Task 1:

I worked with alternative 2 about 'Another place and time'. This was a good decision because the alternative contained a lot of interesting texts, and it was entertaining to read, which made it a lot easier to learn. The reason I picked this alternative was that I have always been fascinated by journeys through time and space. Even when I was younger, the film 'Back to the future' was my all time favorite. The way people can travel back and forth in time in the stories, makes me really excited. Just think about it! Think about being able to travel back to the Middle Ages and participate in big tournaments, or maybe tag along with Columbus when he discovers America!

 

I worked with my alternative in various ways. I quickly skimmed through all the alternatives before choosing alternative 2. When I had chosen alternative, I went through it and read the headers, and studied the pictures. Then I skimmed through it again. By now, I had a pretty good idea of what the texts were about, and I took a break. I let my head work with the info I had overnight, before i red the texts more carefully. At school I listened to my teacher explaining the various tasks and texts. I red the text again the day before the mock-exam, and wrote down some thoughts about traveling in time and space.

 

 

Task 3D: Back to the medieval battlefield

The valves hissed as the door slid open. I could hear distant snare drums, and a trumpet. I poked my head outside. The TSTD (Time and Space Traveling Device) prototype had materialized itself in a big field . Now I could hear the loud voices of men shouting at one another, the neigh of horses and the metallic sound of metal against metal. I turned my head towards the noise and discovered a enormous camp. There were tents in all sizes, from small one-man tents to big circus-tents. All the tents were decorated in blue and yellow flags and banners. The camp was swarming with men running to and from tents, yelling at each other. It reminded me of an anthill.

 

I could hear the snare drums even louder now. They came from the trees at the opposite side of the field. I suddenly realized. I had landed at the exact location of the battle between Wales and England. The plan had been for it to materialize at a distance, so I could observe the battle somewhere not life threatening. But as the TSTD was still only a prototype, it was not a hundred percent reliable. I didn't have a lot of time. I sat the TSTD to return in 48 hours, grabbed my bag, sprinted out of the TSTD and threw myself into the forest. I landed hard on a big flat rock. “Ouch!” I gasped. I lay still for a while, fighting to recover my breath. After I had recovered from the impact, I took my bag in one hand, and started jogging.

 

I had spotted a nearby hill, which I were heading for. At the top of the hill, I found a nice spot, where I unpacked my bag. It contained a powerful binocular with a built inn camcorder to capture the battle. I used my forearm to wipe the sweat of my forehead, and pressed my eyes against the binocular. I zoomed inn on the field, and I heard the electric buzz of the auto-focus, and everything went from just a blur, to perfectly clear.

 

I could see the men from the blue and yellow camp were lining up in one end of the field, while men with red and white clothes and matching shields were emerging from the treeline at the opposite side of the battlefield. I reckoned the yellow and blues were Wales, while the red and white ones were England.

 

When both parts had lined up, I noticed that Wales were superior in numbers. There were at least two, maybe three yellow and blue soldiers for each of the red and white ones. This fact baffled me. In the history books, the Englishmen had always been superior to the Wales in numbers.

 

Suddenly the drumming stopped. The men went silent and even the horses stopped neighing. It only lasted for a moment before a red and white wave were flying across the battlefield with a roar so loud, even from a distance I almost felt like covering my ears. The Englishmen were closing in on the Wales with a tremendous speed. 100 meters. The blue and yellow wall of men stuck out their spears. The archers in the back row pulled back on their bows. 50 meters. The archers let go of their strings, and sent of a hailstorm of arrows against the Englishmen. The mighty roar, transformed itself to screams and shrieks as the volley of arrows all found their targets. 10 meters. I held my breath.

 

I could hear the clash of metal against metal, the screams of men being pierced by lances and the shrieks of horses being cut down by heavy swords. I was paralyzed. Suddenly I noticed something. I could barely see something move in the edge of the forest behind the big, yellow and blue camp. I turned my binocular to get a better view. Yes, I was sure. In between the tents, I could see red and white men sneaking from tent to tent, finding cover behind whatever they could. They were getting closer and closer the backs of their enemies. And then a trumpet sounded. Three short blows. It was the signal. At the exact same time, hundreds of soldiers started roaring and running against the back of the Wales.

 

With the extra force of the secret soldiers, it didn't take long to see who were winning. It just kept getting less and less blue and yellow in the sea of red.

 

The next morning just before sunrise, I took the red and white uniform of the Englishmen out of my bag and got changed. The Englishmen had taken over the Wales camp, and were eating their rations for breakfast.

 

After breakfast, the soldiers went back out on the battlefield to look for wounded, and to gather and count the dead. I saw a soldier struggle to get an especially big corpse over the battlefield, and lent him a helping hand. Even when we were two, we were really exhausted when we returned to camp.

 

We sat down on a bench, wiped our foreheads and found some ale. I turned on my DVC (Direct Vocal Change). This was used to change the sound, and intonation of my voice, to be more similar to the Englishmen of the Middle Ages.

 

“It's a tiresome job. Cleaning up after a battle,” I said slowly. “Hah” laughed the man. He was older than I had first thought. His beard was gray and his eyes were tired. He was a man who had experienced enough bad things for many lifetimes. He took a large gulp of ale. This is nothing compared to the fighting”, he said. “Did you know about the battle plan?” I asked him carefully. “Not until just before the battle,” he said. “But everyone got to know then, didn't they?” he sounded suspicious. “Where were you? If I might ask?“ I had to think fast. “Ehm, I probably missed it. I was so nervous before going into battle.” “Yeah. I know what you’re saying. You never really get used to it.” I was relieved. After the surprise on the battlefield yesterday, I decided to double check some other facts as well.

 

“Do you happen to know the date?” I asked him. “Well, I think it’s the 13th , but I'm not sure.”

“Of what year?” I asked him. “What? You must still be scared shitless after yesterday. It's the year 509.” “Alright, thanks,” I mumbled. I figured I should leave before he saw through my disguise, and killed me. I carefully slipped out of the camp, and made my way to the hill, where I had my bag.

 

I figured it would be unwise to risk the TSTD reappear right in the middle of the medieval knights, so I used the remote to change the location of its reappearance.

 

Back home in year 3238, writing this report, and thinking back on my meeting with the Battle between England and Wales, It scares me maybe even more than it did back in England. To come from a peaceful place as the 3000s and to travel back to the 500s is as huge a shock as anything else. I will surely appreciate the time I'm now living in on a much more regular basis. And if I forget, I only need to look at the recordings again.