Football Stadium

Here is the football stadium here in Freiburg.

Freiburg on a Podcast

http://www.thesolarvillage.com/village.asp

Today was an exhausting day. I went to work early. They had all the computers, phones, and networks down because of an repair over the weekend. I knew that I just had to braze. I completed 5 valves (ventils) with hempf for water thickness in the threads. It took a while. Because of our system, I have to make sure that all the pipes are brazed before I prepare the valves, so the hempf does not catch on fire. Right now this is tedious work, but I have a great opportunity to learn from everyone else here at work. Like every Friday, we have a team meeting. I really like this time, because I get a chance to learn what everyone else is doing. I sometimes get frusturated because I do not catch everything. Then they asked me about the oil disaster in Lousianna.

First Day

I justed started my first week at Fraunhofer in Freiburg, Germany and I love all of it. I do not have internet access in my room, so I have not been able to document all of it, but I will start now. Please read past blogs because I am writing one for each interesting event.

My first day: [Side note. I do not want to break the contract with Fraunhofer so I will not be giving your specific information about the details of my project and the names of my co-workers, but I will give you very useful information.] Please contact me if you would live me to clarify anything. The picture shown is the main building of Fraunhoer, Institute of Solar Energy Systems.

On the right side of the front section is where I have lunch outside in March!

I am here at work at the end of my first day. It was an adventure today. I came at 8 unsure of when I had to be here. I called my boss but he was not here. Then they had an orientation at 9 for German speakers. My folder was not there becuase they had me in the English session which was later. I wanted to be in the German orientation so I stayed and they received my folder. It is amazing how many students were present and that was only orientation. I would estimate there was 40 students there, ranging from Bachelors and Diploma Thesis work to normal internships as I am. I am so excited to be a part of an excellent research company and see a new side of engineering that I have not seen yet in my internships and research projects . I then called my boss after the session from my phone and the reception was bad and he could not understand me. Nice job Haley, I said to myself, so then I asked the Secretary to call. He came and got me and showed me the test lab again and introduced me to many people. It was good to know I could ask many people for help. We went over the regularity of the personal orientation with the key and the many abbreviations for the group names.

I work in the Abteilung Thermische Anlage und Gebäudetechnik (TAG) [Department of Thermal Equipment and Technical Building]. In TAG, I belong to the Thermische Kollektoren und Anwendungen TKA [Thermal Collectors and Applications] which is also divided into 3 groups where I am in the Innovation and Modelling (IuM).

I wanted to wait till my boss was done and so I was a little late to the English orientation. I knew there was only one other person so I chose to spend time with my boss. I just had a few more questions to clarify what I did not understand.

They still have not given me a direct job yet other than reading english books about Heat Pipes. I am still so happy and astounded that Bud Peterson, President of GT wrote a book and I have been reading it after I checked it out from TUM.

I then had lunch with the intern who I am learning from him and his friend. They both study in Augsburg. He said I speak really good German so I was excited. The lunch in the cafeteria was good, noodles and ham, and cost only 3 Euros. Maybe there I will have my big meal of the day and have a light meal later. Normally lunch is 30 minutes, but the intern said 1 hour is okay unless you have a lot of work that needs to be complete. The intern, his name is J. J had a presentation today during the meeting with TKA meeting. Because I still did not have a great holding on my role that I was going to be doing, I asked him if he could go over his presentation with me. I had an IT meeting at the same time as his presentation.

He was patient and went through it. Then my big big boss came and sat with us, but allowed J to finish what he was doing.

During the TKA meeting of 30 people, they go through the list of what to do. We, the new interns, then introduced ourselves. We were about 8 new people. I know that I still have my English accent and I had to have my boss help me in explaining my project, which I was dissappointed in myself.(I wrote later today what I am doing to make me feel better). After I introduced myself, the guys were laughing and I am unsure about what. There were about 5 girls in the group, so it is still like school.

The IT meeting was in English, which was interesting to experience. We also introduced ourselves and it was interesting to hear the Germans try their englisch.

Well I still dont have internet at the house,so I am doing this at work. But I am really excited being here and with Gods guidance, I am doing alright.

Second Day

Sorry I have not written in a long time. I have had many experiences that I would like to tell you about. I will start with my first week and fill in the dates that. All the entries will still be in chronological order.

First Week:

The other Intern was still there, so it was great to have a young person to talk with. He showed me the ropes of what to do. The second day we had an IT session in English because most of the words come from English. We then introduced ourselves of 40-50 new people, all around 22-32, whom they are doing their Bachelor thesis, Diplom thesis or just doing an Intern like me. I was the only American, but there was other people from Australia, China, and Nepal.

Studentenstadt

Currently I live in Munich, while I am studying at the Technical University. I am living in Studentenstadt (Student city) which is an actual subway stop in Munich. I think it is the coolest thing. I love the snow here and so I took some pictures... I hope you enjoy them. The top picture shows my building, the tallest one in Stustadt (short for Studentenstadt). On the top of this building is a bar the Manhattan, which is also known as the tallest beer garden in Munich.

The picture to the right is a big snowman that some students made late one night right outside my window.

Interview with Continental

Earlier this month I had an interview with Continental AG. They make tires, brake systems, and automotive safety. I applied through Georgia Tech and the interview was for simulation and modeling of the thermal process of injection molding for their products and the modeling of stresses of their products (for example, what happens when you press a button). The men who interviewed with me were really laid back and awesome. The interviewers spoke in English but I spoke in German. In Germany, you work in bequeme Kleidung (comfortable clothes), where everyone is in jeans. The location was in a small town Villingen in Baden-Würtenburg. I had a tour of the production line and everything was so clean. I then saw where they work and it was a nice room similar to other engineering sections with cubicles, but they had no tall walls to divide. I was really excited.

Some some notes about the travel to and from.

I traveled from Munich which took 6 hours by train each way. They said they would pay for it.

I thought I would have time to check out other small cities around like Rotweil and bought the Region Cards for Bayern and Baden-Wurtenburg which costs 20 Euros each. You have to take the Region trains which stop in more cities. It took me 7 hours to go home, because of all the snow.