I’m starting to feel a lot of excitement
for my third year project as the plans for the field work and data collection
component are being finalised. I spent the majority of last summer working in
one of the clothing stores in West Quay, a large shopping complex in Southampton
city centre. I only went home for two weeks, in addition to one week off in
Edinburgh, Scotland, travelling with my sister. I found it was really easy to
get a summer job in the UK as a student compared to in my city in Sweden which
is why I chose to stay in Southampton most of last summer. However, this summer
after flying back to Sweden for my sister’s graduation, I’ve had to be a little
more flexible and patient while making plans for my third year project. Because
of uncertainties of dates for the data collection it has been harder to commit
to a summer job this year however on the plus side I’ve been able to spend more
time at home in Sweden with my family which has been wonderful too.
Anyway, now that some plans have been finalised
I can begin to fill you in on some of the details of my third year project
which will be about stomata and stomatal patterning. In August I will be flying
to Italy with two other undergraduates as well as PhD students and staff from
the University of Southampton to a field site containing 6000 poplar trees. In
about three weeks I will be returning back to Southampton which will give me
about a week before I will be leaving for Italy to begin data collection. I’m
looking forward to this new experience and will keep you updated on the
progress. Until I leave I will be preparing by beginning further reading into
the area of research. We have also begun completing a risk assessment for the
field project which is an important safety measure for field work and a good step
for us to become accustomed to, especially if we plan on doing more field work
in the future.
Because I have now been in Sweden for
longer than initially planned, it’s been a while since I’ve seen any of my uni
friends and I’ve been trying to keep up with what everyone has been up to. I
won’t go into too much detail but I thought it might be interesting to mention
some of the things my friends have been doing over the summer. I’ll only
mention what my second year friends are up to seeing as many of my third year
friends who just graduated have already started their new jobs and I’d just
like to wish them good luck! So some of the interesting things my friends have
been up to include internships; one of my friends who is studying chemistry is
in the middle of an accounting internship which may be surprising considering
it’s a different field from their course. Another friend has recently started a
summer job working as a waitress in her home town. One of my housemates, who is
studying audiology, is currently on placement while another of my housemates (a
geologist) is currently in Bulgaria working on a mapping project. I have
another friend who started their summer off volunteering in Greece – many others
have been travelling with family and friends.
As I’ve mentioned before it’s really easy
to travel around places in Europe from the UK, as well as there also being a
lot to see within the UK. Last summer I spent a week in Edinburgh, Scotland
with my sister and much like when I travelled to Paris this summer, we travelled
there by coach which we found to be the cheapest option. There was a lot to do in
Edinburgh and we were lucky enough to go at the same time the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe was taking place (even though prior to arriving in Edinburgh we
had no idea what the festival was). Pictures are always fun and while I’ve
recently been neglecting taking pictures, I thought I’d share a few photos from
my trip last year which was also a really budget-friendly trip and I would
highly recommend.
In
the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh
In
Edinburgh castle, down in the prisoners exhibition
View
from Carlton Hill
Lastly, we’ve been having very hot weather
where I am in Sweden, probably one of the hottest summer’s I can remember since
moving to Sweden. Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying yourselves wherever you
are and taking care if you’re out in the sun.
Kristin
No comments:
Post a Comment