It may be tardy, but maybe that is representative of how
crazy the past five months have been! When you left us after the last post we
were sat in our optional modules, pondering the intricacies of urban flood
modelling and river basin modelling. The then near-future, the now recent-past,
has seen us travel to Florida, follow three more modules at UNESCO-IHE, return
home for a month of holidays (or travel for the more adventurous amongst us)
and spend a month studying at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona.
But before tales of the present are regaled, let us bring you up to speed with
some of the experiences from the missing past five months! Beginning with our
Florida fieldtrip.
Well, where do you begin? Upon acceptance of our
scholarship, the of an international fieldtrip had us excited and
after the announcement of over two weeks in Florida, our anticipation rarely
dropped below the ‘very excited’ level.
The fieldtrip began back in Holland, when law students from
the University of South Florida joined us at UNESCO-IHE for lectures covering
the environmental and legal issues facing the state. It was an insightful
introduction and the opportunity to meet our host in Florida, The Florida EarthFoundation’s Stan Bronson. With the promises of the time of our lives from Stan
fixed steadily in our minds we embarked on the flight over the pond. With only
mild visa issues (obviously, there were still some, but these appear to be
inevitable on this course).
The trip started in Tampa Bay, as we spent time with the
Patel School of Global Sustainability as part of the University of South Florida. Welcomed
with exceptionally generous hosting (breakfasts, juices, packed lunches,
t-shirts, pens and more!), we were introduced to the recently-established
school, it’s work and motivations, whilst taken on a number of site visits and
trips.
Next, it was onto West Palm Beach, where we were staying for
our longest stretch, in beautifully stereotypical American-motel-style halls of
residence. Whilst here, we were the guests of the South Florida WaterManagement District, which saw us receiving numerous lectures, workshops, tours
and site visits. The emphasis placed on research at a water management district
was both a pleasant surprise and enlightening, with some impressive innovation
throughout the field of water management being achieved (through novel
modelling, data sourcing, management and other approaches).
After our time in West Palm Beach, with the SFWMD, we were
onto Orlando and Disneyland for the Intecol International Wetlands Conference, where we were
the willing guests of the United States Geological Survey USGS). For many of the
course this was our first experience of an academic conference and the
opportunity to step into a tight, international and innovative community was
eye-opening and inspiring.
It was then our time to head home, back to Delft massively
jet-lagged and in a varying spectrum of tans/sunburns. Obviously, there was a
lot of socialising, partying, beach-fun, travelling and assorted relaxation
activities throughout the evenings and weekends and these are too numerous to
mention here.
(Almost) The whole group in Florida, including our main man Stan Bronson in the centre! |
For more information of our social antics, more detailed
descriptions of our activities with the Florida Earth Foundation, The Patel
School, SFWMD and the USGS, please see our day-to-day diary. Written by a
different student every day, it provides a detailed insight into the trip from
a variety of perspectives. I would recommend
reading Saturday 26th May, as it was written by myself and Siobhan and we are hilarious.
Here is the fieldtrip diary. For ease of reading, I would recommend opening the report in the following link: Florida Fieldtrip
Here is the fieldtrip diary. For ease of reading, I would recommend opening the report in the following link: Florida Fieldtrip
It must be noted that, despite being a group project, significant work was put in by Katarzyna Bozek to actually compile, format and edit the diaries! Much kudos sent your way.
On behalf of all the students, I would love to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all of our hosts in Florida from the Florida Earth Foundation, The Patel School, SWFMD and the USGS and to all the amazing individuals we met in our time in the USA. Also, thanks must go to Biswa, Schalk and Leo from UNESCO-IHE for agreeing to come and for putting up with us the whole time! An especially massive thank you goes to Stan Bronson and Isabella Slagle who organised everything on the trip and who made all of this possible. Thanks!
by Richard Vause
River Modelling Thank you because you have been willing to share information with us. we will always appreciate all you have done here because I know you are very concerned with our.
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