The Compass and the Anchor: Greetings, England- Day 12: Photosynthesis and Interviews

IT looks like these days are going to have weather patterns like this: Cold in the morning, when you don't want to get out of bed, but you have to because you have to get ready for classes and when you have just decided that you are going to put on a jacket, and the sun goes up. Nevertheless, you go out with your jacket on. A while later, the sunlight intensifies and it was unbearably hot so you have to take your jacket off. HOWEVER, the wind started to blow, and your teeth chatter with an audible sound.

Wow, it's almost like Taiwan! And this is why I still bring a jacket with me.
The science class today was really... a little bit discouraging. We were learning something about photosynthesis, and we are asked to do an experiment to see if the intensity of light has an influence on the rate of photosynthesis. Even though every group of two people had a same set of equipments, the methods and the way of observation are our own decisions. That is the reason why I didn't do well in our experiment. It took too long to finish, so we had to stop mid-experiment and have a redo. Being delayed like this I didn't have the time to finish the last part of the report. I got a bit upset with myself, but then our teacher, Steve, asked me if I learned something. It is true that I did make a massive mistake, but I did enjoy it.
These days of English classes, we have been discussing the Arctic and the changes people over they are facing. About how lives of the Inuits are getting more dangerous and hard day by day, about how people around the world are calling out, in hope to ban the hunting actions of the Inuits because the narwhals and the polar bears are marginally and almost (respectively) extinct...
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this controversial issue because Excuse Me who exactly in the world caused the almost extinction of narwhals and polar bears? The Inuits do hunt them, but they never take more than they need. It was the global warming we modern people and the commercial hunting the companies who lead to this concern, but now we are blaming the people who have lived like this in harmony for centuries? It is true that human matter is global matter, but the financial foundation they have is not enough for them to sustain the life they are entitled to; without hunting, they will starve due to the expensive and unfresh and inadequate amount of food imported to the far up of the northern hemisphere. What's worse, people are now trying to rip them of the rights to hunt like their ancestors. To me, this looks more like asking them to carry most of the responsibilities. I know the polar bears and the narwhals are endangered, and we cannot afford to lose another species... True, this is a matter of all the people around the world, but it has the equal weigh on either side of the libra of justice, for the animals and the Inuits. What a paradoxical dilemma!
To get a better view about the life in the Arctic, we read about a woman, Kari Herbert, and her experience of culture shock when she returned to the Arctic after leaving there since her childhood; also we watched the document of Bruce Parry, a guy who went to the Arctic to experience the culture and the modern developments over there.
Afterward, we, in groups of threes, we have to design a TV interview in which the host is interviewing both Kari Herbert and Bruce Parry, and the questions the host asks have no rules as long as it is related to the Arctic. It was surprising, that every group brought out totally different questions, so we got to learn different aspects of issues in the Arctic from our "celebrities".
You want to know why I love English classes right here? Well, there you go.
I was planning to buy an umbrella in case of rain like yesterday, but before I could find a nice umbrella, I used up my 20 pounds I brought on souvenirs for my friends and family. England is a scary place in some way when your money just seems to flow out from your pockets!
For the critical thinking class, we were taken to the Oxford University of National History for a small tour. There were just too many displays to look at, and the special thing is that the museum is admission-free, and many people were inside with their art sheet, drawing the artifacts down. Maybe it was for their art projects, maybe it doesn't look as real, but it feels more meaningful than simply taking a photo. (Not that I am going to draw them down. I don't even have the basic drawing skills!)
It was a pity that we didn't get to stay any longer than an hour, or I could have taken a better look at all the categorized craftsmanship that were so intriguing....

This is the Pitt Rivers Museum, linked to the Natural History Museum.

Samurai Armor

It is now Wednesday, and for students in St. Clare's, it is disco night, and being weirdly introverted under such circumstances, I have decided that I am not going. As for my roommate, he was asleep, so he didn't attend the school-held activity. When I was tapping on the keyboard of my laptop and when he was sleeping, I heard a knock on our door. At first, I thought it was the Spanish friends of my roommate, but it wasn't. It was the French in the same house as I am. I don't talk to him often, but we had lunch together along with a Swiss and a Japanese on the first day we arrived here. He said that his friends had gone off to the disco, but the disco also wasn't his cup of tea, and he happened to want to go to the groceries, so he asked me if I wanted to go as well. Being so full from dinner, I went merely as a company, but when he was done shopping, he asked me if I was in a hurry; if not, he would like to take a walk in the Oxford University Parks. It was the one I had spent two hours in, so I became more like a tour guide until we were sitting down at a bench near the lake in the park. It turned out that he also likes to read, and we chatted for a little while. On our way back, I talked to him about the problems the people in the Arctic was facing, and he also gave some of his thoughts. I have to say, I had a really nice time, even typing this down right now. In the park, he said that I would forget him after I went back to Taiwan, but I immediately told him that maybe a lot of details would be forgotten, but things like this I doubt that I would ever forget. It was true, with a group of people, there are too many dialogues, too many faces to remember in a mere three week of lessons, but interactions with a single person is the time when you can really get acquainted with someone.
Today didn't set off quite well, but I did have a nice time in the end.