much sleep because I decided that this week I'd eat breakfast each day. They stop serving breakfast at about 9:25. Way too early.

On a few days there was really great weather. I was walking to lunch and got a message from Marion saying that she was having a picnic with some people near the Portland building. I got some pasta with my card money and met them. The weather was really great. I tried some of Marion's Austrian bread. They had too much food. After eating we walked closer to the lake and fed the ducks with the leftover bread. It was great fun.

These pictures were taken by some other people:

Sun was in my eyes!

One of the geese was very mean. I threw bread at its head a few times. It was unperturbed.

 A few nights this week I went walking after dinner with Amanda, Amelia, and some of the other international students who live in the same hall as me. The weather was really good so it was still warm-ish after the sun went down. There are quite a few bats that fly around the lake at night eating insects! Amelia pointed them out for me. Billie sang an impromptu song for some complete strangers. She sang a section of the Chinese national anthem. I think I annoyed Amanda a little once because I am not a very big supporter for some decisions the United States government makes at times.

One night I think I went and did some studying with Matthias, Fred, and Charlotte in the library. I got quite a bit of work done. It was good. I made good progress in Coding and Cryptology. Maybe I stated it in an earlier blog already: I find it really cool that data on pretty much any digital storage device is encoded in a way so that errors are expected to occur regularly and be corrected using redundant extra information in the encoded data. I didn't know this. I also think this Richard Hamming guy, who invented the concept, was really cool. He just wondered, that given that the computer knows an error exists, why it can't then also correct it. He developed some theory, and then the computers could correct the errors. Hooray.

On Tuesday night I met with Paul and Didier in the Mooch bar and had a beer with them. I think Paul had drunk a little bit already. He made me sing a ridiculous Belgian song that apparently made me say something silly. He wanted me to teach him an Australian one, but I couldn't really think of any that wouldn't make me cringe with awkwardness.

On Thursday night I was feeling very stressed trying to finish my scientific computing assignment. I couldn't get access to the lecture notes until quite late because the lecturer kept forgetting to upload them. I got them really late on the night before it was due. Before that, I spent some time in the George Green library trying to find something that could help me figure it out. But the concept seems to be one that isn't very popular. None of the books talked about it. Very frustrating and stressful.

Sunday 20th: rambling in the Peaks District.

[ photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/110144623598348247797/20110320?authkey=Gv1sRgCMPE5MWmhfefqQE# ] 

More rambling. A few of the other exchange students decided to come today: Charlotte, Paolo, Fred, Marion, and Matthias, as well as Paul and Didier. Earlier in the week the weather report said it would be sunny, so the others were excited by that. But the weather is really volatile. It turned out to be very wet this day.

I talked with Didier for quite a bit about electronic engineering and stuff. His masters thesis is investigating how practical it could be to use the existing technology that is designed to store energy (hydrogen fuel cells, etc) and use them on a large scale as part of some kind of green energy grid.

I thought the scenery was a bit bleak today, but maybe that is just in comparison to last weekend when I was in the Lake District which has especially great scenery.

Rainbow.

We stopped for lunch to the left of this stream.

This is the second highest pub in england at 520 metres. The highest is 8 metres higher. We had some beer here! I had a pint of chips.

Photo credits to Frederic. Marion is in front, Matthias on left, Didier, Me, Paolo, and Charlotte on the right.

Saturday 19th: gliding

[ photos from today: https://picasaweb.google.com/110144623598348247797/20110319?authkey=Gv1sRgCMToytCGiIKGwAE# ]

Last tuesday I signed up to go gliding for this day.

I woke up early and met some other people by the portland building at 7:50. We drove to the airfield in cars. I was in a european car, where the steering wheel is on the left side. I found myself in the front passenger seat somehow. Very strange.

We got to the airfield. It's about 30 miles east from Nottingham in a straight line. RAF Cranwell. I needed to get a temporary visitor pass. I got a red one, like the german guy that drove us there, which meant that I had to be escorted around the base, whereas the English people had a green one which meant that they could apparently go around as they please. The others in the club thought that was weird, that I didn't get a green one even thuogh I'm in the commonwealth. It was all a bit incosequential to me.

We took a big double decker bus out onto the airfield. Since they spend the whole day out there, they have some food making facilities on it. A lady gave us some talk about safety. You have to be careful when walking out away from the bus since the gliders make no noise while landing and they could fall ontop of you without you realising. After that, the gliders seemed to be set up, so they asked myself and the other new guy, a guy from Switzerland, if we wanted to go up in one. We said yes. This was good. I'd heard from others that sometimes the weather can be bad which means they get to the airfield and spend all day maintaining the gliders. But today was really good weather.

We went up in separate gliders, sitting in the front position with an experienced pilot behind us. We had to wear a parachute. Just in case. The parachute directions are to jump out and pull the bar straight away. Don't count to three. I think this is probably because the gliders were flying only at around 1000 feet. Probably not enough time to wait.

The take off was amazing. I was quite scared as well. My foot was quivering a bit. It seems like such a ridiculous thing to do. A cable is attached to the glider and far on the other side of the landing field, a big 7 litre v8 engine pulls the cable which causes the glider to lift into the air, like a kite. The pilot gets all the altitude possible from the speed (about 1000 feet this day), then releases the cable which falls to the ground with a small parachute attached. Then the glider floats around and tries to find some updrafts to maintain altitude.

The build up before the first launch made me quite anxious. But then the cable tightened, we gained a lot of speed, started rising quickly into the air, and were given a brilliant view around us. I was still a bit nervous, but the glider seemed to be staying up alright and the whole thing was really amazing.

The Swiss guy getting briefed on the stuff.

landing.

We got three launches and then let some other people have a go in the glider. We had an army person with us taking charge of things. He was very keen to make sure that everyone was doing something. I felt a bit conflicted: I don't mind helping out, but I don't want to be attaching cables to things if I don't quite know how it works. The day dragged on a bit. Luckily the weather was really good. I eventually figured out how to attach the cable to the glider. I also helped push a glider from the hanger all the way to where we were set up. I think next time I might do some more things, but I like to first watch and understand how it works.

This guy is holding the wings level since this glider is about to be launched into the sky. As soon as the glider gets some speed due to the cable pull, the wings will stay level on their own.

This is the first glider I went up in. It's a really advanced one!

A glider being launched.

... being launched more...

It was a really good day so lots of gliders got into the air. In the afternoon everyone had already gone once, so I got to go another time. My flights in the morning were comparatively short because the updrafts in the air weren't yet very good because it takes a while for the heat from the sun to disrupt the air. This time I was less nervous and so I was eager to try controlling it myself. The pilot behind me showed me how to adjust the speed by pointing the nose up or down and to put it into a turn by putting the stick left which adjusts the aileron flaps on the wing. I wasn't sure me turning it would put the aircraft into a spiralling death spin. It didn't! Also, the pilot said that he could probably handle it if I did. It is really amazing to have full control of the thing and to see the earth rotating around underneath you as a result. The gliders are very responsive. I think this is an amazing way to fly.

This is the glider which I took control of. I was quite proud of it.

After that the afternoon dragged on a bit. The airforce person had set himself a personal goal that 100 launches would be accomplished. He wasn't going to stop until we had done that. Finally we got to 100. I was a little short of the money I was owing. I forgot to extract money for the day. I was going to use an ATM but Bjorn was in a hurry so he loaned me 10 pounds.

Sunset. There's also a glider there...

The Swiss guy got to drive the double decker bus. He was getting the full english experience.

We finally got back to Nottingham fairly late. I was very hungry since I also forgot to buy food for this day. So I walked to Beeston, got lots of snacks from Tesco and a cheese pizza from a food place.

This morning while walking to the pick-up point, I also took a few pictures of the campus. They're just a minor thing compared to the gliding, so here they are at the end of the blog:

That is something like Lincoln Hall on the right, and Derby Hall on the left. I have to walk across this field to get to lessons and for lunch and stuff (if I want lunch somewhere different to Derby hall, which I do).

Squirrels like these trees.

Heading toward the library which can be seen a little bit. Portland Building is beyond this.

In the evening I bought food at Tesco's. I got a 10 pack of fortune cookies. 1 pound reduced to 50p.

Monday 14th - Friday 18th: studying, movie, miscellaneous

I did a bit of studying this week. I've got a fair bit to do and I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed possibly. I had this idea that it might be helpful to write up all the mathematical theorems and definitions I'm supposed to know for linear analysis and put them on the wall so that I can easily remind myself of how they all interrelate.

Cutting out all the maths theorems.

The names / brief summary of some stuff I'm supposed to know for numerical methods.

Some people kicking a football around. These people were actually a little skilled. Before this, I strangely noticed that there was always one person in the group that was consistently terribly inaccurate to a comedic degree. But these people are good.

All the stuff for chapter one of Linear Analysis. There are 8 chapters in the module. The blue things are definitions. You can make any definition you want. It's just a convenient way of naming things that posess some properties. The orange things are theorems. They relate combinations of objects posessing certain properties to other objects. All theorems need to be proven by using definitions and logic in a rigorous and sometimes complex way. That's what a lot of maths is about.

 On tuesday night I went to the mooch bar in the portland building to find the gliding club. I found them and signed up for the coming saturday. I also found Paul Mignot from Belgium whom I met at rambling, and another exchange student he was sitting with, Didier from Switzerland. After signing up to the gliding club I sat with those guys for a while, drank some beer, and talked about some cool things. Didier is a masters student studying electrical engineering. I've just started getting into electronics in quite a basic way, so I was interested to hear what he had to say about it.

On Wednesday I went to the Savoy Cinema with Matthias, Charlotte, Paolo, Fred, and Fred's housemate.We watched Battle: Los Angeles. The premise of the movie was something like "aliens invade Los Angeles and some army people have to hold them off". That sounded pretty cool but unfortunately I think this was the worst movie I have ever seen. It was bad in basically every way. The aliens were stupid, the "marines" could only speak using cliches, the action was boring and repetitive, out of 3 adult "civilians" that they come across, one turned out to be a veterinarian who is able to do an autopsy of the half dead alien corpse for them, the boy of 8 years old is feeling okay again 1 minute after his father's death by the marine's stating that he is now also a marine, and, 'marine's never give up'..... That's just the beginning. The list of criticisms of the movie could continue a long time.

Luckily Savoy Cinema is very cheap so we didn't really mind. We all had the same opinion of the film so it was a bit amusing.

Thursday was St Patrick's day. I only heard about it in the morning, and as I started to think about it decided I didn't really need to go out for that. It's not really my favourite scene. I stayed home, did a lot of homework, and read some of 'The Dying Earth' by Jack Vance. Possibly the best fantasy novel ever.

I think Friday was fairly uneventful.

Sunday 13th: walking in lake district. Great weather. Head back to Nottingham

[ all pictures from this day: https://picasaweb.google.com/110144623598348247797/20110313?authkey=Gv1sRgCPLzz8mdj-_PNw#  ]

Most people took a little longer getting up this morning. I was just a little tired, so I was alright once I got out of bed. But some others had drunk a little too much the night before. I decided to do walk 3 today. Walk 5 was cancelled. Walk three looked similar to walk 4. It was just 500 metres shorter but seemed to have a more enthusiastic description suggesting there would be some cool things to see. In addition there was a 'walk 0' this day, for people who for whatever reason are feeling unable to do any of the walks. These people can spend the day walking around the town. It's quite a nice town.

We caught the bus out of town a little way to the side of a ridge to start our walk.

First shot of the day and the weather looks really great! Great contrast to the day before.

We started off walking up the side of this ridge. It was a little tiring, but partway up I took my waterproof pants off and then felt a lot better. They were making me too hot. No need for waterproof pants today. Hooray!

Peaking over the hill is a snowy mountain.

We continually crept closer to this mountain. I asked someone if we were going up there. We were going up there. Sweet!

Crazy wind.

Very windy up here. I just managed to get my waterproof thing on (to block the wind, rather than rain).

Looking back where we have come from.

At the top!

Stomping through the snow.

Having a whale of a time.

To the other side you can see the sea, and accross to the other side. The other side is Scotland (the body of water is more of a gulf).

We stopped here and had some lunch before descending. The ground was completely dry. The sun was out and quite warm. Really great view.

Looking down over Keswick, which we are heading toward.

We walked along the route of an old rail line. We crossed this river a few times.

British engineering. This bridge supposedly won 'concrete structure of the century'.

It was a really nice sunny day and these trees looked especially nice and green.

We're almost in Keswick at this point.

When we got to Keswick someone from my group got a message from one of the other groups saying that all the groups are back, so that when our group gets back they would like to leave, to get back to Nottingham earlier. The people in our group didn't really like that plan. They felt that we payed for a weekend, and we should enjoy as much of it as we could. I agreed. They messaged back saying that we took an alternate route coming back down which would make us a couple hours from returning. So now we just had to stealthily enjoy the sites of the town, avoiding being seen.

We headed to a tea shop, but their tea lounge was closed. They were keen to find a place to buy tea. Then we ran into someone from one of the other groups, but luckily they weren't with the instigator of the plan to leave early, so we were still okay. We headed to a coffee shop. 10 metres from the shop, after crossing the street, we noticed that upstairs in the window was the instigator looking down at us. Our plan was now voided. We went in and said hello to all those people, and the people from my group declared simply that we were going to stay a couple hours at least, to enjoy the place.

I got a scone with jam and cream, and a cup of tea. It was great. I was quite exhausted, so I enjoyed sitting in the coffee shop looking out the upstairs window to the street below. Eventually it was time to leave.

On the journey home I was a little tired. I slept for about 40 minutes. Then we got to Wetherby to get something for dinner. I went to a pizza store and got a 9" margheritta for about 4 pounds. It was very satisfying. We eventually got home and I went inside, got clean again and slept.