Sunday 6th April. 2am, North Haugh, St Andrews. I am herding a cohort of half asleep, half excited 3rd and 5th year students onto a dimly blue-lit coach headed for Edinburgh Airport and a dawn flight bound for Faro, Portugal. Thereafter, an onwards journey into Andalusia, southern Spain, alongside a couple of considerably more seasoned [...]
It's been an exciting first year in my PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of St Andrews, with many challenges - big and small - to be overcome, but I'm proud to say that I've recently passed the first hurdle and am ready to continue in my research journey unraveling the unknowns of explosive [...]
I've just finished reading Sir Ranulph Fiennes' new book, Climb Your Mountain, and it is a beautiful tribute to how tackling physical mountains can assist with the even-bigger internal climbs we face. Climb Your Mountain is all about weathering the storms of everyday life, from a man who has braved the most perilous conditions Planet [...]
Friday, 21st October marked the bicentenary of the 1822 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and was the inspiration for an interdisciplinary conference I attended at St. Anne’s College in Oxford. From Volcanology to Art to Literature – prose and poetry across the Grand Tour era – Vesuvius experts met from across the world to share illuminating [...]
If you’re thinking of applying to study Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, then this post is for you. With so many components to the application process to consider, and little guidance ‘out there’ for Earth Sciences, applying can seem daunting, mystical even. But here, I dispel some of those mysteries with experiential guidance [...]
In my previous post, I explored 5 key lessons for humanity I learnt studying Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford. But what is Earth Sciences? And why should you study it? In this post, Part 1 of a two-part series, I’ll answer these questions to dispel some of the confusion surrounding what Earth Sciences [...]
September is my favourite month of the year. It marks new starts, a chance to refocus, reinvigorate, and set a stronger course. This year, more than any year before, I really welcome the opportunities autumn freshness brings. Here, in this post, I reflect on my final year of university and the adventure-filled summer spread across [...]
Adventure Becca 