In our second year, we paleontology students at the University of Bristol get to do quite a lot of field work. We did a one-week trip focused on geological mapping just before term start. Around the end of April, we will have a fossil-oriented field trip for another week, which I am quite looking forward too!
We will also have a field trip with the biology class this year, since we are a so-called Joint Honours programme, meaning that we take classes from two departments, in our case the departments of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences. We were given a choice among a wide range of field trips, laboratory workshops and even a public outreach project, and I have just found out which one I have been allocated to.
In early April next year, I will be going to Lagos, a town in the Algarve coast of southern Portugal. We will spend a week studying all sorts of plants, and how they are adapted to their environment! The first few days will be led by our supervisors, to familiarise us with the plants and the setting, to appreciate how we can study them, and to give us ideas for the independent group research project we will spend the remaining time on.
I'm quite thrilled to see what a biology field trip will be like, as I have never had a serious biology-focused excursion before. I am also excited to see the Mediterranean sea!
A gut feeling tells me I should get some new field gear – adapted for work under blazing sun, rather than pouring rain and freezing wind. Self-moisturising notebook, rather than a (hardly) water-resistant one. Lots of water. Moist snacks...
I'll have plenty of time to think about it!
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