Saturday 26th June 2010
Day one of the Space Studies Program, Strasbourg, France.
Wow, what can I say about France, that has not already been said! I am posting the view out the window of my student room, so you will know what I mean. You can see in the foreground an average student type room. The amazing Cathedral in the background, dates from the Middle Ages and the 466 ft spire was completed in 1439. The building that the students are housed in is very old and is so spread out, that the scope for becoming lost is huge. I am on the fourth floor of the building which takes 8 sets of stairs to reach and the room is a typical students room with the exeption of the shower/toilet. Perhaps the design is the project of the SSP course from one year as it looks like something you might find in the space shuttle!
Registration for the course took place at the FEC(student accommodation about 200 metres from the Cathedral) and after an afternoon of packing away our belongings and grabbing a quick nap, all of us were required for dinner, downstairs in the student cafeteria at 6:30pm. There was the first contact with other students, 38 countries and 126 participants to be exact. Our first official requirement was to arrive upstairs for a briefing. That briefing turned out to be an impromptu presentation by each participant to the whole group introducing themselves.
After our presentation we were invited to watch the football accross the road at a cute little french pub which turned out to be like a sauna so we moved up the road a little to find cooler accomodations. After following the road for maybe 200 metres our group turned into a very small pub and walked through, out into a very large square with tables and people as far as the eye could see, surrounded by what is considered to be typical french buildings. You cannot see the square from the street, so it is like stumbling into a secret garden.
Our small social group of participants included someone from the UK, two Canadians and two Japanese guys. We decided to grab pizza and order some beers all in French. We have a 10am start tomorrow and I know that so many participants are still jet lagged so tomorrow morning I am sure will be a little messy.
Cheers Kim
PS I snuck into the Netherlands for a few days before the course to see family, and the country is simply spectacular. Look at the beautiful town of Lemmer where I ate Tapas with my Dutch relatives on my last night in the Netherlands. Thanks Ria, Anneke and Inneke, for a fantastic time over the two and a half days I spent in the Netherlands!
Wow, what can I say about France, that has not already been said! I am posting the view out the window of my student room, so you will know what I mean. You can see in the foreground an average student type room. The amazing Cathedral in the background, dates from the Middle Ages and the 466 ft spire was completed in 1439. The building that the students are housed in is very old and is so spread out, that the scope for becoming lost is huge. I am on the fourth floor of the building which takes 8 sets of stairs to reach and the room is a typical students room with the exeption of the shower/toilet. Perhaps the design is the project of the SSP course from one year as it looks like something you might find in the space shuttle!
Registration for the course took place at the FEC(student accommodation about 200 metres from the Cathedral) and after an afternoon of packing away our belongings and grabbing a quick nap, all of us were required for dinner, downstairs in the student cafeteria at 6:30pm. There was the first contact with other students, 38 countries and 126 participants to be exact. Our first official requirement was to arrive upstairs for a briefing. That briefing turned out to be an impromptu presentation by each participant to the whole group introducing themselves.
After our presentation we were invited to watch the football accross the road at a cute little french pub which turned out to be like a sauna so we moved up the road a little to find cooler accomodations. After following the road for maybe 200 metres our group turned into a very small pub and walked through, out into a very large square with tables and people as far as the eye could see, surrounded by what is considered to be typical french buildings. You cannot see the square from the street, so it is like stumbling into a secret garden.
Our small social group of participants included someone from the UK, two Canadians and two Japanese guys. We decided to grab pizza and order some beers all in French. We have a 10am start tomorrow and I know that so many participants are still jet lagged so tomorrow morning I am sure will be a little messy.
Cheers Kim
PS I snuck into the Netherlands for a few days before the course to see family, and the country is simply spectacular. Look at the beautiful town of Lemmer where I ate Tapas with my Dutch relatives on my last night in the Netherlands. Thanks Ria, Anneke and Inneke, for a fantastic time over the two and a half days I spent in the Netherlands!
Hi Kim,
We are following your exploits on the Blog site with great interest - seems like you are off to a good start.
Sunny here today.
Cheers, P & B
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Hi Pat and Bryan,
Glad to see that others are getting enjoyment from my learning! It is so hot here, right now about 32 degrees so I am enjoying lectures in the a/c.
Look forward to your comments.
Cheers Kim E
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HI KIM ,WHAT A VIEW FROM YOUR ROOM. I CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW EXCITED YOU MUST BE NOW THAT THE COURSE HAS FINALLY STARTED.
I GUESS BY NOW YOU KNOW THAT THE KNIGHTS WON.L.O.L. RUTH
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Hi Ruth,
I did not know that the Knights had won. I have some even better photos to post today, so keep a look out.
cheers Kim E
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G'day from the Gold Coast!
Snot told us where you were and for how long. I went WTF?!?!?!
Good on ya girl!
We wish you all the best with your studies.
Hugs & kisses,
The Fab Finnies
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Hey Fab Finnies,
Hey you had to find out how much of a nerd I was one day!! Having a great time and wish you could all be here. One week gone already -its gone so fast. I will pretend you are here and drink a beer for each of you.
xoxoxox
Kim E
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Hi Kim
Finally caught up with your site, it looks fantastic. The camera is working well judging from the photos. Charlotte wants to know about the photo from space with the green light around Antarctica; what is the green light.
I can't believe you are half way through already. You can always catch up on sleep on the plane trip home!
Love from the Druces
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Hi to the Druces,
The green light is the aurora, which is caused by electromagnetic particles from the Sun (the solar wind) interacting with the earths magnetic field. The field is thinner at the poles and this phenomena occurs at both the poles. There are some resources for children which can be found at ;
ESA http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/index.html you can find links about the sun
NASA http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html
Australian site http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/au/Aurora_borealis
Page 26 in this presentation below, gives a good graphical representation of the earths magnetic field http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/Presentations/SOHOset1.pdf you can see where the field is thinner (well the field lines return to the earth here) and the presentation is about the probe that tracks and photographs changes in the sun.
It's a shame the photos on the blog are only small web sized ones. The originals look amazing.
Cheers Kim E
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