Last few days in Berlin

Sorry again for not updating as frequently as I used to. This past week we have been very busy going on tours and preparing for our presentation as well as writing our paper. I'll back track though so I'll be up to date. Wednesday we went on a BMW motorcycle tour. We unfortunately weren't allowed to take pictures inside but it was VERY cool!! We were able to take pictures only in one area. We also went on a Siemans tour but the same was with at BMW, pictures weren't allowed ) : Thursday we went on a tour of IAV which is an automotive company. They took us to an AMAZING place for dinner, AND paid for it. Friday was the last day of the program. We had our final presentations and my group's presentation was the longest because our project was the most detailed and difficult. We all went out as a group for everyones last night here in Berlin on Friday as well. Our liason even came with us so it was a lot of fun! I'm glad that I was able to come overseas and do research and the experiences I had were AMAZING and I enjoyed spending it with the people in my program. I go back home on Tuesday and I can't wait! I really liked it a lot here, but I'm ready to go back home now. ( :

Outside the BMW bike factory

On one of the BMW bikes

This niiiiiice Ferrari at the place we went to Thursday!

Doing our presentation

Me Friday night we went out as a group.

Behind on the updates

I'm once again behind on updating...The program is over, so now I'll have more time to update. I'll do that tomorrow though more than likely, lol.

Friday-Tuesday

I have been slacking updating my blog and its catching up to me because now I have to back track and write a lot more, but right now I don't mind, because I have time. I haven't been updating as frequently because we have been very busy and most of the time when I get home, I'm too tired to take the time out to write a blog and upload pictures. I have a couple hours right now before our next outing, so I thought I'd blog before another day passed! ( :
FRIDAY
Friday a group of us went to Amsterdam for the weekend. Our train was about 6 and a half hours long and we didn't get in until about 11:30PM. Once we got in, we had a hard time finding our hostel, but we did. I didn't go on any of the other trips with the group I was with but they all said the other hostels were a lot better. It wasn't too bad because we were hardly there, we only needed it to sleep and shower, so it was fine. After we dropped our stuff off in our room, we went out and walked around and got something to eat and just went back to the hostel to get some rest before Saturday.
SATURDAY
Saturday we woke up early and went on the free walking tour of Amsterdam at 11 AM. Before that, we went to a restaurant not to far from the start of the tour and had a good (inexpensive thanfully) breakfast. Nothing big, but it was good enough! We saw a lot of interesting things on the tour but I won't spend much time going into too much detail on them for those people who might possibly visit one day. I'll add pictures at the end and give captions though. After the tour, we went to restaurant and ate dinner. I got a pizza but it wasn't the greatest so afterward, I didn't feel too well. We all went back to the hostel and took a nap, but I wound up actually just going to bed because of my stomach ache. I was going to go out with the rest of them but I was alseep.
SUNDAY
Our train didn't leave until 4:57 on Sunday so we had a good amount of time to do things. However, it was raining so it kind of put a damper on the day. We did walk around but the line to the Anne Frank House was extremely long, even in the rain, and we didn't want to wait and be soaked. Even those these paragraphs are brief summaries of my trip this past weekend, it was fun and interesting to see another country in Europe. I didn't go into much detail because I still have two other days to talk about, as well as pictures. After leaving Amsterdam though, I still have a strong dislike for smoking and Amsterdam just made my dislike stronger, lol.
MONDAY
Monday was my birthday and I spent the majority of it on trains! :D Ok, so of course I was being sarcastic there but even though yes, most of the day was spent on trains, from about it was a nice birthday. We went to Peenemünde which is a village in north Germany and also home of the Nazi rocket center. It took about 4 hours to get there and the tour we went on only lasted about an hour, lol. Some of the things we saw and were told were interesting though. On the way back, some of us split up and went home while others went to a beach. Those of us who went straight home however, got on the wrong train so we basically wound up meeting up with those that went to the beach. We didn't get home until about almost midnight! We had to take two trains to get home but the second train didn't come and the next one wasn't until an hour after that one! After being on the trains aaaallll day basically, I was hungry and tired so I basically just came home and went to bed.
TUESDAY
Today is my brother Justin's birthday! :D He sent me the cutest e-mail wishing me a happy birthday and telling me he can't wait for me to get home! He said I love you about 3 or 4 times too! Anyway, this morning I woke up around 8 and went to H&M and bought a little over the sholder and across the body purse which I've wanted for awhile. It wasn't expensive so that was another good thing! My roommate bought a few things which were kind of expensive though, lol. After leaving H&M we went on a free walking tour of Berlin. It's funny to me that I've been here for over a month and am just now going on the tour. Usually that is one of the first things people do when they go visit big cities like this, but I waited until a week before I'm leaving to go on it, lol. I'm glad however, that I did go on it because even though a lot of the stuff I've already seen or heard about, the tour guide we had gave us a lot of information and history on somethings which was interesting. Later today we're going to a Bunker underground tour. I have exactly a week left in Germany until I come home! ( : I'm excited to go home, but I'm going to miss Germany at the same time. I have a lot of pictures from these past couple of days and it will take too much time to upload them all to this blog so I will post them on facebook and hpoefully you all can check them out! ( : Right now my internet is acting funny so I won't be able to add the rest of the pictures I wanted to, but I will!

Me in Amsterdam would have been better if my hair wasn't blowing

Amsterdam

The Coffee Shop that was in Oceans 12

The Hotel in Berlin where Michael Jackson held Blanket out the window

Brandenburg Gate

Jewish Memorial

Me at the Jewish Memorial

Me at the Jewish Memorial again

Area where Hitler's bunker was, where he also killed himself

Building from Valkyrie

Me in front of a part of the Berlin Wall that is left

Part of the Berlin Wall that is left

One of the Squares

Much needed update

Sorry I have been slacking on blogging. I will try and give a run down of the past few days when I have time to upload pictures and such. ( :

Wed & Thurs...might as well include Friday ( :

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. Things are pretty much the same now, just doing research. We're finishing up our project and we have to turn in a paper and do a presentation next Friday. Wednesday was my roommates 22nd birthday so we went out to celebrate that. Today (Thursday) we went to a solar panel company and took a tour of the place. My camera battery was really low and died so I wasn't able to take many pictures but I will add the ones I do have later. This weekend I'm going to Amsterdam with a bunch of people from my program so that should be fun. A lot of people always associate Amsterdam with smoking weed because it's legal there but just so everyone knows, 1. I don't smoke, and don't ever plan to start. 2. I won't start just because it's legal where I'm going. lol My trip to Europe has gone by so quickly! Before coming over here I wanted to go visit other countries like Italy and Spain, but once I got here I realized time doesn't really permit unless I stay after. However, luckily, I was able to go to Pairs before coming to Germany and now I'm going to the Netherlands. In total I will have visited 3 countries so I can't complain about that! ( : I've also visited several cities within Germany so overall, my trip to Europe was well spent. I know it's not over yet but with respect to traveling, it is. ( :

Research Research Research!

These past two days have just been filled with finishing up our project. We have been finalizing analysis of all the data, worked on the power point, worked on the final report, etc. Tomorrow we will be continuing this and also going on an " excursion" which we haven't done in awhile. I only have two more weeks left in Germany so I'm going to enjoy it while I can! ( :

4th of July

Yesterday we spent the entire day at the Wannsee beach, or Strandbad Wannsee in German, for the 4th of July. It took about 30-45 min to get there and we had to get there early because we knew it was going to be packed! We left our apartments around 11:30 because the doors opened at 12. Once we got to the beach, we had to wait in line for a little while, but not that long. During the party, there was a concert going on too, but it didn't start until 4PM. The concert was pretty neat because, the stage was in the water. A radio station here in Berlin called Engery, or NRJ, was throwing the party. We left around 8:30 because it had started to get a little cooler and it started to sprinkle. There were SO many people there but overall, it was a pretty fun party and 4th of July! Today I didn't do anything really because I'm not feeling well. I just have a stuffed up nose and a cough every now and then, but hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

I took this by mistake, but it came out kind of cool!

SOME of the people at the beach

SOME of the people & the stage

Sleeping on the beach

BBQ Time!

Today we got a lot done in lab. We ran tests with the fluidized bed, collected the data, and plotted the points to find the minimum flow velocity. After lab, we prepared for the BBQ we threw today for some of the people that help put our program together. My roommate and I made the fruit salad, which came out very nice. The entire BBQ actually came out very nicely. Tomorrow we are going to a huge beach party, so that should be fun for the 4th of July!

The fruit salad


Me holding our fruit salad

Wednesday & Thursday

Wednesday we ran tests in the lab to analyze the products from the pyrolysis experiment.  I've been getting headaches lately so usually after class I come home and nap.  After taking a nap, I went out with some people to eat dinner at Hackescher Market.  Thursday, we analyzed the data we collected on Wednesday.  We tried to state reasons for getting the data we got but in the end, we were confused.  Today was probably the most confused I've been doing this research.  I was mostly confused because I'm not sure how to connect the tests we did and the data we collected to our project of determining the size of the fluidized bed.  I won't spend time talking about my confusion though, lol.  We did talk to our advisor over our project and we got a little guidance and a better understanding.  Later Thursday night, some of us went to a beer garden.  I left early though, I just went to enjoy the company and so I wasn't sitting in my room all night. ( : Tomorrow we're throwing a BBQ for some of the people over our program.  It will also be my first time celebrating the 4th of July on Saturday outside of the states.

Pyrolysis (part 2)

Today we conducted the second part of the pyrolysis test. Instead of using biomass, we used coal. There were some differences we noticed right away. We also made a few predictions on what the result will look like. After lab, I met up with Vivien and hung out with her for a few hours. Later, everyone in my program had to get together to discuss this barbecue we are throwing on Friday for some of the people over our program and such. I think it's going to be weird celebrating the 4th of July here, but we'll see what happens. We are supposed to be going to a beach party on the 4th, so that should be fun! I said I would go into more detail about the pyrolysis today, but we still have to do a little more research and compare the results. We won't see the product of the pyrolysis we did today until tomorrow morning.

The setup of the experiment

Another shot of the setup

What we are ultimately focusing our research on, a fluidized bed gasifier.

The product after the pyrolysis of biomass

Burning the gas (the jet shooting out from the right) so combustion will take place

Pyrolysis (part 1)

Today (Monday) we conducted a 5 hour experiment on the carbonization of biomass. Carbonization is the slow process of pyrolysis; pyrolysis is a heating procedure of a substance, resulting in the chemical decomposition of it. Tomorrow we will be doing the same thing, only with coal instead of biomass. I will blog tomorrow in more detail of the experiment and why we had to do this. After working in the lab, I came home and took a nap and made dinner when I woke up. My roommate Lauren and I, invited our friend's Paul & Steve, who live above us, to come over and watch this movie we all wanted to see. Tomorrow is an early day, German class 8:30-10 and then the 5 hour experiment. I'm also supposed to be meeting up with Vivien afterward, hopefully I won't be tired!

First week Technical Report

For those who are more interested in the research I'm doing, here is the short report I had to write after the first week of research.

Coming into this research and lab course, I was not sure what to expect. I have never done any formal research nor do I have as much background knowledge as other members in my group. I am going into my sophomore year and the other members are going into their final year, or have just completed their final year. I have not taken any engineering courses, so I have yet to gain the experience in those courses that could potentially help me with this project. However, lacking the knowledge the other members in my group have does not discourage me; it boosts me to try harder. I enjoy learning from hands-on work, as well as from conversation with the other members of my group. I find our project interesting and look forward to seeing what solutions we can come up with as a group. Our task is to design a fluidized bed gasifier, particularly for wood gasification. More specifically, we are trying to determine ideal dimensions of the gasifier which will allow a sawmill to use the deposits to produce energy. Ideally, the gas produced will power an engine which operates a generator. It is also our task to estimate essential fluidization velocities, the amount of air that is needed to help the gasifier run, and the amount of product gas. Lastly we are asked to determine the power components of the plant.
Upon reading the project tasks, I was unsure of the method that could best accomplish them. One such reason behind my uncertainty is that we are simulating and testing to design something that will be of much greater size and capability. Knowing this makes things a little more difficult, as it does with any smaller scale research project. I do not have much background in reactors or gasifiers, but with the help of my group, we were able to come up with some ideas to help lead us to a solution. By running tests and changing variables, we can determine which combination of things which would most efficiently produce energy. The best way to determine this is by doing individual tests on wood, sand, gasses, and other components of the total system. We will possibly consider pre-heating the air that flows into the reactor, changing the mass of the wood, having a homogenous in flow of air or not, as well as other factors.
So far we have had two days of discussion and brainstorming, and two days of hands-on work. The first day, we determined and drew out systems diagrams representing the flow and components of the plant. We made diagrams of the system as a whole as well as each individual component; feeding, drying, reactor, engine, etc. We also included on these diagrams, mass and energy balances. After having an idea of how the system would work, we ran a few tests the next day in the lab. So far we have conducted tests sampling 1 gram of wood to help us to determine the upper and lower heating values, the amount of ash content after burning wood, and the moisture content after heating the wood. We also have experimented with fluidized bed systems. We changed certain variables such as the volume flow of air, the amount of sand or wood beads in the bed, and the makeup of the sand in the bed. We have yet to change the diameter of the duct which the air flows through, but we will likely conduct this test next week. Thus far, I have a better understanding on what the overall goal of our project is. Although I do not have as much background knowledge in engineering in general, I am looking forward to learning a great amount through this project.

Thursday-Sunday

Not much has been going on these past couple of days so that's one reason why I didn't blog each day. I'll try and back track though for those who are interested.

Thursday
We spent some time simulating different situations with a fluidized bed model. (I will upload my first week report which goes into a little detail, as oppose to me typing it all here) Thursday night we went to Potsdamer Platz to see Transformers 2 which was a GREAT movie. From where we live, it takes about 30 min to get there. For whatever reason, the trains WE needed to take were delayed/shut down so even though we left in time, we wound up getting to the theatre when the movie was supposed to start. After running to the theatre, to our suprise, there was about 30 min or so of previews so we rushed for nothing. After one preview advertising snacks, they even closed the curtains on the screen and movie theatre venders were walking around selling snacks! On the way home, my friend told me about Michael Jackson being rushed to the hospital earlier that day. Unfortunately, once I made it home, I got online and found out he passed. I know everyone dies, but sometimes it's just hard to realize it once that person is no longer there.

Friday
We didn't do any work in the lab on Friday really. Our project advisor just talked to us about our progress so far and what we will be doing these last two weeks. We discussed with him the conversion factors for the pressure drops we recorded when working with the fluidized bed. He also told us it is important for us to look up the composition of pine wood, as well as the combustion equations for those components. Everyone in my group went out of town this weekend so that is one reason why we only doing research for about an hour and half, because they had to catch their trains. I was going to go to Munich with them but I didn't buy a Eurail pass like the rest of them so it would have cost me close to $125 Euros for a weekend trip to another city in Germany. Even though I've heard Munich is great, yet very expensive, I'd rather spend that amount and maybe plus a few more Euros to go to some place out of Germany since I've already visited other cities in Germany. I didn't mind not going because I spent the weekend with my pen pal Vivian! ( :

Saturday
I didn't wake up until very late because Friday night I watched the entire season 3 of "The Game" until about 6 am. Once I did get up though, I went to the mall to buy some more earrings because the ones I had broke. Luckily they were only 4 Euros and for the time being, I can wait until I get home to spend more money on earrings. ( : After leaving the mall, I met up with my pen pal Vivien and we went to her house to get ready to go out for the night. I met her parents as well as her younger brother. They don't speak any English so sometimes when they wouldn't understand me or when I didn't know how to say something in German, Vivien would have to translate it for them. Her mom said she really likes me and wants me to come over more often. We also were talking about when Vivien comes to visit, the language barriar might be difficult with my parents, as it is for me with hers. It's so different because Vivian and her mom speak so quickly it seems to me, when it probably isn't fast at all. Even though she won't be able to come visit me in the states until a summer vacation, I'm really excited and so is she! After getting ready, we went to a disko, as they call it here, called SODA. That place was HUGE! It had several different rooms for everyone's liking. Each room played different kinds of music so there was something for everyone, oldies, R&B/Hip-Hop, techno, etc. It was free for girls until 1 am too! I met some of Vivi's friends who all were impressed with my German! ( : It was a little difficult for me though when they were talking to one another because they'd talk to quickly or use slang words which I wouldn't have learned out of a text book. It was cool though hanging out with people my age, other than people in my program. I really like that place and might go back with people from my program one our weekends here. On the way home, we met these really cool people on the subway but unfortunately, when I was trying to store their number, either I heard them wrong and stored the wrong number, or they gave me the wrong one. I'm not sure which one happened, but I just know after talking the entire subway ride, we didn't decide to exchange numbers until it was time for me to get off. They were yelling the number out as the doors on the subway were trying to close so they were pushing them back open shouting out numbers and saying "Call us now so we have yours!" I don't know what the chances of running into them again would be but hopefully somehow we will, because they were really nice!

Sunday
Didn't do much of anything today but clean and update my blog. The people who went out of town come back today though. I doubt we will do anything tonight because of research tomorrow, but if anything interesting does happen, I'll be sure to blog about it. ( : Like I stated earlier in this blog, I will upload my first week report that was due Friday, for those who are more interested in the research I am doing.

My research group in one of the labs


My pen-pal Vivien & I, before we got to SODA

@ club SODA

Us again, and some of her friends in the back


One of her friends I met, Franz


Vivien dancing


Outside getting air and of course, acting silly. She did it first in one picture, then we both did it

Update coming soon!

I said I would blog today (Saturday) but I never got around to it! I will try tomorrow to write about these past couple days. Sorry! lol

Update

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. Will update tomorrow ( :

Lab Testing

Today was the first day we worked in the lab. We ran tests to collect data regarding ash content in wood, moisture content, and lower and upper heating values. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. After working in the lab, I came home and took a nap and then later went out to a sports bar with some people to watch the USA vs. Spain soccer game which USA won! ( : Tomorrow we will be in the lab again.

Lab & Tiergarten

Today was the second day of the lab course. We also had German this morning as well. Today was the earliest day we've had, and I thought it'd be tough to make it to class at 8:30, but it wasn't bad. After German from 8:30-10 we had lab right after at 10:15 until we finished our work, but we had a lunch break of course. Today we drew systems diagrams to do the mass and energy balances of the system. We also had to do the equations and balance those as well. I don't have as much knowledge in anything as everyone else in my group because I'm the youngest, but so far, I pretty much understand what we have to do and the ways we're thinking about approaching it. After lab, some of us went to the Tiergarten here and walked around. It's basically like a HUGE park/garden here in Berlin, one of the many. On the way back, I got a massive headache so I came home and made something to eat and went to sleep. Everyone else went out to a Beer garden, but my head was pounding too hard for me to even want to go with them. Tomorrow we have to be in the lab at 9 and we are going to be actually in the lab doing things, so hopefully my descriptions of our research can be more thorough. Right before I left for Europe, I got a new keyboard because the "z" key on mine had fallen off. Yesterday, out of the blue, my k, h, ', and backspace keys started not to work most of the time when I press them. I'm not sure why they are sticking because yesterday morning they worked fine, when I came home at night is when I started to have problems. Hopefully they will start working soon while I' m here so I won't have to get ANOTHER keyboard when I go home and also because this is making typing harder! lol

Working on our diagrams (my other group member is taking the picture)

Part of Tiergarten

Another part of Tiergarten

Getting down to business!

Today was the first day we began working on our lab research projects. The project is going to only be 3 weeks, but 3 intesne weeks. We have research every day of the week from about 9 to 5. We also have German class still on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-10 and then research after that for however long it takes us to complete our tasks. Today we did not do any experiments though because we just got acclimated with the labs and where things are. I'm going to be doing research on designing a fluidized bed gasifer. This is an alternative energy project basically. I'm not sure yet what my focus or tasks will be on exactly, but based upon what our group leader told us today, we will be looking at using wood residues for energy generation to make this gasifer. Sounds complicated, yes, but also interesting, lol. I didn't take any pictures today, but I will try to take some of me in the labs once we start getting to work. We had a 2 hour lunch break because our group leader had a meeting to go to. While on the lunch break, the people in my research group and myself went grocery shopping. We also got out early today. I came home and took a nap and then later made spaghetti with pesto sauce which was delicious! Today was probably the most efficient grocery shopping I've done, so hopefully I can cut down on buying things in the morning for breakfast, and also during the day! lol

Hamburg!

I went to Hamburg for the weekend to visit one of my friends Rasmus. He was one of the exchange students at my high school when I was a junior, and we've been good friends ever since. The bus ride there was only about 3 hours long, so it wasn't that bad. Once I got there, he had to pick up his suit for his prom in two weeks. He's 19, but they have more years of high school then we do in the states. After that, he took me to his job to meet some of his co-workers. He works at a shoe store, kind of like Footlocker, called Snipes. I basically call it the Footlocker of Europe, which other people might call it too I believe. After leaving his job, we went to his house and waited for his friend Miriam to get there so we could go eat. His house is pretty cool too, except for the fact that he lives on the top floor, and there is no elevator! ) : He lives more so in an apartment, by himself, with a roomate. The area where he lives, had a huge cultural fair, or something, going on all weekend. It was kind of annoying to both Rasmus and me because people were just EVERYWHERE and a lot of them were walking slow. Friday night, we ate at a chinese/asian/japanese restaurant and the food was REALLY good! It was a lot of food for me, so what I didn't finish of mine, Rasmus ate. After dinner, we all went and bought some candy and just hung out at his house for the night because he had to work in the morning and didn't want to go out two nights in a row. On Saturday while he was at work, I went to the harbor there which was very pretty and looked like something out a of movie, lol. I also was going to go see this well known church in that area, but I couldn't find it. After leaving the harbor, I went downtown where he works to meet up with him. I spent so much time at the harbor and trying to find that church, that it was time to meet up with him before I knew it. Once I got downtown though, I went to the "mall", Europa Passage, to kill some time, and to get some ice cream. Once he got off, we went to this food place called Jim Block I think its called, so he could get some food. After he ate, we went to the town hall building which was also right there. A friend of his met up with us there, and we went shopping around Hamburg. I was looking for a nice jacket, but didn't find anything I liked so I didn't buy anything. Once his friend left, we went to the grocery store and then back to his house. He cooked some pesto spaghetti for dinner which was soooo good! While we ate dinner, we watched Ocean's 13 which I loved, lol! I haven't seen the others yet, but I will soon. After watching the movie, we went out. To get were we were going, we had to go through this interesting part of town called "The Mile of Sin". That strip reminds people of Las Vegas he said but it is absolutely ridicoulous! Sex shops, strip clubs, bars, party clubs, prostitutes, etc. I didn't like that area really because there was just so many of the same types of places right next to each other but it was surprising to see because that's where EVERYONE was. His girlfriend Sara later met up with us, and she hung out with us for the night. He had to go to work today as well, so we didn't stay out too long. He had to work around the same time I left so we took the subway together to his job. Too our surprise, another festival or something was going on around that area too today. When Rasmus saw it, his face was priceless. Sort of like that "Oh, greeaaaat, just my luck" type of face. I left Hamburg around 2 PM and got back to Berlin not too long after 5. This weekend went by extremeeely fast but it was a lot of fun and I'm happy I got to see Rasmus! I forgot to mention, on Saturday, I spoke nothing but German the entire day which was very hard, but also very helpful! ( :

LOL :D

Rasmus in his suit ( :


The Harbor

The Harbor


Town Hall

I forget the name of this area but this is kind of downtown

Glipse of "The Mile of Sin"

Sachsenhausen

Today after class, we went to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp museum and memorial. We were on a self guided tour at the actual camp with audio guides to help us learn. Having the freedom to just walk around wherever we wanted was interesting and shocking at the same time. It was hard to believe that I was at one of the places where people were tortured among other terrible things. I saw the barracks, where cremation took place, the execution trench, watch towers, etc. It was all a pretty sad thing, but it's something we can't forget, even though it is in the past. After leaving Sachsenhausen, some of us went to get some Italian food not too far from our apartments. That's all I pretty much did today. Tomorrow I'm going to Hamburg for the weekend to visit my friend Rasmus!

Infirmary Barracks

Brick Barracks

One of the watch towers

Remains of crematorium and extermination facilities in the Site of Commemoration

Execution Trench

Sachsenhausen National Memorial

The walls you see as you walk into the camp

Literal translation "Work makes free" but if I remember correctly it's saying "Work will make you free"