It's almost been five years since I last wrote – the time for flexing my blogging muscles is long overdue. I've been trying to think of how I could possibly write about such a non-negligible portion of my life (one sixth, to be exact) in a way that doesn't involve starting at the beginning and …
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Roses are red, blue supergiants are blue
What is a blue supergiant? (Part I) Typically people think of blue being cold, and red being hot. In reality, when it comes to turning the tap, astrophysics doesn't apply; blue stars are actually hotter than red stars! Looking at the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e. the light we can detect with our eyes) red and …
Israel
These past few weeks my Facebook feed has been inundated with stories involving the ever escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Everyday there are yet more deaths, and the media happily reports the brutally of it all in whatever biased way they can. What the media repeatedly fails to present however, are those who are paving the way …
Si va avanti
When I first arrived in Italy I wrote about how I'd missed chaos. I can now say that I have had enough chaos and that I am looking forward to all things orderly. Don't get me wrong, Italy is a stunningly beautiful country, with cheap, fresh, delicious food and architecture that you can't get enough of. …
Women in Physics
Last weekend was overwhelmingly inspirational. I attended the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) which was held in my hometown, Oxford. Not only was I dealing with how surreal it was being back in the city I was born and raised, a long 8 years since I departed, but little did I remember how utterly beautiful it …
Toscana
With two weeks to go before the start of lectures, I had the perfect opportunity to explore Italy! I perused the new trustroots.org site to see what interesting people and places I could find, and what a treasure I found! A remote little village by the name of Trassilico, located in the Apuan Alps. To get there I …
Auf Wiedersehen
I seem to not have the greatest track record for actually performing in choir concerts. I can go to rehearsals no problem, but as soon as the day of the concert arrives I either come down with a plague, almost fainting mid-performance, or sprain my ankle the night before the ball. Here's hoping to having better …
Traditions of the Tirol
The Austrians really know how to make Christmas beautiful. Humongous evergreen trees are dotted about the city, decorated in warm glowing ambers, like the rest of the city. No garish colours whatsoever, like the British would tend to go for. The Christmas market never ends, selling everything from gingerbread to pony rides. On every corner one can …
Gravity is not a force.
My mind has almost imploded twice since the AstroMundus programme commenced. On the first occasion, I was in a Physics lecture, trying to get my head around the orbits of electrons depending on their orbital angular momentum. When the electron is in the ground state (of a Hydrogen atom), it is possible for there to …
Hitchhiking in the Sun (and the Rain)
I am not quite sure where the rest of my Summer went, as is the case every year of course, and now I find myself sitting in my room in Innsbruck having attended my first lecture this morning. Just over a month ago I travelled through Switzerland. It was brief, but notable. I spent one …
