Portchester

February 25^th

 

After a late night of playing Balderdash and Articulate with my housemates and Kerrie, I managed to get out of bed at 7am to get ready for today’s hillwalk in Portchester, which is a small town near Portsmouth. As I was about to leave, Alissia (Alec’s 3 year old girl) was so sweet and said goodbye to me multiple times and as I went out of the door I saw that she was by the window waving to me till I was no longer in sight. Such a precious gem of a girl! 

Walking up to Portswood Road, I saw my bus pass by and ended up sprinting to the bus stop. I made the bus and was rushed over by relief, then I noticed I caught the wrong bus. Luck would have it though that it was going pretty much in the same direction. As I got off at a bus stop near Matlan, I gave Hannah a ring to see if the U1C was running late so I could decide whether to walk to the train station or wait for her bus. Turns out that the U1C Hannah was going to go on hadn’t turned up yet and she along with five others was still stuck in Highfield. I ended up walking to Southampton Central and gave Jenna the news about the others. We decided that it was best if they caught up with us on the walk, so we boarded the train and headed off.

On the train, we ended up stopping at St. Deny’s Station which is located about 3 blocks from where I live. Funny enough I bumped into my housemate, Rich, who was earlier fast asleep when I was getting ready for hillwalking but now on the same train. I felt quite silly for not saving myself the trouble of catching the train at St. Deny’s too, but I was on the train either way. 

Arriving to Portchester, Jenna was having a bit of nerves as this was her first day walk as Day Walk Sec. and the other Day Walk Sec., Vicky, was one of the five that were behind waiting for another train. Despite the circumstances she kept her calm and led the 25 hillwalkers through the town. The weather was threatening rain but had a small and hopeful patch of blue which gave promise that it might not rain on us today. We carried onwards through farm fields and as we went on the clouds burned off to a perfect blue sky day. 

Eleanor and Jenna!

Attempt at a panorama which sadly took Jenna out of the picture

For some reason or another, many of the gates that were supposed to be part of the community footpaths in Portchester were closed with padlocks but that didn’t thwart us as we climbed over the gates and went under barbwire fences. Jenna was navigating Vicky’s group by text since they didn’t have a map with them. Around noon, Vicky’s group finally were able to join us, making the total head count for the day walk 31. Now Jenna and Vicky could lose up to 3 people when applying the 10% rule. 

The weather was phenomenal with endless blue skies and sunshine that allowed me to enjoy some vitamin D. By now I had shed two layers of clothing and was comfortable in a T-shirt, shorts, and leggings. 

At one bit we had to go under a barb wire fence where I went under on my hands and knees just to find out that some of the weeds that I was resting my knees on were stinging nettles. I didn’t really notice till shortly after Rachel T. mentioned that she accidentally put her hands on the nettles. My knees became itchy and very uncomfortable but I refrained from touching them. I guess that was the major downside to leggings, they don’t protect you from stinging nettles. I continued to focus on how gorgeous the weather was and how it felt like spring or summer already.

The walk continued and it was past three, where we walked along a narrow country road that had high embankments of grass fields. When cars came by, everyone scattered and climbed the embankments which in some cases Eleanor discovered had stinging nettles too!

It was such a great day to walk in such glorious weather, Jenna and Vicky did an amazing job in leading us without getting lost and it was a longer walk than usual (20 km or roughly 12.5 miles) which meant that I was able to feel the burn in my legs after the day. At the end of the walk we climbed on old canons and missiles.

Jenna, Eleanor, Matt, and I relaxed/celebrated after the walk with delicious lasagna that Matt made and watching Princess Bride; allowing us to cross ‘watching Princess Bride’ off our list of things to do before I leave Southampton.

Sara and me

Jenna!

Vicky!

Hannah :)

Into the Wild- Wales Edition

February 5th 

Off I went on another hillwalking adventure, this time to Brecon Beacon trails in Wales. Last time I was in Wales I learned that waterproof clothing is not ‘Snowdonia’ proof so I figured that I would invest in a pair of ski gloves for this trip and boy did they come in handy. 

Arriving somewhat late on Friday night, we celebrated Josh’s birthday once we were at the cabin with cake. Saturday I went with Danielle’s group to go on a medium level trail. It was amazing, the trail we went on started with us walking in a snow covered forest and it was continuously snowing. At one point, Matt was testing out a frozen pond that we stumbled upon to see if it could hold his weight; I just looked at it- it appeared to be frozen- and I penguin-ed across the ice heads first. I don’t know if the others were expecting this from me, but everyone was laughing. Our snow adventures didn’t stop there as Matt declared war by starting a snowball fight, which proved rather difficult as the snow was very powdery and refused to compact. Our arsenal turned into a mass of fluffy white confetti as soon as the snow left our gloves. I have always found that snow has a magical quality of bringing out the inner ten year old selves that we all hold.  

Then we got to a clearing were we began by crossing a somewhat frozen river. After walking for a while in the hills we came to a sight that looked as if it was from Lord of the Rings or Narnia. Looking around everything was white. Surroundings blended into each other that it was hard to distinguish features to develop a sense of direction. The scenery was so vast and barren with only snow to be seen. We found ourselves surrounded by this immense setting of white as we made it to what seemed to be a cliff-like edge amongst the snow- the landscape was enchanting. 

The wind started to pick up and our group found ourselves walking with our gloves in front of our faces to block the pelting snow. Alex was very popular on the trip as he came prepared with a whole box of tissues. I tried to take my hands out of my gloves under only two circumstances: 1) to take a picture and 2) to grab a tissue from my pocket- and with freezing temperatures this unfortunately became quite often. We soon found ourselves whited out of our path and spent a great deal of time wandering around to find it. Eventually we stumbled upon an abandoned weir which had frozen solid. Nearby the weir, there were the remains of a structure covered with graffiti which the group attempted to take shelter in for a quick snack break. My hands were so cold though that I didn’t bother to take the risk of taking off my gloves to have a snack. During this time, Matt discovered that his water bottle had a good few inches of ice that had formed inside since we began our walk. It didn’t take too long till everyone decided it was best to continue our trek because we needed to keep moving to keep warm. We wandered for a few hours in this blizzard-y like conditions. 

Now a thing that people often do in England is ask you “are you alright?” instead of the American way of “how are you?”; well as the walk progressed in this frozen state I found my response to that question had gradually transformed into a short “sure” as a response because in reality I really didn’t want to assess how I was at that time. Alex let me borrow his hand warmer for a few minutes, but I guess my hands were so cold that even when holding it I barely could feel the warmth that was being produced. Eventually I gave up on taking my hands out of my gloves, mainly because the cold was outweighing the benefit of using a tissue, as well as for the fact that all of my tissues were now frozen. 

Finally Danielle led us to find our way out of the frozen tundra. We walked on a path that had a surprising amount of ice under the thin covering of snow. Next thing we know everyone was falling and slipping all over the place, luckily during the walk I seemed to not really fall at all. It was until at one point on the path where I was walking side by side with Alex and Matt that I finally hit a patch that caused all limbs to be flailing about, and next thing I know I accidentally took out Matt in I suppose a slide tackle manner at his shins. Whoops!!!

This sight of flailing limbs and thuds of people hitting the ground became quite a common occurrence for the remainder of the walk. Luckily we were all able to laugh about it as we continuously checked our traction with the ground before committing to our next step. Somehow we made it to the pub where we were able to join Rachel’s group that had made it there earlier. Immediately our group put in orders at the bar for hot chocolates, teas, and coffees. It was neat at the pub because there were local men discussing over I believe a rugby match in Welsh, which I haven’t really heard before.

Soon enough we all were herded into the minibus and began our hour or so journey back to the cabin before it got too dark. Once we made it back, people began queuing for the showers (in which there were three possible showers total for the girls). While waiting for my turn I went to my bunk room where there were 4 or 5 people huddled around the one floor heater playing gin rummy in the dark. The heater produced an orange glow so it worked as both a heater and lamp. I joined in a round and it soon became my turn for the showers. After spending a day in the cold, nothing is more rewarding than a nice hot shower. After dinner we watched ‘A Bugs Life’ till midnight. 

It was quite a full and rewarding day. 

On Sunday, the walk was far tamer than it was the day before as it was no longer windy nor snowing, though our walk once again carpeted with a thick layer of snow casting the spell of winter’s magic. The snow had dampened a little overnight which made it perfect for compacting it into snowballs. A good portion of the walk consisted of frozen lumps flying through the air whooshing past our heads in a massive snowball fight.

There was a good stretch of our walk that we had involving bog where we tried hopping from grass clump to shrub to grass clump, hoping that the snow wasn’t being misleading with the possibility that our feet could end up sinking mid-calf into slushy like mud. We crossed rivers and continued our trail next to a barb wired fence which I used for support in some cases when trying to cross over semi frozen puddles. At one point one of the barbs hooked onto one of my gloves creating a small hole which made me quite thankful that I was wearing gloves and that wasn’t my hand. Nearing the end of our walk we chowed down on our lunches at a lodge like café place. Once again we had made it all in one piece and huddled into our respective vans to begin our journey to a nearby Witherspoons for dinner which was on route home. I thought the car ride would be 5 hours or so but was pleasantly surprised that I was thinking in American standards for road trips and realistically the car trip back was only three hours.

Wales once again provided adventurous walks that will live on as humorous and fantastic vivid memories. 

Broken Wrists and Science on a Boat

February 2^nd

Received an email that my mom had fallen down and broken her wrist and banged up her knee badly. Times like these where I feel so useless. I can’t go home for a weekend like I can at UW to make sure she is alright and help her around the house. All I can do is hope she has a good recovery. I am kind of frustrated that I can’t go and see her.

On another note today was freezing, it’s gorgeous outside, but absolutely freezing. Ran to the bus which was eleven minutes late anyways. My marine molecular biology class left my brain numb from information overload. I think I will definitely have to record the lectures in that class this semester and form a solid study group. The lecture today was already going to that gray area of my knowledge in biology.

__

Yesterday morning, I was able to go on the R/V Conway for one of my courses. It was similar weather as today; too flippin’ cold but not a cloud in sight. On the boat we also had a -12 degree C wind chill that even pierced through the four layers of clothes I was wearing and chilled me to the bone. We took temperature and salinity measurements on board with a TS probe and then we took some horizontal profiling of silicon concentrations as we went up the estuary/River Itchen. Despite how I wanted to get in and experience science, I chickened out on taking the first batch of water samples because I knew it was going to be cold and my hands were already bright pink and purple with dry skin (stinkin’ poor circulation). As we neared the NOC however I knew I had to get in there and help with taking the vertical water samples that we recovered by using a Niskin Bottle. After collecting about 5 or 6 water samples I barely could feel my hands and they looked way worse off than anyone else’s who were collecting samples. Luckily I was able to warm up back in the NOC where Becky and I decided to make use of the hand dryers and warm water in the restrooms. I concluded the day with a warm shower (Rich had a plumber come to fix the shower!! Huzzah!) and watching the movie, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ for the second time. 

The Quirks and Quips of January

January 2^nd

We went to Canterbury!!!! There were cute shops and nice architecture. I didn’t go into the Cathedral since it was 18 pounds or so to go in, but I was able to look about it from the outside! Michael, his family, and I had lunch within the old castle walls. It was pretty fabulous!

(January 3rd- on train heading back to Southampton. London's weather seemed sad to see me go)

January 13^th

Today has been a very special day, in fact for it to be a supposedly unlucky Friday the 13^th, there was nothing unfortunate that happened at all. It is a special day because it is my grandfather’s 90^th birthday! In the whole chaos of finals, I found the eye of the storm by catching up with my good friend, Sam. We spent a nice two hours at the Trago Lounge. Although I was a bit cautious about taking time away from my studies, it turned out to be exactly what I needed, to not just take a break but to take a mental break from finals too. After that it was back to studies for me! 

January 15^th

Today I decided to go by the skatepark at Riverside Park for my run and loop back by the dirt path. While on the dirt path I was thinking: “you know I really like running on dirt paths rather than cement, the only thing is that I have to look at my feet so I won’t- hey look at those two cute dogs!” *trips*- uuuph. *Examines crumpled water bottle, bloodied knees and palm, dirt all on one side….* Yeah that’s why I don’t run often on dirt paths. I found myself running faster back home saying good morning to those I pass by. When I got back in the Montefiore Halls area, I noticed a guy was peeking over some bushes as I passed by, I guess I looked pretty darn battered.

January 25^th

This morning waking up at 8am in a new room was a strange sense of peace. No longer did I have an exam I had to prepare for or take, nor did I need to be anywhere today really. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why I woke up though at 8am on the nose. I had my phone alarm set for 11am, but my body had other plans. Either way it was quite nice, I got ready for whatever the day may bring.

Claire had texted me around 10am about an advert in the NOC for a desk that is ten pounds! I thought I would have to check it out sometime to possibly save myself a trip to IKEA.

After having a few grapes I decided on taking a walk to acquaint myself with the area. Trying to find the waterfront I ended up making a loop around the block on my first attempt, where I found a few pubs that might be fun to go to another day. Then I got to a bridge over the train tracks by the water. A woman was walking up a path and I asked her where that path would take me. I found out from the nice woman named Sally that the trail she just came from can take me all the way to the city centre! She then gave me an open invite to visit her whenever I feel like and have coffee or go for walks. I think I might take her up on that in the future.

Now I know where that path can take me, excitement! I could possibly find a route to the NOC that I can take this upcoming semester!

On my way down the path by the water, I went under a bridge where I saw a man sitting next to his bike drinking a coke. I said ‘Good morning’ and next thing I know he was chatting up a storm asking me what my astrological sign is and what Chinese year was I born. Luckily I knew those answers but I thought it was a bit odd to ask someone what astrological sign you are before you even ask their name. I found out this particular character was named Marcus, who is a Sagittarius and likes nature. After about a good 10-20 minute conversation I bid him adieu and off I went to continue my exploration.

Soon I found myself in the industrial area which seemed kind of sketchy. After a while though I came across the Southampton football stadium, I always wondered where it was located but never thought it would be in the heart of the industrial centre of Southampton. I continued on until I started recognizing buildings in the distance. At one point I took a picture of a church and as I looked behind me I made eye contact with this middle aged man with a suitcase. I was tempted on going through the church grounds, but ended up going around the church grounds as I was a bit indecisive on which way I should go. I ended up going on a way where I should have considered taking the path through the church grounds to save time but I wasn’t too worried. I looked behind me again and I noticed that the man with the briefcase was going on my same route. Strange I thought, since he probably knew where he was going but still ended up taking the long way like me. I figured I would keep going on my exploration but be a bit wary of my surroundings. I saw an alleyway where two guys that looked college aged were walking through. I noticed the alleyway would lead me to a park that I knew. I quickly darted in the alleyway and looked behind where I didn’t see the briefcase man, but as I made it to the park I looked behind me and there he was again. At this point I was pretty sure that he was following me since I have been going on so many oddball circuitous routes that there is no way someone could just be going the same way by chance. With that I resolved that I needed to head to the shops and find the biggest one where I could lose him. I darted into a store called Debenhams and hung out in the purse section making sure that I wasn’t near the windows. After a while of exploring the store long enough to know that they were having a 70% off sale and that a lot of their items I couldn’t buy with the 20 pound note in my pocket I decided that it was safe to continue my route to the NOC.

Once I finally made it to the NOC, there were a lot of students gathered around outside and some of them I knew. I ended up talking with Claire Marie and Simon for a while. I ended up telling Simon that I came to the NOC in hopes of finding that advert for the 10 pound desk. I quickly learned that the advert was put up by Simon!! Such a small world.

Somewhat famished, Simon joined me on a walk to the High Street Café, the café I tend to always find myself at as these nice Northern ladies always make me feel at home. After my brunch at the café, Simon showed me a safer and more direct route back to Portswood, where I was also able to check out the possible new desk. The desk looked perfect, it is small and white, which would look nice in my new room as everything is a cream or white colour in it.   

On my way back to the house I made a quick stop in Aldi, where I had another older bloke start up a conversation with me about where I am from. I just found it such a great day talking up with so many strangers and possible new friends like that woman named Sally. It was also a surprisingly productive day too, as I found a desk and a chair for a total of roughly 14 quid- saving me the time and money of taking a taxi ride to IKEA. Today has been quite a quirky day!

Also during the week before the start of Semester II, I went on a lovely walk through the commons with my friend Emmeline. There we fed the ducks and explored a nature conservation place for kids and then headed back to Emmeline's house for making an Australian cake to celebrate Australia Day as well as a loaf of banana bread! 

On that Saturday, I went on a hillwalk with my friends Hannah, Naomi, Matt, Joe, Rob, and Sarah. It was quite amusing as we got lost and ended up bogging most of the time jumping from one grass patch to another in hopes of reducing the amount of mud on our jeans.