The Geography trip was a neat balance between having fun and being educated!

Being only a few weeks into our course and new to St Dominic’s, nearly all of us did not know everyone in our own class well, let alone the other geography students in the other classes. Due to the fantastic organization skills and set up of the field trip, we were able to bond with our ‘co-workers’ and get to know most of each other in the first day. At first, we all dreaded being in a dormitory with students we did not know, but soon we were getting to know each other’s backgrounds, sense of humor and, we girls, were exchanging makeup tips!

The educational aspects of the trip covered regeneration and coastal processes. The tutors were good and the field centre was great.  In Leatherhead, we filled out land-use survey maps, conducted traffic counts and asked the locals to complete short interview surveys. At the beach at Newhaven, we collected a range of data using different equipment to measure the size of the pebbles and the rate of erosion.  We also created field sketches. This data was collected in order to answer a hypothesis we had devised before we set off.  Our main aim was to understand what coastal processes were taking place and how these shape the landforms and landscape.  We worked in small groups and learnt how to use a number of pieces of equipment we had not used before, such as, ranging poles and clinometers. The research we conducted at Newhaven and Seaford was interesting and it really helps to be able to refer back to it in class. 

Overall the geography trip was an amazing adventure.  It gave us an opportunity to look at some extraordinary landscapes which are being constantly changed by the processes we observed.  It definitely prepared us for the Independent Investigation we will do as part of the course as well as giving us a range of new skills that will help us in our future study of Geography.  And, most importantly, we had fun!

Photographs of the trip can be found by clicking the link here.

Maya Patel, Hafsa Hersi and Angelika Polacik (Geography Students)