I’m
currently in Sweden having a blast spending time with family and catching up
with friends. Like in the UK, the weather is transitioning from winter into
spring and we’ve had some gorgeous and sunny afternoons which I’ve spent out in
the forest with my mum, sister and our dog, Belle. One of the things I miss
most about Sweden are the forests, the air is so clean and spending time
roaming around is totally invigorating. While I’ve been back, it also seems
like my mum has made it her current mission to feed me non-stop, in fact, I
don’t think I’ve felt hungry once since I’ve been home! I shouldn’t really
complain though, because I really have missed her cooking.
Catching
up with friends has been surprisingly uplifting (as well a good chance for me
to brush up on my Swedish which has slowly been diminishing). Filling them in
on everything I’ve been up to since I last saw them has reminded me just how
much I get to experience while at university. Last weekend I also had the great
fortune of catching up with one of my best friends from Australia! It had been
about seven years since the last time I saw her so we had an infinite amount of
things to talk about. She’s currently doing an exchange in Sweden which is why
we’ve finally been reunited on the same side of the planet. I found it
particularly interesting to hear about her experiences of university in Sweden
seeing as had I not moved to the UK, this would have probably been my fate. She
also showed me around the city of Uppsala and impressed me with her knowledge
of its history.
Now
on to a totally different subject, as promised in my previous blog post I
thought I’d take a look back over my first year Spanish field trip and share my
exciting experiences from a year ago. All first year biology and zoology
students have the opportunity to go to Bolonia, Spain with the work that is
achieved there equating to one module’s worth. If I remember correctly the
field course lasted about 10 days but I was amazed at how much I learnt during this
relatively short period of time.
Entrance to the room I shared
with my course mate during our stay. It was pretty luxurious considering it was
paid for by the University (flights and accommodation which included breakfast
and dinner). Not to mention the wonders of living right by the beach!
We
were given a simple breakfast every morning and a complete abundance of food in
the evening, usually starting with salad and bread rolls followed by some kind of
soup type dish as a starter. The main course was different every night and then
for dessert we were given yoghurt or fruit. (On our first night, I
actually thought the starter was the main course! They were very generous
with the portion sizes.)
Here’s a photo from a typical
dinner. If you're wondering, it's lentils with potatoes and yes it is a
huge portion and this is only the starter!
For
our first field day we walked around the streets, countryside, mountains and
woods, looking at the great diversity of plants in the area. We also were given
key information as to what to look for when classifying angiosperms (flowering
plants) into their different families.
The photo above shows a
member of the Carrot (Apiaceae) family
We
did a fair bit of walking and while the weather was perfect (maybe a bit windy)
during our stay, it had rained the day before we arrived so it was
quite muddy in some areas of the mountains and woods. Lucky, I’m not afraid of
a bit of dirt so I wasn't bothered.
Proof of the mud we trekked
through
When
we finished work for the day my roommate and I decided to go check out some Roman
ruins which were situated at a walking distance to our hostel. The locals didn't
speak much English but were very friendly, so we got in for free. I always try
to see as much as possible while abroad so I thought it was very cool that
we had some free time to go and learn a bit about the history of the area.
Photo taken at the ruins
Typically,
we would meet at 8am every morning to have breakfast so we could
leave the hostel at around 9.30am. We spent the second field day
collecting all the different species of arthropods we could find in the area, which
included a great variety! After spending half the day collecting specimens, we
brought back what we had found to the lab (a shed which the hostel had
provided us with to keep all the equipment) and spent the rest of the day
identifying and classifying what we had collected.
Above is a beetle in the order Coleoptera,
Sub-order Polyphaga and Family Scarabaeidae. Again we had to learn key
characteristics for each Order and Family
I’d
also like include a quick story about one of my spider encounters. I remember
trying many times throughout the day to catch small spiders on the ground and
failing miserably. Then while nonchalantly walking from one area of the woods
to another I happened to notice a massive yellow spider hitching a ride on the
upper part of my leg! Luckily I was wearing long trousers so without panicking
and shaking it off which is probably what I would normally do, I
quite calmly called to my friend to bring a large cup so she could collect
the spider off my leg. I wanted to bring it back to the lab for
identification. All in the name of science!
Most
evenings we would have 30 minute lectures before dinner, to further explain the
theory behind what we were learning during the day. This included some valuable
information about statistics which can often be an essential part of biology.
In an attempt to make statistics seem simple my lecturer decided to partly
teach us in Spanish. His logic being that compared to learning Spanish,
statistics should seem easy!
As
I mentioned earlier, this trip was worth the equivalent of an entire module’s
worth of credits so we of course had to be graded in some way. On day four
we worked in groups in order to prepare a poster about a Family of either
plants or arthropods. I was very happy that my group got full marks! Then for
the rest of the day we were free to do as we pleased. The following morning we
had a test on everything we had learnt the previous few days.
That
afternoon we then took a coach to Ojen Valley where we went out in groups to
collect as many beetles and members of the Fabaceae plant family as we could
(within a couple of hours) in order to get an idea of the biodiversity of these
in the area.
Me and one of my course mates
after arriving at Ojen Valley
One
of the groups happened to find a snake while searching for the beetles and
flowers. I was happy to get the opportunity to hold it. The snake was of course
not venomous but apparently it did have a persistent bite. Luckily, it seemed quite
happy to simply rest in my hands.
On
our sixth day out in the field we spent the morning collecting marine specimens
found in the rocky shores (while the tide was out) to bring back to
the lab for identification. Also, somewhat off topic but before I forget,
I think it is worth mentioning that from the beach we could see mountains in
Morocco, Africa... That is how far south Bolonia is. Amazing!
Together
we were able to find a huge diversity of marine life, some of which I had never
seen before such as this very large sea cucumber (Class Holothuroidea). We brought
back our specimens to the lab for identification and had a small test at the
end of the day.
We
spent the seventh day practising two sampling techniques. The first one
was rock flipping and identifying the different arthropods we found
underneath. Later, we used the collected data to perform statistical
tests to see if there were any significant relationships between the types of
species we found together. After lunch we used quadrats to count and identify
different plant species which we also did statistics on later in the day,
including calculating the Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index (H).
I
also happened to get sunburnt on my hands that day in spite of my efforts to
protect my skin. I remember being really surprised because I very rarely get
sunburned. Once the redness had disappeared, it looked liked I was wearing a
pair tan coloured gloves for months because the contrast to the rest of my skin
was so distinctive.
Here’s a photo of one of my
sunburnt hands!
We
spent the last few days working in groups on a project of our choice which also
accounted for our final assessment. I knew I wanted to work on something
marine-related since I had enjoyed working along the shore so much during the
marine day. Following the two days of data collection and statistical
analysis each group presented their investigation and findings. Below are some
photos taken while out collecting data for my group’s project.
All
in all it was a fantastic trip, which as I mentioned in my previous post has
been one of my highlights at university so far. Lastly, I forgot to mention
that I also had the opportunity to watch vultures up in the mountains which was
very cool. Anyway, as for the rest of my current Easter break I plan to meet up
with a couple more friends and try to finish off (get started on) the heap of
coursework I have due in for directly after the Easter break!
Kristin
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