map and thesis (part 3)

3 weeks down, 3 to go. I can not make up my mind on whether it has gone quickly or slowly but it has been a steady routine of waking up, driving there (I am getting much better at driving), climbing up steep paths to map and then heading back home. We normally have to finish for around 2.30pm as it becomes too hot to work beyond that point.

I was asked a question about what I get up to in my daily life here as I have not said much about it. In all fairness there is a reason, my day is pretty boring. The main effort is all about finding out the rock types and where they change from one to another (this creates the map), then we have to describe what we see, sketch it and using our (very limited) geological knowledge, interpret what we think is going on. On the evenings I tidy up my notes, colour in my map where needed, browse youtube, and attempt to start typing up my thesis notes in order to save some time later in the year.

Week 3 included some cultural visits. The first was to the Castillo de Loarre, a medieval castle complex built between the 11th and 12th centuries and basically unused since the 15th century. It was one of the final bastions against Moorish rule and acted as a staging ground for the Kings of Aragon to start taking back land from the Moors. A thoroughly enjoyable visit for just €4 and a chance to see something that we rarely see in the UK. The views from this castle are stunning and I have more photos in my Google Photo gallery.

The second cultural visit was to Zaragoza, the capital city for the Autonomous Community of Aragon and 5th largest city in Spain. Another beautiful city to add to my growing list of explored places, Zaragoza has been around since Roman times and indeed shows very well preserved Roman ruins, Moorish buildings from its time under a Muslim kingdom after the downfall of the Caliphate of Cordoba and the medieval Spanish architecture when the Aragonese controlled it through to modern times. Photos are again available in my gallery. Whenever I travel to a new city, I normally make a visit to the cathedral or basilica priority. Zaragoza was no different and visiting the Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar) was an amazing experience albeit suffering my usual levels of annoyance at disrespectful tourists. The day culminated in some great tapas and of course, a night out. We decided to stay in a hostel so that we could enjoy a few drinks without having to worry about driving. I quite enjoy staying in hostels as they usually have a friendly atmosphere and sometimes, bar crawls can develop in the hostel bar. Alas, that did not happen this time as the bar was closed till 10 but the place did not even seem to be that busy. An ideal location for us either way and an enjoyable visit. 

In other news, I lost my job due to poor performance over the exam period and have no way to appeal as it was a 0 hour contract. Ah well, I now have more time to play the Elder Scrolls or some other game (and do uni work of course). The next few days will be the same as usual but we will be having a visit from our supervisor. If my next blog post is sad in its feel then it is because he has shredded my work to bits and I have to do it again (insert crying emoji).

We shall see. Until then.... :)

on studying (part 2)

So what are the problems with university? Lack of routine? Student? I suppose moving from a job where I did not really have that much freedom and always knew where I needed to be, at what time I needed to be there and what I needed to do made life much more simple albeit restricted. After leaving the army I found myself having for the first time in a long while, much more responsibility for myself (but more about that in my army blog).

So, I am now at uni aged 26 so slightly older than most people that would usually be attending uni...or so I thought. One of the special things about Birkbeck is that it is designed for older people who have careers but want to study in their free time in order to change careers or just because they are interested. It is quite unique, I mean for example, we have a guy who started in the same year as me (but is doing a slower course) who is a successful sort of chap working in the City of London BUT has an avid interest in other planets and space so is doing a certificate in planetary geology just for the shear fun of it. This unique situation means that actually I was not the oldest around and actually my short military career paled in comparison to the wide plethora of jobs people had. None of that mattered though, we were all there to look at rocks in the end.

Back to the problems. I had no routine now. I knew I had to attend lectures and I had work to do but nobody made me go and I certainly would not be punished for not showing up. It is strange for a 26 year old to suddenly have to develop a very fast sense of self-discipline. I always felt that I had it anyway but looking back, when in the army, if we could get away with not doing something then we would jump at the chance as we knew that some other crap job would be around the corner soon and the time off would slowly or suddenly dry up. Added to this was the sudden drop in cash. Luckily I have a job moderated for some certain websites but won't say anymore on that (:P) and I am in the OTC (another blog) and of course, student loans help. I am very fortunate that I do not have to pay tuition fees thanks to the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition pushing through the military covenant into law essentially saying that those without degrees who have done 5 years or more can get one for free.

Although I do like the university I go too, it also comes with problems, mainly that despite paying £9k a year in tuition fees we do seem to have to fork out an awful amount of money on extras such as all of the field classes. Being a uni that is geared for working adults, it sometimes forgets that it has full time students who are dependent on this degree to get a job. That said, we have some of the best lecturers around. Many of the professors are hugely approachable and you do not need to have a month long wait to chat with them.

Anyway, uni is great and well worth being there. One more year to go.

on studying (part 1)

As you may have read from an early blog post, I left the army in 2014 and decided to pursue an academic career. I have another post to write on my time in the army so I won't go into details now however there was a need for a definite shift from what I did (Tactical Communications) to what I wanted to do. At school I did a GCSE in Geology and loved it, after all who really can not be impressed by how dynamic our own planet is. You can go for a walk in the countryside, the beach, a mountainous and appreciate the beauty of what you see around you but can probably not appreciate how it came to be there. I found this all very fascinating and since completing that GCSE have also held a deep background interest in all of the Earth Sciences.

I should write something on Geology from my perspective before I talk about studying in general. Most people hear the word and say rocks but in fact it is so much more, in fact although the degree is called Geology, a more accurate description used in the academic world now is Earth Science (but I will stick with Geology for traditional purposes). Rocks is in my opinion a small part in what is a very vast subject that includes all the main staples of science - Biology, Chemistry and Physics - but also compliments humanity subjects such as geography and to an extent, history (I once read a book about how myths and legends of various cultures throughout human history have been influenced by the local geology - e.g. the volcano Mt Vesuvius in Greek mythology). Geology brings it all together and finds out why.

So I was set on what theme I wanted to do, now I just needed to find a university that would take me along with my poor A Levels. I have to admit to doing poorly in my A Levels as I was already set on joining the Army but I did not want to be a junior soldier (younger than 18) so needed to do something in the mean time. Looking back I wish I had done better but looking forward, it does not really matter now. I had to apply through UCAS but making the point in my statement about being a mature student (I was 26). Most universities look kindly on mature students as we work harder apparently, also because when I did my A Levels there was no such thing as A* so not possible to achieve anyway.

The universities - Birmingham, Royal Holloway, Leeds, Birkbeck and Brighton.

Brum said no (in less than 24hrs) because of grades. Leeds said yes but to do a foundation year with them first. Brighton said yes with no conditions. Royal Holloway became a sore spot for me. It is a great university set in a stunning campus. I went for an interview and the department basically said that wanted me but because I had been out of formal education for so long they wanted me to do an access course - not a problem I thought, I even got the army to pay for it. 6 months of access course later and a distinction grade overall with the Open University I thought I was in BUT....the admin people at Royal Holloway told the Earth Science department they could not take me because my results were too late (they came about 3 weeks after A Levels results). Bastards! (but much love to the department head who emailed me to say sorry that it could not work out).

So here I am at Birkbeck College, University of London. A uni that most people associate with older folk coming in the evenings to partake in some late life learning. This is true in many cases however what most people do not realise is that actually Birkbeck ranks 6th overall in the country for Earth and Planetary Science (another cheeky plug) and the course is accredited by the Geological Society of London - our sciences professional academic body - which actually knocks quite some years off getting chartership. We have some pretty eminent professors too who actually enjoy teaching and getting a meeting with them does not take 4 months and a piece of your soul.

Life at Birkbeck as a full time student is enjoyable with some decent perks (one such perk being the people) but of course has some major issues in my most humble of opinions.

Those and more for another time I think. Until then....

Assessed Field Techniques 2, Scourie (Scotland), 2016

map and thesis (part 2)

Week 2 is almost over yet I can not make my mind up on whether I have been here for ages or actually it is going quite quickly. To start with, I did promise some pictures so will add my favourites here that are also included on my Google+ site and Instagram (cheeky plug) with a quick description of what they could be (only just finished second year remember, not an expert yet). In terms of my actual work for the Map and Thesis, I guess the confusion has ever so slightly subsided however we have definitely picked a challenging area to map. For those who are keen geologists or just enjoy looking at rocks and stuff, this area appears on the outside to have it all. The problem occurs when you try to get to it and you have to fight your way through the sharpest nettles I have ever encountered OR as you get closer to an exposure (an outcrop of exposed rock) you actually realise it is on a vertical drop. All of this added the fact that we see a beautiful, thorn-free path from the distance and as we get closer, it actually was not a path or even better, is prohibited access has made the mapping area a challenge for sure but immense fun!

Ok, picture time...

So here we have me trying to look cool on top of Mallos de Riglos in the very Southern end of my mapping area which is essentially an Alluvial Fan. I had the great pleasure of having to climb up to get to the top and record some stuff about it.

A very beautiful thrusting / folding limestone formation next to Embalse de La Peña on the very Northern end of my mapping area. Unfortunately, no way to climb it (apart from directly up and that is not going to happen).

Overall a successful week, we managed to basically cover the whole North to South walk along the Western side of the River Gállego trying to interpret what actually happened here. It's a funny world looking at it from a geologists perspective as you have to imagine these huge formations of rocks being slowly pushed over each other or against each other creating all the complex geometries that I have the privilege to look at. It does take some imagination along with the scientific logic that I am trying to develop.

So what else? I was made to eat my own words recently as before deploying to Spain, I told the group of guys and girls that I am mapping with that it would not rain as we are in the North and it's hot and will be dry and roasting and I promise etc etc. Well, 80% of my statement was correct, most days have been 30°+ but this week we did witness quite a substantial thunder and lightning storm with very heavy rain that lasted for quite some hours, prior to that we had been out on the mapping area in our summer outing clothes so got appropriately soaked. My bad.

Another photo,

A yet unidentified fossil mould found in some limestone, worth a mention as it is such a good specimen.

Credit: Todd Downing (my mapping partner)

I also celebrated turning 28 this week. I must confess that I am not used to doing much for my birthdays as all but 1 since joining the army at 19 turned out to also be 'working days'. This one was sort of a working day but at least I am in Spain and not back in Afghanistan (like I was for my 24th) or training for Afghanistan (like I was for my 21st) or on royal guard / barrack guard or other duties / work (like I was for my 20th, 22nd 23rd, 25th and 26th). I did have my 27th off but that was because I was on resettlement leave - please forgive the rant. Either way, my uni friends here took me for dinner and paid. I was happy.

The final big news of the week was exam result. I might as well jump straight into this and say that although I am happy with getting a high 2:1, I am disappointed at being 3% off a 1st. Still, I can only blame myself for immersing myself too much into my role as the Senior Under Officer at the OTC (another blog on that) but it was also a dodgy year with an unwanted break up, still trying to find a good routine (it is so hard to re-establish once you lose it) and a general lack of confidence going into the exams. Still it means that a 1st is in sight with some extra work on next year's modules.

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My dead fly count: approx 25 confirmed kills

Andy's dead fly count: lost count

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More photos on my Instagram (twd1988) and my Google Photos

Y

map and thesis (part 1)

So am a few days into my university main project called the Map and Thesis. This is where we have to produce a geological map from scratch along with 1 or 2 cross sections (what is going on underneath) and an 8000 thesis (essentially all the typed up observations, some interpretations on what we see and a geological history based on what we have found).

Simple? Not at all. I have never mapped Sedimentary rocks (our whole area consists of Sedimentary rocks), little practise in mapping structures (we are in the baby part of a mountain range) and never mapped without supervision (so I can no longer have a small cry to the tutor in return for some direction). Despite this, the 6 of us who are mapping the area together are in high spirits and confident for a good 6 weeks of geological fun.

On a huge plus note, although I needed fork out £210 extra to get an automatic car, its drives like a treat (pics to follow when I have them uploaded) and I have not crashed - except for a tiny but trying to get out of the parking lot. I like Spain because everything is straight ahead, left or right and then straight ahead again. It is also quiet but what do you expect in the very north of the country where the average temperature is 35 degrees so I can not blame everyone for probably being far away on some beach.

Today (12th) was day one of actually obtaining information so I do not really have any fun tales to tell other than I decided to wear shorts due to the heat (30 degrees yesterday) but managed to fall off a rock and spent an hour wading through thorns just to check if there was Limestone at the top of a very tall hill (we could not see any due to the vegetation).

Anyway, now to try and do some more work and stop my legs from stinging like a bitch!

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My dead fly count: 3 confirmed kills

Andy's dead fly count: 10 confirmed kills