A Holiday in Yorkshire

The development of a few great friendships with three girls in my program has really made this semester enjoyable! Anna from England, Ashley from Washington State and Christy from Michigan are some of the most entertaining women I have ever met. Although there are no official breaks in this program the four of us decided to take a short holiday in March to Anna’s parents house in Yorkshire. We had heard about the gorgeous farmhouse and the delicious home cooked food for months, but nothing could prepare us for the spa-like 5 days that occurred! In order to justify the culinary delights, we did ALOT of walking! One day was spent at Hebden Bridge and another exploring Bolton Abbey before watching Anna's Mum perform in the community Orchestra!

But favourite day was a 6-hour hike through the moors of Bronte country. I’m sure everyone can picture the atmospheric, rainy, gloomy setting that inspired the Bronte sisters’ writing. After about half an hour of walking, I was soaking wet (drookit as the Scots would say!) with about 3 inches of water sloshing around in my boots. But it all makes so much sense now! I would be dark and disturbed like the Bronte sisters if I had to do that in a corset and a petty coat everyday! A few follies from this hike worth mentioning include an impromptu river crossing- runoff from obscene amounts of rain and nearly loosing Ashley in a bog.

Our return from these hikes were met with freshly baked scones with clotted cream and jam or a cheese board that made me think I had died and gone to heaven. Anna’s dad, the director of the Yorkshire Slow Foods, prepared delicious gourmet meals every night made from local and organic food, including fresh eggs from the farm that we collected! In an attempt to thank them for their hospitality, the four of us made dinner the last night we were there. The homemade pasta made with a press definitely brought our lasagne up to a delicious slow food standard! Yummy!!

Our holiday ended with half a day in York, which I think is one of the coolest cities I have ever visited.

Reality Check and the Real World!!

Wow! I thought the first semester was busy, but the reality of a 2-year MSc in 15 months hit really hard upon the start of semester two. I can honestly say now that while taking this route to complete an MSc is practical in terms of time, it is also borderline suicidal. My brain hurts. Three weeks straight of 9-5 pm classes combined with about 5 minutes of daylight each day (minor exaggeration here!) made for a very painful semester start in January. I took in so much information and can definably say I hit saturation point. You know it is bad when you begin to seek out the least intellectual forms of entertainment outside of class to compensate. I will not go into depth about this, as I do not wish to change your opinion of me!

February and the first week of March brought about a very welcome change of pace. A required five week placement found me working full-time for the City of Edinburgh with the countryside ranger service and the Services for Communities department. The office happened to be situated in the Hermitage of Braid park, which includes Blackford Hill and pond where my Mum spent a lot of time. I even have a photo of her on Blackford Hill with her poodle Perry when she was about 9 years old . This "coincidence" is just more confirmation that I am in the right place.

My goal for the placement was to gain experience at a municipal decision-making level with regards to environmental sustainability. The 5 weeks were diverse and interesting and involved everything from litter picking and tree planting with various community groups to shadowing people in charge of departments like waste management and Eco Schools. A very entertaining day was spent with representatives from regional parks in France who had come to see what environmental education looked like in Scotland. The assumption was they would speak some english. Try executing outdoor activities with 30 french educators who don't understand a word you are saying! Ha!

I also spent a great deal of time assisting teachers with a program called Forest School. This model of teaching came from the Scandinavian school system and involves trained teachers taking their students to local woodland for a half day every week for the entire school year. This commitment to outdoor learning far surpasses what I have witnessed in Calgary. It was truly inspiring! The new Scottish Curriculum for Excellence provides support for this style of teaching, which seems to help immensely. Just another reason why Scotland is way ahead of the game as far as environmental commitment is concerned. The real world was very exciting and provided insight into what kind of job I would like when I am finish. But like everything else these days, the time flew by so quickly and I was back to the life of a student in no time.