Archive for August, 2011

Ready and Waiting

Monday, August 29th, 2011

Quite a week!  Now that classes are cancelled on this bright, clear, sunny day, we have a moment of calm after the hurricane, thunder storm, and earthquake. So, check out the pictures of our new labs, classrooms, and other spaces just waiting to be used.… Read the rest

Start of Fall 2011 semester NOT a disaster…

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

The newly renovated but still 100 year-old Monroe Hall came through Virginia’s August 23 magnitude 5.8 earthquake extremely well (elsewhere, there are cracks in the plaster walls of Virginia Hall, the stairwells in Combs Hall, and parts of GW Hall; serious – but not enough to close those buildings). Faculty in the building did a double-take, but then kept on working – till campus police threw us out an hour later! Belmont, Gari Melchers’ Home & Studio in Falmouth, suffered … Read the rest

Welcome to UMW Geography Fall 2011!

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

We’ve had a hazardous start to the semester, though I wouldn’t call it disastrous… Geography has moved back into Monroe Hall and we think you will all LOVE the new space – and our 100-year-old building came though the earthquake (8/23/11) with no problems! On the GEOG 240 Natural Hazards blog page I’ve posted seismograph/seismogram images and some news about the severe thunderstorm on Thursday (8/25/11) and Hurricane Irene (8/27/11). Now we’re waiting for the swarm of locusts – … Read the rest

Strangers in a strange land

Saturday, August 27th, 2011

Maurice is round-faced, bespectacled, and jovial 27-year-old who works as a chef in a guesthouse in suburban Johannesburg. Since the guesthouse serves only breakfast, his working day here lasts only three hours. But his commute is long; he lives in Roodepoort, a town about 25 km west of Johannesburg, about a half hour drive away.  But Maurice doesn’t have a car; like most South Africans, he relies on minibus taxis to get around. These taxis ply fixed routes, and there… Read the rest

Photos from the 2011 UMW Study Abroad Program in South Africa

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

The 2011 UMW Study Abroad Program in South Africa has been on the road for just over a week. So far, we have visted the Pilanesberg Game Reserve, some rural informal settlements in Northwest Province, we have taken a walking tour of Johannesburg’s City Center, we have visited (and chatted with some of the resident of) Alexandra Township, and we have visited Constitution Hill (site of an apartheid-era prison as well as South Africa’s Constitutional Court.)

We have spent most … Read the rest

Follow Mary Washington Geographers in South Africa

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Wish you could travel with Donald Rallis and his students?  The next best thing is the course’s Facebook page:  UMW SA Study Abroad 2011!… Read the rest