Sorry I haven't posted in a while, my only excuse is that I have been very busy, with classes and side-trips.
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/photos/?ref=ts#/album.php?aid=2267231&id=11832732
I realize that this was a while ago, but I wanted to comment on Stonehenge before I forget some of what I learned on the tour. There are several myths associated with the site; one of them being that King Arthur wanted to build something to commemorate a battle in which a large number of Briton's died. Merlin said to move a stone circle from Ireland to England as a memorial; unfortunately the task proved too challenging to Arthur's men. Merlin eventually became upset at the delay, and used magic to move and orient the stones.
Another story mentioned was that Stonehenge is an important burial site; which is true, in the sense that there are a large number of bodies buried in the area. The exact myth I am concerned with is that Stonehenge is the burial site of Aurelius and Uther Pendragon; two brothers who were high king over Britain. The names are even more significant in that they are the Uncle and Father of King Arthur. I got 'chills' from being at a place which some consider significant to Aurthurian legends (I really love the tales of Arthur, chivilry and honor above all, etc...).
One final thing about Stonehenge is that people still have no idea how it was constructed. Apparently, the source for the stone is several hundred miles away. There was a former theory that the slabs were hauled to the ocean near the source, then loaded onto rafts and floated over the ocean, to a river, then up the river to a point about 8 miles from Stonehenge. However, people have tried in modern times to duplicate the feat, using stone and the best rafts that were built at the time (to our present knowledge), and the raft sank as soon as they loaded the stone on. This suggests that the current theories are incomplete or completely inaccurate as to how the builders got the material there in the first place. I find it impressive either way; the massive size of the stones to move, and the exact alignments they are in (see next paragraph).
I am also impressed by the accuracy of placement of these several ton rocks. They are positioned so that on the summer solstace the sun rises and casts a shadow from a 'pointer' rock through the center of the arches to the exact center of the henge (the circle, for those non-anthropologists out there). What is more impressive to me is the arches in general; they can be used as a callendar at least 5 months out of the year (if the other arches were standing I mean). This is because for the May, the sun rises and is visible from the center of the henge through the left arch. June it is visible through the center, and July, the right arch. The same pattern was observed where the previous arches stood. Think about the engineering required for this - the math would have to be worked out ahead of time, because it would be impossible to just move several ton rocks around if you put one two feet too far right. Also, this means that you have to know exactly where everything will go before you actually put it there, because you don't want to ruin your solstace marker when you put in the next set of arches. The math/engineering skill required simply amazes me.
Other stuff I have been up to:
I tried to go to Tywyn last weekend, the site of the Tal-y-llyn railroad; where the Rev. Wilbert Awdry volunteered and was inspired to write the Thomas the Tank Engine/Railroad series stories and is a working steam railroad with two engines over a hundred years old and still running. It took 5 hours to get there my train, and once I got there I found out that the museum was closed, and was opening this weekend instead (the website had an inaccuruate starting date). So I made the trip for nothing, but I did learn how to get around on the British train system, and I learned where the museum is for when I go back - there is no way I am going to miss this while I am in the UK.
Non-trip stuff:
Classes are going well I guess. I am enjoying 2 of my 3; the third (modelling computing systems) is ok because I have had most of the material before in other classes. My history class is very interesting, we covered 'tourism' in 1650-1800 and how it changed; 'tourism' was originally a method of 'spying' on others and their inventions. If France has developed a new structure for a castle, it's a good idea to copy it and learn how to use it, in case it is used against you. My computer graphics class is very fun; I am learning how to do 'filtering' of images, what photoshop does only I am learning the algorithms for altering images. It is a very fun class; I am learning how to do things I have never done before in java.
Sorry this is such a short post, it just hit me that I haven't updated this in a couple of weeks. I wanted to try and catch people up to what is going on now.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Chroesawa at Cymru
"Welcome to Wales" - the title of this post in Welsh
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2267216&id=11832732
Fri: Traveled out from London, realized how big London actually is, not just the city center which I had been exploring before, but the suburbs, etc.. which still count as London. I took pictures of the interesting sights on the way out of the city, including a building with the Sega logo on it - don't know if it was associated with sega, but it seemed cool. It took more than 30 min to get out of the city proper; I don't know exactly how long, but it was 30 minutes to pass Heathrow airport exit from the road.
(Photos 1-14)
Once outside of London, I saw Windsor Castle off in the distance (Photo 15). Then I took a nap for a while; I ended up waking up just before we passed into Wales (although I didn't know it at the time). Once I realized we were in Wales (only a few minutes after we got there), I took a picture of the countryside - you can see lots of sheep in it. From there, the terrain was mostly the same until we got to Swansea, where I saw the sea for the first time. We drove along it for a ways, then passed the University on the way to the student village where I am staying.
(Photo 16-22)
So at this point I have made it to Swansea, and am trying to get settled in - I took pictures of my room, so everyone who wants to know knows what my room looks like (mostly for family, but if I have any stalkers out there, you might be interested in these as well :-)
I attend an orientation on canpus, in which they throw as much information at us as they possibly can, and when it sticks, we are ready - no, that is preparing spagetti. Instead, they give us a lot of information because we don't have enough time for spaced out orientation/instructions, because, surprise, we are registering for classes today instead of Monday like I thought. After enduring a mini-panic attack, I manage to sign up for classes without too much trouble, despite not doing so online. I am taking 2 computer science classes, Computer Graphics I and Modelling Computing Systems. I am also taking a history class, Europe from 1650-1800. It is not one that I had originally looked at, but they were all full, and it still seems like a good option - what's the point of coming to Europe if you don't take a european history class while here, to get a european perspective on european history?
At this point, I discover that I am unable to access the internet here. They have a weird system where you have to use vpn connection instead of just hooking up to the wireless. So my first night there I ride in to the library and try and get help from the IT support desk. Turns out that my issue is not one that they have ever seen before, so after spening an hour or so on it, they tell me to come back when the rest of the staff will be in. I am able to access the internet using a library computer, but that isn't really coinvenient from my room, since I am several miles off campus.
Sat: More internet debuging on my own - I don't think very highly of the IT support desk here, but I am still going to get help. The person they end up directing me to suggests that Service Pack 3 for Windows might be corrupted, or the Windows files themselves. He recomends removing service pack 3, and if that doesn't work, then re-installing Windows, which is kind of hard to do since the installation disk is 3000 miles away. So I try the service pack which doesn't work; I spend the rest of the day troubleshooting it in the computer lab which has internet so I can look up the problems I am getting. I come up with nothing.
Sun: A very bad day on the computing front (at least at the start). I get up, get ready for church, go to the bus stop and discover that on the weekends, the buses don't follow the normal schedule of every 10 minutes. So I give up on church today, and go back to my room to try debuging some more (did I mention I hate debugging). Anyways, as a part of this process, something in Windows gets corrupted so now Windows won't turn on, even in safe-mode. I go into full blown panic, and walk to campus (several miles) so I can try and troubleshoot this problem with a computer with internet access. I should mention that I haven't eaten yet, because I was going to eat a breakfast bar on the bus to church; when I crashed the computer, hunger became the farthest thing from my mind.
I spend all day working on this, and am unable to do anything about it. I eventually give up and walk back to my room, where I try one more time to restart my computer. Although it doesn't work, I catch a glimpse of something in the boot up process that leads me to the "Rescue and Recovery" console provided by the Laptop in hardware. To make a long story short, the Windows disk data is apparently stored somewhere in the hardware, so I am able to 'repair' the corrupted Windows files without losing any data, I jut lose all the programs I had on my computer (which is ok, since I can re-install them and I still have access to my data which was NOT erased). At thius point, whever was wrong in Windows fixed itself, so I now am able to access the internet. In rejoicing, I eat my first and last meal of the day - peanut butter crackers (I brought peanut butter from home), which serve as a comfort food for me.
Mon: First day of classes; one at 10-11AM, computer modelling. I think it will be an easy class, since it seems similar to material I have done before as part of classes at State. Still trying to get settled in, but getting there now. Most of the unpacking is done; I actually have room to unpack as opposed to London, where most of my stuff remained in the suitcases due to lack of space.
Tue: My bad day in terms of classes - I have 3 consectutive hours in a weird pattern. I have class A for one hour, class B for one hour, then class A for one hour. Fortunately, teacher don't teach until the end of the hour, so I have enough time to get from class to class alright. The downside is that I have to eat lunch really early or really late (11-2 is class). It is managable though, so it is not a totally bad schedule. My classes today are Computer Graphics I (the meets twice class) and History. I anticpate that I will enjoy both of them a great deal; they seem interesting.
Weds: Class at 9 (modelling, so I have to get up at 7). This is a very minor complaint, but I don't like waking up before 8 - I don't feel awake if I wake up before 8, no matter how much sleep I got the night before. Modelling goes well, if a bit dull since I have already done this material.
Then I have a break until 1, when I have my graphics class again. This class meets 3 times a week as opposed to the typical 1-2 meetings per week. I believe this is due to the teacher wanting to be done teaching after 7 weeks as opposed to the full semester - don't know what that means in terms of exam schedule yet; whether I take it in 7 weeks or at the 'normal' time.
After class today I went to the chaplaincy for a late 'snack'/lunch, and met a few students. It seems sort of like the BSU at home, except smaller numbers of students show up (Wales/England/UK don't appear to have a very religious college/university aged population).
I then went to the board game club, where I met some people who could become good friends (maybe, assuming I don't scare them off with my weirdness :-) Played the settlers of Cattan for the first time, it was fun although I had never played before.
Thurs: My last day of classes, one at 9-10 (History). We covered "images of war" from Louis XIV to Napolean )(in time, not just France). There was a gradual shift from the depictions oirignially being about the leader to becoming about the troops doing the actual fighting; from glamorized combat to the realistic horrors. It was an interesting class.
After class, I went downtown and bought food for the first time since I have been here. Tescos is sort of like a target or walmart from home; it is a large store that mostly sells food, but also sells other stuff as well.
Fri: Since I had today off from classes, I travelled to downtown Swansea and visited the museams. I started at the Waterfront museum which, despite the name, doesn't have a lot to do with the waterfront; it was more a general museam about Swansea. This was an interesting museum, unlike the Swansea museam, which was really a collection of odds and ends of random things that had very little to do with Swansea, with 2 exceptions. One was a history of the region, going back to the stone age; the other was an exhibit on pottery/china which apparently was a major industy here seversal hundred years ago.
After leaving, I took a look downtown. Lots of shops, which would mean more to me if I was a shopper, not a lot of historical stuff; the one exception being the remains of Swansea castle
(Photos 31-35). It was interesting to look at, but not for much else. I did get a take-away pizza from Pizza Hut so I could have slice or two for lunch tomorrow on the Avebury Stonehenge trip (will be another entry since I took a lot of photos of stonehenge)
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2267216&id=11832732
Fri: Traveled out from London, realized how big London actually is, not just the city center which I had been exploring before, but the suburbs, etc.. which still count as London. I took pictures of the interesting sights on the way out of the city, including a building with the Sega logo on it - don't know if it was associated with sega, but it seemed cool. It took more than 30 min to get out of the city proper; I don't know exactly how long, but it was 30 minutes to pass Heathrow airport exit from the road.
(Photos 1-14)
Once outside of London, I saw Windsor Castle off in the distance (Photo 15). Then I took a nap for a while; I ended up waking up just before we passed into Wales (although I didn't know it at the time). Once I realized we were in Wales (only a few minutes after we got there), I took a picture of the countryside - you can see lots of sheep in it. From there, the terrain was mostly the same until we got to Swansea, where I saw the sea for the first time. We drove along it for a ways, then passed the University on the way to the student village where I am staying.
(Photo 16-22)
So at this point I have made it to Swansea, and am trying to get settled in - I took pictures of my room, so everyone who wants to know knows what my room looks like (mostly for family, but if I have any stalkers out there, you might be interested in these as well :-)
I attend an orientation on canpus, in which they throw as much information at us as they possibly can, and when it sticks, we are ready - no, that is preparing spagetti. Instead, they give us a lot of information because we don't have enough time for spaced out orientation/instructions, because, surprise, we are registering for classes today instead of Monday like I thought. After enduring a mini-panic attack, I manage to sign up for classes without too much trouble, despite not doing so online. I am taking 2 computer science classes, Computer Graphics I and Modelling Computing Systems. I am also taking a history class, Europe from 1650-1800. It is not one that I had originally looked at, but they were all full, and it still seems like a good option - what's the point of coming to Europe if you don't take a european history class while here, to get a european perspective on european history?
At this point, I discover that I am unable to access the internet here. They have a weird system where you have to use vpn connection instead of just hooking up to the wireless. So my first night there I ride in to the library and try and get help from the IT support desk. Turns out that my issue is not one that they have ever seen before, so after spening an hour or so on it, they tell me to come back when the rest of the staff will be in. I am able to access the internet using a library computer, but that isn't really coinvenient from my room, since I am several miles off campus.
Sat: More internet debuging on my own - I don't think very highly of the IT support desk here, but I am still going to get help. The person they end up directing me to suggests that Service Pack 3 for Windows might be corrupted, or the Windows files themselves. He recomends removing service pack 3, and if that doesn't work, then re-installing Windows, which is kind of hard to do since the installation disk is 3000 miles away. So I try the service pack which doesn't work; I spend the rest of the day troubleshooting it in the computer lab which has internet so I can look up the problems I am getting. I come up with nothing.
Sun: A very bad day on the computing front (at least at the start). I get up, get ready for church, go to the bus stop and discover that on the weekends, the buses don't follow the normal schedule of every 10 minutes. So I give up on church today, and go back to my room to try debuging some more (did I mention I hate debugging). Anyways, as a part of this process, something in Windows gets corrupted so now Windows won't turn on, even in safe-mode. I go into full blown panic, and walk to campus (several miles) so I can try and troubleshoot this problem with a computer with internet access. I should mention that I haven't eaten yet, because I was going to eat a breakfast bar on the bus to church; when I crashed the computer, hunger became the farthest thing from my mind.
I spend all day working on this, and am unable to do anything about it. I eventually give up and walk back to my room, where I try one more time to restart my computer. Although it doesn't work, I catch a glimpse of something in the boot up process that leads me to the "Rescue and Recovery" console provided by the Laptop in hardware. To make a long story short, the Windows disk data is apparently stored somewhere in the hardware, so I am able to 'repair' the corrupted Windows files without losing any data, I jut lose all the programs I had on my computer (which is ok, since I can re-install them and I still have access to my data which was NOT erased). At thius point, whever was wrong in Windows fixed itself, so I now am able to access the internet. In rejoicing, I eat my first and last meal of the day - peanut butter crackers (I brought peanut butter from home), which serve as a comfort food for me.
Mon: First day of classes; one at 10-11AM, computer modelling. I think it will be an easy class, since it seems similar to material I have done before as part of classes at State. Still trying to get settled in, but getting there now. Most of the unpacking is done; I actually have room to unpack as opposed to London, where most of my stuff remained in the suitcases due to lack of space.
Tue: My bad day in terms of classes - I have 3 consectutive hours in a weird pattern. I have class A for one hour, class B for one hour, then class A for one hour. Fortunately, teacher don't teach until the end of the hour, so I have enough time to get from class to class alright. The downside is that I have to eat lunch really early or really late (11-2 is class). It is managable though, so it is not a totally bad schedule. My classes today are Computer Graphics I (the meets twice class) and History. I anticpate that I will enjoy both of them a great deal; they seem interesting.
Weds: Class at 9 (modelling, so I have to get up at 7). This is a very minor complaint, but I don't like waking up before 8 - I don't feel awake if I wake up before 8, no matter how much sleep I got the night before. Modelling goes well, if a bit dull since I have already done this material.
Then I have a break until 1, when I have my graphics class again. This class meets 3 times a week as opposed to the typical 1-2 meetings per week. I believe this is due to the teacher wanting to be done teaching after 7 weeks as opposed to the full semester - don't know what that means in terms of exam schedule yet; whether I take it in 7 weeks or at the 'normal' time.
After class today I went to the chaplaincy for a late 'snack'/lunch, and met a few students. It seems sort of like the BSU at home, except smaller numbers of students show up (Wales/England/UK don't appear to have a very religious college/university aged population).
I then went to the board game club, where I met some people who could become good friends (maybe, assuming I don't scare them off with my weirdness :-) Played the settlers of Cattan for the first time, it was fun although I had never played before.
Thurs: My last day of classes, one at 9-10 (History). We covered "images of war" from Louis XIV to Napolean )(in time, not just France). There was a gradual shift from the depictions oirignially being about the leader to becoming about the troops doing the actual fighting; from glamorized combat to the realistic horrors. It was an interesting class.
After class, I went downtown and bought food for the first time since I have been here. Tescos is sort of like a target or walmart from home; it is a large store that mostly sells food, but also sells other stuff as well.
Fri: Since I had today off from classes, I travelled to downtown Swansea and visited the museams. I started at the Waterfront museum which, despite the name, doesn't have a lot to do with the waterfront; it was more a general museam about Swansea. This was an interesting museum, unlike the Swansea museam, which was really a collection of odds and ends of random things that had very little to do with Swansea, with 2 exceptions. One was a history of the region, going back to the stone age; the other was an exhibit on pottery/china which apparently was a major industy here seversal hundred years ago.
After leaving, I took a look downtown. Lots of shops, which would mean more to me if I was a shopper, not a lot of historical stuff; the one exception being the remains of Swansea castle
(Photos 31-35). It was interesting to look at, but not for much else. I did get a take-away pizza from Pizza Hut so I could have slice or two for lunch tomorrow on the Avebury Stonehenge trip (will be another entry since I took a lot of photos of stonehenge)
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