Soil Studies, Playing Cards, and White-Water Rafting

This week, the Advanced Higher Geography classes took a three-day trip to the town of Aberfeldy in Central Scotland to review the procedures of various surveys and experiments used in the study of Geography. All thirteen of us will be completing a survey throughout the year of our own choice, but in order to effectively gather analysis, we had to learn how to use the various equipment and techniques, we needed a bit or review first.

Aberfeldy does have a few claims to fame: firstly, its nickname--"the heart of Scotland"-- is as literal as it is metaphorical. It is in almost the exact center of Scotland, both from North to South and from East to West. In addition, the natural beauty of the town won attention by the poem "The Birks of Aberfeldy," which was written fondly by Robert Burns, the national bard (yes, Scotland has a national bard. Also, the national animal is a unicorn, which is pretty cool.) Aberfeldy is located on the River Tay, which leads to nearby Loch Tay, and is home to many beautiful animal and plant species. Therefore, it was perfect for the geography classes because it has immense variation of land use, and was also less than two hours away.

"The Armadillo," a cute little suite outside of our bunkhouse.

So, without further ado, here is a rough schedule we followed while on our educational adventure.

DAY 1- WEDNESDAY

The day officially began as I hurriedly ate breakfast inside the house, arrived at 7:50 at the school, and was shocked to find the parking lot completely empty. In the midst of panicking, I took out the schedule we were given (when in doubt, read the directions) and sure enough, the departure was at 8:50. So. A long and embarrassing hour later, We were on our way to the Heart of Scotland itself. We did stop about halfway to our destination, however, to study some glacial and glacial-fluvial deposits.

The bunkhouse was a quaint, cozy little place where we were able to relax after a long day.

After arriving to Glassie Farm and settling down in the bunkhouse where we stayed, we immersed ourselves in what was not exactly the most exciting part of our three-day adventure: soil studies. This is quite tedious work; groups had to collect soil samples from designated areas on deciduous forest, open rough grazing, and coniferous land while taking note of the vegetation in the area. We did see a horse, though, so everything was worthwhile in the end.

Darwin and Stephanie admiring this beauty. 

Finally, we came back to the bunkhouse and had a wonderful dinner of pepperoni pasta (my class's choice) before diving again into our soil study. I can't exactly say that I was super excited about the percentage of moisture in the soil, or the breakdown of clay, silt, and sand in the three different areas, but I did feel like I was learning quite a bit about geographical characteristics. After our work was done, we relaxed a bit by watching "The Great British Bake-Off" and playing numerous different types of card games. My favorite was "spoons," a fast-paced game not unlike Musical Chairs, except grabbing spoons instead when one person collected all four of a suit. Then, after a few games of Truth or Dare and some Dollar Academy gossip (which was way over my head: I was the only new pupil present, and they were all familiar with one another), we finally went to bed to rest before another exciting day.

DAY 2- THURSDAY

Our day began with some delicious homemade pancakes, but we were out of the bunkhouse as early as possible.The first study we completed was on the Cochil Burn, analyzing the velocity of the river on meanders and straight sections, as well as different rock types. There was actually a wind advisory warning for the weather, so I'll leave it up to your imagination what it was like down by the river. We waded to the top of our "wellies" (Wellington boots) for a few hours, marking down the various aspects while trying not to become too wet.

Lachlan and Mr. McConnell being completely unaware of the fantastic view behind them.

After eating our pack lunch on top of one of the awe-inspiring viewpoints of Aberfeldy, the geography class went to the center of the town to learn some human geography procedures. This involved marking down the use of buildings, environmental quality analysis of the area, and asking questionnaires to numerous passers-by we met. I do have to say that human geography is my favorite aspect of geography, and honestly, it was the reason I decided to take the course. Even the intimidation of going up to strangers and asking them to fill out a survey was better, at least to me, than standing out in a river measuring the size of pebbles. Plus, it was warmer in the center of the city. But, you know, to each his own.

We then went down to the beach of Loch Tay for a bit, not to carry out any studies, but to discuss hypothetical data-gathering should any of us choose to study beaches for our projects. It certainly was a beautiful area, especially with the rain only slightly visible in the distance between the hills.

In geography terms, this is called a U-shaped valley. Gotta use those vocab terms. 

One fiesta later (the other class made fajitas and basically threw a Mexican party while they were at it), we completed a short essay of a human geography and a physical geography hypothesis. This activity triggered ideas about our own surveys, and the techniques that interested us the most. Currently, I am considering carrying out a study in Stirling about either environmental quality, pollution, or safety, but I have until Christmas to decide. We finished quite late, around 9:30, played a few card games, and went to bed for our last night in Aberfeldy.

DAY 3- FRIDAY

As our time in Aberfeldy came to a close, we shared one last cooked breakfast together and cleaned up the bunkhouse for our departure. We still had a few science-y tasks to accomplish, such as collecting our rain gauges from the first day and measuring the rate of infiltration on different gradients of a slope. But as our work was mostly completed and done, we moved on to our last (and most exciting) activity: white-water rafting on the rapids of the River Tay.

Here we go...

Despite the satisfaction of crossing another activity off my bucket list, I can officially say that white-water rafting is definitely not my thing. The air temperature, not counting chill from wind and rain, was low 50's at least and the water seemed even colder. Yes, the waves were thrilling, but the time in-between just paddling in the cold--even in a wetsuit-- were close to miserable. Even worse, my feet were completely numb afterwards in my soaking wet sneakers. But I'm glad I went through with it, because I don't have to worry about doing it in the future sometime.

At the start of our journey down the river. I'm at the back, wearing a blue helmet.

Why, yes, that is our boat.

I have to say that I did learn quite a few new British phrases on this trip. I'm not sure how many of them were popular in the group, in the school, or in Scotland, but I must admit it was definitely amusing. "Gaff," for example, was used in the sense of a party/rave (as opposed to my prior context of a political blunder), and "chip" (paired with "chip not") is comparable with Americans "calling something (i.e. "I call shotgun"). Even though I mostly felt out of place since everyone else had known each other for years, I did get a chance to experience the group for who they actually were. And, sometimes, I felt like one of them.

The gang, all together.

Most importantly, Aberfeldy was fantastic in the sense that I was completely immersed in the science and beauty of geography itself. I still don't completely understand the total effects of glaciation, and I still can't wrap around some confusing vocab terms (see: "scree"), but that will come in time. The point is, I understand and appreciate the subject much better than I did before, and I know how to use the equipment in order to complete my main study for the year. I didn't consider myself a "science person" before I took the class, but as I see myself being curious about the material of the course, it may be time for me to reconsider.