Summertime means summer reading!

Hello everyone! Sorry for another post so soon, the other was meant to be posted a few days earlier but I ended up with no laptop over the weekend (although I did have a great weekend in Southampton, including my first ever trip to an IKEA! :P) Today I’m continuing the theme of things I enjoy outside of Physics, and I thought I’d give you a little look into one of my favourite activities – reading. I love reading and have read lots of books from a huge range of genres (aided in part by studying A level English Literature which encouraged me to read books that I wouldn’t have done otherwise). As a student I have far less time to read for pleasure than I would like, but this means that the summer holidays are a great time to catch up! This is a list of a few books I’ve been reading recently, some from new authors, some from authors I’ve been reading for years.

 

The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson

An amazing book, which follows the adventurers of an old man fed up of life in the care home he has ended up in. Whilst following the adventure he finds himself in having climbed out of his bedroom window (in his slippers), the book also narrates his life story, where it turns out he has met some of the most incredible people and been part of some of the most remarkable events of the 20^th century. Sort of Forrest Gump-ish in it’s approach, very funny, highly original and well worth a read!

Join Me – Danny Wallace

Really really funny. The true story of a man who was bored, so accidentally started his own ‘cult’. What do you do when you realise you’ve ended up with followers? How far do you go to achieve an aim which you sort of accidentally set out to fulfill? From the same author as Yes Man (another great book and much better than the film) this is highly recommended. I actually laughed out loud, which I rarely do.

And the Mountains Echoed – Khaled Hosseini

I’ve been a massive fan of Khaled Hosseini since reading “The Kite Runner” a number of years ago, but I enjoyed his second novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns” even more. I didn’t realise he had a new book out until recently but it was well worth the wait. If you haven’t read any of his books, do. They are really fascinating insights into the lives of people living in Afghanistan, and do an amazing job of portraying how conflict has shaped the country of Afghanistan. Whilst “The Kite Runner” is predominantly a father-son story, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” a mother-daughter story, “And the Mountains Echoed” has multiple different stories woven into one book, each connected in some way. Whilst it is not my favourite of his books, it was still incredibly powerful and well written. Everyone should read at least one of these books!

Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card

One of the Sci fi classics. It was given to me to read by my boyfriend who loves Sci fi, and whilst I usually prefer fantasy or realistic fiction this really impressed me. A classic tale of child soldiers used in an intergalactic war. I’ve also seen the fairly recent film – definitely not as good as the book. Even if you don’t like Sci fi give this a go! On that note I’d also recommend “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman, another novel about interstellar warfare. This looks at the idea of how relativity could effect an interstellar war – will the enemy be ‘ahead’ of you in time when you next face them in battle and thus have more advanced weaponry? I enjoyed it and I think other people who are interested in Physics (well especially relativity) would as well!

An Abundance of Katherines – John Green

John Green is an excellent author and not just for the swathes of teenage girls who make up a large number of his fans! The first book of his I read was “The Fault in Our Stars” which even despite all of the hype is an incredibly well written book, and the recent film is also very good. He has a way of creating characters that are complex but very relatable and the stories definitely get you to think about life. “An Abundance of Katherines” was the last of his I had left to read and I wasn’t disappointed. Following the story of a child prodigy who has recently been dumped by his girlfriend, it covers issues such as the difficulties involved in growing up as a gifted child and the process of becoming an individual as you go through your teenage years and become an adult. Not my favourite, but still very good.  

In a Sunburned Country – Bill Bryson
Again, I’ve read a lot of Bill Bryson in the past. I’m still currently reading this one, and am enjoying following his travels through Australia. I’ve always been interested in Australia and would love to go one day (good job I’m not afraid of spiders or snakes!), so this has been a good read. It isn’t in my opinion as good as some of his other books (most notably “Notes From a Small Island” which was one of the funniest books I’ve read), as I’m not as keen on the focus on political history that seems to be a feature so far. However overall I’m enjoying it as it contains Bill Bryson’s typical humour and great little stories and anecdotes!

Once I’ve finished Bill Bryson, I think I’ll move on to “The Long War” and then “The Long Mars”, the next two books in the series of books co authored by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I really love Terry Pratchett and there is enough of his stylistic humour in these books to make me enjoy them, even if the genre is not something I’d necessarily pick out to read.

So, back to some more summer reading! Any books you’ve read recently you would recommend? I’m looking for some more for my trip to Sardinia so I’m very open to suggestions! Until next time, bye for now!

An amazing week at Camp Quest UK!

Last week I had the privilege of spending my week at Camp Quest, the UK summer camp for free thinking kids (Ages 11-18: there is another camp for younger children!). Camp Quest originally started in the USA, as a secular alternative to typical American summer camps. Often traditional camps don’t cater to non religious children, and whilst this is less of a problem in the UK, the idea has been welcomed here too. In the UK it is more focused on promoting education and a desire to learn about the world around us, using reason and empathy when exploring some of life’s biggest questions and understanding other people’s points of view. Whilst it has been described by some sources as the “Richard Dawkins Atheist Indoctrination Camp” this in fact couldn’t be further from the truth. The camp welcomes children from all backgrounds, as its aims are relevant to all people (religious or not) as long as they have a desire to learn, be challenged and have fun!

I found out about the camp through the internet and saw they were looking for volunteers. I was lucky enough to be picked to be a leader at the summer camp and I am honestly so grateful. I had the best time last week and met THE MOST INCREDIBLE PEOPLE! Both the staff and campers were great and I had so much fun.

So what did we get up to? We were staying near Malvern, in an outdoor activity centre so each morning (after an optional early morning run/ yoga session and breakfast) the campers got to take part in physical activities put on by the centre. These included trying the zip wire, the king swing (a giant swing that starts at about 3m high up), the high ropes course, a Jacob’s ladder and quad pole and grass sledging. The kids were amazing, we had so many brave individuals confronting their fears and giving the activities a go. We (the leaders) even got to have a go too which was great! I’m not too afraid of heights so the activities were loads of fun, even if I fell off the high ropes course at one point when I was trying to be too clever and decided to try and walk part of it like a tightrope! (Note to self – a career as a tightrope walker is probably beyond you!) On one of the days we also ran a sports day, consisting of various team games as well as normal sports like football and rounders, completing the morning by allowing the leaders to have some fun with water pistols!

Me jumping out of a tree at a trapeze - the leap of faith!

The rest of the activities at camp were led entirely by our staff members. As it is a camp that aims to promote free thought and education, we ran sessions that would challenge the kids to think, on topics that wouldn’t necessarily be easy for them. It wasn’t until these sessions that I found out quite how incredible these kids were – they were all so intelligent and had such amazing ideas and ways of articulating their thoughts. They enjoyed sessions of philosophy for children (run by two of the leaders trained to run such sessions) covering topics such as free will; as well as other discussions where they were allowed to propose topics and choose which one to attend. We had some really fascinating discussions on whether or not sexism is a problem in today’s society, whether or not it is possible to be an ethical consumer, whether assisted dying is a good idea and whether or not we have a right to anonymity as well as many other topics. The level of maturity displayed was incredible and we had some brilliant responses.

We also had the opportunity to do some science! One of the other leaders is a chemistry teacher and so led some great practical sessions on chromatography and acids and alkalis which the kids loved! I helped run a session with another leader (a Physics and Maths graduate) on Physics (YAY!) – we covered the concepts of relativity and string theory. Obviously we didn’t go in to the maths (although a couple of very interested children asked me about that later on), instead focusing on the mind bending concepts and basically challenging the kids perceptions of our world. I also ran a session on fun, basic first aid (as I’m always shocked that first aid isn’t compulsory in schools) which was a good laugh as we encouraged dramatic collapsing/dying to make it more enjoyable whist learning some valuable skills. We also had a really good talk from another leader on the concept of brainwashing (and the fact that brainwashing itself isn’t necessarily a real phenomenon), as well as some talks led by the campers themselves (which were brilliant – covering Dark Matter, Great Apes and nonsense poems such as the Jabberwock) and by some external speakers (on the place of religion in schools, Murphy’s law and consent).

Other camp activities focussed on more creative endeavours such as drama (loads of fun and silly drama games that I’ll have to remember as they were brilliant fun and the kids loved them) and music, including a mini performance night as the campfire was rained off. There were some truly talented individuals – singers, instrumentalists, rappers, spoken word poets and dancing. We also really enjoyed doing some tie dying (leading to us all looking super cool in our tie dyed items!) and other crafts like origami.

As you can see, it was a week packed with fun and games and covering so many cool things. I’ve rather run out of space to pack in any more, but all I can say was it was the most incredible week and I’d love to do it again! :D

In the summertime...

Cor blimey I’m still so busy! Never mind this idea that it’s the holidays… As I mentioned last time I’m working away at my job as a room attendant in a hotel – such hard work! I’ve always been amazed at the job cleaners do but never have I had more respect for the tough work they do daily. At least it’s going to keep me fit even if I silently curse all of the people who leave hotel rooms in such an appalling state. At least it pays the bills!

I thought I’d do a post on summer holidays as a student. We get such a huge amount of time off each year (term ends in July and we only start back again in October!) so how do we manage to fill it? Well over the years I’ve done a few different things…

Post exam madness

Exams (at least in Durham) finish roughly a month before the end of term, which is fantastic. This gives you a long space of time to basically just relax and have fun. Whilst there are a few bits and bobs to sort out (like module registration, occasionally some extra lectures or a project just to start on the next year’s work a little bit early) as well of the dreaded results day of course, most of the time is your own. During this time I usually

·      Travel with friends to various places around the area such as Newcastle, Northumbrian coast, York, Edinburgh and many more!

·      Survive the feat that is Summer Ball (6pm to 6am with all sorts of amazing activities like dodgems, ceilidhs at 3am and so much food!)

·      Have loads of fun at college days, Beer fests and other uni events

·      BBQ’s, parties, walks, concerts, sitting around in the sun, bar crawls and loads of other cool stuff with friends!

Summer Ball, Edinburgh and the Beach! Typical summer time fun :D

Working

Obviously one of the most sensible things to do is getting a job – it gives you some more funds on top of the meagre amount from student finance for the next year and often means you can actually afford some more fun stuff during the holiday. There are a few options for work during holidays though:

·      Paid internship – get experience in your subject/ try a possible career path out whilst getting paid! This can range from doing research to actually being a paid member of staff. Last summer I was lucky enough to be one of the Ogden Trust’s Teach Physics interns – I worked in a science department of a secondary school for a month. It was an AMAZING experience which I thoroughly enjoyed, teaching and helping out in lessons and generally experiencing what it is like to work in a school. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone!

·      Summer job – trying to find a temporary job can be hard. Often businesses don’t want staff for such a short amount of time, however looking for work in seasonal areas is often your best bet. Have a look through normal job websites and apply for as many as possible. Experience is a must though – if you’ve never had a job before try and think of other things you have done that you can write down to show you have the skills they need. But then only go for a job that you will actually do – check that it meets the minimum wage and offers you the amount of hours you want. But also be prepared to try your hand at anything if you really want work! They’re often not as bad as you think they’ll be!

·      Seasonal work abroad – this is an excellent idea if you want to travel. There are lots of agencies that can place you doing seasonal work in resorts, as au pairs or in holiday camps. This summer I was all set up to go out to California to work as a Lead Instructor in an educational science camp, however unfortunately the visa process became complicated as I had been hired for a position that was more responsibility than the visa sponsor could allow for a student visa. However it is definitely something I plan to look in to in coming years as would have been a great experience! Look at various agencies, but also do some research. I got my job from sending a speculative CV so it’s worth searching!

·      Work experience – great for adding to your CV. I did a week in the NHS in Newcastle which confirmed my idea that medical physics is a route I would like to follow. It was great to get a real idea of what the job is like – and again I just found someone to contact and asked about work experience and ended up being offered the week and more if I wanted it! Asking politely gets you many good things!

Volunteering

I have often also used my summers to do some volunteering. In 2012 I volunteered as a Housekeeper at the Paralympic games, with all my wages donated to KISS, a Ugandan children’s charity that is very close to my heart. It was loads of fun as there was a whole group of us who did it, and we got some great experiences of the Paralympics – meeting the athletes briefly and seeing the park! Plus we knew that our work was supporting vulnerable children which made it so worthwhile. This summer I am volunteering at Camp Quest, a summer camp for children that aims to encourage them to explore the world in a rational, critical and creative way. It’s going to be fantastic – we have such great activities planned!

Housekeeping team at the Paralympics... Such Fun!

Travelling

Finally – a holiday wouldn’t be complete without some travel. Being at uni is great as you meet people from all over the place so can travel far and wide visiting them, and travel with them exploring new places. As well as visiting lots of different places in the UK, there are such good opportunities to travel the world. Often there are cheaper rates available for students, but also if you’re willing to travel in inventive ways you can get to great places for much less than the usual cost. Travelling outside of the school holiday period also makes the rates cheaper and the locations less busy so it’s a brilliant opportunity to take! Last year I travelled to Lake Garda, Milan, Verona and Venice which was amazing, and this year I’m off to the spectacular island Sardinia to enjoy the clear turquoise waters, white sandy beaches and the deepest gorge in Europe! Take the opportunities while they’re there and go see some amazing places!

Venice last year and where I'm off to this year - I love holidays!