Sunday, 22 February 2015

Museum day & homeward bound!

Our last day in Geneva was taken at a more leisurely pace. After a hearty Chinese meal and our evening in the hostels entertainment room, engrossed in 3 player chess (both Mr Cooper & I both won our rounds!) and various card games, we all needed a later start! 

We set off for the Museum of Natural History at 9.15am and still managed to arrive before it even opened.  The public transport system here is excellent! Free travel for tourists here and it really makes life much easier. The museum was very interesting with lots of organisms on display; only one dinosaur skull though.......

The next stop saw us outside the United Nations Builiding for a sightseeing/photo opportunity with 'The Broken Chair' and, of course, the main building itself. There was even some sort of protest/demonstration going on outside! Making use of our legs and the very crisp, fresh air, we walked down to the History of Science Museum; this was very small and focused on the history of scientific instruments.  The winter exhibition was about light and the use of mirrors...we all had a lot of fun seeing ourselves in a different light! 

Free time getting the better of us, we headed to the security of Geneva airport so we could relax, catch up on some much needed sleep and spend the last of our Swiss Francs. The students have been fantastic throughout the whole trip and have (hopefully) enjoyed the various experiences Geneva had to offer! They have decided they would like to write their own blog entry when back at school, accompanied by their own photos.....could be interesting!

Wednesday, 18 February 2015

CERN.....the home of particle physics!


 Early morning start for a trip to CERN....surprisingly, everyone made it to breakfast on time without having to be dragged out of a bed! No full English shocked a few of our students but no one went without.

Tram no18 was the transport of choice to CERN. 

"Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire" or 'European Council for Nuclear Research' 

www.home.web.cern.ch
@CERN  Twitter.com/cern

The tour started with a 40min lecture on what they do and why the site is so big! The main topics are researching antimatter and dark matter.  Cameron (Hughes) clearly was dying to ask a few questions.....he didn't let us down!! They did encourage students to apply for a summer school program and referred to us as 'possible future employees'. Cameron possibly.......

Our tour began by a quick trip to the CCC (CERN Control Centre for those not in the know!) this building was actually located in France....very strange crossing the border in the little shuttle bus! CCC introduced us all to what actually goes on here and how they go about their search to find particles; the Higgs-Boson was their most recent discovery!


COMPASS (Common Muon and Proton Apparatus for Structure and Spectroscopy) investigates how quarks and glucons interact to give the particles we observe. This was our next stop.....we actually got to see this amazing equipment! How many people can say that?? #lsasciencegeeksontour




Everyone had a really good time....I'm sure we all learnt a lot too! Best day ever for us scientists!!



Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Geneva... .We've arrived!

One late student, a 'temporarily misplaced' boarding pass, a game of plane musical chairs & an iPod with a mind of its own later, and we've arrived in Geneva!

Flight was pleasant & public transport is ok.....will definitely get the hang of it when we've had a sleep!  Our accommodation is nice, a few other UK schools are here & the Wifi is working! Everyone is happy!

Early start for our CERN trip tomorrow.....really excited! #LSASciGeeksOnTour