Visit to Universiti Malaya - An Overview & Introduction to Geology

To all my uncles and aunties and other relatives viewing this blog - I am not 100% interested in this field. I just happened to see this trip was open so I joined with a few friends of mine to see what this course has to offer. I took alot of pictures during this trip, so you can have a better view of what its like.

7th February 2009

Today, I joined a tour to Universiti Malaya to get an overview and introduction to the field of Geology. It seems that there are lots of fields from the Geology section, like volcanology, seismology... The trip was open to all students, but apparently only 8 Form 5 students (including me) volunteered. The other 17 are Upper 6students. I reached school before 7am as instructed and met up with the teachers and my pals Andrew, Chris and Jia Chang. We left the school in a bus at around 7.30am. And guess what? Andrew decided to do a little mischief as we left the school...



Yeah, he used his camera to simple flash at anybody he sees. First he flashed the band members, then one of our cadet members, and then the guard =.=

Here is what its like in the bus...



And very soon, we reached the University, and we were taken to the Science Faculty by one of the staff members in charge.


Around the University.


Messy notice board :D


MONKEY!

Later, we were asked to enter the lecturing hall.


This is where the teachers sit.


And this is where we sit.

After all the students were gathered at the lecture hall, there were a few welcome speeches by the commitee members and a short introduction video about the earth and Geologists and the importance of their career.

Phrase of the day : Its all about the rocks.

We were then given our breakfast break, at around 10am and some free time till 11am to explore the faculty. We were given chocolate cream bread and a cup of crysanthymum tea. We munched down our breakfast, and went off to explore the faculty and take some pictures.

We walked around when the Biology sign caught our eyes. We decided to check out this part of the faculty, and my pals found a spiral staircase to have some fun?


The biology signboard.


Top of the spiral staircase.

The Biology part of the faculty was quite interesing. We even found a sample of an elephant skull!


Me and the elephant skull.


Some small skeletons.


In the Biology section garden.


Aloe vera? BIG!


Andrew and the sample skeletons.

Later we went back to the lecture hall where we were divided into 5 groups namely A, B, C, D and E. I was in group D. With 1 leader leading each group, we were taken around the science faculty for a little touring.


In the mapping section of the tour.


A stereoscope for viewing more details of the maps - it can show up in 3d texture.


An ancient shell.


Horse-shoe crab.


A topography map of west Malaysia.


Pyrite.


Precious Opal.


Cuprite.


Sitonite? Forgotten.


Topaz.


Aragonite on Sulphur.


Garnet in Biotite Schist.


Muscovite.


Some red coral stuff.


Prehistoric fish.


Some trilobite samples.


Skulls :O


A fossil of some sort.


An instructor teaching Chris the correct way to use a microscope.


The 3 new friends we met at the trip (snoozing away).

Basically that last pic taken was during the lecture of Mr. Lawrence from Canada who has a PhD in Geology. I think he talks too much because his speech was actually quite boring. I find it hard to concentrate and stuff.


This guy taller than me is Dr. Lawrence.

And that's not all, he never gets to the point fast enough. When people asks him a question, he tells you all sorts of stories before he gives you the real answer. Really long winded person. But nevertheless, one of the more important Geologists.

The whole thing ended at around 4.50pm+ and we reached back to school at around 5.20pm+. Quite an experience... And then we saw a rock.

And thought back about the trip.

EVERY ROCK HAS A STORY TO TELL... ITS ALL ABOUT THE ROCKS!