Today began at about 0600, I had breakfast and then went up to the classroom ready for the 0700 lecture – there was still no internet! The lecture was about ecology. We looked at the structural components, the functional aspects, the levels of organisation, the trophic pyramid, food chains, food webs, the nutrient cycle, symbiotic relationships, predation and competition. The final point was ‘where do humans fit in?’ – which was quite thought provoking. The lesson had several interruptions, the discovery of a blindworm in the swimming pool and another trainer finding and showing us a centipede for example. During the break in the lecture Vaughan helped us ‘plan an itinerary for a two to three day trip for some clients’ (one of the questions from the workbook). He came up with a menu and was criticised for not providing a vegetarian option – his response ‘OK then, vegetarian option…cabbage’ – quite amusing. Also, there’s one restaurant that guides use quite regularly, because if you take your clients there, the guide gets free lunch – very good to know!
Then we had a bit of free time before brunch, I read some of my book. Brunch today was a bit of a mix, rolls with a choice of ham, cheese, tuna and sweetcorn, salad and fruit. Today is Jess’ birthday so we sang Happy Birthday and then gave her some cakes (that were bought in town at the weekend). She shared them with everybody, very yummy chocolate cake.
I went back to the classroom to finish my workbook and then the internet started working again – it was a very exciting moment!
At 1530 we had a geology lecture, all about the types of rock, the geology of the area and even a bit about plate tectonics. Trevor had brought in loads of different rocks for us to look at which was quite cool.
After the lecture, it was time for dinner. We had schnitzel, fried potatoes, broccoli cheese and salad – a super dinner after a slightly disappointing lunch! Then we all headed back to the classroom to complete the geology section of our workbook, use the internet and then it was off to bed.