Cookies and Sun

Woke up slightly early and went with Alex to have a look round Oxford. We wandered around the covered market for a while and bought moo moos and Ben's cookies :) We ate this in Christ Chruch meadows as we lazed around in the sun and took photos. It was a really hot but sunny day so there were loads of tourists but it didn't really matter! In the after noon we went to the Uni parks and did some more lazing around and watched people play football. Also found this tiny fledgling which had fallen from its nest and watched as its parents searched for it. Obviosly we couldn't pick it up as then it could be rejected by its parents. However, I kept a close watch to make sure no-one stepped on it!
We then had formal hall at Hertford (swordfish as the main which was delicious) and I walked Alex to the station.

The day Alex came to stay (also possible the most surreal day in my life!)

Finally the long awaited day of Alex's visit arrived. I met him at the train station and we both walkedd abck to my room. It was a boiling sunny day - perfect for the Summer Eights which were finishing today. Amelia was leaving to go home for a while and lent Alex her room. We dropped off his stuff (and I introduced him to everyone) before heading down to the river to watch the race. It was crowded with people but we soon found a spot after the gut where we could watch Alice row in the Women's boat. Sarah was umpiring as well as Oli Brady so we also got to say hi to them on the way. At first we thought that the race had started when we saw Alice's boat pelt towards us. So we started cheering but then realised that it was a warm-up ...arg! However, when the race did start, they got bumped right infront of us (as Alice had predicted). Emily brought some strawberries and we all had Pimms from the Hertford Boathouse (and, in true Hertford fashion, there was more alcohol that lemonade!). So, it was me, Aex, Marja, Emily, Tom Davies, Chris Anderton and a few other Hertford people. Back at the boathouse we had a great view of the river and got more Pimm's. At this point dad texted me to say that he was comign down for the evening as St. Peter's had a new boat which was going to be Christened. Then, Marianne texted as she was ALSO going to be in Oxford for the evening to watch David's choir sing at New College. arg! So, in 5 minutes, the meal for two Alex and I had planned had turned into a meal for four. Dad arrived a few minutes later and we all had more Pimm's (at this point I was feeling slightly floaty with all the drink..Pimm's is very desceptive!). Alex and I then rushed to meet Marianne at Christ Church and ran with her to New College as the concert was starting in 5 mins. However, once there, were told that we were early. So, we wandered around and also happened to bump into James Scargill!
I then walked with Alex to the Union where we ahd a wuick look round before heading to St. Peter's to meet dad for the boat christening. Here they gave us champagne and we pretended to understand what the speeches were about (and laughed at all the "in" jokes). Dad wanted to stay for a while so Alex and I went to find Marianne and David. Once back in my room the four of us tried to find a place where we could eat...
We met dad outside Hertford and ended up in Wagamama's (Alex, Marianne, David, Dad and me). It was INCREDIBLY surreal. David and Alex had never met although David now works at Barn Bacon. In addition I had a mix of family, friends from in school, out of school and work in Oxford where I live and work - arg! However, the meal was really nice and fun :)
After seeing Dad, Marianne and David off back home Alex and I headed back to Hertford for some well-earnt champagne and chocolate (Cadbury's to be precise) ^_^

Leaving Orielton..

Woke up early to get the coach back to Oxford. Everyone was very tired and couldn't wait to get back home. I sat with Liz and we chatted for most of the journey. By the time we go back to Oxford it was BOILING and everyone went back to college to change into more summery clothes.
I went for a cycle with Alice down the tow path up to the canal. As the light began to fade we watched a group of students in a little, blue, old-fashioned rowing boat head off into the sun set.

The final day...

Had a half day of work where we did a bit of bird spotting. This wasn't very fun apart from when we got to go into groups and do it ourselves. This meant I was with Mel, Hazel and Liz again singing and writing down semi made-up figures for a couple of hours. We then had lunch and took pictures with Oli, Oli, Chris and Jonny.

In the late evening everyone did presentations about what they'd learned on the course as well as entertaining jokey ones (Liz, Hazel and Sylvia did a pretty good job of this!). We then all went to the pub as a huge group, bought shots for the tutors and drank outside as a huge group for the last time.

Nature Reserve and the best beach in Britain

Spent the rainy day at the field centre with Nick Brown learning about forestry and different tree species. I loved this as I really enjoy systematics and placing things in order. He took us round the grounds of the field centre where I was able to be very nerdy and give a mini talk to the class about Japanese Know weed. We later split off into groups and did a mini project in the woods, measuring the diversity of native tree species within a given area. Mel and I had a great time laughing, joking and teasing Liz who was semi-seriously doing the work with Hazel.

After dinner a small group of us were taken to a nature reserve and the best beach in Britain by Stephen Harris and other tutors. Here we walked from some scentic areas before reaching a lovely clean beach where people began to take their wellies off and walk in the surf. I then got his picture of everyone jumping although it took several attempts! We then buried one of the guys in the sand. By far one of the best days of the trip!

Seaside!

Supposidly the best day of the trip, today we went to the beach rockpooling It was another hot day but VERY windy so we didn't get very far before almost being pushed by the wind into the sea! Martin Spate (invertebrate tutor and all-round sea-quirt lover) came along too and showed us the large diversity of sea slugs, star fish, sea suquirts, algae, crabs, crustacea and other organisms which could be found simply by overturning rocks. We later retreated to the beach cafe for hot chips, ice-cream and lunch. On returning to Orielton Jeremy and I went exploring in the woods and took a long walk to the pub. I got some great pictures on the way of the golden sun setting on fields of hay.

Team Nettles

Sylvia, Olli and I were put into a team today as part of the cology practical to see the effects of two vegetation on insects. We obviously decided that the nettle field was the best place to go for this and donned on rubber gloves to collect the leaves, It was another glorious day so we'd picked as pretty good project as it was outdoors. We messed about for most of the day and got this "stunning" picture of Team Nettle using the slef-timer.
I went back to the cliffs in the late evening with Liz and Mel. We sat on the edge and dangled our wellies over the edge near the cliff-face. Today there was a thick sea-mist which made it difficult to see out towards the horizon.