In
February, the monthly session of SYP took place in a new place for
the first time in nine years. The University of Latvia has built a
brand new building called the Science building – it is meant for
students of the department of Physics and Mathematics, students of
the department of Medicine and a series of scientific institutes. It
is a state of the art building, providing a very pleasant upgrade in
technical quality to the sessions of SYP.
The
inaugural session on the new building dealt with mathematical physics
– a challenging topic indeed. However, the new apartments were just
in time for a difficult topic like this – large, spacious
auditoriums with multiple screens and slidable blackboards allowed
for the mentally challenging topics to be covered as well as
possible. The final lecture was also a treat – it happened in the
conference hall with plenty of space, a large screen and in-built
audio systems that the lecturer can use with a microphone to make
sure everyone can hear him well.
Another
thing was new in this session – our fellow physics students from
Lithuania were gracious enough to come over and visit, and also give
a lecture in English. This proved to be popular among students, who
have a limited exposure to physics education in English.
We
are very glad to have a new, modern building to continue our work in.
If the smiles of students after the session were any indication, they
enjoyed it as well.