First Day of School

Today was the first day of classes, and they didn't disappoint. My intro soil science class has more than 150 people in it, which is not desirable, but the outline of the course material, as explained by the professor (who is Scottish and has a ridiculous beard), gave me the impression that I will really enjoy the lectures. My viticulture class has about 60 students, and about half of them are from the U.S.. I have learned that, as part of the course, I will be assigned two rows of grapes in the university-owned vineyard to manage and care for with a partner. The professors mentioned that, often, we will have to go to the vineyard and provide maintenance outside of lab time (i.e. late afternoons and weekends). I'm pretty excited for that opportunity/responsibility! One of the highly recommended, but not explicitly required, course materials is a pair of secateurs for vine pruning and management (I figured out after a few confused minutes that "secateurs" is the British name for hand/pruning shears).

My "Environmental Analysis with GIS" seems like it will be really informative. The lecturer is a cool guy who I really believe will be able to make each lecture entertaining. A susbstantial part of our grade for that class is a final project. Our Professor knows that the students in the class come from many different academic backgrounds (environmental/agricultural sciences, landscape architecture, urban planning/transportation), so he wants our final projects to be related to common applications of GIS software in our respective fields. This is great, because I will have the opportunity to do a GIS project specifically related to geology, or at least environmental science.

My last class, SOSC342 - Soil Resources, is the most advanced class in my schedule. Based on today's opening lecture and course outline, I think it will be the most rewarding. The lectures cover units that I am specifically interested in (Soil Genesis, Soil Classification/Taxonomy, Soil Data Interpretation) and all within a framework that examines soil as more than just a medium for agricultural production and worthy of study independently. I was thrilled to hear that. The class, like many of my other classes, is very practical and has a significant field component. We have two big field excursions, one of which is an all day trip to a catchment in the Canterbury mountains where we are examining mineral leaching in higher precipitation and elevation soils. Soil test pits have already been dug out there, as one of our Professors is currently conducting research at the site. The other trip is a 5-day research project (during our spring recess) at a Dairy Farm outside of Ashburton, where we are working with electromagnetic field monitoring to make a detailed soil map of the area. I believe the project is associated with government research in some way. More on that when I know.

Right now, I am pleased with the way my classes look. All I can do is wait for tomorrow, and see how the REAL first day of lectures goes.