O.U.G.S and me

Dear Diary,

I joined OUGS (The Open University Geological Society) before Christmas as that is the direction I will be taking my BSc Earth Sciences course when I get the option. I've loved geology since I was a child, I used to collect a series called Treasures of the Earth, that came with fact files and little samples of gems and minerals in their own display boxes. I'd love to say I still have it, but I have no memory of what happened to it.

Not my copy, alas.

The OUGS run field trips both home and abroad which I thought would be useful in gaining experience from as my course is run online and I'm not yet sure if I'll be able to afford the week on site fieldwork section. For those who can't get to it you can do the fieldwork online, but nothing really sets you up better than actual hands on experience in my opinion.

I'd love to able to say I'd be going on all the field trips abroad as they've been to a few amazing places, Colorado Plateau, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, the Azores, Skye, Newfoundland, Southern Spain, Brittany, the United Arab Emirates, the Alps, Norway and Canada to name a few.

But a) I can't afford to and b) my passport is in the wrong name and I can't afford to update that. I might not even be able to go to all the home based field trips as I can't drive and (you guessed it, can't afford to learn either)

If you get the opportunity to learn to drive take it with both hands and don't let go people.

However, something I can get to is the OUG branch annual general meeting and talks as they're being held in my nearest city, while I've only been a member since December I'll likely have little to do with the general meeting itself just listen and smile politely.

But they also have talks put on for members, one being given by the curator of Palaeontology entitled "Archaeopteryx: The Bird-Like Dinosaur" and the other being given by the senior curator of Mineralogy & Petrology entitled "Manganese Mineralisation in North Wales".

Not a real dino

The latter talk is in preparation for a field trip I can't make to North Wales in May, but I can still go and listen and learn something new even if I can't make the trip itself. And afterwards there's the opportunity to go round the museum in which the meeting is being held. So all round win win for me.

There is also a day trip in April I'm hoping to be able to make, to study coastal geology, not that far from where I live, but far enough we still need a car to get there, I've sent an email asking if my husband can drive me there (but sit the trip itself out, he's no interest in geology) if the answer is yes it'll be my first field trip ever and it's quite an exciting thought.