Highlights of London/Scotland/Ireland

We flew to the UK for our summer vacation this year. We were in London for 5 days, then took a train to Edinburgh (2 days), staying in Scotland 9 days in total, then we flew over to Dublin (2 days) and toured Ireland and Northern Ireland for 9 days. An amazing trip with too many experiences to mention but here are the highlights.

London
London is a great city but busy, busy, busy. We will visit again sometime. The shopping districts have the same stores repeat every other block and sometimes across from each other!

Oxford/Regent Street Shopping

 Tower of London/Westminister. City Sightseeing Tours Best way to see London.

The British Museum. Marble Bust of Alexander the Great.

Taking the Train South to Sunny Coastal Worthing

We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre

Edinburgh/Scotland
Edinburgh was by far our favourite city and the West Highlands of Scotland were magical and awe-inspiring. We would go back here again in a heartbeat.

Edinburgh & Edinburgh Castle

Scotch Whiskey Taste Experience. Largest collection of scotch whiskey in the world.

Glamis Castle

Isle of Skye and hiking ALL the way up to Old Man's Storr 

Midlands and West Highlands, specifically the Nairn and Glencoe areas. Spectacular!

Urqhart Castle at Loch Ness

Glasgow Shopping

Restored Great Hall at Stirling Castle

Rosslyn Chapel. A beautiful structure marred by scaffolding.

Ireland/Northern Ireland
The Trinity College Old Library/Book of Kells was ok but I would recommend Dublin's Chester Beatty Library instead.

Dublin. The Spire.

Guinness Storehouse

Powerscourt Estate Gardens

Miven Head

View from Road to Miven Head

Killarney National Park

Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet

Cliffs of Moher

Giant's Causeway

Trim Castle

Newgrange

Did you know that an automatic car rental will cost you three times more than a manual rental in the UK? We had a friend give us lessons in driving standard/manual in order to save costs. So, not only did we have to drive on the wrong side of the road, we wrangled with changing gears with the gear shift on the opposite side we learnt on. Our trip was awesome when we weren't driving but those roundabouts drove us nuts!!! We navigated around using our iPad and Google Maps/Offmaps and drove 1350 km in Scotland and 1685 km in Ireland. Its not something I would suggest doing for the faint of heart. Our summer vacation was very memorable but I think I'm done with 3 week vacations where you are sleeping somewhere different almost every night.

Back from Summer Break

So, I've got some great reasons why I've not posted to the blog since late March. The winter semester at the University of Alberta School of Library and Information Studies was incredibly difficult. Then I took a three week practicum course (LIS 590). Then we travelled to Halifax, Nova Scotia for 8 days and then we travelled on to London/Scotland/Ireland for three weeks. Since we got back from our travels, I took a summer course, (LIS 598 Information Security) and I've been taking a bit of a break.

Here's some thoughts on the courses I took in my second semester. By my own design I ended up taking probably the four most difficult courses in the program and then I subsequently took LIS 590 in the spring and LIS 598 in the summer.

LIS 505 - Introduction to Research
Oh the cold shivers running up my back at the memories. Suffice to say LIS 505 was a brutal course and I'm not exaggerating! This is a required course in an MLIS program. Basically you come up with a research question (e.g. quantitative, qualitative or textual) and live with it for 3 months, do a plethora of related assignments and then churn out a 35 page single-spaced research proposal including interview questions, ethics review, hypotheses, recruitment poster, budget, timeline and on and on for final term project. What was both great and not so great were the students from other disciplines enrolled in the course. Most classes in LIS only have LIS students but not LIS 505, as the course is meant to instruct students on how to put together a research proposal and how to conduct research. So external students brought refreshing opinions but those same students hogged the class time in a class filled to over capacity. Luckily, my marathon effort on my final proposal reaped rewards and I got a grade I am happy with.

LIS 532 - Cataloging and Classification
This was the most frustrating course but the most practical and rewarding. We learnt standards in bibliographic description, AACR2 rules, MARC 21 format, LCC, DCC, LCSH. We had five items of varying format such as monograph, serial, DVD, electronic resource, which we learnt the above aspects of cataloging and classification. The detail required and the high level of understanding of rules and standards was exacting and the source of my frustration being a perfectionist. Luckily, we had a wonderfully giving instructor, KDG, who felt our pain but had high expectations of our efforts. Our term project was a 20 page group paper examining LCSH and DDC on a high-level topic (cooking and ethnicity). I would recommend all MLIS students take this fundamental course. I even got to apply what I learnt in my spring practicum work placement!

LIS 533 - Database Design for Information Management
This course at its core was not about building a database in a software program but learning the conceptual, logical and practical design steps when creating and implementing databases. For this course you needed to be able to think abstractly when ER modeling and analytically when developing relational models, creating SQL queries, QBE and using normalization.  The term project required you to go through each step of database design, then create the database in Access, as well as forms, SQL queries and QBE. I did well with the analytical aspects to the course but in my mind failed with the more conceptual aspects, the ER modelling. So I just missed out on getting a top grade and I'm bitter about it. The content of the course was difficult, even for those who have the aptitude for it so I would not recommend this course to the majority of MLIS students.

LIS 538 - Digital Libraries
Digital libraries was my favourite course in the winter term, though a demanding one. It really opened my eyes to all the different layers involved in considering building a digital library, such as funding, preservation, metadata standards, etc. The course really ran the gamut on topics and was very informative. The final project was to create a digital library using the Greenstone application, with an accompanying paper. The course was demanding because Greenstone was very tricky and problematic to use. Many hours I'll never get back were spent on trial and error experimenting and perfecting my digital library which I called Interpretations of Tea. This course was my best grade. I would recommend a digital libraries course to MLIS students but if you are not comfortable with technology you may want to look at other options.

So, as you can see from above, all my final projects were very demanding...and of course they were essentially due all at the same time, along with some other assignments. I had two weeks of stress, poor diet, no exercise, sporadic sleep, mental intensity and then after submitting an assignment 6:00pm on the last Friday of the term, I had to pack up and clean my apartment, then move Saturday back to Calgary and start my practicum work placement on the Monday. The practicum was for 3 weeks and then I finally got a break!

LIS 590 - Practicum
My practicum placement was at a special library for a large Canadian oil & gas company. I got great exposure to reference requests, original and copy cataloguing and I researched embedded librarianship and alternative library models for my final project. I would recommend library and information studies students compete a co-operative work placement or a practicum, as it provides great insight into real world librarianship. The practicum was pass/fail, three-week intensive (100 hours) and although I was not paid it does count toward three credits or a full course in my program.

LIS 598 Information Security
I took this as a one-credit course. We learnt about risk management, information security in the context of threats and vulnerabilities (such as hacking, natural disasters, password management, etc.), critiquing acceptable use policies. I learnt a lot in this course, plus it was timely with all the recent Lulzsec and Anonymous events. A final project was required consisting of four parts (Policy Analysis, Software Evaluation, Future Forecast and Incident Report). The summary may sound dry but the course was eye-opening, as we were shown the techniques and technology that hackers use and we studied risk management documents. I got a great grade in this course as well...and I only wish it had been a three-credit instead of a one-credit, it was that interesting.      

Next post I will be providing some highlights and photos of our trip to London/Scotland/Ireland.

Top 10 Hawaiian Experiences

Here's my top ten list of favourite Hawaiian experiences.  We spent two weeks in Hawai'i and ended up visiting four of the islands.  I would recommend Hawai'i to anyone and look forward to traveling there again.

10. The afternoon and evening we spent in Lahaina, Maui, where we shopped on Front Street, had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and watched the evening show, 'Ulalena, presented by Cirque du Soleil. Great steak and great entertainment.

9. Fred's Mexican Cafe, Kihei, Maui.  Watch out you don't fill up on the basket of freshly made taco chips and the margaritas because the entrees are super-sized.  I had mouthwatering shrimp, fish and calamari tacos, and at a great value too.

8. The shopping at Ala Moana Center, Honoloulu, Oahu.  J Crew on the Islands, Banana Republic flagship store, Coach, the awesome and huge Victoria Secret store, shoe stores aplenty.  What more could a girl ask for!


7. Makawao and area.  In Makawao proper you can see glass blowing at Hot Island Glass and there are numerous small little trendy shops like Pink, where you can shop for clothes, antiques, jewelry, spices, etc.  We lunched at the classy and contemporary Haili'imaile General Store, Maui...I had the blackened Ahi Tune Wrap with refreshing and zesty coleslaw, accompanied with glass of Conundrum and finished with a generous slice of chocolate truffle layer cake. Yum yum.


6. The Road to Hana.  Although I was not a fan of being in a tour bus and having to sit at the back of the van...we were able to go completely around Haleakala, instead of turning back at Hana from whence we came.  Highlights were the pineapple winery, the black sand beaches, and the Sacred Pools at Oleo Gulch. 

5. Watching the body board surfers at Sandy Beach on Oahu.  They were too cool for school...or just plain crazy.

4. The scenic views and snorkeling at Hananuma Bay on Oahu.  You have to pay a fee to enter the park but the setting is amazing and the snorkeling is pretty good too...and so is the beach!

3. The sunrise at Haleakala on Maui.  The drive was slow and twisty up the volcano in the pitch dark early morning (3:00 AM) to to watch the sunrise at 5:45 AM. Beautiful scenic views at the top and through the drive down.

2. The changeable landscape at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island .  We also experienced a 25 degree change in weather from the top of the Chain of Craters Road to the bottom...refreshing at the top and baking hot at the bottom.

1. The Trilogy catamaran sail from Lahaina, Maui to Hulope Bay, Lana'i and back. A full day trip.  We saw hundreds of spinner dolphins on the way to Lana'i, snorkeled in the Hulope Bay Nature Preserve, were provided breakfast, lunch, snacks and a late afternoon barbecue.  Great people, great sailing, beautiful sunset. A perfect day.