"Thats not a word!" part one.

Over the years Ive noticed that geographers have a tendancy to make up words. Human geographers are particularly notorious for it but physical geographers have their moments too.

I overheard a conversation on the bus during the Spain fieldtrip last January between one of the human geography lecturers and one of the physical geography lecturers (for anyone in the class that might happen to read this, it was Fiona Smith and JR).
Anyway, Fiona is trying to talk to JR about some human geo nonsense and JR is clearly not interested because every other word that comes out of her mouth he responds with "thats not a word" and she argues that it is and then ploughs on with whatever crap shes talking only to be met a few seconds later with "thats not a word". That went on for about 10 minutes with me sitting in the row of seats behind them trying desperately to contain my laughter, failing miserably and ending up in silent convulsions with tears running down my face. Gotta love JR.

That was a bit of a tangent, but it explains the title of this blog. And its funny. Maybe you had to be there though...

Aaaannnyway, todays example of geographers making words up comes from my Glaciology lecture this morning:

Firnification - the process of turning snow into ice. Involves densification. (Densification - compacting snow to make it more dense (obviously) to turn it into ice)

Firnification, totally not a word.

Rule #1 - Always wear appropriate clothing - Recap

Apparently I didnt absorb this "rule" the first time around.

Had another fieldtrip this week and I can safely say Ive never been on a more horrific fieldtrip. Usually theyre fun, even if theyre incredibly boring we usually have a laugh.

Not this one.

First of all we all met at 8.45am - far too early for my liking.

Once we got to the general vicinity of the study site, we then had to walk up a hill for an hour to get to the actual corrie we were to work in. You'll be shocked to hear it was fairly steep.

Once we were at the top of the hill in the corrie we had to draw glacial features onto a map, basically to provide evidence of there being a glacier there in the past and to let us work out how big it was and how far it reached.

Yeah, fun.

That would have been ok had it not started raining. So the whole afternoon it rained and the wind howled and it rained more and it was cold. I didnt have nearly enough layers on so I froze, and no waterproof trousers so my bottom half got soaked (and consequently even colder because of the howling wind). Got wet feet too because the ground was peaty and marshy and I kept squelching into soggy ground.

The whole fieldtrip sucked. Everyone was cold and wet and miserable. I was damn near hypothermic. Y'know when you shiver so much and so violently that it starts to hurt... I was like that. And the scenery wasnt even pretty enough to make it all worth it.

Yes its pretty, but not enough to make up for the extremely crappy weather.

Ive never been so glad to get back to a warm, dry flat and have a hot shower and tea.

But like Ive said before, they dont call it physical geography for nothing.

Rule #4 - Avoid military training zones...

This would be the geography crew, walking towards a firing range in Monifieth. There were signs all over the place saying avoid if the red flag is up....
...which it clearly is.
We then stood there for about 15 minutes while the lecturer did his thing.
Geography students dont mind the possibility of getting shot at.

Rule #3 - Always eat something before attempting to climb steep hills

Somehow alot of my fieldwork stories are really embarrassing and make me look like a total tube. The most epic one will come later but for now another Aviemore story, which actually took place about 10 minutes after we crossed the bridge.

We were all walking up this (shockingly) big ole' steep hill at like 9 in the morning, all half asleep and really not feeling the enthusiasm the lecturer probably would have liked.

So I get half way up and I suddenly get really dizzy, but not wanting to come across as a total wuss keep walking anyway till the surrounding scenery is spinning so much I had to stop and sit in the heather for a bit. I eventually caught up with everyone else but they had already been a the top of the hill recovering for about 10 minutes and watched and laughed and mocked as I dragged myself to the top and collapsed in the heather again. Mortified is not the word.

It was wierd. I think it must have been a combination of altitude (although we werent THAT high up), early morning, lack of sleep and lack of breakfast.

Once I had recovered I realised the view was quite pretty.

Rule #2 - Obey all posted signs. If you feel like it.

During 3rd year as part of a Hydrology module the class got taken to Aviemore on a 2 day trip. It was the second trip to Aviemore - the first trip was a week long trip in 2nd year and though not very eventful in the context of this blog, it was a fun week. It was the trip that finally got everyone in the class talking to each other. Naturally when the second trip came around everyone was looking forward to more of the same fun and nonsense as the first trip.

As it turned out it wasnt particularly great BUT it did result in a story.

So early one morning everyone got up and we headed in to the Aviemore wilderness. I forget the purpose of the walk - we were being taken to see a weather station at the top of a hill or something, but in order to get to the hill we had to cross a river. Which was fine. Till we saw the bridge and this sign:

Notice the part about "no more than 2 people on the bridge at any one time"?

What did we do?

See the guy in the blue jacket near the middle of the bridge? Thats the lecturer. Pretty sure he was trying to get us killed. I dont know how well it comes out in the photos but this bridge looked like it would collapse in a splintery heap as soon as a light breeze kicked up. The sign says "be extra cautious at times of high water". I highly doubt the bridge would still be standing if the water got high. Everytime someone took a step I was expecting an Indiana Jones style moment, with the planks breaking underfoot and someone falling to their death. Ok, maybe they'd just get their leg stuck. Look at the fence in the foreground - its falling apart and hanging off. Safe.

Two words. Risk. Assessment.

Rule #1 - Always wear appropriate clothing

Ok so this isnt so much a silly story as just a blatant excuse for funny photos.


Thinking about it from the perspective of a random member of the public, seeing a group of geography students out on a fieldtrip must be one of the funniest sights. Between hardhats, fluorescent high visibility vests and purple latex gloves, we must look hilarious.


Of course, we always look totally cool though. Here, have some photographic evidence...

Anyone else see the Village People here?

To quote Sarah - "Geography: Because fuck you fashion sense"

See, cool huh? ;)

They dont call it physical geography for nothin'....

I've just started my fourth year of uni, which means I have a slightly scary dissertation to write. Dissertation means I had to do fieldwork in order to collect the data which got me thinking about all the various fieldtrips Ive been on as part of the geography course and the hijinks we got up to and the silly stories that have accumulated over the 4 years.

Worryingly I realised that alot of the stories were a result of situations that maybe could be considered a little bit dangerous. Usually in a funny way but still...

Y'see, Im a physical geography student which means we have a nasty habit of studying sites that are up steep hills with unstable ground and/or loose rubble or across raging rivers or along paths with massive drops on either side or under a ledge where rocks could fall off and land on your head or somewhere else where we have a high chance of breaking an ankle or leg or arm or being concussed or y'know...killed.

Steep hills with rubble that moves underfoot in Spain

Steep gravelly hill up to a cave like formation in Spain

Crazy steep hill with lots of boulders in Italy. There are 2 cars beside the road in the middle of the photo.

Little tiny narrow path at the top of yet another steep ridge in Italy. Note the rocks and boulders...

Steepness! Up West Lomond in Fife. Pretty views though.

Its all good though - we always have our risk assessment sheets filled in. Because they always cover the issues we have *sarcastic face*

So I decided I'd start a blog, write down some of the daft things we've done on fieldtrips, daft things we've done in general and maybe warn future geographers about how not to do geography.

Having said that we all seem to have fun and we havent died yet so we must be doing something right...