The pictures you've been waiting for

News on this end is sparse with nothing of real note to really talk about. The one new thing this week is the fact that we finally got pictures from the wedding.  So instead of me droning on about nothing, I thought I would share some of the photos everyone has been waiting to see. 

In front of the Mt. Timpanogos Temple

Le Jardine reception center

Her bouquet with her ring

The whole family :)

My children

The groom & groomsmen

 The wedding party

The bride & bridesmaids

Table decorations

 Toree caught the bouquet

Spencer caught the garter

Trayton carrying Naomi out through the bridge

I hope those were worth the wait. The couple is still happy and enjoying married life amongst all the fun of  being university students. Life is good.  It's better with family and friends.  Let the important people in your life know that you love them. 

Bits and Bobbles

So I thought I would share some highlights from this week.  It's a little of this and some of that, bits and bobbles...

Monday evenings I have 2 hour choir rehearsals for the SuPhil choir.  March 5th we will be singing Opera choruses and should be a fun concert.  We have 6 different pieces 2 in Italian, 2 in French, 1 in German and 1 in Russian.  It becomes a mental workout to change between the different languages and try to remember the different pronunciations.  We have a gal in the choir from a Russian speaking country and she has been working with us on the Russian...... Lots of consonant sounds and vowel placements in parts of the mouth I've never tried to make a vowel sound with.... let alone sing it. One of my favorites was the woman in the choir who was helping with the French.  She told us to put your mouth in egg laying shape and then say 'e'.  Come again?  I've never laid an egg, and definitely not with my mouth.....

Grades came out this week.  My PAT (personal academic tutor) seems to think I should be able to get an 80 (high distinction) on my dissertation..... I just need to figure out what that will be exactly, by tomorrow, no pressure. 

I attended a paper lantern gala put on by the confusion center and the MA chinese students to celebrate Chinese New Year. (It's the year of the monkey) It was fun.  Learned about talents some of my classmates have that I didn't know.  :) 

The highlight of the week however was my son visiting me for a day and a half.  He is working in Zurich for 2 weeks so since he was this close, flew over for the weekend. Having limited time and wanting him to get a feel for England, we went up to Winchester (thanks to some lovely friends who offered to drive so we didn't have to spend hours on a bus...) and walked the lower city by the river, the castle ruins however were closed :( but we took in Winchester Cathedral and the Castle Winchester where King Arthur's round table is.  It is real. It dates back to 1252, was painted in 1590.  It hangs on the wall where it has been since about then.  It has only been on public display for about 30 years, the hall has been used as a court and many other things.  It was really cool.  

We went from there for a country drive up to Chawton so that he could see English countryside.  We walked to the manor house and admired the thatch roof cottages.  Then had a lovely dinner in the Greyfriar pub.  I also took him to walk the Southampton walls, down to the docks, and back up to the bargate as well as my Uni.  My friends also fed him a lovely British roast lamb dinner.  I hated to put him back on the bus, it was so nice to share with family a small piece of my life here. 

So nothing big this week just random things in the everyday life of a Uni student. Just a few bits and bobbles. 

Here are random things from my journeyings this week: 

King Arthur's round table. :)

Fire Drills

After having taught for many years, the art of fire drills and being conditioned to bells (thanks Pavlov) is engrained in my very being.  I've had to adjust slightly, but it is still there.  I bring this up because the British take health and safety very seriously.  It is a government dept. in fact.  So for example the light switch for the bathroom is always on the outside of the door.  There are no electrical plugs in the bathroom either.  The light has to be a certain distance from the shower as well. All of the electrical outlets have an on/off switch on them, so when you plug in something you have to turn on the outlet as well. This is all in accordance with Health and Safety.  

So because I live in the halls of residence the rules are very strict.  When cooking you must open the window and keep the kitchen door shut.  All of the doors are fire doors and are labeled as such.  These are not allowed to be propped open. Windows in the bedroom should be opened regularly so as to keep the mold down. They also came and installed locks on all of the windows so that you can't open them from the side, they only open about 4 inches at the top, so that you sorta get a hint of a breeze through them, but you can't do something stupid.  No open flames or fairy lights allowed in the bedrooms, or hot plates for cooking.  This is understandable since most of the 1100 people living in my halls are between the ages of 18 - 25, and this is their first time away from home.  

Even with all of the precautions, the fire alarms go off on a regular basis.  Daily, or pretty close, you hear the fire alarm sound in one of the three buildings somewhere.  What you don't want is for it to go off in your flat or your room.  When it does you wait to see if it will stop, when it doesn't then you vacate.  I've only had to vacate twice.  The first time was a planned drill back in about October.  I was working and focused and I heard it start on another floor.  Then it sounded in my room.  Pretty sure I scraped myself off of the ceiling, put on my shoes and coat and headed out.  I joined the rank and file in the stairwell and we wound down 12 flights of stairs out through the the courtyard down the street and to a car park halfway down the block.  Here we were herded in like cattle and waited for instructions.
If it had been the states I think they would have started the speech with "this is only a drill, if it had been an actual emergency...." instead they droned on about why and where and eventually they let us go back to our flats... up the 12 flights of stairs as cattle herded back in. 

Several times they have been testing the system and the alarm goes off in my room, I wait the allotted 20 secs and it stops and I go on about my business.  One day the alarm sounded in Block C and and went on for quite a while.  The fire truck actually showed up once, though, as far as I could tell, there wasn't a fire to put out, but they put someone on a stretcher... I've watched students file out in various attire as either they had just showered, or gone to bed, or gotten up... I've listened to it sounding in other parts of my building and can hear doors shutting at regular intervals, haven't figured out quite what that is all about yet.

So when I heard the all too familiar two tone alarm last night I continued on with my work.  Within a couple of minutes however it sounded in my room.  After jumping out of my skin, I waited...... sigh, not going to shut off.  So I pulled on my shoes, grabbed my coat and key and went out.  The fire door halfway down the flat hall had closed, no sign of any of my flatmates,  I went out the flat door and a guy was standing in the doorway of the flat across the hall.  He looks at me and asks if I was going down.  Yes, of course I was. He hadn't decided.... I turned and opened the door to the stairwell to find everyone flooding out of the building.  This time though we congregated in the courtyard.  It was raining.... I looked up and could see one of my flatmates in our kitchen, I guess she decided it wasn't important.... 
I couldn't really hear what the residence team gal was saying, something about the rain and not sending us down the street, sorry for the inconvenience and they would have us back in the building shortly.  I decided it was an unplanned entire building evacuation.  

It brought back memories of teaching high school.  Sometimes the alarm went off and they would tell us to ignore it.  Sometimes we went out and then later they said it will count for one of the planned ones.  When the alarms sounded at school and we were not advised of a drill, I always took them seriously.  In the years of working at the high school we had three lock down emergencies where we turned out the lights, locked the doors and stuffed 40 students in the farthest corner of the room and tried not to breathe.... Two of those were because of threats nearby to the school.  However whenever I hear a fire alarm, unplanned, my thoughts go back to the day of the bomb threat at the school.  It was before classes, the alarm sounded, no one said ignore it so we vacated.  4 hours later after the bomb squad and the dogs had combed through the school, we were allowed back in. 

Am I going down?  Yes.  I won't question.  I won't stay in.  It might be an inconvenience and as much as sometimes the rules seem a bit over the top, in a real emergency it's good that they exist.  So I put up with trying to do my hair with the mirror in my wardrobe, opening my window daily, cooking with the noisy fan and kitchen door closed.  I'll switch on my outlets and turn them back off again when not in use. I'll leave when the alarm sounds in my room.  Past experience has told me it is important. As much as we grumble about regulations, the government protecting us from ourselves etc, honestly it is good to know that someone cares and that there is a plan in place. you never know when it won't be a drill.  

This sign is posted by the main doors as you come into the block. 

The lock on my window....

The elevator notice....

The notice above the box by the stairwell. I guess
 "the appliance" is in the box.....

  

Linguistics of statistics

I know what you are thinking.  Why? Right!? So the idea of mixing math (or maths as the British say) with language is heresy. However, math is a language albeit one most people would rather not have to learn.  And fascinatingly understanding the linguistics of it is an understanding of the subject, in this case statistics. Like all languages if you understand the definitions of the words and the concepts behind them, then the application becomes much easier.  And this holds true for any mathematics. 

So being a budding linguist the challenge of statistics has become a language learning process and not a 'math thing'.  I like math anyway, so it's not like it's a killer idea for me.  But from a research perspective viewing statistics linguistically has merit.  If you understand the meaning of what your are looking at and what you are looking to do with it then the task doesn't seem as daunting.  It's about communicating data and ideas.  Translating data into understandable terms and finding meaning in what has been collected.  Sounds like a linguistics thing to me. 

So like any language we start by understand some basic vocabulary words.  I like the idea that it is descriptive as well as analytical, I can cope with both of those ideas.  It deals with population samples and variables.  See, not so bad, right?  Variables can be nominal (categorical), ordinal which are categories that are ordered, or scale which are continuous and the numbers mean something like age.  Scales can be interval (degrees C or F) or ratio (weight). These determine the statistical technique that can be used to analyse the data set. 

Slightly harder to process are the ideas of mean(average), median(middle), mode(most frequent), standard deviation (how far from the mean), skewed (probably like my view of this concept), histograms, bar charts, pie charts, box plots, scatterplots, normal distribution(you know, the bell curve), z scores (no not worse than failing...), outliers (yes those that are out of the group and causing you trouble), confidence interval (how confident you are that your data falls within the norms), standard error..... 

 See, vocabulary. The vocabulary is then reduced to symbols and the symbols placed in equations (sentences) that you then find the numbers that they represent and manipulate to find answers. You get things like the answer to life the universe and everything which is, according to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42.  However they didn't give the confidence interval or the standard deviation... nor did they report if they used linear regression or a chi square test. Not sure how statistically significant that number actually is....

So I will work hard to learn the linguistics of statistics so that I can use statistics to analyze linguistics.  I don't know about you, but I'm excited.  Care to join me? 

Research Methodology

So my program of study is MA in Applied Linguistics Research Methodology or MAALRM.  Am I the only one that when I look at the acronym sees the word alarm? Or is that a twisted arm...? I am hoping it will not be a cause for alarm as this semester it lives up to it's name as it prepares us to do research... this summer... so we can get the degree.  

With a title of research methodology what would you expect to learn?  Yep, methods for doing research in applied linguistics.  Now that we have the overview out of the way, it is time to get down to the nuts and bolts of the program.  The program that I am on is also considered the first year of the IPhD.  (Integrated PhD)  What it means is that my core classes are with the PhD students.  The only difference is that I get to write the master's dissertation, and they will start their doctoral thesis.  No, I did not get that backwards, the British did.  Or did we change it along with spelling and pronunciation just to be different, not real sure..... I digress.... 

There are three of us on the MAALRM module and 9 IPhD students. So my three methodology classes are very "cozy".  One of the PhD students in the first class on Monday was a bit put out that there were 3 MA students in the class.  I'm sorry, didn't mean to be a lower class student here... however when I'm done with all of this I will have more experience than you will, but whatever.... It also means that most of my friends on the program are not in my classes.... time to make more friends.

So we have a Research, Design and Practice module, Quantitative Methods, and Qualitative Methods.  That should cover the bases... then the two elective modules are Language and Intercultural Communication and Language Ideologies in a Globalizing World. Two of the methods courses are only 6 weeks.  I'm looking at the calendar figuring that because the Easter holiday is a full month in the middle of the term, the professors are bound to make sure we can't enjoy it.  Sure enough,  one assignment is due 4 days into the vacation, one 3 weeks in and 1 due the week after.  Two of these are 100% of my grade.... However, the classes will be finished as well so I guess I get the good with the bad, but it makes for ugly. 

It's not as bad as it sounds.  Most of the assignment work is preparation for and/or part of the dissertation.  The point is to help us understand and know what research methods will be best for the study we want to undertake and how best to use them.  One of them is to actually complete the literature review part, which will also help to focus our research and know where the gaps are and the the best ways to approach our topics. I'm actually excited for the modules and the skills and knowledge to be gained from them.  Hopefully, with planning I can still enjoy the Easter Holiday without it just being a holiday from going to class.... so if I apply method to my madness and maybe even a little madness to my method, I will be ready to start my research in a methodical and methodological way. 

The Waves of the Sea

I suppose technically it really isn't the sea, but the two rivers that run to the sea, however they are big enough that you can't see the other side.  Unless of course the Isle of Wight counts...  

Monday two of my flatmates and I decided we needed to celebrate surviving the first semester.  So Tuesday afternoon we head out on foot to the docks.  My one flatmate had been with a classmate and said she knew how to get to a really lovely place along the docks.  So we sallied forth.  Now I'm a shutterbug and there are parts of Southampton that I haven't been able to capture on "film" yet.  So I keep stopping to snap pictures and they keep walking. I'm used to that, my family does it to me as well.  One of them looks at me weird and asks why the pictures because it wasn't like this was someplace new.  Well, it wasn't where I had been before and there was cool stuff they were just walking past!  well like these... It is was is left of medieval Southampton that wasn't destroyed in the war.  So you have all the modern and then pieces of wall or castle interspersed among things, which I think is really cool, but I'm a bit of a nerd that way.  

 

So we get  to the docks as the sun is starting to set.  Definitely worth the walk. We stood there and watched the waves, enjoyed the sea breeze, even though it was cold, and let all the tension and stress wash out on the waves.  

As we were standing there watching the waves my one flatmate asked "So what do you think of when you watch the waves?"  No one answered but continued to watch.  Later she said so you want to know what I was thinking watching the waves? I was thinking about the axis and the gradient..."  My other flatmate said , "oh.... I was thinking about emotions on the waves...."  Yep.... we've been working way too hard..

So now that we were chilled to the bone we decided we needed to go get food and get warm.  So,yep we went to get ice cream! 

 

Well, a hot crepe with warm chocolate with fruit... and ice cream. :)  This was my treat to myself for making it through! 

The rest of the week was well, with the sea.  We had two days of blue skies and sunshine, so I took advantage and went to see sights with two friends (one has a car, so that's a plus. :)) 

In short, I went to Chawton where Jane Austen lived, Romsey to see the Abby, and several places along the coast including Highcliffe, Barton, and Mudford Quay at Christchurch.

 English countryside

Jane Austen home in Chawton

thatched roof cottages

 graves of Jane Austen's mother and sister

 Romsey Abby

 Highcliffe castle

view of the sea from the castle grounds

 the lighthouse at the end of the Isle of Wight called the needles (the rocks to the left of the lighthouse)

  I spent hours looking at the sea, watching the waves, feeling the "breeze" as it came off of the water.  I found it very therapeutic and relaxing. I am now ready for the next semester.  :)