Hi all,
It’s about that time of the year! We see beautiful decorations everywhere and shining lights on the street. With Christmas coming soon, we are about to wave goodbye to 2018 and say hello to 2019. We can use the time to reunite with the family, plan some journeys, or simply sit back and take a break from our work.
2018 has been a meaningful year for me. I have learnt a lot and done a lot. I believe the more you do, the more you can do. Joining the Doctoral Welcome Team gets me more involved in the Doctoral community, which makes the experience more than a job to me. Doing your own research during PhD can be quite isolating. If you have this feeling as I did sometimes, I would recommend you to participate in the range of Doctoral events we host. Keep an eye on the Digest for details: early plans for next semester include:
Every Friday - 10.00-11.30 Cake in the Commons 10W 5.01
January 16th - Wind Down Wednesday - 4pm-6pm 10W 5.01.
February 5th - Chinese New Year celebration - details to be confirmed
We all get stressed now and then, talking, spending time with others and getting involved are good way to alleviate that pressure. If you need more help student services are great with specific help for doctoral students. In addition there are several courses that are going to be run in the New Year - click here for more information.
For the Christmas, I won’t go back home since my home is quite far away from UK. An interesting tip is year 2019 is going to be Pig’s year in China. According to our horoscope, 2019 is going to be full of joy, a year of friendship and love for all the zodiac signs; an auspicious year because the Pig attracts success in all the spheres of life.
My own plan for Christmas is to travel to Europe for a few days. The thought of having a break is exciting for me. A holiday break is also beneficial for my study. Like a car filled up with fuel, I shall be ready to go in the new year.
I hope you all will enjoy your time with my best wishes. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you again in the next year!
Zehan
Christmas Quiz
It was great to see you all at the Christmas get together a couple of weeks ago. As your quiz master and previous welcome team member, it was good to get together again and enjoy the carols. The winners of the quiz were "The Holly and The Philippa" and the runners up were "Mulled Minds". Please pop over to the Doctoral College and see Oli for your prizes. Several of you took part in the joint Christmas event with the PGA, joining us for some carols and a quiz. I hope you had fun and enjoyed the mince pies and mulled winter.
For those of you who are interested here are the answers to the quiz which I hope you find interesting and informative.
The Winter solstice is the day in the Northern hemisphere with the shortest length of daylight. Which date does it fall on? 21st December. There is also a Summer solstice with the longest length of daylight which falls on the 21st June.
Amsterdam has a light festival during the Winter including performances from international light artists but how many days does it last for? 53 days and it takes place across the city
Many places around the world have ice sculpture festivals but where is the largest one held? Harbin, China
Up Helly Aa is a winter festival which takes place in the Shetland Isles, Scotland on the last Tuesday of January. What do they burn as the end of the celebration? Viking long ship
Although advent calendars start on the first of December the Christian celebration of advent starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. When did advent start this year? 2nd December and the first of four candles are lit, one to mark each Sunday in advent
What is the name given to the celebration of Buddha achieving enlightenment on the 8th December? Bodhi day
Krampusnacht occurs on the day before the feast of Saint Nicholas and in some countries Santa’s devilish companion punishes naughty children on this night. What is this companions name? Krampus and he will beat children or take them away in a basket or sack on his back
Hanukka is a shifting, Jewish festival which runs for several days over the Winter period. When is it due to finish this year? 10th December. Each of the eight days involves the lighting of the next candle on the menorah
The Twelve Days of Christmas is a popular Christmas song with a lover giving the singer gifts on each day. How many gifts does the singer end up with eventually? 364. On the first day 1 present is given, second day 3 presents, third day 6 presents and so on
Translation 十二月 December in Chinese simplified – it literally translates to twelfth month. Invierno Winter in Spanish
The PostGraduate Association represent you in the SU alongside the SU postgraduate officer but how many people are on the PGA Exec? 6
- Doctoral Chair - Jahnavi Jha
- Doctoral Student Experience Rep - Wenkai Zhang
- Events Rep - Vivi Yang
- Graduate Teaching Assistant Rep - Benjamin Carmine Delasrocas
- PGT Chair - Roxi Sweeney
- PGT Student Experience Rep - Xiao Li
The Doctoral College supports us as Doctoral students whilst we are at Bath but how many Doctoral students are currently enrolled? 1494 in the last December snapshot and 344 visiting students
What unusual colour snow fell in Siberia on 2nd February 2007? Orange. It had a higher than usual level of iron and was oily to the touch. It is not known what was the cause of the coloured snow
What name is given to a slow moving sheet of ice and snow? Glacier
Which city gets the most snow in the world? Aomori, Japan at 7.92m a year
What are mukluks? A type of snow boot although I did enjoy seeing the team who drew a Pokemon they called mukluk
Which Russian composer wrote the music for The Snow Maiden? Rimsky-Korsakov
How many sides do most snowflakes have? 6. I did have several teams talk to me about this question to clarify whether I meant rotational symmetry, edges, front and back. I really didn’t think this would be the question I was interrogated about.
How do snowflakes change as the temperature drops? They get smaller, as in the diameter of the average snowflake decreases.
Who is the author of the 1978 children’s picture book ‘The Snowman’? Raymond Briggs
The Abominable Snowman is another name for which creature from folklore? Yeti, Migoi or Meh-Teh. Out of interest there were 3 rules set in place by the US government in the 1950s for yeti hunting:
- Obtain a Nepalese permit
- Do not harm the yeti except in self defence, photographs or capturing is encouraged
- Let the Nepalese government approve any news reporting on the discovery – turn over any photographs or information to officials
What is the maximum air temperature possible for snow to reach the ground? 2 degC, above this but below 5 degC it falls as sleet
Guinness World records list the largest snowflakes from Fort Keogh, Montanna in January 1887. How wide were they? 38cm across
Happy Christmas to everyone, whatever you are doing, wherever you are, be kind to yourself, take a break and make sure you inject some laughter into your life.
See you in January
Jane, Aoibheann, Bethan, Darlington, Holly, Jo, Jenna, Mike, Philippa and Zehan
xxx
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