#like i am open to state autonomic and local museums. they just have to be historical / ethnological / archaeological

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

yesterday i was thinking that if i don't get into any phd program by the end of the year and i switch to focusing on studying oposiciones to work at a museum i will try and learn some catalan to get the c1.

[jacewilliams1]

VFR to Russia? No problem!

This past July, we joined the Alaska Airmen Association and Circumpolar Expeditions on a group flight from Nome, Alaska (PAOM), to Provideniya, Russia (UHMD). The trip served two purposes: one as a goodwill mission to the Chukotka region of Russia and the other to keep the route between Nome and Provideniya open. Originally scheduled for June 23rd, the weather delayed us two weeks. Out of the seven aircraft originally scheduled, we were whittled down to just two, which included our Cirrus SR22 and a Cessna 182. Between the planes there were a total of six travelers.

The route, known as the Nome-Provideniya Air Route, generally follows the Alaska coastline northwest from Nome over Tin City and then Wales. From Wales, it turns west across the Bering Strait direct to BATNI intersection, located on the Russian FIR, and between the Diomede Islands. At BATNI the route joins B369 towards the Siberian coast, then turns southwest following along the Siberian coastline and passing over the communities of Lavrentiya and Lorino, then on to Provideniya.

Not a direct route, but one that is mostly over land.

Nearly 20 years ago, the Alaska Airmen Association, the FAA and Russian aviation officials collaborated to create a published VFR route, designated Bravo-369, from Alaska to Russia. In 2001, Alaska Airmen’s members Felix Maguire and Terry Smith led a large group on the inaugural B-369 route between Nome and Provideniya. Other successful and unsuccessful attempts have been launched since then; in truth, very few aviators have flown the route. Along the way, excessive Russian user fees led the Alaska Airmen Association to successfully lobby for reduced ATC fees. They also secured the ability to make the B369 flights without the normally required Russian Navigator/Translator onboard each plane. The Russian government now generously ensures there will be an English-speaking controller in Provideniya tower when the route is being flown.

The one-way distance is approximately 275 nm, with the longest overwater leg being 62 miles. The day we flew, the coast of Siberia was clearly visible before we reached Tin City, Alaska. B369 can be filed both IFR and VFR using an ICAO VFR flight plan form.

Upon entering Russian airspace at BATNI, the flight is conducted in accordance with Russian AIP procedures. The AIP states that altitudes are given in meters but we were assigned flight levels. Standard altimeters are set at 7,000 ft., so if cruising at 10,000 ft. the terminology would be “flight level 100.” Wind speed is provided in meters per second. Altimeters are given in QNH. Russian controllers in that area are difficult to understand as the radio signals are weak and their English is heavily accented. However, we had no problems dealing with them.

The International Date Line is crossed at BATNI intersection. This makes for an interesting time zone adjustment as Provideniya is 20 hours ahead of Nome. We left Nome on Sunday at 14:06 pm, flew for 1.7 hours and arrived Provideniya on Monday at 11:48 am.

The date line and the US-Russia border lie between the two Diomede Islands. Little Diomede is on the US side and Big Diomede is on the Russia side. Because the date line separates them, they are sometimes referred to as Tomorrow Island (Big Diomede) and Yesterday Island (Little Diomede). During the Cold War, the line was also known as the Ice Wall. In 1987, US swimmer Lynne Cox swam from Little Diomede to Big Diomede, a distance of approximately 2.4 miles, becoming the first person to swim from the US to Russia. She was congratulated by both Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. An interesting trivia question is, “How far is it between the US and Russia?” Answer: 2.4 miles.

Several permits are required and it takes a minimum of 75 days lead time to complete the process. The permits and documents are as follows:

Russian visa

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug entry permit

Russian flight permit to enter airspace and land at UHMD

Proof of insurance that covers the flight routing and destination

Aircraft radio license

Customs forms including General Declaration

Migrant card to register your presence in Chukotka (1/2 stays with your passport)

Departure from Nome

Both aircraft filed round trip VFR flight plans and eAPIS. We cleared US Customs outbound by meeting directly with the US Customs prior to departure from Nome, submitting General Declarations. The meeting also served as our advance notice for the return trip.

Provideniya Airport isn’t much to look at, but the runway is long.

Ten minutes prior to BATNI, as required by procedure, we contacted Anadyr Control and were given permission to enter Russian airspace. Position reports were required at BATNI, LA and MOUND. MOUND is not on B369 but is a waypoint identifying Provideniya tower’s airspace. After BATNI, none of the Russian intersections were in the Garmin database so user-defined waypoints were created.

A note about the terrain feature on Cirrus Perspective/G-1000 equipped aircraft: if the airport is not contained in Garmin database, for example Provideniya, and you build it as a user-defined waypoint, the terrain warning system will not recognize it as an airport resulting in a terrain warning when approaching the airport. It is necessary to disable the terrain system prior to approaching the waypoint/airport to prevent a terrain warning.

Arrival at Provideniya

Runway 01-19 at UHMD is substantial at 6,562 ft. long and 171 ft. wide. ForeFlight shows the surface as grass, but, in fact, it is gravel. Much discussion took place about how the Cirrus should handle this. Wheel pants off, wheel pants on? The issue with removing the wheel pants is that it leaves the horizontal stabilizer exposed to gravel being kicked up by the main wheels.

I discussed this issue with Jim Barker at Aviation Resources and he came up with a clever gravel mod that basically amounts to fiber broom bushes attached to the back of the wheel pants. During this trip, we operated off of two gravel runways in Alaska (6R7 and PAIG) and UHMD and had no problem at all with the gravel and our wheel pants. Soft field takeoff technique was used on all gravel runway takeoffs.

Provideniya

We were met by seven Russian customs, immigration and border crossing officers. Although they did their jobs thoroughly, they were helpful, pleasant, and curious about our planes – which they rarely see. Fortunately, one of the officers spoke some English and was very helpful.

We spent three days and two nights in Provideniya, which is not a destination for the trepid traveler. By the way the crows flies, it’s only 151 miles from Nome to Provideniya but it feels like a million miles away. There is no avgas. The streets are not paved, there are no hotels, restaurants, or bars and very limited internet service. There is no hot water anywhere in the city. Locals visit a public banya, a sort of sauna, where they steam you like a lobster until it’s so hot that the cold water feels good. The cold water isn’t just cold – it is iceberg cold. There are several grocery stores that have a reasonable selection of goods including vodka, wine and pretty good Russian beer. We stayed in a small trade school that has student housing available during the summer months. Our hosts organized catering for the six of us. Restrooms do not have toilet paper. Almost no one speaks English. It is absolutely necessary to have a guide with you.

It���s only 150 miles from the US, but Provideniya feels like it’s a million miles away.

We toured the surrounding area, including crumbling former Soviet-era military installations and Siberian gulags dating back to the 1940s. There is a very interesting local museum. We visited parts of the Beringia National Park and the indigenous peoples of Siberia community of New Chapalino. We also visited two schools, and through an interpreter, spoke to the children about small planes and general aviation. We found the people of Chukotka to be very friendly and accommodating, even to the point of inviting us into their homes for cake and refreshments. The children were fascinated with airplanes, which they rarely see. Almost all of them expressed interest in learning to fly.

Returning to Nome

The weather in this part of the world can change quickly and forecasts are amended often. Monitoring the weather was a challenge without internet or phone service. One of the many challenges of Provideniya is the lack of internet service to check the returning weather. Fortunately we were hosted by the very capable and English-speaking staff of the Beringia National Park, located within Chukotka. They graciously allowed us access to their office and internet.

It is possible to purchase a Russian cell phone in Provideniya and also possible to purchase a Russian SIM card if you happen to have a phone that is capable of changing SIM cards.

Flying the Northwest Staging Route

One of the best parts of the trip was our flight from our base in Apalachicola, Florida, to Nome, Alaska, a distance of 3,683 nm. We chose to fly the inland route through Canada and Alaska. This not only provides for a scenic and weather-friendly route but also for the opportunity to visit some of the historic airports along the Alaska Highway that were part of the Northwest Staging Route.

Established in 1941 as part of the US Russia Lend Lease Program, the Northwest Staging Route was a series of airstrips and radio range stations built in Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska prior to the US entering World War II. It then extended into Russia as the Alaska-Siberian Route, beginning in Great Falls, Montana, and ending at various Russian airbases located near the western front during World War II. The Alaska-Siberia Air Route was used to covertly ferry 7,983 aircraft. They were ferried year round with little in the way of navaids or weather services. Incredibly, only 177 aircraft were lost.

Fort Nelson was one of the stops on the Northwest Staging Route.

Generally, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) would the ferry the aircraft from locations in New York, Kansas, California, and Minnesota to Great Falls, Montana. From there, the 7th Ferrying Group would fly the aircraft to Ladd Army Airfield near Fairbanks, Alaska. At Ladd Army Airfield, the aircraft were turned over to the Russian crews, who would then fly them to airbases near the Russian western front, a distance of over 6,000 miles. The total distance over which combat planes were ferried from the manufacturing sites to the warfronts in Europe was even greater, 8,000 to 10,000 miles across 12 time zones. The confluence of US and Russian airmen, mechanics and supporting alcohol made for legendary tales in Fairbanks.

The aircraft included Douglas A-20s and C-47s, North American B-25s, AT-6F Texans, Curtiss C-46s, and P-40s, but the majority (5,015) were Bell P-39 Airacobras and P-63 Kingcobras. The Airacobras and Kingcobras were not used much by US forces due to their limited altitude capabilities, which prevented them from escorting high altitude bombers. For the Russians they were perfect, as most of their fighting was below 15,000 ft. Several Russian aces, including the legendary Aleksandr Pokryshkin and Grigory Rechkalov, the second highest scoring Allied ace of World War II, flew Cobras. The Russians referred to them as “Cobrushka” (little cobra).

Today, you can fly the same historic route, even all the way to Siberia, and land at many of the airports used by both the US and Russian crews. Museums and memorabilia are found along the way, including the newly opened Lend Lease Museum in Fairbanks. The original terminal building at Watson Lake, Yukon, still stands and has an interesting collection of period photos.

For further reading regarding the Alaska-Siberia Air Route and the US-Russia Lend-Lease Program, Alexander B. Dolitsky’s excellent book Pipeline to Russia is full of interesting information, history, facts and first-hand accounts of this massive undertaking.

Useful resources:

Skyplan

Makgas

Circumpolar Expeditions

Alaska Airmen Association

Alaska Flight Service Station at Nome: 800-478-8400.

US Customs at Nome: 907-443-2143

The post VFR to Russia? No problem! appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/10/vfr-to-russia-no-problem/

[tjwilliamson21]

Final Evaluation

With this project I identified architecture as theme and specialism that I wanted to base my work around. I wanted to work within this industry for this assessment as this is the progression route I have decided to follow, after completing this course. Within this specialism I have established that I want to work outside of the studio to get away from the digital workspace and work in the 3D workshop.  The purpose for this project was to redevelop a location that would bring economic growth and popularity to the area, however from my mid-term review I re-established the context of this assessment  as I found through my site location another way of redeveloping the area by creating a museum that will generate revenue and increase the population of the area; this museum will be a celebration of architecture in the local area but also the ambition of where structural design is heading. 

Something I asked myself early on was ‘why is the image of utopia always changing?’, it was something that I was intrigued about after my trip to the Sainsbury’s centre. Why I was interested by this statement was because people have previously stated that Utopia would be shaped in the style of specific appearances, however we have moved on from this perception being the ideal place to live. My understanding is that Utopia will always change to try and accomplish the ideal world to live in because we are always developing and creating new technology that allows the human race to discover new ways to push the boundary of design within structure.   

Some problems that occurred when working autonomously in this brief was finding an opening where I could explore my specialism from another approach. I found it difficult to keep to my time plan as I was always finding myself engrossed in the practical aspects, from this I wasn’t always creating enough development pieces. I wanted to overcome this by throwing myself out of my comfort zone and experience new ways of working throughout this project. 

By not having a clear prearranged pathway from the original brief did worry me at the beginning, but how I overcame this was by outlining what my ambitions and aims where going to be at the beginning of each week though the time planner. 

My most relevant research came from trips to museums and locations of interest, I was able to see the structures in person which gave me a better representation of how I could produce some observational drawings but also experience the scale and shape of the buildings. This added depth to my visual research because its sometimes difficult to appreciate the size of the building or its features from pictures. 

For this project I had a variety of research that I feel this has helped me observe different styles that people have introduced to the design industry. I would have never of found this through one source, I used some architecture magazines that I had previously brought, and they outlined the advantages and disadvantages of self-building your home, if I didn’t have these magazines I found have never of considered researching into property and house development. By having a breadth of books also helped early on, as I was able to vision my intensions from my proposal which had heavily been influenced by architecture in obscure environments. 

By having an early range sources allowed me to develop and focus my research, for example from reading ‘Architecture Competitions’ I came across an architect called Zaha Hadid who later I researched further into and found her work to significantly influential to this project, due to her designs having irregular forms that could be distinguished as a Bespoke Building’.     

I found that my research connected throughout the project as from my analysis of Zaha Hadid’s work it reminded me of another architect and designer called Frank Gehry whose work was also followed the irregular and chaotic pattern that I am interested, this was starting to establish a common theme throughout. My research did take a tangent in looking into more abstract and natural aspects of architecture, this allowed me to establish the context of my project in more detail as looking into the works of Theo Van Doesburg and understanding how he can make something with such detail be broken down into simple geometric form has helped me comprehend how this could be applied to almost anything not just natural forms

For this project my experimentations have been varied as I wanted to explore a range of methods of working in different workshops. The successes of this project were my wide range of drawing techniques that I have learnt overtime on this course such as continuous line drawing, quick observational drawing and having new abilities in digital that have allow me to alter imagery. With these drawing techniques it has given me the opportunity to develop them in an area that I am most confident in which is in the 3D workshop where I have been able to make model responses to classroom workshop and my drawings. 

This allowed me to recap on my comfort zones and identify what they were but also how I could use the too effect my project. I was able to engage with areas that I’m not too familiar with for example the ceramics workshop. I outlined that there was a lot of potential in this area that I hadn’t consider before, which lead to me gaining a wider breadth of resources to experiment with to reach my final outcome. 

I investigated my theme through an array of different resources that I consider. One task I created was a response to the work of Frank Gehry, by using wire structure that I could mould and manipulate to different positions that created a new drawing point. I felt this would allow me to draw freely and capture the looseness of Gehry’s sketching techniques.

My research was what helped me develop my experimentations the most because I was always able to respond to something that then could lead me on to further developments of the original Idea. For example, my location research was originally just quick rough sketches of interesting buildings in the area. However, from this I took this drawings into the workshop and made them come alive in a basic 3D form that gave them more detail and a purpose. I was always looking for how I could further my work, with this I used my wooden maquette I decided to cast them using plaster in the ceramics workshop where I was completely out of the comfort zone, but without this workshop I would never learned a skill that would influence my final piece.

With this project I have refined skills in the workshop that will help in my progression route at university. How I have done this is by speaking with the industry professionals at college and explaining my visions of what I intended my work to appear like. To get their experiences on the most effective way I could approach my task; this could have been though discussions I had about the best way I could shape and join my maquettes.

With this project I intended to produce a structure that would have the potentials to increase the economy in the local area and the popularity as well, the outcome as a whole has been a success in opinion as I have produced a body of work that supports my decisions through out the project. 

Even though there have been developments with what I proposed to produce, I found that these differences have allowed me to lead this project in a more exciting way as I have been able to explore the development of architecture in how I see the perception of utopia is always changing. 

The processes and materials I used for this project were the correct ones for me, because early on I identified my strengths and weaknesses to allow the time to explore into processes that aren’t first nature for me but also leave me enough time to develop my strengths in 3D to create a combination of a variety tests and approaches that I have taken to complete my targets. 

The Duration for this brief was a factor that I wasn’t overly concerned about at the start because with the time planner it allowed me to see what was set out for that week ahead and where I had space to do research or develop work in. Further into the project I found myself getting to engrossed in the workshops which lead to me over running my own deadlines I set for myself, even though I was being productive and efficient there were times that I realised that I should have been trying to approach this project from anther angle. 

The most successful outcomes I produced leading up to my final outcome were my loose drawing exercises based on research, why I believe that these little tasks were so successful were because at the start of the project I was overthinking my role, being the architect. I was always trying to complicate everything by already attempting to create a finished outcome without having any test pieces. Using these loose drawing exercises gave me more freedom to create a range of large scale imagery that was built up using linework, this then lead to me identifying ‘structures within structures’. I was able to later refine these drawings into more detailed representations of modern buildings. 

By not only having tutor reviews but having peer assessment and discussions has allowed me to interact with people that are in a similar situation. Having the opportunity to compare my work with other peers is closest to industry standard where I can see the work of others and discuss the successes of their work or mine to identify what’s missing or what could be done better to improve the quality of the work. This opportunity has lead me to bounce ideas off a larger audience rather than just my tutor meaning their opinions have been more diverse slightly than just one dimensional. I believe by having this feedback has allowed me to improve and develop my project more than I intended as I had the ability to get my peers input in drawing tasks to see how they would possibly approach this from their perspective. 

If I were to do this project again I believe I would consider taking a similar approach but possibly not restrict myself early on in the workshop. Something I would have been keen was experimenting with more materials to create test pieces and observe whether the visual language would change dependant on the materials or whether the different properties of the material could have made it easier or harder to work with. I did explore new processes for this project in the ceramics workshop, I feel this was only a start and I could have continued this further.

Another area for improvement that could have directed this project further would have been to use a broader range of research, since I may have been too conservative from mostly researching architects. If I had a breadth of artist and designer outside of the industry I believe it would have given me the opportunity to explore structural design from and outsider’s perspective this therefore could have meant my visions wouldn’t have been as one dimensional.

Something I would have liked to push further was my questioning of utopia because I believe that these statements could have as given some more clarity to my project on how my designs could fit into the ideal world.   Is humanity too greedy in picturing Utopia? Or are we under valuing the image of Utopia?

[energysolutions]

Speech: NFU Conference 2018 has been published on Energy Solutions News

New Post has been published on http://www.energybrokers.co.uk/news/beis/speech-nfu-conference-2018

Speech: NFU Conference 2018

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s great to be with you today. Thank you for inviting me.

It is a great honour to be here for the first time at a National Farmers Union (NFU) Conference.

As someone who has known all my life that farming is foundational not just to our economy, but to our country, it is a particular privilege to be here.

Providing the food and drink we live on and stewarding the countryside that is so much part of our national and local identity means there is no more essential industry.

As Guy said, I was born and raised in the food and drink business with my father and grandfather’s retail dairy delivery round supplying our neighbours in Middlesbrough with fresh Yorkshire milk seven days a week.

When I talk about agriculture as an ‘industry’ that’s not to ignore the fact that farming and growing is more than just a sector of the economy. It’s a life. And its all-consuming.

I was glancing through Farmers Weekly before Christmas and there was an interview with a young farmer from Wales called Tom Parry.

The journalist asked him: “If you won the lottery… what’s the first thing you would spend the money on?”

His reply? “More sheep.” But food and farming is an industry nonetheless and as Guy alluded to before, it’s one of our greatest.

The agricultural sector is the biggest manufacturing sector in the UK. Employing almost four million people and larger than the automotive and aerospace sectors combined.

And what that means in my view is that it deserves the same seriousness of engagement with all parts of government about the future that other successful industries like aerospace, automotive can count on, like life sciences and financial services expect to get with government.

And for your unique role in stewardship and in feeding the nation, like any industry, you need to be profitable and we need to help make sure the right conditions exist right for investment in the future.

Now, of course, you have a government department dedicated to farming and rural affairs and it is headed by one of the most innovative and effective Secretaries of State in government.

But I’m determined, with Michael, that you should participate fully just as other industries do in the work that is being done by the whole of government.

Including my department, the Business Department, as we work together to make Britain more prosperous in the future.

I think we need to do a better job in emphasising the centrality of agriculture to our economy and to our economic future.

If proof were needed of that, it can be found in the most recent agricultural exhibition in the London Science Museum.

This started off with farming in the Iron Age and ended somewhere around 1952. 1952?

That’s 15 years before I was even born. Imagine if the space exhibition ended in 1952. You’d miss all the good stuff.

No moon landings. No space shuttle. No International Space Station. It’s the same with farming.

So it’s fantastic that the Science Museum is planning a new £3 million exhibition to show the real face of modern British agriculture to the whole country and especially to the rising generation of people who may not have the knowledge or experience of agriculture, which should open later this year.

I don’t know who farming’s Tim Peake is but it’s very important that the place of this industry at the forefront of innovation should be there.

Because this is one of the most innovative of our industries and we need to ensure that the next generation need to see the opportunities for earning and advancement there are in a career in food and farming.

And I think it is also important that other industries need to see that agriculture is a source of ideas that can drive new ways of working and using technology in their own sectors.

There is a great translation and diffusion of learning across adjacent industrial sectors and I think we underplay the opportunities from the innovations that you have made into other industrial sectors.

That’s why I was determined to place food and farming at the heart of our Industrial Strategy, both for this sector and because of the relevance to sectors across the economy.

And why I’m so thrilled with the contribution and enthusiasm of so many people in this room. Of course the NFU, to the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the Food and Drink Federation and so many others.

The challenge for our Industrial Strategy is the same challenge for this sector. How can we become more productive and so more prosperous.

I want to commend the excellent work that Tom Hind of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has been carrying out on productivity in this sector. It has uncovered that since the mid-1990s productivity growth in agriculture and horticulture has fallen behind our principal competitors.

In fact, it has grown at just one-third of the rate enjoyed by the Netherlands and the USA. Relatively slow growth in productivity in recent years has characterised much of the British economy.

The Industrial Strategy set out a number of ways in which with a sustained national effort we can improve productivity.

It seems to me they are relevant to this industry as much as others.

The first is innovation.

This is one of the most innovative sectors of our economy and the advantages of bringing together our best scientists with our most forward-thinking producers, is clear.

I think most people would agree that the agri-tech strategy which launched five years ago has proved a success.

The Catalyst, for example has helped fund projects fighting diseases in pigs, rearing lobsters off the Cornish coast and improving the efficiency of Strawberry production, to name but a few.

But there is great potential for much more and so the Industrial Strategy commits to the biggest ever increase in public research and development investment. An extra £3 billion a year by 2021.

It brings in a focus on four Grand Challenges, technological changes sweeping across the world in which Britain has a leading position.

I am committed to making sure that agriculture plays a big role in many of these.

One of these is Artificial Intelligence and the analysis of big data.

Intelligent algorithms using data on atmospheric conditions and soil moisture has the real potential to dramatically reduce, for example the water needed for agriculture.

Michael Gove and I have agreed that agricultural technology will be one of the priority sectors for the new Office of Artificial Intelligence announced in our Industrial Strategy.

Through our Grand Challenges on the future of mobility, we know right around the world the way we are transporting ourselves, the way vehicles are powered and how we are connecting ourselves is changing, and we want to make Britain the go-to place in the world for the development of new autonomous vehicles.

I am determined this won’t just be the vehicles you see on our road, and that agriculture will be a big part of that.

Through the Hands-Free Hectare project Harper Adams University and York-based company Precision Decisions are planting, tending and harvesting crops using only autonomous vehicles and drones.

This project was funded through Innovate UK and was the first in the world to farm a crop in this way.

So I have insisted that our Connected and Autonomous Vehicles programme is making funding available to off-road driverless innovation, with a particular application to agriculture.

And yet another challenge – in this country – we’ve often been better at the invention and discovery of new ways of doing things that the implementation of them.

The AHDB was right in saying we need to put an increased emphasis on the ‘D’ in R&D, the development half of research and development.

As part of the Industrial Strategy, we announced a Transforming Food Production Challenge. And I’m delighted to announce today that the government will invest £90 million to make this challenge a reality.

It will include the creation of ‘Translation Hubs’ bringing together farmers and growers, businesses, scientists, and Centres for Agricultural Innovation, to apply the latest research to farming practice.

It should be a big boost to the knowledge exchange that already takes place across food and farming. And with the technological revolution that is happening the skills of the farming workforce need to keep pace.

New technologies require new abilities. Today’s modern British farmer is a Swiss-Army-Knife of skills.

An engineer, an environmentalist, a data scientist, a biochemist, often an energy producer, a tourism entrepreneur, and always an investor too. All of these skills are essential to the jobs that you do.

Yet at the moment, we under-invest in skills and training relative to many of our competitor countries.

And if we are to take advantage of the productivity improvements that technology offers we need to have tailored programmes of skills, education and training to meet the needs of sectors, as well as more farmer-to-farmer learning, to demonstrate what works in practice.

The Industrial Strategy emphasises new T-Levels which will provide an important opportunity for a new generation to start their careers in agriculture with relevant skills and we will work closely with the NFU to make them effective.

Apprenticeships will be a crucial part of this. And our reforms to apprenticeships are intended to present high quality opportunities for individuals and employers alike.

These reforms are some of the most substantial the government has ever made. But they are still young, and we are listening to feedback as the programme develops.

I also hear loud and clear, the challenges you are experiencing in your workforce currently.

As a West Kent MP, the Hoppers huts that can still be found in the fields around our coasts are a reminder that agriculture has always relied on seasonal workers whether from home or abroad.

In particular, two-thirds of your workers born outside of the UK come from the EU. This is an absolutely crucial component that I know Michael Gove touched on yesterday.

And as we move to a new relationship with the EU it is essential that you can get the workers you need.

‘A secure supply of skilled and seasonal labour’, is one of eight priority areas for our new Food and Drink Sector Council that has been created as part of our Industrial Strategy.

That clear focus and commitment to make sure you get what you need to do the important job that you have, is vital. And the purpose of forming the Council is to not just talk about the issues, but to act on its advice.

Upgrading our infrastructure is another way in which we can help improve productivity and as Guy mentioned earlier, I cannot recall an occasion on which I met the NFU branch in which the need for considerably better broadband and mobile coverage was not top of the list of improvements required.

Michael was emphatic on it yesterday and I completely share his view. The imperative becomes even more pressing because many of the technologies that can transform agricultural productivity and things like Artificial Intelligence rely on the fast transformation of large quantities of data. It is becoming more important than ever.

The Industrial Strategy commits an extra £200 million of investment in the Local Full-Fibre Networks Programme. As Michael said yesterday, 95% of the UK population can now access superfast broadband, a target which was reached last December.

As is evidence, there is much further to go, including making super fast high-speed broadband a legal right to everyone.

There is perhaps no industry in Britain in which local industry and the distinctiveness that one place has from another is as intrinsic as in farming.

My longstanding view is that government policy has been too uniform in failing to take opportunities to recognise that what is needed for a northern city or a place like Birmingham to maximise its potential will be very different for a rural county.

And around the world, we see that one of the most successful ways in which productivity grows is through clusters of adjacent businesses with particular local relevance each reinforcing the other.

We see it all, from life sciences in Cambridge to elite motor manufacturing in Northamptonshire. Successful clusters attract ambitious followers creating expertise and jobs.

Through institutes such as FERA outside York, which I know very well, to the Wellcome Trust’s Sanger Institute outside Cambridge, I think there are huge opportunities to gather businesses that can make the most of the proximity of our resources.

A big part of our Industrial Strategy is to do what I know virtually everyone in this room does, and be leaders and participants in their local economies and to give more power to invest locally in other sectors and other industries, helping make the most of local opportunities.

Finally, strengthening relationships are vital if we are to capitalise on the individual strengths of the sector.

Food and farming has always been a diverse and some would say fragmented, sector. But that is not to say that the opportunities that come from working together don’t exist. In fact I think they are more plentiful in this sector than many others.

The supply chain from farm to fork and indeed into farms is a crucial source of quality competitiveness and innovation.

Fragmentation compared to other sectors simply emphasises the need to make a deliberate effort to come together effectively.

That’s why I’m delighted that the new Food and Drink Sector Council met for the first time last month. I know Michael Gove spoke about this yesterday.

It brings together government departments, farmers and growers, food and drink manufacturers the logistics industry, hospitality industry, retailers and others with a stake in a flourishing sector.

I’d like to thank Sir Peter Kendall for representing the voice of farmers on the Council and its working groups.

One of the Council’s early tasks is to propose a Sector Deal to drive forward each aspect of the Industrial Strategy as it reflects food and drink: innovation, skills, infrastructure investment, building up local strengths and getting the right business environment for start-ups and for growing businesses. Each one of these pillars of our Industrial Strategy, I’m absolutely determined will apply to the food and drink sector and should be represented in a strong and ambitious Sector Deal.

I take it personally. Michael Gove and I will jointly lead for the government on negotiating this deal. I want this to be a totemic deal that shows to sectors that perhaps have not considered food and farming and agriculture to be part of the economic future of our country, in the way that it so clearly is.

And I hope it will be a beacon to the British industry and the rest of the world that British agriculture is mustering its considerable strength to seize the opportunities before us.

So ladies and gentlemen, Thank you for inviting me to be with you today.

When I first set to thinking about the Industrial Strategy I had a clear vision that this strategy must be for the whole of our economy and for the whole of Britain. And so agriculture one of our largest and most innovation-rich industries had to be at the heart of it.

I am so thrilled at the positive response that it has received from farmers, growers and those engaged in food production.

And whether it is spreading innovation or building a workforce with the skills of the future. These are vital steps. Not all these steps can be taken all of them overnight.

A short term strategy, after all, is a contradiction in terms.

But I strongly believe that by acting deliberately now we can act together to create the future of farming.

Thank you very much indeed.

[hooptrition]

The Auckland Experience

“I realize that it’s been said many times and in many ways but it’s rare to have such a group of old buggers that connect the way we do after all these years whether we see each other weekly on the court or occasionally to live like a GOB.”  - Anonymous 

It’s said that Australians generally treat New Zealand like the undiscovered gem in their own back yard. 

Thus it was somewhat unsurprising that eight years after the Grumpy Old Bears world odyssey began, the crew assembled in Auckland harbor (yes literally on the water) to defend the World title so expertly captured four years earlier in Torino. 

The familiar faces were mostly all on deck for the operation; The Owner, Ballarat Pau, Coach K, The Doctor, T Bone, The Californian Wine Mogul, Big Wave Don, The Sri Lankan Assassin and your correspondent. Added to that mix was Disco Steve, a GOB debutante plucked from the draft for his unique blend of silky skills on and off the floor. 

Opening night featured a trip to the Botswana Butcher to sample some of the protein offerings that the Kiwis have become so famous for and it wasn’t long before the hormone overload from the exquisite beef and lamb was working its magic. 

Despite being on tour as an age discrimination case waiting to happen and having guest appearances lined up for an anti-GOB Auckland outfit, the Assassin was off and running after a chance meeting at a traffic intersection en route back from our opening visit to Auckland Jurassic. 

Details of what happened over the next few hours at the very reputable Donny Doolan’s establishment are sketchy at best, with only cub reporter Bone in attendance. 

Trying to piece together incoherent statements such as: “he was dancing and gyrating in a way I’d never seen before” and “I was seriously concerned for him” is probably futile and suffice to say that Sri Lanka’s answer to Vincent Vega had thrown the gauntlet down for the trip. 

The games were quickly upon us and the first pool encounter was a comfortable-enough win over the Australian Hyenas 53-26.  Disco fitted in seamlessly to the minimally structured schemes, a wayward hook from Bone brought back memories of the massage oil incident and the Wine Mogul rolled back the clock for his patented ‘stop on a dime’ pull up. 

Astonishingly, the organisers had made a commitment to capture every game on video for posterity and soon the highlights were readily available as a tool for remembering and forgetting. 

The creative genius behind the owner had, in her always-appropriate way, hit just the right notes with the accommodation. 

The Old Testament Bears had the distinction of being housed dockside in Auckland harbor on the superbly appointed vessel the Templar, whilst the newer converts took their rest in nearby dry land luxury. 

The event itself was housed in and around the harbor just a short stroll from both places. 

Highlights included Fireworks smokehouse brisket burgers, where Pau recycled his request for Dickins cider to more than one unsuspecting teammate; the grey goose incident on the top deck that cascaded into a chance meeting with some Canadian footballers and Tasmanian netballers in Donny Doolan’s and left Big Wave in a parlous state the next morning; Jemma and Dave’s constant attention and beverage provision and a wondrous day trip to nearby Waiheke Island and Cable Bay Vineyards restaurant. 

The dialogue was as always, the seasoning for the tour and astute observations, long forgotten anecdotes and more recent war stories tied the days together. 

In truth, some of the best stuff just melted into the group dynamic, never to be seen again but some fragments are still front and centre: 

"The bigger the boat the more they pass to you" Coach K at the infamous top deck dinner. 

The very jarring observation of one of our fist visitors to the boat: "He’s handsome and has no depth…did I say that out loud?" 

The widespread adoption of George Constanza’s motto: "It's not a lie if you believe it" 

Game two came and went with T-Bone ticking New Zealand off the hook list in a 71-43 win over Hungarian Dream catchers. 

The Prawn juice aperitif samples our opponents provided are undoubtedly adorning home bars across the globe in preparation for the type of catastrophic world happening that would warrant its consumption.

Dinner at ‘Soul’ that night was another fantastic affair and flowed into a few customary refreshments, again just a stone’s throw from the Templar. 

Somewhere in the midst of this period Coach K got to detailing his missing tooth story and the differing approaches when in conversation with fellow GOBs and other competitors, a role reversal in traditional men’s entertainment clubs was theorized and  “Juri Duty” was officially welcomed into the language. 

Around this time Coach K headed back across the ditch for the Shire’s Coachella equivalent, the panorama of female teams from across the globe continued to float by and the rookie made a mockery of the notion that he was in any way lacking experience. 

The days had a wonderful rhythm…from sundrenched breakfast deck, to makeshift office, to NBA playoffs in the main lounge and then hoops and GOB recovery regimes. 

Old foes the Megabucks were next on the slate. 

The 65-41 win was relatively unspectacular save for Coach K seeing his average drop to 9 despite being 2000 miles away. Bone took the 100% award with a rolling hook on transition, Disco found some of his dance-floor mojo on the pine, the Doctor unceremoniously hacked Murray with his throat and/or teeth in a manoeuvre that was quickly coined the gooseneck foul and Pau did what Pau does in his role as the team’s “Big Fundamental”. 

Our young female referee was reduced to supportive astonishment at some of the guesses from her theoretically more senior partner but we soon adjourned to a dinner of chicken ribs and refreshments. 

The next game was an early morning affair against Brasil that inevitably got rather messy. Big Wave’s rebounding festival and an ultimately flawed flirtation with flawless shooting from Bone were the main takeaways from a 50-30 win. A donut watch was however enacted for the Wine Mogul until deep inside the last two minutes whilst, almost unnoticed, the owner continued to metronome it in from midrange. 

The aforementioned Cable Bay jaunt that day was perhaps most easily summed up by something Disco was overheard telling a friend back home at the winery restaurant: "I'm going to send you some photos and you won't believe how I'm rollin’." 

Philosophical questions inevitably find their way into the week and after reminding the team of the latest research updates on his prostate awareness theory, the Doctor then regaled us with tales of long forgotten Estonian school days. In a sense it’s no surprise that a priest would struggle to answer the young Doctor’s  "How many millimetres between heaven and hell?" query. The fact that the priest ultimately replied that people who ask questions like that go to hell speaks for itself. 

Back at the smoke house the next day, the owner dropped one of the standalone gems he’s become famous for: "There is no such thing as a good turnover." 

On Thursday the running hook reappeared in a 62-43 win over local team Basketball Times. Their chatty point guard was a nuisance in every sense but Big Wave was unguardable early on and the result was never in doubt. The Doctor missed his patented crayfish claw shot but made a thunderous baseline drive and finish in traffic that shocked pretty much the whole gym and the Bears were now 5-0 with co-coaches K and The Assassin managing minutes for Kazan.   

Kazan is a city in southwest Russia, on the banks of the Volga and Kazanka rivers. The capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, a semi-autonomous region, it's known for the centuries-old Kazan Kremlin, a fortified citadel containing museums and sacred artifacts…and a gnarly old hoops culture. 

The final against their familiar front line of very hefty moving screen setters and impossibly craft silver fox guards was a beauty. 

History will record that the Russians eventually got the money 60-54 in overtime but it was a knock ‘em down slugfest to the very end. Threes that might have sealed it, rimmed in and out as tantalizingly as a foiled 3 am casino rendezvous but Big Wave’s foul out was the final nail. 

Your correspondent took one in the ribs for the team in a vain attempt to either secure a loose ball or take out their astonishing scorer (Number 10) and only finished up searching for pain relief answers deep inside the doctor’s makeshift pharmacy bag.

It was fitting that one of Russians told T Bone they were coming to the Gold Coast even though he couldn't speak a lick of English. Maybe he meant coasting to gold??? 

Big Wave fittingly carried the flag for the weary GOBs on the last night at Jurassic for the real closing ceremony. 

On Sunday morning it was time to go when the Wine Mogul decided not to have eggs, the Doctor informed us he was going on the wagon and no NBA finals games were scheduled. 

The Wine Mogul got two pills from T Bone (now working on a pharmaceutical startup in opposition to the doctor) and prepared to position himself near the boarding gate to avoid a repeat of the “Sydney Incident”. 

The dispersal was underway. 

Rumblings for Alassio are strong as this piece goes to print and there’s possibly no stronger recommendation for that trip than Bone’s summation of a post Auckland GOB lunch in Sydney recently: 

“Awesome. Ended up late with Disco and a bunch of guys I didn’t know drinking free cocktails in a bar I can’t remember going to. Just your typical GOB’s outing.”

[bigskybigwords]

It’s possible that some people might find the idea of racing to Europe, enduring two 16 hour layovers (one on either end) and spending a week in Denmark to be the opposite of a restful spring break, but those people are wrong. Just wrong. Sitting here in the Copenhagen Airport after an excellent seven nights in this interesting, beautiful country, I find myself incredibly rejuvenated for the rest of the school year and already looking for another quick getaway.

After a week of averaging just over twelve miles on foot each day, plus a lot more travel on train, tram, bus, and ferry, I feel much more rested and ready for the return to school than if I had stayed home and caught up on some rest and television binging. I did manage to watch The OA during evenings here, which might have cured my desire to binge TV for awhile, anyway, but that’s another story.

Ramen!

Dragør

Fish!

Nyhavn Public Toilet

Louisiana Museum, William Kentridge

View from Parliament

Nyhavn

City Hall

Dragør

Viking Horns at National Museum

Nyhavn

Aarhus Bike and Cigarette Machine

Aarhus Old Town

My initial impression of Copenhagen was a bit cold. When I got off the metro from the airport near my room, I was confronted by one of those ubiquitous European business streets, loaded with small shops and restaurants, the kind of street that looks the same everywhere you go. The weather was a bit grim, and despite the forecast of decent weather for the week, I was nervous that the trip would be a soggy mess.

Don’t let the weather get you down or slow your plans. While every morning started with the same overcast, gray skies, almost every afternoon ended with glorious blue skies. You’ll certainly want to be prepared for rain and chill, but the same kind of skies that portend heavy rain back in Montana just don’t seem to mean the same thing here. I carefully packed my new raincoat for the trip and am excited to report that it never left my duffle the entire trip, though I did have to borrow an umbrella for a few minutes in Seattle.

When you land at the airport, buy a City Pass for as long as you plan to stay. You’ll likely need a ticket to get from the airport to town and the public transportation network is excellent, even by European standards. There’s another reason to make the purchase at the airport: for some reason, like in many cities, the machine at the airport was happy to take my American credit card without a pin, but when I tried at stations in town, it didn’t work. Uber is set to vanish within a few weeks across Denmark, anyway, so why not explore what life in a city with decent public transportation can be like?

The coffee was less excellent, though. I’ve always wondered how my Norwegian grandmother drank two pots of coffee a day and I think I’ve found my answer: she was likely drinking some of the same Scandinavian brown water I had in Copenhagen. I tried a number of local and regional chains, but most served a weak brew. One notable exception was The Coffee Collective. I was told, too, that the coffee shops in the Latin Quarter were better, but didn’t have a chance to try any down there.

Concerns about the coffee aside, the food in Denmark was excellent. I sampled some excellent Smørrebrød, Danish open-faced sandwiches, across the city and was never disappointed. At their core, Smørrebrød are a piece of buttered, heavy rye bread with layers of vegetables, meat and cheese on top. The variations seem endless, from the traditional fish sandwiches to the liverwurst, bacon, beet, and berry sandwich I had at one of the markets. Another shop had tapas style Smørrebrød with ingredients like chorizo and egg. Bien!

The best places to eat food in Copenhagen were two areas with food stalls. Copenhagen Street Food, located at PapirØen warehouse, offered food from all over the world, including some excellent Korean steamed buns. It’s right on the waterfront and has some outdoor seating for a great picnic spot. A bit more upscale and centrally located is the Torvehallerne (market halls), which includes two buildings, one for sweets, coffee, and shops and another for savory treats. The food there is a bit more traditionally Danish fare, but no less excellent.

And you should probably have a hot dog, too. While the Danish version includes the nice touch of sliced pickles to go along with the fried and fresh onions, the remoulade on Danish hot dogs doesn’t quite measure up to Icelandic brown sauce. Nevertheless, while I can’t imagine eating a street vendor hot dog in the States, those in Denmark were delicious and a reasonably cheap food option in the expensive city.

While you’re in Copenhagen, you’re going to want to walk, despite the public transport. The center of the city is quite small and trisected by three long pedestrian shopping streets. Unless you see yourself buying a lot of goods, feel free to jump off those main, busy streets. Often, you’ll find yourself in a quiet square or parallel street that feels like an entirely different world. One note, though. Jaywalking is apparently treated quite seriously in Copenhagen.

As always, I started my Copenhagen experience with a “free” walking tour, one of the tours run for tips. It (and the subsequent one I wandered into the next day) offered excellent overviews of the city and the guides were very knowledgeable about places to visit and eat.

Don’t just walk, though. If only to experience the feeling of being on the aggressive side of biking vikings who dominate the city, use one of the many shops to rent a bike. The bike lanes are incredible, with a huge section timed so that a rider maintaining a speed of 20 kilometers per hour will never need to stop at a light. It’s been a long time since I have ridden much, but after a period of adjustment to the huge number of cyclists around me, found the experience to be an incredible way to see the city. Many shops will even rent bikes with GPS built in, making the city tour even easier. Watch out for bikes, though, when you are on foot.

In Copenhagen, I visited and really enjoyed the National Museum (filled with the entire history of Denmark and cultural artifacts from all over the world, the Carlsberg Glyptotek, and the Thorvaldsen’s Museum, dedicated entirely to the work of Bertel Thorvaldsen, an Icelandic/Danish sculptor who is famed for having produced the only work by a non-Catholic in St. Peter’s Basilica. Museums are mostly closed on Mondays, but many offer free days or those with extended hours. Make sure to catch the view of the city from Christiansborg Palace, the highest tower in town. Although there is a short line and a brief security screening, it offers panoramic views of the entire city center.

A few other spots I’d recommend in Copenhagen include the Assistens Cemetery, which is a lovely park filled with famous Danish dead like Søren Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen, as well as a huge number of recreating people from the city. It’s an odd combination of an active cemetery and public park, but it seems to match the practical nature of the people here. You’ll also want to visit Freetown Christiania, which is a self-proclaimed autonomous region of about 80 acres and 1,000 people in the Christianshavn neighborhood. While the area was both a testament to creative experience and perhaps the dangers of substance abuse, it’s a fascinating haven in the midst of the bustling, loud city.

Get out of Copenhagen, too. I took a two-day trip to Aarhus, and found its museums odd and enjoyable. The city also featured excellent food, and as a college town, a very different vibe from Copenhagen. Another great stop was in Dragør , a seaside town about 40 minutes by bus from the city center. It was the kind of town where you could buy fresh fish right from the dock, enjoy beer in a sailor’s bar, and wander through one of the best-preserved villages in the country. Finally, the trip to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art was another worthwhile half-day trip from the center.

One caveat about all of Denmark has to be fashion. While I am a rounded, schlumpy fellow with little fashion sense almost anywhere, Copenhagen will make even the best-dressed person feel a bit like they need to seriously up their fashion game. That being said, after a week here, it is easy to understand why the traditional look for Hamlet is all black dress. It’s practically the national uniform.

Copenhagen is certainly an expensive city. Housing, even in March, was relatively expensive, but the efficiency of the public transportation and a wide array of accommodations make the city more affordable than you might guess.

More photos and thoughts to come.

When You Visit Denmark…and You Will It’s possible that some people might find the idea of racing to Europe, enduring two 16 hour layovers (one on either end) and spending a week in Denmark to be the opposite of a restful spring break, but those people are wrong.

[peyton-takes-europe-blog]

Vamos a Espana (part 1)

Spain is a country on Europe’s Iberian peninsula known for its culture, art, architecture, Flamenco music and dance, bullfighting, tapas and sangria. Spain is also the country and culture that I have fallen in love with these past two months. Spain has 17 autonomous regions (or “states”) each with a unique geography, climate and culture. When I first started learning about Spain and its regions everyone mentioned how each area has its own unique version of Spanish culture; however, it was only when I was fortunate enough to travel to these places that I truly was able to grasp how different each region of Spain was, and how they all combine to make up the culture of Spain. In this lovely edition of Pey attempts to blog, I wanted to touch on the amazing sites that I saw in all of the Spanish cities I have visited so far and also how their culture, climate, food and people compare to my Spanish home of Salamanca. In this part I’m just touching on the first four cities that I visited. In each of these cities I was able to continue to practice my Spanish and learn more about Spanish history, culture and people.

Salamanca: I was first introduced to the city of Salamanca and its culture, people, food and climate. Salamanca is located in the northwestern part of Spain. Its old city, which is the part that I live in, was declared a world heritage site for its outstanding buildings, cathedrals and my Spanish university, The University of Salamanca, which will celebrate its 800th birthday in 2018. Spanish obviously is the main language of Salamanca and very few people speak English, which forces me to constantly speak and practice my Spanish. This was one of the reasons I chose Salamanca, a smallish city. Also the Spanish spoken in Salamanca is one of the cities where the Spanish is thought of to be one of the “purest” forms of Spanish. The region is also known for its Iberian jamon (ham) that is everywhereeeeee. The people who are from Salamanca are called ‘Charos/Charas’ and have been welcoming and friendly to me (??? much different than the  stereotype of charos being cold).

Avila: The first Spanish city I traveled to outside of Salamanca was Avila, a small medieval town between Salamanca and Madrid. It is in the same region as Salamanca and so the language was not very different; however, we found the people to be more reserved rather than colder and not as welcoming. The old town of Avila has an amazing complete and prominent medieval wall surrounding the entire old city, which we were able to walk almost completely around. (perhaps the wall makes the people not as open?)  We also visited the church of Santa Teresa as Avila was her home. In Avila we tried yemas, a local sweet that honestly just tastes like the yoke of an egg and was nobody’s favorite. We also learned that although Avila is only one hour away from Salamanca it is FREEZINGGGGG because it is higher in elevation that Salamanca is. Lastly since it is a smaller town it doesn’t cater as much to tourists. The group I went with found this out pretty quickly when we were trying to get dinner before our 9pm train and no kitchen was open until 8:30pm. This was the first time I bought American chips for dinner at the supermarket.

Segovia: I next traveled to Segovia, Spain with my AIFS group. Segovia is a historic city northwest of Madrid. In Segovia the two main attractions that we saw were the Alcazar of Segovia, an outstanding castle sitting on a hill, which the Disney castle is roughly based off of, as well as the roman aqueducts. The aqueducts have more than 160 arches, most in the original granite. As an engineer I was amazed as our tour guide told us that the engineers and architects of the time designed this aqueduct so that it was the sloped enough so that it could transport water from the mountain to the center of the city, but not sloped too much so that the water would spill from the sides. Also all 160 arches were constructed without any cement! They were cut so that each slab fits perfectly with the next and they are still standing after xxx years. I did not get a chance to spend too much time talking to locals or enjoying their food, but since the city is in the same region as Salamanca the food, people and language did not differ very much.

Toledo: My next trip out of Salamanca was a two-day trip with my AIFS group to the cities of Toledo and Madrid. Toledo is just outside of Madrid and is known as ‘the city of three religions.’ It sits on a hill and is a beautiful city. Within its walled old city, medieval Arab, Jewish and Christian monuments can all be seen together, one in the same and next to each other. For instance, one of the first significant buildings in Toledo that we saw was the Santa Maria la Blanca. Santa Maria la Blanca was built and served as a Jewish synagogue up until a period in Spanish history known as the Spanish Reconquista where Christian states recaptured territories from the moors (Muslims) who had occupied most of the Iberian peninsula in the early 8th century. During this period all synagogues and Muslim influences were turned into churches or cathedrals. Even though the building now stands as a church Muslim and Arab influences can be seen throughout many aspects of the buildings architecture and designs. The there religions can still be heavily seen throughout this amazing ancient city. Although we didn’t really get a good feel for the people of Segovia, the language was similar to Salamanca as was the weather. I did however indulge in Marzipan, the local dulce (sweet) of Toledo. It is said that local Toledo nuns first invented marzipan.

Madrid: Lastly for this blog, is the capital of Spain, Madrid. Madrid is a hustling and bustling city filled with people, cars, large buildings and fast food chains like McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC. It is very similar to large cities in the United States … besides the fact that they speak Spanish! (Taking advantage of the big city, I let my American cravings kick in on this trip and got a Starbucks coffee!) On this second day of our two-day AIFS trip as well as another weekend I visited this Spanish capital and got a brief view of the culture, sites and people of Madrid. We saw its incredible and manicured Parque del Retiro de Madrid and some of the European art which can be seen in Madrid’s many museums. Madrid also has ample shopping, restaurants, cafes and astonishing plazas. Plaza Mayor and Plaza del Sol were my two favorites. They are immaculate plazas where there are constantly people meeting friends, watching the street performers, having a drink or grabbing a tapa. Ironically, I spent a New Year’s Eve celebration with my family in Plaza Sol in 2012, but it’s much different in the daylight and without the throng of NYE.  In my biased opinion Plaza Mayor in Madrid is not as pretty Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor, but is beautiful nonetheless. Being a big city the food in Madrid is very diverse, although paella can be seen advertised on every other restaurant. Next, although Spanish is the first language of the city, English can be heard alllll over the city. And lastly, the metro is the main form of public transportation in Madrid. Even I, a Midwest chica who only knows how to get around with a car and my gps, can attest that it is fairly easy to navigate.

Though my travels of Spain I am constantly seeing the similarities and differences between each Spanish city. And with each new city I see I fall in love with Spain even more. Every new city is a different part of Spain, a different part of its culture, a chance to improve my Spanish and an opportunity to open my eyes up to another part of this amazing world. More soon on the rest of the cities I have visited thus far!!!