The First Apology of Many

As the title implies, apologies for not posting in nearly a week. And I'm sure it won't be the first time, so again, as the name suggests, it is probably the first of many.

I think I'll go through the whole of last week by day and attempt to pull out key highlights.

Wednesday
Oh goodness, I can't really remember much of what happened. We had some visitors come in and talk about what I'll refer to as "micro-documentary" making - that is, making short, documentary style videos with a very small team. But very high quality. Actually, the video was quite good and I have an inkling that it might be of interest to some of you - it's about the Diamond collider project in England. Think LHC on a small scale where the collider is more of an accelerator/super bright light source/microscope type thing. Anyway, click here if that piques your interest.

We also wandered over to The Science Museum to visit the "Who Am I?" gallery and then discussed it with one of the curator-type people. Which was really quite cool to hear how they tried to pull in all sorts of ways of learning.

Thursday
The last day of induction week, we got a chance to talk to various people across the college who might need our help (time to freshen up my CV - or in my case, format my resume in CV style) and go over what the year is really going to be like. It's daunting, really, and I don't know if I said it already, but the idea of a part time job seems rather not feasible based on the feedback from the teaching staff. Which is frustrating. Maybe I'll sell my body for medical testing? No needles please! ;) We rounded out the induction week with a "party" which was more of a "stand awkwardly whilst eating 'crisps' and indulging in liquid refreshment" type thing, and which I left slightly early because it was the first choir practice!

One of the things I've really missed since being at Nova is being in a proper singing group, working on a piece (or pieces) of music, and the process of something rather train-wreck-like becoming melodious and wonderful. So I knew setting out for my time here, especially in the attempting to salvage my mental/emotional health endeavor, being part of a singing group would be really important. The feeling in the group was very familiar, although I'm waiting to hear back from something else before I decide for sure if I'll join. It's expensive! Something like 40 quid membership fee plus another 36 for music. I think that second one is a deposit but still! Good thing they have "tea" - more akin to the use of "refreshments" in American English - I'll take any free food I can get!

Friday-Saturday
I slept in. Beyond that I don't remember doing much. Might have wandered down to see if I got any mail. My debit card did arrive, but I still can't activate it, because I'm waiting for more mail with codes and such. Hahahaha all I really want at this point is to be able to activate my SIM card! It's so frustrating not being able to be in easy contact with people!

Sunday
I gave this its own heading, although it was very similar to the scrounge for food-enjoy doing nothing sentiment of the two days prior, because I had my audition for the more selective choral ensemble. If ever there was a train wreck, that was one. I got flustered and short of breath, which anyone who sings will tell you is just awful for singing. I think parts of it went okay, but I don't know whether they'll actually want me. It's frustrating though, because I know I could be a real asset in the actual context of small group singing. But I couldn't relax and sound the way I wanted to.

Today!
Woke up to go to my first two proper classes. One is a philosophy of science class, which reminds me very much of ACS or any of my core liberal arts classes except bigger. Weirdly, with around 48 students, these are some of the biggest classes I've ever been in. Which is odd because they both feel large and small. The other class is sort of a get used to tv/radio/camera production class in which we aren't graded but I'm still insanely nervous about! Excited, too, though. Exposure to all that stuff is what made me pick this particular degree!

If you want to help me out, I know some people already posted on facebook, but what was the coolest/best experiment that you ever did having to do with fluids/liquids?