Bristol at Half Term

In the morning, we visited a planetarium. We watched a show on exploring the solar system in a spherical theatre. It showed us short videos each on a specific aspect of the solar system, for example, the Comet and the Jupiter Ring. I particularly enjoyed watching the ‘zooming out’ from Earth to the whole solar system, then the Milky Way, and finally the whole universe. It’s quite impressive to see how big the world is and how tiny we are as humans.

We went to a buffet for lunch and I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of food that was offered. The restaurant had different sections which provided food from around the world, such as an Asian section and a European section. I think everyone was satisfied by the looks on their faces.

In the afternoon, we went to a psychology workshop, where we learned how our brain responds to different stimuli. What I found most interesting was that our brains are best at memorising things if it is at optimum stress level. If the brain is experiencing no pressure at all, it will not pay attention to the surroundings, whereas in high-stake situations the brain tends to switch into ‘panic mode’ and it would be too stressed to remember anything effectively. I always thought stress is a bad thing, but it turns out having the right amount of stress enables better performance!

Anna – F5