Final Entry . . . For Now

I am sitting on the plane right now, about 9 hours out of Minneapolis, and I have plenty of time to really give a good summation of my journey. For starters: WOW . . . I have been (From west to east) to: The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, The Czech Republic and Latvia. That is 6 countries!

 

This has been a truly amazing experience. Both through work and my travels I have managed to learn a significant amount European (specifically German) culture. I learnt that German like to shake hands, girls from Latvia are ridiculously good-looking, that there is a giant toilet in Wolfach and how much I enjoy German beer.

 

Coming away from this experience I would say my biggest realization is not that I learnt so much about the world but the fact that there is so much to see, do and learn. I will be returning to Germany at some point in the future, albeit with more German skilz, to explore some more of this great country.

 

My last week in Germany produced a few interesting anecdotes. I got back to my desk after an extended period of building things in the factory last Friday to see a note on my desk. It turns out that my boss was heading out to Turkey on Monday! This meant that I did not have a chance to fill out all the end-of-term paperwork that I needed to! I also could not ask any questions to him while I was finishing my big report.

 

I managed to get all my work finished on Wendsday, my final day of work, and pleasantly my day ended with a hour and a half conversation with Martin, one of the engineers, about German vs. Canadian engineering. Martin is an extremely proud German; he took his time to tell me why the German industrial machine is so much better then the rest of the world’s. My favorite part was when he was telling me about the guy at Porsche whose only job is to ensure that the cars smell right. He goes from car to car and ensures that the smell meets spec. I also learned how real engineering is designing things and “anyone can just pull stuff out of the ground.” He meant that is the best of ways but I still laughed at it.

 

Anyway, I can genuinely say that the past four months has been challenging, rewarding and full of stories. My favorite few adventures were partying in Prague with the two British girls, the flute player, the DJ and a hard-core guy rapping at light speed in Czech; hiking up a mountain with my American/German couchsurfing host Bradley and walking along the Baltic sea 200km west of Riga in Latvia. I have been out of what I have been used to for long enough and I am prepared to take some time in my familiar island home.

 

This summer is going to be great! I am excited to be choosing my own courses at school and excited to be running the UVic Caving Club during prime caving season. This summer looks like it might also be the last four months that I live in “The Castle” which means really the end of an era. I need to work hard, cave hard, climb harder, swim (I do not swim hard but my new Speedo will help), bike and truly savor the every drop of what will be a great summer. This entry marks the end of my (almost) daily reporting but I will be sure to toss up some trip reports and pictures from my various adventures.

April 22, 2009: The $%^&* Fax Machine

 

Today at work I got a lot of quality work done. I am finally seeing my efforts this semester producing some real results. It feels good. I sat through a meeting today; they were speaking German but I kept hearing my name, it was confusing. Eventually they gave me synopsis so it was ok, but I need to learn more Deutsch.

 

My boss speaks very good English, but his swearing I think is better then 99% of native English speakers. Today at about 17:00 the fax machine jammed. He let out a string of swears that was absolutely incredible, almost beautiful, words that I did not know could be fit together were. I think that swearing history was made today. It worked too, the fax machine finally spat out the paper.

 

I got home and sorted out the photos that I want to print. I am creating a book with my collection of train, museum and monument tickets along with some photos. Some could call it a scrapbook, but those people would be wrong it is my superturbochargedtestostobook. Anyways while collected the pictures I forgot that I had been to some of the places that I had, so I guess it was a good thing.

April 21, 2009: Goin’ for a run

The ol’ work term report is starting to appear. This is good news. It is helping me piece things that I have done this semester together and I sort of wish that I had started earlier. I also need to figure out my plans for this weekend. I am thinking Köln. I ran 4km in 19min after work, it was the first time I timed a run in. .  . forever.

April 20, 2009: Tom’s Part

A prototype of the part that I designed showed up today!!! With all luck management will approve it and before I know it there will 500 of the little guys floating around the factory. It is a bit of a pain in the ass that the metal fabricator showed up and I had to talk to him through a translator, but oh well.

 

April 19, 2009: Catching up

The last week I had neglected to update my blog in full so I took today to fill in the holes. I decided to release it onto the internet in chunks so that people could digest it better then laying down 20000 words all at once. I also went into downtown Ratingen to get some fresh air and I was surprised when I saw the streets filled with brand new cars. It turned out that it was an open-air car sale. It was nice to check out all the European cars. I got a Döner and went home to finish my blogging. I did some reading and got to bed.

 

April 18, 2009: The Kö

The day started with a cup of coffee, a loaf of rye bread fresh that morning and discussion of the day’s plan. Soon after breakfast Stuart went off to get a haircut, I brought the bottles to the depot with my dad and Mom tidied up my flat (thanks Mom).

 

Today we were going to get downtown without the car! We all walked to the S-Bahn station and scooted down to the main station. After a brief ride on the U-Bahn we made it to the Königsallee, one of the “poshest” streets in Germany. This is the place that people who buy shoes that cost more then most peoples cars go to show them off. We all bought some clothes, and my mom found a store that she had read about in a magazine. Everyone had had their fill of shopping, except Mom, and we headed home.

 

Back at my place we all took a breather, Dad caught some shuteye and before I knew it they were off, heading back to Frankfurt to spend the night before their early morning flight.

 

I took the afternoon off and watched a movie, or two.

April 17, 2009: Mercedes-Benz Museum

We got up and had another breakfast that could not be beat. Soon we were on the road again. We tuned in the GPS on the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart and we were on our way. We got re-routed by Elizabeth (the name I gave the voice of the GPS) a few times due to traffic, but we ended up there safe and sound with lots of the day left to explore what is essentially like the Taj Mahal of the mechanical engineer. The glorious double helix of pre-tensioned concrete, structural steel and metal cladding loomed over us as we skirted it in our Benz and pulled into the lot.

 

We got inside and were greeted by an enormous Mercedes dealership to our left and the museum store to our right. The odyssey began. We picked up our audio guides and took the leather lined stainless steel elevator to the top of the double helix shaped building and got started. The museum is organized so that you take the elevator up and walk downwards transcending the history of the automobile, Germany and society in general in the process. The audio guide had four settings: Fundamentals, Society, Technology and FOR KIDS. I kept it on technical (boo yeah). I could ramble for pages about the contents of this great place but I do not want to spoil it for you.

 

After eating at the museum we bought some trinkets from the store and began the drive to Ratingen, my home (far) away from home.

 

Elizabeth got us around the traffic and we were at my flat four and a bit hours later. We picked up some food and beer and went out for a walk about town. I proudly toured them about town and showed them the nicest bar in town. We all stopped in for a beer, including my 15 year old brother Stuart. Nobody asked any questions and we stood there amongst the people chatting in German and enjoyed some Frankenhiem Altbier. We got home, my parents “complemented” me on my place and we got to bed after some cold cuts on extremely good German bread.