Today has been a fruitful day for all of us. We started the morning with a little game so that we could know each other better. As I like to call it, it’s the ‘Toilet Roll Game’.

‘Imagine that you are going for a 3 days 2 nights camp. Take as many tissue papers as you deem fit.’ This was the instruction given as the toilet roll was passed around. Some took the 4 to 5 pieces while others took as many as 14 pieces. Well, it would be alright if they were really for a camp. But of course, as anyone would have guessed, they are not for a camp. So, it turns out there for every single piece of tissue paper you took, you have to tell the group one fact about yourself. And the whole game was rather hilarious, especially when you see people with ten plus pieces of tissue papers thinking hard to come out with something.

After a good laugh, we headed towards our usual classroom for our lesson. Mr. Dennis told us the plan for the day: we have a science experiment to do and an engineering project to embark on. The science experiment involves the verification of an equation which governs the behavior ion drifts while the engineering project involves the design of a giant lifter. 9 of us decided to do the experiment while the rest attempt the project. We got into discussion immediately. The science teams seemed to be done in a few moments but the engineering team spent quite some time discussing the dimension and various considerations of building the giant lifter.

We got into the high voltage lab at about half an hour later and started on our respective projects. While the science experiment seemed easy at first, the science team soon realized that it is not that straightforward. We were puzzled with some strange observation. Thankfully, we have got Mr. David to guide us along, pointing us towards the right direction on how to approach the experiment at hand. We made a few modifications to the original plan and the set up eventually worked.

The engineering team had a tougher job, I would say. To make sure that everyone can work separately on individual parts of the project and later come together…

(Tzer Han seems to have decided to end his part of the post abruptly to mug Math, so I will continue from here abruptly too)

I wouldn’t agree that we had a tougher job. Like Mr. Chong said, the science team got mentally challenged (Mr. Chong is a master of pun) while we were physically challenged. From what I heard the science team was posed with difficult questions while we met with problems in construction, so both teams had a fair share of headaches.

So anyway, we (i.e. the engineering team) spent slightly over half an hour planning the dimensions for our big lifter. I don’t suppose you want to know the technical details about this (otherwise, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biefeld%E2%80%93Brown_effect) so I choose not to bore you with it, but the lifter is basically a structure that is supposed to levitate when connected in the right way due to ion drift which generates a thrust which lifts the structure. After the planning, we started on the construction of the big lifter. It was great working together as a team of 11 people and we were really productive initially because everyone had something to do. But then it came to the gluing part when the glue just refused to set in properly, so we had to wait and wait and glue and glue because there were so many small parts in the big lifter. And many of us ended up with super glue on our fingers so we tried to peel it off. Then Yi Jie said something funny because he breathed in some glue fumes which caused him to tear. He said “I wonder how glue sniffers do it” HAHA oops I’m digressing. ANYWAY, we constructed from about 10am to 1pm and then 1pm to 3pm and finally completed the whole thing. Then it was time for the “moment of truth” where our lifter was brought into the high voltage laboratory for testing. Everyone whipped out their cameras and crowded around the cage eager as beavers to watch the little beauty fly. And with just 16kV and 1.1mA, the lifter managed to lift itself off the table and fly like a gryphon (?) so we all cheered and clapped and pat each others’ backs. Then we posed with the lifter and took a few photos and then left.

By the way I want also to tell you that the high voltage laboratory is very cool. Everything is kept behind these cage structures and to unlock it you need to use a key. And to operate the voltage thing you also need the same key, which means that you cannot open the gate and on the voltage thing at the same time which means that the user is protected. Ingenious. Tsk.

So that is really what we did for the whole day, just building and testing stuff. It was a good test of perseverance because we encountered many difficulties (mainly because the glue refused to cooperate) and had to resolve them. We worked well as a team I would say, and it was a good experience for many of us.

And I shall continue on to today while you are all sleeping (5am right now). Today is a play day which means we do not have to do any engineering what-so-ever (I define this myself). We went to Stonehenge and Salisbury and it was fun though tiring. Stonehenge was more of a photo-taking trip because we could not stop taking photos once we saw the famous stones. It was an hour coach ride from the university and when we arrived we saw some sheep so we started taking photos. Then we got tickets and went in to see the stones. Mr. Nicole enlightened us about the history and geography of the stones and I thought it was quite interesting (again, you may read it on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge). So then we just keep taking photos then we went to the gift shop and then ice cream shop. Then we left for Salisbury.

Salisbury is a nice quaint town with pretty little houses and shops and a monumental cathedral, a.k.a. Salisbury Cathedral. But before visiting the cathedral we stopped for lunch. Most of us ended up at STOBY’S, fish bar and restaurant. Everything there is battered, greasy, and served with chips so the servings had extremely generous content of oil so we were all bloated after eating. Then we proceeded for the cathedral. When we stepped in, we were …

Speechless (because of the sight and also because we were so full we did not want to talk)

…

We were awestruck by the magnificence of the 123m-tall spire and captivated by the intricate details of the walls and windows. I know you know that we all know that I am exaggerating, but just believe that it was a good sight. (see more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_cathedral) so we continued taking pictures. A guide took us around for about 2 hours and the number of people following his guide dwindled to a pathetic 2 at the end. The guide ended with a trip to the chapter house where 1 of the 4 remaining Magna Carta is stored. Nevertheless, we learnt quite a lot from this trip.

So where did the dwindlers go you may ask. They were shopping in Salisbury. Salisbury is a nice shopping place with many things to buy. There is also this shop with like 1 pound concept thing so got cheap stuff. Then we left Salisbury at 5pm and stopped for Chinese take-away. The we walked back to the hostel which took at least 40min.

It is 10+pm here already so I very tired. So good night people, or should I say good morning! Rise and shine for a brand new day at school!