The Eden Project, Falmouth Revisited, and a Night of Song and Dance

WARNING: If anything seems a little strange or off in this post, it's because I'm incredibly sleep deprived.

Stage and biomes at the Eden Project

The Eden Project is probably one of the coolest places I've visited during the International Summer School's social programme. For me, it honestly seemed like the Disney World of plants, a sort of botanical theme park, if such a thing can exist. Divided up into three main biomes, the Eden Project has beautiful outdoor gardens, an indoor Mediterranean habitat, and a gigantic indoor rainforest, complete with butterflies, frogs, lizards, and birds!

Inside the Mediterranean biome

In addition to the three main biomes, Eden also has a visitor center, a stage, and a building called, 'The Core,' which is an educational center. The Core had a giant wall of refrigerators inside with enough magnetized letters to write a small novel. Naturally, we had to take advantage of this:

As a charity and social enterprise, the Eden Project educates visitors about plants, biomes, and sustainable living, though it also serves as a concert and arts venue. It was a fun and educational day that can really only be adequately summed up through pictures.

Indoor waterfall at the Rainforest biome

Learn more about Eden here: http://www.edenproject.com/

After our visit to the Eden Project was over, three of the summer school pathways headed to the University of Exeter's Tremough campus in Truro, Cornwall. That evening, many of us went into Falmouth, which you may remember way back from my earlier post, 'Environment.' I got to see slightly more of Falmouth this time, including a lovely little bar and cafe right on the beach and a pub/bookstore called Beerwolf that was further into town.

The beach at Falmouth. Yes, that is a castle!

DrKristopher Allerfeldt's lecture the following morning on crime and population movements was very interesting, since it argued that globalization led to the rise of organized crime. We discussed the roles and perceptions of immigrants involved in crime and whether there should be restrictions on immigration.

Then it was back to Exeter for a fun-filled karaoke night.

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to karaoke night all that much originally
, but I really enjoyed myself, despite not really going up for any songs (I did do my fair share of dancing, however). I also had the opportunity to chat with and say goodbye to Professor Clive Sabel, whom you may remember from my earlier posts about the Fulbright week and Sidmouth excursion. Clive - if you're reading this (and I know that you probably are) - thanks for everything. It was fun exploring and learning with you, even if I did think that I was going to die in Dartmoor on several occasions ;) But in all seriousness, the trips through Dartmoor, Cornwall, and Sidmouth were great experiences that I will never forget and I thank you very much for that.

Today was a free day, which I spent canoing and eating REALLY good pizza with friends at the On the Waterfront restaurant (seriously though - their pizza is REALLY good). It was wonderfully relaxing and I had a wonderful chance to sit back and appreciate the food, atmosphere, and people around me and to reflect on how lucky I am to be here at all.

Tomorrow, we head off to the Roman city of Bath. Stay tuned for future updates!