First Two Weeks + a few days!

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Well, welcome everyone to the first official post! We are officially in Week 3 of Warsash.

Where do we start, a lot has happened since we started! We started off the first week with lots of welcome talks, university briefings, a maths exam (yes, a maths exam on day 3!) and a very quick look at the simulators (closest I'll get to them for a while). The first week was full of lots of 'spare' time between talks as well as lots of walking between the main university buildings and Warsash itself. 10,000 steps were definitely achieved sometimes in the first week. Apart from the talks there has also been lots of time for meeting new people. The floor my cabin is on is very quiet, there is only three of us, however I have become acquainted with some guys up on floor 6 including one guy who is also being sponsored by Fred Olsen. I have found myself spending most of my time on floor 6 and very rarely cooking in my own kitchen! There is one benefit though, the kitchen on floor 6 is a corner kitchen and gives amazing views out over the cruise berths and car carriers in Southampton so the view is never dull. It also faces the right way for some spectacular sunsets so it's definitely a win over my 'actual' kitchen. The nice thing about having only three sharing the kitchen on my floor is there is definitely no issues with finding space in the fridge! On the first afternoon Warsash arranged a social boat trip for us all onboard the Princess Caroline which took us a on a tour of Southampton Water and down to the old Warsash site. The weather was brilliant so made for a lovely afternoon.



Last Tuesday (after gaining a bank holiday for the funeral) we started formal lectures which so far have been going very well. Lots of new subjects to get one's head around (like Wet cargo, yes there is more too it then just poor the oil in and ship stability) but also some familiar topics so it's a nice mix. We have three hours of meteorology each week which can be quite heavy going, especially when it's between 1400-1700 on a Friday! This week is much the same as last just a few more lectures in the earlier part of the week compared to last week. My timetable is quite well balanced between time to do all the required additional study, socialise and the actual face to face sessions. Warsash use an online system where all our modules are accessible with all the modules resources, course notes, etc on so we can ready a little bit ahead to get used to an idea before the session.



My desk is now becoming very full of books after many trips up the library. The highlight of the library, apart from it having a whole wing dedicated to nautical stuff, is how the books are scanned out! There is no need to scan each book individually, you just place them all on a scale at once and its works out which books you are taking out. How clever! Well, I think it is anyway!



Apart from the work we have been up to some fun things too. On the first Saturday a group of us went to the Southampton Boat Show which was amazing! As we are only a 10-minute walk from Town Quay a few of us quite often wander down after lectures to watch the cruise ships leave. QM2 was a highlight a week or so ago with Queen Victoria and Norwegian Dawn last week.



Thats all for now! The next few weeks will bring an increase in the intensity but to compensate there are some fun things coming up too! They are for a future post, till next time!



DG

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