Every Leaf Speaks Bliss to Me, Fluttering from the Autumn Tree

It is almost Week 8 of the "Martinmas Semester", an extremely busy time of year for us St. Andreans. I cannot believe how quickly time is passing! There is a definite chill in the air now and it has been raining for a little while almost every day. We've had a time change as well, so now it starts getting dark around 4:30. Like Emily Brontë I welcome these seasonal transformations-

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night’s decay

Ushers in a drearier day.

I think the easiest way to share what I've done over the past weeks is to list events by activity rather than chronologically… here it goes!

Canoe Club

• The Freshers Trip- The Freshers Trip as a second year felt vastly different. Not only was I more confident in the kayaking itself, but I also knew people in the club, so was way more relaxed than last year. On day one, I went in the first car so I could help set up tents at the campsite before meeting the others to paddle. Like last year, the day consisted of paddling from Loch Tay to Aberfeldy, stopping along the way to practice skills and play games. I got to try out my Contour camera on the river, so have a lot of fun footage of the trip (below is a short clip of us doing the wave).

• The second day we went from Aberfeldy to Grandtully, and paddled a couple of exciting rapids. You can see another clip of my group going down the Grandtully rapids below (sorry for the funky music!):

• In the evening we went to an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet and then back to St. Andrews. The official club blog post here: STAUCC Blogpost

Safety and Rescue Scenario

• White Water Safety and Rescue- I did a weekend course in white water safety and rescue a few weeks ago. The first day we learned the acronym CLAP (Communication, Line of Sight, Avoidance is Better than Cure, Position of Maximum Usefulness), which became the overarching theme of the course. We did many different activities throughout the day including shallow water wading, throw bagging, and defensive vs aggressive swimming. We also learned about principles of safe equipment and how best to obtain mechanical advantage. In the evening we got dinner in Aberfeldy and camped at Grandtully- it poured for most of the night!

• The second day we examined rescue situations in further detail, using the phrases "Shout, Reach, Throw, Row, Go" and "Self, Team, Victim, Equipment". We set up several scenarios for foot entrapments, boat capsizes, and getting caught in "strainers" (trees, logs, etc.). It was a very informative course- now that I know some safety basics I feel a lot more comfortable on the water.

  

  WWSR group

At the Perth Show

• Perth Show and Stanley Paddle- Every year there is a large canoe and kayak expo up in the city of Perth which coincides with the Tay Descent, a race down the river Tay. Last year I missed the show, so I was really looking forward to it. The expo was really overwhelming- I'd never seen so much kayaking kit all in one place! After much debate, I ended up investing in a buoyancy aid which I had researched online beforehand. It has many of the good safety features which I learned about during WWSR. After shopping, we went to two inspiring talks by Jonny Hawkins and Callum Strong- friends of the club who went on pretty intense kayaking expeditions in Borneo and Ethiopia. I was enthralled by their tales of riding to a river by handcar and stumbling into the path of a hippopotamus. In the afternoon we paddled the Tay at Stanley, a section which I'd never done before. Due to the recent rainstorms the river was very full- there were a lot of fun waves. The paddle was quite short, but it was getting dark by the time we finished anyway.

• Pool Sessions and Surf Sessions- Pool sessions have started back up, so we can practice in warm water again! I've only been to one so far, but I was very excited because I remembered how to roll after not getting to practice for several months. The surf sessions are great for practicing skills as well, and the games we play in the harbor are quite entertaining!

• Adrenaline Ball- Friday night was the Adrenaline Ball, a dance for some of the "extreme sports" clubs. I went to a potluck beforehand, as I opted out of the fancy dinner, then headed to the Golf Hotel for the event. The first part of the dance and the best part of the evening was the ceilidh (see my past post for more about ceilidhs). My favorites dances this time were the Gay Gordons, The Virginia Reel, and St. Bernard's Waltz. After the ceilidh was the discotheque part of the evening- something I'm always hesitant to partake in. Luckily I was persuaded to join in, and I ended up having a lot of fun. After the dance was over we walked to the Union and got drinks before heading home. All in all I had a wonderful evening!

  

  Potluck (Photo Credit: Patsy)

Design Team

• Tea People Design- The girls from the Design Team committee were offered an internship from Tea People, a tea company that donates 50% of its profits back to tea-growing regions. We are working on designing new packaging, as well as planning a photo shoot for the the redesign of the website and to promote a holiday pop-up shop.
• Photoshop Classes- I've been helping the Design Team head teach classes in Photoshop on Sunday afternoons. It has been great for reinforcing my Photoshop and public speaking skills, and I enjoy helping budding designers unlock their potential in the program. Last weekend I ended up teaching a class on the Heal Brush and Clone Stamp by myself- it was very exciting!

Ents

Poster for Comedy Show

• I've been much more involved with Ents this year than I was last year. I'm glad to be surrounded by techie friends once again- it is something I missed very much from high school. Below are some of my favorite events of the past weeks.
• Laser Tag- We got to set up a "maze" in the union for a laser tag company using trussing and fabric, then got to try out the course ourselves. It was fantastic fun even though I stink at laser tag and got the lowest score. When the event was finished we took everything down about three times as fast as we put it up. My friend and I got very good at folding fabric quickly.
• Bops- I have teched at a couple of Friday night bops, mostly practicing lighting. I find live lighting a bit strange coming from a theater lighting background- you really have to have a knack for matching lights to the beat of the music. It is a little nerve-wracking trying to decide how much smoke to release from the smoke machine and when or how long to leave on the strobes, but I am starting to get the hang of it.
• Ceilidh and Bubble Bath- Two fellow Ents and I have formed a trio for certain events. We did a ceilidh together a couple weeks ago, and Bubble Bath last week (Bubble Bath is a reoccurring comedy panel show which I've stage-managed twice this year). We are a great little team!

Academics

• I just turned in my main Art History essay of the semester on photography and painting in the 19th century. I focused mainly on the Pre-Raphaelites, one of my favorite groups of artists. It was really wonderful to do a project on a topic that I am passionate about- I ended up doing way more research than was probably necessary just because I was interested.
• I also had to do a presentation for my Art History tutorial on the same topic, though less specific to the Pre-Raphaelites. I made a Prezi for the talk, which you can see here if you are interested: New Visions, Public and Private

Pomona, Julia Margaret Cameron

• Right now I'm supposed to be studying for my Visual Analysis test, which involves memorizing about 70 works of art and their background information so when they show us three comparisons, we can write about each for 17 minutes. The artworks we are studying can be found in my Quizlet flashcard set.
• For sustainable development I am working on a project about invasive species with two other group members, as well as an essay on the plight of the bees.
• Finally for my online course, I have done a lot of short exercises that are meant to get you to think out of the box. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they have in store for us as the year goes on.

Life at Home

• I've been trying to keep up my ballet muscles by practicing at home every so often. Stretching and listening to Tchaikovsky is a great way to unwind after a day of work!
• I'm determined to finish fixing up our garden before winter- I want to at least plant some bulbs, so we have nice flowers in the spring.
• I've been baking a little, not as much as I would like, but had an especially pleasant Halloween morning baking focaccia, dinner rolls, and banana nut muffins.
• Speaking of Halloween, I had a much more subdued holiday than usual this year. Instead of going out I ended up watching a scary movie on my own. Admittedly it was a little sad, especially since Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I love dressing up, but it just felt like a stay-at-home evening. However, I did put my Mary Blair pumpkin out, and received a couple trick-or-treaters!



My Mary Blair Pumpkin



Bicycle Repairman

• I've been Miss Bike Repairwoman lately- I have to keep battling the wear and tear which comes from riding a bicycle everyday. Fortunately, Youtube is very helpful, and bike tune-ups are quite easy if you have some hex-keys!

• I attached my Contour camera to my bike a few weeks ago and got some pretty awesome results! I hope to make another video sometime soon.

KnitSoc

• I haven't done much with KnitSoc since the beginning of the year, mostly because I tend to have things going on at the same time as the meetings. I'm working on a hat right now, but progress is rather slow- I'll let you know how it goes!

PhotoSoc

• I joined PhotoSoc, and have been to a couple of their events- in the first we took photos around town and in the second we woke up early and met to take sunrise photos at the pier.

• I've also been trying out my Brownie camera around town on my own- I still have to develop the photos.

Travel

• Since I last wrote I've been to Edinburgh twice- once for a day of photography and geocaching, and once to tour Stills Photography Center. On the first occasion, I had a lot of fun exploring the zoo and the botanic gardens, neither of which I'd been to before. You can see my photos here:

• My trip to Stills was different than I had hoped but it was still fun and informative. I went with the intention of learning to develop film, but realized when I got there that I had signed up for a tour of the facility rather than a class. The lady was really nice and showed me around the digital and analogue processing areas- I hope to go back sometime soon.

Today is Raisin Sunday- though unfortunately I'm not planning on doing much this year. I'll try to write again soon!!!

biking classes dancing design team ents exploring holidays kayaking societies