this made me laugh!!

Find my Grandads life changing moment.

Although I don’t remember my granddad (he died when I was two) I have a strange compulsion to visit the prisoner of war camp he was held in for 3 years.

I’ve always been fascinated with world war two and embarked on a school history trip to Germany and Belgium to see firsthand what it was like.

I want to look at the walls he stared at for weeks on end and the outdoor conditions of the region he was kept captive in. I want to share something with a person I don’t remember and have a little bit more of an understanding of what happened in his life.

On my history trip my whole world changed, I had always been an emotional person that watched neighbours and would cry if the dog died. Yet this trip toughened me up. During the week we visited places I didn’t know existed, places of torture and humiliation; places that decisions were made that changed the course of history. The Nuremberg trials, the Wansee conference and the Berlin book burning.

I think the most memorable part for me was visiting Bergen Belson. The huts where Jews were kept like cattle have been burnt down and a tranquil place of grass and forest surrounds what was a death camp.

Mounds of grass covered earth were scattered around the site with plaques that sad here lies 100 people. On one occasion I looked at a patch of grass that was the size of a cricket run, there were 1000 people piled in there and left with no identification. Its sights like that that make you think how lucky we are to be in a safe place.

Sooo to conclude I want to personalise what i saw there and see how a family member coped.

Oh to be Published.

I would love to have my words of wisdom published, or at least have my name in official print. (I also don’t think having my name on a most wanted list counts, trust me it’s crossed my mind, all in aid of the course.)

Someone who once loved me said that I would always be published and have my name in print if I opened a small silver tin. Inside held the coordinates of a star that was named after me. He said: “This way in hundreds of year’s time your name will be placed in the national archives and documented forever.”

On a more non soppy note i think i have something to prove to myself and a certain teacher that said i shouldn’t go to college and that university isn’t for a person like me. Haha (if he could only see me now!)

ive had a little search about how you would go about getting a book published. (obviously my main concern at the moment is that i havent actually got a book but thats a small technicality)

I don't like Marmalade, i'm more of a Marmite girl.

Since I’ve been a child I’ve wanted to go to Peru. Contrary to many comments it’s not because I wanted to follow the footsteps of Paddington bear and his adventure from deepest darkest Peru to meet the browns at Paddington station. I want to visit the lost city.

Machu Picchu is the lost city that was rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham. I don’t necessarily want to see the tourist hotspots but search for myself first hand and find my own hidden treasures. For example just north of Lima is Chavin De Huantar which dates back to 900 BC. It’s these kind of places that I want to explore, places that have been untouched for thousands of years with a story behind them.

Don’t get me wrong I want to visit lots of other things as well. What you don’t tend to realise is that Peru has some stunning beaches, apparently Tumbes is beautiful and is rite by the equator which means glorious weather!! The country also holds other surprises, like it hold the upper part of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest while also having the Andes running through it. So whatever I want to see it all seems to be perfectly held in one country.

Well I couldn’t post a blog about a place without commenting on the food could I?! My major off put if u like is that they eat guinea pigs!!! I had one of those little things back in the day and don’t really like the idea of eating a house pet. However I do want to try Ceviche which is apparently citrus marinated seafood which includes things like shrimp, octopus and all kinds of fish. I kinda like the idea of having things cooked by the acidity of citrus fruit. (wouldn’t have thought that would be done in this country)

ahh ive found a you tube clip that puts into viuals what ive been trying to say and been so excited about.

A world full of colour.

Whenever I read or watch anything about India my mind is filled with colour, tradition and a sense of wonder. I want to see a society that is steeped in heritage and principles. I imagine a scene of swirling colours oranges and reds that swirl in the breeze like dust blown off an old book.

Is it really bad that the next thing that follows is FOOD I love that when you walk past an Indian food store it’s filled with sweet smells and spices that you never thought existed. I once went into a store to find a fish that was caught, frozen and shipped over here as a traditional Indian delicacy. I looked at this fish that had razor sharp teeth and was so big that it filled a chest freezer I want to find one for myself (and call it Nemo).

Whenever I watched a documentary of anything to do with India I always saw silk saris in compact markets with women looking so beautiful in their gowns and sandals. I think at weddings women were decorated with henna all over their hands in such an artistic way it was beautiful.

Oh how badly i need to travel the world!!

(our race for life days and yes i took the piccie)

How to run?!?!?!

I decided a long time ago that one day I would join those thousands of people that ran all over London town. At a young age I thought they were chasing someone or trying to find something. Obviously 26 miles is a little extreme for a beginner so maybe a few shorter runs may be a good starting point.

For the last 4 years I have taken part in the cancer research 5k race for life. That came about as a memorial to my best friend’s mother who tragically died of cancer, each year we continued this tradition and now I’m a little older I think it’s time to step it up a notch. Now that I study in the north of the country I may try and train for the great north run and set myself a half one. (26 is really extreme for a girl like me, yet as the project suggests this is what I want to do in a lifetime.) Keep your fingers crossed for this target. But every girl can hope.

Sweet Sweet Music!!

Learn to play the guitar.

For my 16^th birthday I had pestered my parents enough to buy me a British Racing Green Squire Stratocaster. That doesn’t seem like a big deal to most proud guitar owners yet to me it was a gateway to musical legendaryness. (Ok I made up that word but I’m building a picture)

I sat on my bed with my 10 watt amp, chord instruction book and more enthusiasm than heather mills bank manager. I was adamant that my new hobby was going to fund me through life. I would be recognised as a female Jimi Hendrix. I had already developed a crazed crush on Richie Sambora, been to see the red hot chilli peppers and checked out muses sliding skills.

However there is one rather large technicality, I can’t play. My attempts to play sweet sweet music turned into the brutal assignation of a cat. Sweet child of mine turned into sweet Jesus make it stop.

My dad tried to rekindle my music appreciation by taking me to see Eric Clapton; our seats were so close to the guitaring genius that I could see his fingers stroking the frets. I made a promise to myself there and then that I would learn to play Layla one day for the full 6 minutes.

I’m yet to complete the challenge so any offers of assistance would be greatly appreciated I don’t know where to start.

Can You Be In Two Places At Once???

Can you be in two places at once?

Is that possible? I would love to be able to be in two places at once. Not only would it be fantastic to stay in bed and sleep off that one too many you had the night before, while simultaneously being on top form in a lecture that you would have otherwise missed.

But on a more serious note, I have thought about this, I’d like to be able to see more things and be able to witness two moments without having to pick which is going to be the most important. I’ve posed this question to a close friend who took the trouble to explain in a letter how it is actually possible..... Here comes the science bit.....

When you think about light as a collection of photons, the bands created on a screen when you shine a light through a diffraction grating actually represent the statistical probability that a photon will hit that part of the screen.

This is easier to understand if you allow only a few photons through to the slits. If you only have one slit, the screen would look like this:

The photons will hit the screen mostly in the direct line of sight
from the slit. Thus, the probability is higher that a photon will hit
in the direct line of sight of the slit than in places far away from the slit.

If you have two slits, the probability changes because of interference:

A higher concentration of
photons exists at the bands.

But what if you only let one photon at a time go through a two slit grating? You would expect the scatter of photons on the screen to look like the scatter from a one slit grating, since a single photon has nothing to interfere with. After all, if a single photon goes through one slit, how can it "know" that the other slit even exists?

But, to the great surprise of quantum physicists, the scatter of the photons let through one at a time is identical to the scatter of the photons let through all at once! The photon did somehow "know" about the other slit. So which slit does a single photon go through? The answer is the photon goes through both slits at the same time. The photon (according to modern theory) becomes two ghost photons, allowing a single photon to interfere with itself. Hard to imagine? You're in good company.

So if this is actually possible on a tiny scale. Why can’t I be in two places at once! The closest thing I have seen to it so far is a clip from a ‘walk to remember’. A high school American (Mandy Moore) straddles a state line, therefore on a technicality being in two places at once. I know you are thinking this could be easily achieved if I drove to the England -Scotland border yet it lacks the romantic soppy Bridget Jones moment that every die hard romantic craves. That would indeed be me.

Sydney.

I think I’d like to walk the Sydney harbour bridge. But not the flat way...... ohh no. I want to go up and over!

I can always remember watching a travel programme about the great holiday and travelling destinations of the world. I remember seeing an immense green bridge standing tall in front of an array of photographic hotspots and wondering when I could do that, what I could see from the top and how small would the boats be travelling underneath me. The 134 metre high bridge was opened in 1932 and was invented by Dr John Job Crew Bradfield and has stood there proud as punch ever since. I think i am the girl to tackle the project (At this point i don’t want to mention the hundreds that have stood before me or indeed the men who built the thing.)

My Own Bucket List.

Have you ever been told to watch something as its “Your type of film” and been not only appalled with it, but also began to wonder what possessed that person to watch it in the first place. It also makes me wonder what they actually think of you, to associate you with that film? The bucket list was a recommended chick flick by a close friend, So I thought I would give it ago.

The bucket list is a list of the things two men have always wanted to do but never go around to and feel they should before they ‘kick the bucket’. Morgan freeman and Jack Nicholson are both struck down with cancer and meet while undergoing treatment sharing a room. (For those interested there is mention of a PR stunt, when Edward Cole the owner of the hospital expresses the great importance of having two people per room yet when he is admitted demands a room of his own. His request is rejected as it would be bad PR) both men are told they have between 6months and a year to live. Carter the logical more reserved type makes a list of places he wants to see and cars he wanted to drive while Edward lists skydiving.

The outcome of the film is that all items are seen to in the list, this draws the two together and as you would expect both kicks the bucket with completed list and no regrets.

As you can imagine I cried and cried and cried! Until I think I wept my own body weight in tears.

From that I decided to write my own list of things I want to do before I die. (Pessimistic I know as I’m only 21) but I think this may kick me into touch to do something with myself during and after Uni. I know too many people that do the “I wish I did that when I had the chance”. So here is my list of things to do before ‘I kick the bucket.’

This should be interesting.

hello!!
It seems like i have hopped onto that crowded band wagon of blogger's all over the world, (this has nothing to do with the fact i have a mac 250 module in the social media scene.) I'm actually quite interested in how this is going to work and if what i think is interesting enough for people to comment on.
soooo here it goes..
read on fellow blogger's.