Day 1 HST Meet and Greet

After unpacking and having a quick bite to eat at the restaurant, (I had been on my feet since 6am with no food apart from breakfast) I wandered round the site to find the meeting place for the HST participants.

I went to a place called van Hove square which is distinctive as they've set-up some old particle accelerators for display. There I met Miguel from Spain who is the first person i met who is also on the course. We sat and talked for a while and it is an old cliche, but his command of English is excellent. ( I hope he doesn't mind me saying this, but he is also a spitting image of Martin O'neill, the ex-Celtic football manager!) (Bubble Chamber in Van Hove Square)

As we sat and talked more people came along, including Mick and Rolf who is the 'Course organiser' for HST. We then moved into the Microcosm centre, (sort of the visitor centre) where we had our 'Meet and Greet'

It went really well and it was interesting meeting and talking to all the different teachers. My first impression is that it is a truly international event as we have teachers from all over Europe, America, Latin America, Singapore and one from South Africa too!

The best part is that despite our cultural and linguistic differences, we are all mad about teaching and Physics!

Shortly afterwards, we were given a brief introductory lecture and a tour of the site where i got to see the BIRTHPLACE OF THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Birth Certificate of the WWW)

It's funny as the room where it all started looks just like any other office. If there wasn't a plaque commemorating this event, i would have walked right past without a second glance!