UK - Day 7...a wonderfully eventful day

This morning, we get right to work with our teams after breakfast. Today at 5pm, we will have a "poster session", or what we'd call a midcrit at UofI. We will make posters of our progress thus far to hang on the wall for others to critique and comment on to direct us in our further research. In Corris, we collect our data from the first round of experiments, analyze them enough to come up with adjustments to the controls and variables and set them running again. In the meantime, we run a candle test to see just how airtight our test cell boxes are - lighting 4 candles and sealing the cells and then timing how long it takes for the candles to run out of oxygen. They take longer than predicted, so we know our construction isn't perfect. We will make adjustments and try again. But first, we need to have lunch. Instead of eating amongst our test cells, we decide to hike up to the lookout and have a picnic. Just past the group of buildings near the hostel, we find a dwarf door and a cool drama sculpture on the hill:
Further along the way, is a fascinating place the locals call Little Italy. Long ago, a resident on this hill started carving small-scale buildings out of the rock there. For years, this continued until his land was covered with Italian landmark buildings. The detail is truly amazing. At the beginning of the carved city, Kara stops to tell us the story:
He also carved a topography map of the region, and Kara turns it into a spontaneous geography lesson, pointing out where we are now and what our surroundings are:Once past Little Italy, we enter a strange forest. The vegetation is so thick that the sunlight can barely get through. Jason tells us that this is why the trees look dead - the leaves cannot get enough sun except at the top. It feels a little cold and eerie in here!We emerge from the thick trees to see the lookout - a little peninsula of sorts looking over the little village of Corris. This is where we settle in to enjoy a true lunch break. Some of the group wanders off to the nearly mining ruins for a history lesson from Kara. She used to live in this village and knows it very well.
Since we are working off-campus, the cafe sends us cheese sandwiches. Apparently, they are infamous as there are many jokes about them coming from the local students. They are the only food item allowed by health codes to leave the cafe, and they are quite plain - a whole grain bun with a small bit of shredded cheese inside. What I don't know is that some of the group had run to the grocery to buy some items to spice them up! They have green salad and roasted peppers to stuff them with and crisps (chips), fresh fruit and juice to finish off the meal. It is delicious!
As we are eating, a fighter jet screams by between the ridge we're on and the next one over. It's flying below the ridges and seems quite close! We hear them on the CAT campus a lot as well. They fly overhead at least once a day as far as I can tell, but while we are having our lunch break, I think 3 of them startled us. I tried to take a picture, but they are moving!
Once we've finished the meal, we laze about talking about serious things like the ever-growing and polluting population and then getting distracted by the slate laying around. A short game of pictionary ensues, followed by balancing pieces of slate on Fintan's nose as he tries to take a nap!
Once we're thoroughly relaxed, our tutors get us moving again and we head back to the hostel to make our posters for the pin-up critique. I take a short detour and run down to the main street of Corris to see what it's like. It is quaint...the sidewalks are only about as wide as my shoulders and the road looks to be a one-lane road, with sporatic on-street parking. But no! Cars come and go both ways, and they are not going slow despite kids playing on the skinny sidewalks and curves in the road hiding oncoming traffic! Kara tells me that the rule in Corris is Don't Drive Slow, Just Go and Get Out of the Way.
We hurriedly sketch up our experiment results and go back to CAT, where I get to ride the water-operated cliff tram for the first time! Fintan is fast becoming a fine friend. He is from Denmark and is only here for the week course we are participating in. He's a school teacher in Copenhagen who teaches an interesting design course that incorporates everything from CAD drafting to the culinary arts!
Then, we "pin-up" on the slate walls in the courtyard. This is different! We have to use tape and try to line everything up on the uneven rocks.
It works out alright and is good to be able to walk around and see what the other groups have been up to.
We have some cous cous, veggies, and baked apples and then catch a coach (charter bus) for an outing at the beach of Aberdyfi.
I'm excited to be on the coast!
Only two in the group are brave/excited enough to jump right in the water:
I soon find friends who love to make sand castles!
Chris tells me that Ella is very good at finding cool shells and rocks for her castles, and Ella says that Chris is her favorite of all the CAT students! So fun...
I am soon distracted by the sounds of competition, and look to see most of the group in a game of cricket! We find out that Bruce used to play college baseball! Who woulda thought?
I do not get brave enough to jump in a game I know nothing about, but am very happily entertained to watch and learn and take pictures!
I am again distracted when I see another portion of the group wandering along the beach and disappearing around the bend.
So I wander that direction, and find that they've built a little fire and the colorful swirling passtime is under way again.
No, Sadhbh is not a mime...the face paint was done in preparation for the cricket game. They are very into it here! :) She is fabulously energetic, and loves to be the leader of a group.
Sam is a truly down-to-earth and genuine Irishman, and is the only person I've met who dislikes wearing shoes more than I do! Before starting school, he was a traveling street performer and runs into someone he knows practically everywhere he goes now.
It starts to drizzle rain and the cricket group joins us at the fire. Then, we decide that we must play football (soccer) on the beach as well and start a tournament of that - with teams made of where we are from. Soccer is one game I do love to play, so I join in and do not get pictures of this part of the fun. Boy is it a lot harder to play barefoot in the sand than in running shoes on the grass!

The charter bus comes as scheduled to pick us up - it feels way too soon! But it is getting dark and raining harder so we catch the ride back to campus. About half the Idaho group is not done playing yet and heads to the CAT students' lodging for games. It's been too long since I've talked to my Andyman, so I opt for a hike to the computer lab to catch up with him via Skype. A couple of the others are there talking with their spouses too, and then they head back. I bid Andy goodnight and head back to the Ecocabin...realizing now that it is REALLY dark here when the sun goes down and you get away from the occupied buildings. It reminds me of rolling hay bales in the middle of the night when the tractors are at the other end of the field, and there's not much of a moon. I have to walk really slow and careful, but am very glad that I know this route pretty well by now and that they put reflective paint on the edge of the steps down to the cabins, which the moonlight does catch enough to make it glow faintly. Whew!