Adventures in Copenhagen

Quite a bit has happened since the last post. In the middle of finishing up the 4th of 7 lab reports. Next week I have the final 3 labs (Pump systems, heat transfer, and packed bed absorption) which could get a little hectic.

Tuesday night a big group of us went to the F.C. Copenhagen soccer game and it was a blast. We were able to pick up some jerseys at the local merchandiser and had a great time at the game. The home team won 6-0 so it was definitely an exciting game!

On wednesday I went into Copenhagen and played beach Ultimate at Amager Strand. The beach was beautiful and they had a separate 'sports' beach where it was only open to people playing volleyball or ultimate. At the practice I was invited to go to a beach tournament in Germany on the 25th and 26th of July. I'm super excited, but am worried that I won't be able to go because of the labs that will be due on Monday. We'll see what happens.

This weekend is still up in the air, no real plans but I'm sure something

fun will come up.

First Experience with Ultimate in Denmark

Today was a pretty good day. After a frustrating start to the Batch Distillation Lab we were able to get the apparatus running smoothly and obtained what I think are good results (further analysis will need to be performed to check them though). After lab though was probably the highlight of my time at DTU so far, I was able to go to a practice for a club team in Copenhagen (Flying Circus) the practice was pretty good, did a good plyo warm up, followed by 3 man marker drill, then a form of the huck drill, and finally and O/D drill. After that we divided up into teams and played. Unfortunately I was handling quite a bit but it was good to play a some-what competitive game of Ultimate while abroad. On thursday they play beach ultimate so I'm hoping that I can figure out the bus system well enough to make it out there.

Pretty pumped that I found a group of people to play with while I'm here.

Ohh yeah here is a picture of the train stop that is about a 20 minute walk from campus and from there you can get to pretty much anywhere in Denmark.

First Week of Labs

It has been a while since my last update. It is hard to believe that I have already been here for 10 days seems like I just got to Copenhagen yesterday. I have had the opportunity to meet most of the other students taking the lab class at DTU there are about 30-40 of us in all with all but 5 from Virginia Tech. There are 4 people from Case Western Reserve and then there is me. I was nervous when I found out that I would be partnered with a Virginia Tech student because they only receive a pass/fail for this class where I receive a grade that counts towards my GPA. Luckily my partner (Aaron) is an extremely diligent worker and I'm now more worried about me not letting him down with my work.

So far we have done two labs, flow through a packed column and filtration. The set ups are very impressive, seeing them I'm interested in how they would compare to the Units of Operations labs at Purdue. The labs are pretty intense and are definitely no cook book recipe. The writing of the lab reports has taken a little longer than I thought they would but I'm confident that after we get our first to back it will give insight to what the grader (from Virginia Tech) wants and make writing them a lot easier. This week our two labs are Batch Distillation and Distillation through bubble cap trays. I'm hoping that they won't be too bad.

That is about all the school work talk I can stand for now. I've been playing quite a bit of soccer with the other students here and forgot how much fun it is. Friday night we all hung out together and watched two of the guys successfully complete a bet of drinking 10 Irish car bombs in 1 hour. Saturday was a pretty lazy day for me, I spent a good portion exploring Lyngby and getting groceries. Today has been spent polishing up a lab report and getting ready for lab on monday. I'm hoping on monday to figure out the train system well enough so I can go to an Ultimate practice for one of the local Copenhagen teams, we'll see if I figure it out or not.

Below is a picture of my room definitely and improvement over the dorms at purdue (this is for you mom).

First Weekend

The first weekend in Denmark has been a blast. On Saturday I went to a beach (Charlottenlund). One thing I was suprised by was that the beaches were grass (very well kept and very short, but there was only sand for about 2 feet before the water, this may have just been because it was high tide but I found it kind of a nice change. There was no scalding hot sand to worry about before getting in the water and also sand didn't get everywhere which usually happens when you go to the beach.

Saturday night a group of us went out to a sports bar, it was a great time we ended up staying quite late and learned a few new drinking games from the bartender.

The next morning I had to meet up with the group for a tour of rural Denmark. We rode an hour out to what used to be the Summer House for the King and Queen of Denmark, there was a beautiful garden and it was amazing how a house from the 1600's still looked pretty nice.

After a tour of the house and grounds we had some lunch and then proceeded to an attraction that was one of the 'back in time' villages. The idea was to trace the history of Denmark back from the stone age to around the 1400's. There were exhibits all over the place and it was nice to walk around for a while. The highlights for me was the bog of sacrifice and the Gladiator battles.

Tomorrow we get our introduction to the course work. I'm a little nervous because I think that I am the only one who will receive an actual grade and not just a pass/fail so it might be difficult to remain focused while others are off enjoying their summer.

I'll hope to put up another post sometime this week to update how the course is going.

Arrival!

Got to Lyngby with no problems, the only problem the whole time was the shuttle to O'hare, there was some pretty bad traffic on 65 that made us a bit late but since the shuttle left Purdue at 3pm and my flight didn't leave until 10pm I wasn't too worried.

Before getting on the plane I popped a few tylenol PM in hopes of getting some sleep and also preventing my ankle from swelling. Needless to say sleep didn't come too easy but there was pretty good food on the flight and my ankle didn't swell up too much. Riding the trains and the bus to campus was a little intimidating but the locals were very helpful and made the trip very easy. Upon arriving I found that our houses look more like shipping containers or trailers.

There are 9 people to each shipping container where everyone has their own room with a desk, bed/couch, and a wardrobe. Also there is a communal bathrooms, washer/dryer, and kitchen/dining room. The Kitchen was a bit of a mess, but I'm not too sure if I will really be cooking that much.

One shock is the change in currency, a loaf of bread costs 25 Krones (about $4.50) and not only the conversion the money truly looks like monopoly money to me.

I think that now I will probably try and catch up on some sleep. I think tomorrow a group is going to the beach which should be quite a good time. Not sure if there will be any big celebrating for 4th of July but I'm sure there will be something.

Getting Ready to Depart

My flight for Copenhagen leaves in about 11 hours. Super excited but also pretty nervous that something super crazy is going to happen and I'll get stuck in some random country. I'm hoping that I didn't pack too much stuff and also that I'm not forgetting anything. Probably the most comforting advice I received was that as long as I have my passport and a credit card I can pretty much get anything else. I think I'll go through all the stuff I packed one last time and try and get rid of some of the stuff so that I won't be the typical over packing traveler.

Well next time I update I'll be in a different country and hopefully made it to the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, Denmark.

BFP @ DWTC

Back from Down With The Clown, had an absolute blast! We ended up finishing 3rd in the tournament with our only losses coming to Machine X/Y teams. It was great to see a bunch of people one last time before departing for Denmark (T-minus 3 days). We played really well as a team and the team improved exponentially as the weekend went on, I'm really excited to see how the team is doing when I get back in August.

One of the best parts of the weekend was that everyone on the team was at the party it was really cool to be a part of a team where everyone enjoyed everyone's company and there wasn't that one guy who everyone couldn't stand. We arrived right on time at 8pm right as the first of 4 kegs was being tapped and stayed until the last keg was about half empty. It was good to get to know the guys on the team in a social setting and not just as a cutter or handler on the team. I will really miss not being able to attend the practices in July and Motown Throwdown but I'll just have to work my ass off while I'm in Denmark so I can keep my spot on the O-line.

Down With The Clown

Tomorrow is the first tournament with BFP, pretty nervous but also super excited to play with the team, I think we have a lot of potential. It will be interesting to see how the chemistry of the team develops in the first tournament. I am bummed that I will be missing a months worth of practices and a tournament. The group of guys is great and has potential to develop into a great team chemistry wise. Hopefully I won't miss out on too much team bonding while I am away.

I'm also excited to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a while and a bunch of people one last time before I depart for Denmark. Speaking of Denmark, I think it is just now hitting me that I am actually going, hopefully I can figure shit out well enough to make it there and find my way around reasonably well.

I'll try and give a brief write up of the tournament after I get back.

Purdue for a Bit

Location: West Lafayette

Got back to Purdue yesterday afternoon and then left for Beachfront Property (BFP) practice up in Chicago. Practice went well, excited for the tournament in South Bend this weekend (Down With The Clown), it will be interesting to see how well the team gels with only 2 practices under our belts.

Departure for Denmark is getting closer and closer, definitely excited about the trip but a little nervous about just getting there.

Right now watching the USA v. Spain soccer match in the Confederation Cup semifinals (right now it's 0-0) USA looks sharp but I have a hard time believing it will last but I do have hope that they may come up with a real shocker and defeat the number 1 team in the world.

Dad's Day

Location: Wichita (still)

Happy Father's Day first of all. Today was pretty lazy. Family went to out to lunch together than we took my sister to the airport so she could fly back home. After that watched the miracle of USA somehow advancing in the Confederation cup despite losing it's first two games of pool play. USA faces Spain on Wednesday it will be interesting if the defense comes together or simply lets Spain romp all over them. Tomorrow I'll be driving to St. Louis to spend the evening with my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins and then it is on to W. Lafayette and up to Chicago for some Beach Front Property practice.

12 Days Left

Location: Wichita, KS

Just got to Wichita earlier today drove from St. Louis after spending the night at my Aunt and Uncle's place. Last night went to the Cardinals game and sat in a suite with tons of free food. Tomorrow's schedule is spending time with the family and getting stuff ready for my trip to Denmark (Lyngby, where the Technical University of Denmark is located).

Short post, first post hopefully I'll stick with it.