Unfortunately, after Death Run 2014 I got sick (actually sick). I hadn't felt 100% healthy before the run, and the exercise definitely exacerbated whatever was going on. I was out of bed or off the couch for less than 2 hours in total between Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The only thing I accomplished, besides finishing 8 movies, was creating an incomplete schedule for my classes/labtime:
Monday is the only day without classes- so the plan is to devote it to working (reading/brainstorming) in the wind lab.
Today, Tuesday, I didn't quite make it to my first class, but I made it to Kraftwerktechnik, which was an interesting experience (count the commas!). The class is supposed to combine thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, electrical engineering, and heat transfer to practical applications within power generating plants (e.g. a raffinery, biogas, nuclear, coal, etc.). The only problem is that the lecture is entirely in German and that I didn't really follow anything that happened.
After many introductions in Germany, I think I can safely say I've nailed my elevator talk in German. Jourdan Beaumont, 22 years old, exchange student, already graduated, mechanical engineer, from new mexico, know the show Breaking Bad? yes, that is my city. I'm excited to be here. The problem with a strong start is that people then assume that you know what's going on. It's worsened when you instinctively make eye-contact and nod- or when you mumble "alles klar" every time someone (the teacher) directs a question at you. In the three hours of the class, apart from my intro, I think I said "alles klar" twice, "was?" once, and "uhhh yah" once as well.
This was unfortunate because the class is discussion based and only has 10 students. The professor seemed very friendly and happy to be a teacher- I'm wishing I was 100% fluent already. Hopefully I'll still be able to get something out of the class.
Funny things:
- one of the most common used words sounded very close to "Englisch" which really threw me off. I'm excited to try and figure out what word the teacher kept actually saying
- a couple different times we would all be sitting and then everyone would start frantically making calculations on their page- I hadn't even caught that a question was asked. I bluffed and scribbled gibberish and used my phone to translate words-- everyone else was using theirs to look up equations/material properties.
Cool things:
- class was held in his lab, it looks like he has build a small scale power plant including a feed water heater (furnace) system.
- a kid was hungry, so he gave everyone a break until whenever that kid could get to the cafeteria, eat, and come back (about 20 minutes)
- everyone raps their knuckles on the table to end class
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After the class I went to the wind lab to start reading about wind turbines. My lab mates are very friendly and persuasive- they used the "three guys here, only three beers left" logic to get me to have a drink with them (in the lab). I found out that all three of us did Co-op programs during our Bachelors within Energy. One guy worked within a coal mine (he loved it) and showed me pictures where he was completely black (reminded me of Zoolander). Every male in his family has worked in the mines, some 1000 m below the surface, since 1860. They closed in 2012. The other guy worked in a power plant and also on the massive windfarms in the north sea.
I am looking forward to working more with them.
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