Year 12 Physics student visit CERN
On the Physics departments yearly pilgrimage to CERN, I found the hype Mr Smith had created lived up to expectation. On the first day we were lucky enough to be awoken at 2am for an exhilarating trip to the prestigious airport in Luton. We were able to get a small yet surprisingly expensive breakfast before being shipped off to the beautiful city under the mountains of Geneva. Flattened under our cumbersome knapsacks we longed to ditch our bags and explore the city of residence. Our first destination was the History Of Science Museum, curious and eager we explored the vicinity with enthusiasm witnessing many interesting artefacts including the world’s first battery, after our time there we were told to roam around Lake Geneva but return for the Boat trip at 3:30. We then went around town when out of nowhere I met the local celebrities of their ice hockey team, I even managed to get a photo and signed pictures! Next it was time for the excursion around the lake. I was fascinated with the different landmarks I was shown as we made our way around the rippling, sapphire blue lake .We got back to the hostel in high spirts finding out we were going for a night of fondue and great entertainment. We gormandised on the aged-cheese and observed the Swiss musical culture of an Alpine horn and a saw! It was interesting to say the least. We left and were told breakfast was at 6.00 the next morning.
The second day was the most essential day of the whole trip. Today we were visiting the illustrious and most significant vicinity for particle physics in the whole world; CERN. We first arrived at the complex to be lectured by a rather passionate German fella. Truth be told he was a little bit “quark-y”. At one point he compared me to an anti-strange quark. I’d like to think it was because I had a positive charge and am always happy, but it’s probably because he thought I was strange. We then split into two different groups and carried on our exploration of the lab. We got onto a bus and were driven to the infamous Anti-Matter Factory, I went in and instantly my jaw dropped with awe. We were standing in the sovereign buildings for anti-matter. We were toured around numerous pieces of equipment including a piece of kit called an anti-proton decelerator, this creates low energy antiprotons which can be sent to other laboratories for more rigorous tests. So far the best they can do is hold an antihydrogen atom for 1000 seconds which I think is preeeeetty impressive. After that we were then taken to see where the Terrabyte-Every-30-Minutes producing facility kept all of its information, (the answer is: it is kept inside a humongous server room which is then connected to server rooms all over the globe), we were taken for an expedition around the CERN restaurant. It was a tad expensive but the food was exquisite. For 20 Swiss francs I bought some Spaghetti Carbonara, a coke and some Swiss biscuits! Once I’d finished my meal we headed over to the Large Hadron Collider museum to find out more about the main job of the facility we were touring. The large hadron collider can accelerate particles to around 99.9997% of the speed of light. We also went to the particle museum in which we looked at how the history of particles has progressed over more than 100 years. In the evening we were taken to one of Geneva’s most exclusive bowling alleys where we were able to have a game with our mates and watch each other make complete fools of ourselves.
Day three was our final day in Switzerland. We took part in a two hour walk around the lake to the Old-Fashioned district of Geneva. We visited multiple archaic institutions for the history of the world and an Old Art Gallery. After we’d explored and viewed some wonderful art work Mr Smith recommended that we go to Saint Peters Cathedral and climb to the top for an amazing view. I took his advice and climbed 1000 feet to see an exquisite picturesque sight. The concoction of buildings warped with snow tipped mountains looked like something from an arcane Utopia. Luke, Celia and I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to find some presents for the teacher who had taken time out of their personal life to take us for an incredible trip. We decided to try and get something that was Swiss. Not being able to purchase Wine we decided to buy them each a Swiss, authentic Cow-Bell, in order to conclude what had been a massively successful trip. Mr Sandford, Miss Page and Mr Plackowski each received a small Cow Bell in recognition of their strong and patient attitude and for putting up with us all weekend. However for Mr Smith received a Cow Bell the size of a small child, in recognition of all his hard work of putting the trip together. If it wasn’t for Mr Smith then none of us would have been able to learn in so much detail and with so much passion about Particle Physics. We cannot thank Mr Smith enough for the wonderful trip he organised, thanks again sir.
