Friday Evening Walk

Although I went for a walk every evening after class, I did not take any pictures on the Wednesday and Thursday. During the days, it was often raining and quite chilly, but thankfully, by the time class was over, the rain had stopped and I could go out.
On either Wednesday or Thursday I took a shortcut across a field to the supermarket to stock up on snacks, and frightened a hare that had been quietly sitting there. I had not seen the hare until it dashed across the grass from me, and of course it was way too fast for me to have a chance at a picture.

As mentioned in this post, Friday was the hardest day of the week, but also turned out to be the day with the most interesting walk of the week.

I started out in the opposite direction than usual and quickly arrived at a part of the woods where I had not been going any further until now than just the first line of trees. This time, I went straight ahead on the path.

After a short stretch, the path came out on the other side of the woods, leading to a sunny field framed by more woods. Not a single person was in sight.

 I had to step carefully to avoid treading on someone's house!

Past the rapeseed field in full bloom, the path led further on, back into the woods. I never knew what I was going to find behind the next bend, and all I could hear was birdsong and the faint noise of cars on the road that I had crossed at the start of my walk.

Someone had obviously been here before me!

From a distance, I could hear church bells and the bleating of sheep. I followed the sound and came across this sign on a tree. Do you know what it stands for?

It indicates that this path is part of El Camino de Santiago, or St. James's Way, Jakobsweg in German. In case you are not familiar with any of these terms, simply read what it's all about on wikipedia. I am not Catholic, or belong to any organized religion, but I liked the idea of walking, at least for a little bit, along a path that means so much to many people, and has been travelled on for centuries.
 

From the end of the woods, I could see the village where the sound of church bells had come from. I had already been walking for quite a while, and needed to go back to the  hotel the same way, preferably before darkness (no street lights in the woods!), so I decided not to walk over to the village. But I definitely want to go there next time I'll be here, which is scheduled for the end of June.
 

Zooming in (or trying to!) on the sheep. There were many lambs.

Returning, I took one last picture of the rapeseed field, and went straight back to the hotel. I was quite ready for something to eat now, and my head felt much better than when I had come out of class.

Tuesday Evening Walk

After my walk on Monday evening last week (see two posts back), on Tuesday morning at breakfast I mentioned to my class mates (nearly all of us were staying at the same hotel, since it is so close to where the course takes places) that I intended to go for another walk after today's end of lessons. One of them asked whether he could come along, and of course I said yes; although I am quite happy on my own, it is also nice to have company. 

It was a warm, muggy day, with the light not being ideal for photos, but I took them all the same. We started out on a path through the woods, which I found very beautiful.

Then we decided to try a path I had seen during my regular walks but not yet followed. If you look at the Monday pictures, the last two of the first batch of photos show a meadow full of flowers and a line of trees at the back. That line of trees is where we walked on Tuesday.

It gave us a great view across Ulm, with the Minster taking centre stage.

We didn't walk into town, but turned round where the path began to lead downhill.

From there on, most of where we walked was between or behind the campus buildings of Ulm university, before we reached the semi-industrial estate with our hotel again. Even at this relatively late hour (around 8.00 pm), a surprising amount of people were still on campus. Because of the people and also because most of the buildings aren't very nice to look at, I didn't take any pictures during that last leg of our walk.

Altogether, we were out for about 2 hours. I was now ready for something to eat, and then going over today's lessons again.

Read in 2014 - 17: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

My birthday table was, this year as every year before, once again laden with presents from those who care about me. Each gift was the obvious result of someone thinking about me, and finding something they were sure I would like.

Each and everyone was truly appreciated - but it is inevitable that some gifts stick out more than others. For instance, I was given plenty of coconut-flavoured sweets and chocolates, which were of course meant to be eaten, and are long gone since. 

Other items were intended to create a more lasting effect, and one of them was the book I have just finished reading: "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth" by Chris Hadfield.

It was from my sister, part of a stack of books she gave me in the hope I'd finally start reading something better than a lot of what she finds me reviewing on my blog. With Chris Hadfield's book, she was certainly right! Knowing that I have been interested in all things Space for decades, she could be certain that this particular book was going to be a big hit with me. And so it was!

The author is a (retired) Candadian astronaut who has been in space on several missions, including his last one, a long-term stay aboard the ISS, where he served as commander for some months. He has become known to a wider public through his youtube video, performing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (with adapted lyrics) on the ISS. Nobody, least of all himself, had expected this video to become so viral - what started out as a fun idea from one of his sons ended up being viewed millions of times during its first three days online.

Now, don't get the wrong impression about this book. It is definitely NOT yet another celebrity's attempt at milking their short-lived status. The Space Oddity thing is mentioned only briefly towards the end of the book, and clearly conveys how amazed the author was when he became aware of the video's impact. Most of the time, the book is just what its title promises: a guide to life on earth, nicely embedded with an autobiography.

We learn about Chris Hadfield's early fascination for space travel, and how for many years he did not think it actually possible to become an astronaut himself. We also learn how, in spite of not thinking it probable, he did a lot to achieve that unlikely goal, and how, against all odds, he reached it. Not everything went smoothly all the time, but he had determination and dedication, plus the very important support from his wife, family and friends.

Chris Hadfield gives some unusual advice, such as always aiming to be a Zero, sweating the small stuff and the power of negative thinking. All of this advice is presented with a good mixture of humour and seriousness, and makes perfect sense. Almost as if by chance, he also talks about what it is like being an astronaut (which usually means spending a lot more time working very hard on earth than flying in space), how a mission is prepared (and why it takes years of preparation even for a comparatively short ride), what living aboard the ISS is actually like, and all that space travel involves, from pre-flight quarantine to launch, from re-entry and landing to the considerable physical and mental strain experienced for weeks, even months, afterwards.

Some quotes I want to share with you:

See, a funny thing happened on the way to space: I learned how to live better and more happily here on Earth. Over time, I learned how to anticipate problems in order to prevent them, and how to respond effectively in critical situations. I learned how to neutralize fear, how to stay focused and how to succeed.

I'm pretty sure that i can deal with what life throws at me because I'Ve thought about what to do if things go wrong, as well as right. That's the power of negative thinking.
The CSA's [Canadian Space Agency] budget [...] is less than the amount Canadians spend on Halloween candy every year [...]. Similarly, NASA's budget is not spent in space but right here on Earth, where it's invested in American businesses and universities, and where it also pays dividends, creating new jobs, new technologies and even whole new industries.

This is a book I recommend to everyone. Even those who are not at all interested in human spaceflight will enjoy it, I am sure. It does not make you want to jump up from your armchair and ring NASA to sign up for the next astronaut class, but it does teach you one or two things about life on earth, things we'd all do well to remember from time to time.
And, just to add one more good thing about this book: I did not find any typo or example of bad editing. Not a single one! 

Monday Evening Walk

When I arrived at the hotel where I was going to stay all of last week on Sunday night a week ago, it was too late to go for a walk, but it was not too late on the Monday, after a day of lessons.
I walked along the same path I had been on before; the first picture here is of the same area (just from a different angle) as the first "walk" picture in this post, so you can see what a difference those few weeks since the end of March made.

This time, I also tried some different paths where I had not walked before, and came across this very friendly cat. I sat with it for a while on the sun-warmed stone steps, and it purred loudly and didn't want to let me go.

It turned out to be the warmest and sunniest day of that week, and I was glad I'd been out for about two hours before going back to my hotel room, where I took my big fat ring binder and went over the day's lessons for another hour or so.

And Again: Back to School!

Saturday afternoon, I came home from the second part of my course. You can read about the first part here and see pictures of what my hotel room and the surrounding area looked like. This time, I had a room that looked exactly the same, just everything mirrored, and at the opposite end of the first floor up. The surrounding area had changed in that the season has advanced; there was now a lot more green on the trees than last time, as you will see in my next posts when I'll ask you to join me on some of the walks I undertook each day after lessons.

This is the front of the hotel. All very new; it only opened a year or two ago. 

The other side of the building, as I saw it every day on my way back from class (the building where our lessons took place was just a few steps along the same road, which is why I chose this hotel.) My room is on the first floor above the stilts, the one to the far left of the building.

The breakfast room. This picture is from my mobile, which explains the bad quality. Hotel guests can have free hot and cold drinks and fresh fruit (something I took advantage of) all day long until 10.00 pm. Breakfast is the standard continental buffet type; nothing special, but as far as I could tell (I did not try everything there), of good enough quality.

One evening while revising in my room, I was distracted from my notes by an extremely bright glow outside. It had been a grey overcast day, and all of a sudden, the sun broke through, already sinking, lighting up the entire building on the other side of the road. This picture doesn't really do it justice - the glow was so brightly pink and golden, it looked unreal.

I enjoyed classes just as I had done during the first week of the course, but I must admit I found the Thursday and Friday a lot more knackering than I'd expected. Monday to Wednesday were easier in that classes ended between 4.30 and 5.00 pm. Thursday, we had a brief oral exam; each of us had been given a topic to present in 10 minutes maximum, and we all sat in while the others gave their presentations. That meant finishing at 7.00 pm, which is quite a long day if you've been at lessons since 8.30 in the morning and not exactly used to such academic work. The Friday was another long day until 6.00 pm, and our teacher on that day was a true expert in his field (IT security), and a very kind man - but not the most gifted of speakers. It was difficult to stay focused, and by late afternoon I was so tired I really had to struggle not to fall asleep (and I wasn't the only one). I was so tired that I was very much tempted to just retreat to my room and lay down after the end of the lesson, but I pulled myself together and went for what turned out to be the most interesting walk I'd had all week. No revising that night, though!

I took these "before" and "after" pictures of our classroom with my mobile phone. 

Next time I'll be back there will be at the end of June. On the Friday of that third week, we'll have to write our final exams for several subjects. Until then, I will be good and do some more (lots more, actually!) revising.