Aaron's Adventure Times

Follow the bouncing Aaron

2009-10-11T15:42:00.013+02:00

Well, It has been a while since I went to Colorado, and I wanted to get this photo up of my brothers and Aunt Beth and I. For starters, I was very glad to be in Colorado but also very happy to return back in Houston.

So glad, in fact, that I left again two weeks later! I took a long flight to Seattle where I got the chance to see my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and many friends from my mom's side of the family. It was really quite a hectic weekend of travels, stories, sharing food and time with everyone and trying to make the best of the short time I had. When I arrived, my uncle Bryan and cousin Dylan picked me up from the airport to take me to Uncle Steve's, where I got the chance to have a short catch up session with everyone, have a snack of eggs and bacon, and then try to rush off to Omi and Opa's new apartment, where I got the chance to reunite, talk, share some stories and gifts from Europe and Colorado, and generally just be happy to see them. We then went out to dinner at a chinese restaurant with Steve and family, Bryan and Dylan, and us three. With tons of food and a good atmosphere, we all had a wonderful time chatting, catching up, stuffing our faces, having a few drinks and generally just really enjoying ourselves. However, with that much traveling for me and excitement for everyone else, an early night was in store and I got to enjoy Omi and Opa's living room. On Saturday we just hung out and shared some stories and talked. Omi and Opa have so much pride for me that I couldn't stop with all of my wonderful adventures of the last few years, but I also really enjoyed just talking and hearing everything they had to say. With my wanderlust it is difficult to just settle in and relax with that time, and I wanted to savor every moment. Not really sure when I will have the chance to do that again. In the afternoon we went to Uncle Dave's 60th birthday party, which was at a friends AWE home! It was quite a house, quite a party, and full of so many people from all my trips to Washington as a kid. I can't even begin to go through it all, but it was an amazing time. I was really glad to connect with everyone all at once, but there was just too much and I wish I had more time for everyone. We even got a huge group photo after some swimming and eating and chatting. The last day in Washington consisted of just having some one on one time with Omi and Opa, which was really rewarding. I am so lucky to have such family, and I was so happy to get the chance to do this this summer.

Once back in Houston, I got the chance to spend more time with the job at Hess (with my wonderful workstation), and my friends both old and new. With the summer quickly winding to a close, I wanted to make the best of the project at work and this newfound connection. So for my birthday, after working hard on my project at work for two more weeks, Krissy and I decided to head to New Braunfels and Austin for my birthday to meet Mark, go tubing, hit 6th street, and have a really nice road trip with some relaxing time and some party time. It really turned out to be a great time, and I had one of the more memorable birthday experiences. We even met Leslie Cochran, the famed mayoral candidate of Austin and the posterboy/postergirl of the "Keep Austin Weird" mentality. Just google the name and I am sure you will see why we were so amused...

In any case, after a wonderful summer, some wonderful trips, meeting wonderful people and generally just having the time of my life, it was time to start winding down so I could go back to Europe and finish my master. It was a hard last week, leaving all the wonderful people and times that I had had in Houston, but I managed to do what I had to do, take care of all the business I needed to, and got all packed up and moved off (with some help, of course) to Aachen, where I am now writing this from. I wish I had written earlier than this, so that this was where the blog post ended... because I knew more adventures were coming! However, that is not the case, so you can continue reading of my adventures.

I took the nice PrivatAir jet back to Amserdam, and this time was ready. It was a great trip, however this time at night so there were fewer meals and more time spent falling asleep. I actually utilized the big bed/chair this time. Upon finally arriving in Aachen, Amir and Sam met me at the train station and walked me to my new home until December. The first few weeks were really great to get to know Aachen, remember what it is like being cold, and getting back into the swing of classes. We also finally got to choose our masters thesis topics, and it looks like I will be working at ION Geophysical in Edinburgh for the last semester of the degree. But more on that later, as details arise. Aachen is really a small city, compared to the Ranstadt area of the Netherlands and Zürich, but I think I will be able to make the best of my time here, as I do anywhere. However, as is typical of me, I can't seem to stay in one place very long...

So it was off to Athens! I took a nice three day (almost) trip to Greece to explore the 5,000 year old city, get some good history lessons in at the museums, hike a bit, see some gorgeous sunsets over the Mediterannean, and eat some great food. I met some great people at the hostel and they shared some of their city experience with me as well as Souflaki, grilled octopus, Magiritsa (soup from lamb offal, akin to haggis soup), fried sardines, ouzo, and Greek beers, among other foods and drinks. I had a wonderful, albeit short, vacation there, and will be back someday but really to explore the islands. This was just my Greek taste test. Other than not being able to read the signs, as seems to be usual in my travels, and being in a kind of dirty part of the city (which all cities seem to have) I really liked it and hope to go back someday. But for now I am back in Aachen, working to prepare for my first round of exams, missing the warmth of Athens and Houston as well as some people, since I have not met many Germans yet. Thankfully, there is internet and I can try to keep in touch with everyone, even if it is with a mere blog and some emails.

More soon, hopefully a bit shorter next time!

Houston, you never cease to have surprises up your sleeve

2009-08-18T17:27:00.004+02:00

The last 5 weeks have been, shall we say, pretty freakin amazing. I did arrive safely in Houston just in time to start working, take my drug test which was supposed to be planned months prior, and meet a bunch of old friends. It has been wonderful to hang out and drink and eat and everything with them. So let me start a Houston story time...

First of all, the flight was AMAZING. I arrived in Amsterdam from Zürich with only 45 mins to spare, which means exactly enough time to run to another gate, go through security, and board. I was the last one to the gate, which was nearly empty with only 44 people there, and saw the 777 pulling away while I muttered "shiiiiiiit" under my breath. No one else seemed distraught so I sat down and asked a guy if we were going to Houston, to which he promptly replied "yeah, this is all of us." Confused, I started a conversation as a private jet pulled up to the gate and we boarded. It was a full flight of 44 people with champagne for starters, snacks warm and cold, six kinds of wines, 2.5 full meals (with a dates and specially prepared menu for that flight) full bar and chairs that became full beds. I was so shocked and felt I didn't fit in! However it was amazing and next time I shall be more prepared... on the equivalent return flight to Amsterdam!

I hadn't been on the ground for a few hours when I started freaking out about traffic. It still scares me five weeks later but that first drop was a doozy. If you ever thought "Oh it's not THAT bad" then just leave for a while, don't drive, and then arrive in a busy time! Thankfully Jonbear with freshly broken ankle (from his UFC with a grizzly bear in Wyoming) and Chuckleberry Finn were happy to pick me up and take me downtown, where we met Thomas and Emily, ready for dinner at an Italian place across the street. Welcome to Houston, where traffic, food, and drinks are everywhere and there's always someone to hang out with. After a Sunday of shopping for food and resting, I went off to work to start my task of creating offset vector tiles to analyze the azimuthal velocity anisotropy in North Dakota. If anyone is really interested, then good for you. I also found out that only 3 weeks into my 9 week internship I was to give a final presentation! Slowly but surely I learned and worked a bit as I put together a presentation of what I want to do. Now, being halfway done in time I hope I can still do most of those things... but that's another story to get to next time.

The first weeks saw me quickly reconnected with Jay and Dorian and Gunes and Robear and Cable and Chance as well as my old CSM and Hess pals. Nearly every evening involved either dinner out or some drinks or just chatting and having fun. The first two weekends I just took to myself to relax and enjoy the thought of doing no school work. Going to the park, hanging out downtown, seeing a Houston Dynamo game, and riding a bike that was lent to me by an office mate filled up my hours out of the office. After some short time, Jonbear introduced me to some of his classmates and friends via board game nights and whatnot, and I have since made some very good friends. I love my Jonbear for he always makes sure I have a good time.

About 12 days ago I took my first trip home to Colorado to see my CSM pandas (buddy's) and family and go to Nate Pitts' wedding (where there was one of the most gorgeous, and typical, Colorado sunsets making me remember why I love it). What a great experience to be home! I really missed a lot of people, especially my brother and family who have not been together in nearly a year. I wish I spent more than three nights at home though, as that is just not enough to squeeze everything in! The party in Golden, the wedding, the brunch with family and friends, and the time with family spent shopping and garage saleing was really a treat I will not forget, ever. In the end though, I spent too much time trying to do everything and ended up back in Houston far more exhausted than before. I love Colorado and can't wait to visit again, but for now am going to be away for about 13 more months... *sigh* oh the life of a vagabond.

The last week involved much enjoyment after the presentations of the work at the office as well as some parties, Galveston beach, skydiving (in which I was suggested to do my next jump solo! The only pic of me is in Bryce's background right before I jumped) and just generally having a good time out with friends both new and old. In two days I will be heading to Seattle to see Omi and Opa and my Mom's whole side of the family. I think I want to make a Google map of all the travels I have made in the last 12 months!!! Does anyone know how to do that????

Until soon, when more stories will be told and good times will be had!

Takin' care of business (class)

2009-07-11T10:50:00.002+02:00

Well, it's been good, Europe, but now I must be off. Sitting in the airport waiting for the boarding of my plane so I can go Zürich-Amsterdam-Houston and see Parkerino and Chuckleberry finn and Robear and Emmers and Jaydip and ... and... it's going to be good. Sadly I am leaving; I liked it here in Zürich and Europe this year and am very happy to be coming back in 8 weeks. The television just showed the WWR (world weather report) and the big cities with highs for the day. Guess which city has the highest in the WORLD (barring the Sahara). Hint, it's not in India. 37C in Houston today. Crap. I will be used to it again soon, with AC and whatnot...

Anyways, the last few weeks were good and busy. Passed my inversion course after Amsterdam, passed Groundwater exam, and took my Petrophysics course, giving a presentation on refraction borehole logging and wave-mode separation. I did a good job because I found out that it's possible, and you can see fluid filled fractures and distinguish open and closed fractures... but only if you know all other things first. hm. Celebrated by going Swimming at Letten on the Limat river. Jumped off a few bridges, swam with and against the current. Went to a bbq on an island that we had to swim to. DO NOT try to swim with a coal grill through a strong river to a small island and expect it to be easy, or the grill to work immediately! Interesting and exciting though.

Got to go now, KLM is boarding soon. So long, Europe, and thanks for all the fish.

Next time from Houstonia! Raowr.

SEP-EAGE-SEG-ExxonMobil-Amsterdam-2009-etc,etc

2009-06-24T20:28:00.009+02:00

The kickoff to this month was insane: study for an exam in a course I wasn't as prepared for as I should have been (groundwater) and then take the exam on a morning that I also had to catch a flight to Amsterdam. My flight, as arranged by the SEG, was for 12:05 ZRH-AMS, and the exam was 9-12. Having not had the exam schedule in advance, I allowed it to go until it was too late to get it changed. So I studied and worked and studied some more for the exam, and after some pleading, got the professor to allow me to begin at 8:15 instead of 9. This was very hard to do, since the Swiss are very time oriented. He was more worried about me being distracted at 9 while the rest of the class arrived, but that was no bother to me, enjoying a bit of chaos. So I rushed and worked hard and finished as best I could before 10:15. I grabbed my packed suitcase, hopped the Polybahn to Central, and walked to the HBF, to take a train to the airport. Having missed the train I wanted at the station, I waited 15 minutes for the next, and arrive just after 11am at the airport. I checked in with my German passport, which turned out to be difficult since SEG booked me as American. I somehow didn't realize this would be a problem, but we got it sorted out in (somewhat poor) German. Anyways, off to Amsterdam with almost no hitch so far!

After arriving, I spent the next few hours getting to the hotel in Vondelpark, getting arranged, greeting my hotel roommate (Cezar!) and then wandering around the city with Joseph, a colleague of mine from ETH. A nice early evening, since the Student Education Program (SEP) from ExxonMobil began at 8 the following morning. And what a course it was! They gave us a whole training course that would be equivalent to an industry taining course, starting at global and regional tectonics to drilling and exploiting a reservoir off the coast of Australia. Including everything involved in the middle. Wow. I got to work with some of the 30 students in the course including Salako from Nigeria and Marta from Poland for the next two days. I also met quite a few people I knew from before (Cezar, Peter Haffinger from first year IDEA, Gengyang Tang from SLS 2007, for starters) and make friends with many others. It was really amazing and I love the opportunities that SEG and EAGE are giving to students for education and networking in geophysics. In the evenings I hung out with all the students and gave some tours of Amsterdam since I generally knew where I was going from anywhere, and got to give quite an introduction for the group! Of course, had to wander through the seedy parts and get some nice food and music and drinks. It was all about having fun.

For the rest of the week I enjoyed going to all the company booths, listening to lectures in my area of interest, doing the student challenges to try and get some prizes, talking about thesis and job opportunities with all the companies and teachers that I met, and even partaking in the GeoQuiz there. it wasn't so organized as the Challenge Bowl, which I had been a part of for the 2007 SEG conference in San Antonio with Jon Parker, but nonetheless I had a wonderful time. My team consisted of Miro Vrzba (Slovak) and Titte Nurul (Indonesian), both from the previous years IDEA-League master, and we represented TU Delft (ironically, since Miro and I are in Zürich and Titte is doing her thesis in Hamburg, but whatever). It was great fun, and we shared a table with one of the Leeds teams of which I knew two of the members: James from SEP and Tom from his year abroad at CSM. So, somehow, there I was in Amsterdam winning 3rd place in a GeoQuiz with my "classmates" and some of my old classmates from other parts of my life winning 2nd place right next to me! It really was an experience and I kept thinking to myself "this just doesn't happen every day!" We each walked away with a 120GB iPod and €100 for the EAGE bookstore and the Leeds team left with Blackberries and €300. The winning team took home laptops and €500. Since I have two laptops, don't need or want a Blackberry, and can't carry any more books traveling over oceans in the next few months, I think I really walked away a winner. The smarts and thrill of winning without stealing the show or getting too much for it.

The student evening that night was quite a riot, since I was hanging out with all my new and old friends, potential future employers and colleagues, filling out a personal bingo card (get a signature from someone fitting the description in each block) and winning an EAGE polo from it, getting some nice free food and drinks, then dancing the night away on a dock. I couldn't have asked for a much better 'hump-day' activity! That night was such a great and magical moment and is another strong reminder of why I am doing such an international option for my future. ;)

The next day I spent hanging out mostly with Eva from the previous years IDEA-League master who is doing her thesis with StatoilHydro in Bergen, where I used to work. We hung out a lot and went to some talks and booths and she was telling about how I can get my thesis in Norway as well and go back to enjoy the country again. We shall see how that pans out, but the people at the StatoilHydro booth were very interested.

Anyways, moving along with the story, that evening I saw Paul Sava and Terry Young, two of my professors from CSM! It was great to see them and chat, however briefly, and get caught up a bit. Another magical small world moment to see them 1/3 of the way around the world from where i know them. Through them (and some help from Cezar) Eva and I got tickets to the Conference Evening, which is like the student evening for everyone, and a bit more expensive. There were so many things going on there and it was all decked out to show of various historical (and stereotypical) aspects of Holland. Eva and I got some good food, saw our friends from earlier who also somehow managed to get tickets, and ended up riding bikes through the crowd and then heading to a room where karaoke was taking place. As we came in, the two ringmasters asked "is anyone in the house English?" No one spoke out. "Ok someone at least has to be British." Still, no one. "Well, there has to be SOMEone here that has english as a first language!" at which point your truly raises his hand. In the whole room there was no one else... so I am dragged, not reluctantly, to the stage to sing a song. The catch: I didn't get to choose. I was given 'Sexbomb' to sing in front of all these professionals, which I only realized later. It was quite an experience and I am glad I did it, but never would have chosen to willingly. After the night was over, I headed out to meet the crew from Romania and spend the evening hanging out with them before heading home and sleeping a bit before the last day of the conference.

It was a great experience, as I expected from my experience at the SEG and SLS in 2007 San Antonio, and I wouldn't trade my missed week of classes for it. The people I met, the opportunities that opened up, and the experiences gained far outweigh the negatives from leaving my studies for a week. And, by the way, I did pass the groundwater exam before leaving Zürich. :D

The last night and day in Amsterdam I spent with the Kroesens, catching up and enjoying some time before I had to run back to Zürich for studies. On Friday was the last hurrah for Aurora's school and Audrey and Peter took me along with Esser and Aurora to spend most of the day at a Dutch elementary school, helping with childrens activities. It was a great experience and I got the chance to practice my Dutch a bit, after several months of non-practice.

Now I am back in Zürich, madly studying (except for this break) for the Stratigraphy exam tomorrow and next Tuesday's inversion course exam. I made up already the 5 (of 7) missed lectures and made my final presentation on Monday, and will do just fine if I keep up this study pace. Only 16 more days now, and I will be back in Houston. Before that, however, James McCall is gonna visit from CO since he just graduated CSM, and he, Mark, my classmates and I will go to Genève and visit CERN. Then my last course in Zürich (which somehow fits into 5 days) before flying on to Houston to start back at Hess for "Summer Intern: Round 2!"

Until then!!!

May day, may day! The beautifully chaotic month...

2009-05-31T22:09:00.004+02:00

So I realized I am way way behind, and last time I failed on my promise: it was not a shorter time between posts this time. I am sorry not only for the readers, but for me as well since I have so much to catch up on and so much I really want to remember. Finding this little gem helped me realize a few things: I have so many lucky things going on, and yet sometimes I forget to be really happy about them. So, let me begin...

In the first weekend of May I went to Stuttgart with my brother Mark, since there was a beer festival with friends there and I love those moments. I met him and two girls from his study in Freiburg at the Stuttgart train station and hitchiked a ride to the apartment of the older sister of one of the girls. Having not had a huge amount of contact, if any, with any of these friends of Mark's I really enjoyed getting to know them, sharing lunch and a few drinks and wandering on down to the Wasen (festival). Oh how I love the carnival atmosphere, smell of roasting almonds, rides and flashing lights, and hundreds of families having a wonderful time in the sun. After a short wander through, we found our tent and reserved seats, and quickly ordered a round of 1L beers and a couple of halbes-Hähnchen before meeting some other friends of the group. The live music, people dancing and free flowing drinks was a great evening and we ended going home (a little earlier than anticipated) with some adventures and a few memories. After a long morning, we walked through the park and had some food before heading back to Freiburg, leaving me to enjoy just hanging out there with Mark, where we explored the campus and the city in a nice rainstorm. That was a memorable moment, trying to run through the streets in Germany with my bro without getting too wet, and also trying to catch a train to Switzerland. :)

The next week was simply studying, and not too exciting, but soon I had many friends coming to visit! Brandon from CSM came for a week and we had a great time for a day before more CSMers Micki and Fish came from København for a few days! It was really wonderful to have these guys (and gal!) as my guests here in Zürich for a few days. We did some city walking, boating, drinking, and general catching up since it has been a long time since seeing eachother. The moment was full of stories and reminiscings of days gone by, things we've been doing, and plans to get together in the future again in some awesome and/or wild place. It's so heartwarming to spend time together with people whom you keep such close connections too from your past, and I can't wait to do it some more. After Micki and Fish had to go back north, Brandon and I took a nice day to explore parts of Basel, and walk to Germany then to France. Take a look at the map and it isn't so far, but still exciting. How ofter can you say you walked into 3 countries in a few hours! With our trusty TomTom GPS device we made it back before the rains and had some refreshing drinks at Paddy's near the center. All in all a really great day.

Sadly, Brandon was off to continue his adventures through more eastern regimes (Praha, Budapest, Wien, etc) and I was back to classes after a few days off. However, Himmelfahrt (Ascension) fell on a Thursday, and the Swiss took it as a holiday. Jumping at the opportunity, I looked at the weather and conjured up a trip with classmates Sam and Marcel to the Matterhorn! I have been dreaming of that moment since childhood, and was sad I'd never really be able to hike there after my disasterous hike in Norway back in 2007. But now, new foot and new attitude, we hiked about 17km from Zermatt, up away from the Matterhorn to some huts in the hills. As the weather got better and better, we saw more and more gorgeous views, and I was just on top of the world both emotionally and physically. Nothing compares to a hike in the gorgeous mountains, especially when it's been a goal for so long. All I could say all day was "awesome!"

The weekend became a nice random camping trip, as I joined an Aussie friend living in Genève to Avegno in Ticino (Italian part of Switzerland) and a Couchsurfing group. We had some great swimming in ICE cold rivers, campfires, s'mores (yes I brought them!) and sausages. The next day involved a bit of hiking and climbing around the alps there, and thoroughly enjoying another cold spell on the warm shores of a glacial lake. It really must have been about 3 C I think. Whew! It was too short, as usual, but I wouldn't want to wear out my welcome, and I headed back home to Zürich for some more classes and studying.

I wish I spoke more about my studies, but they just aren't as exciting as the travels and good times I am having elsewhere. Just think, when in the classroom, all you can do is think of being OUT of that classroom. Even when the topic is as exhilerating as groundwater. Anyways, I am actually doing well in my studies, despite all the fun time I am having.

To wrap up May, what better way than by going BACK up to Germany to celebrate the little bro's 21st birthday! Even though his big day was on the 24th, he was in München so waited a week for the party. I trucked on up to Freiburg with a knife (yes, Swiss Army) and some chocolate to be typical, and arrived with a big smile to see Mark already having a great time and a fire. I presented the knife with the phrase "now you can open beer and wine in Texas, in case you couldn't before." Cheesy, stereotypical and silly for a 21st birthday in Europe, but it was enjoyed and much needed. I am glad I spent the weekend with my bro again, and hope to do the same with Kurt before too long (ie: I have to grow up too much! :P).

Overall, May was a good month. Now to prep up for the groundwater exam, EAGE and SEP in Amsterdam, and my last full month in Switzerland before flying south to the land of steers and baseball...

Bis bald!

Quick... no.. long update

2009-04-30T21:13:00.010+02:00

My sincere appy-olly-wollogies for taking too long to scribble here. It's been chaos, fun, stress, work, travel, lack of sleep, a touch of music and a dash of pepper. Achoo!

Since last I wrote, I have settled into Swiss life. Haha, that's a Swiss style joke. Get it? Neither do I. Swiss jokes are strange, if even jokes. I would like to make one sooner or later, though! Anyways, moving on...

School, or in other words: my reason for being here. Going well to a certain extent. I have gotten quite busy, even working late into the night or even mornings on several occasions. The seismic processing course ended in a 50-page report written in LaTeX (typeset program, look it up or ask if interested) by two guys who didn't know anything before we started. It turned out quite nice, if I do say so myself, and we both know how to make awesome and sexy looking documents for our thesis in the (AAAAAGGGHHH) near future. Next we spent two weeks in the field north of Zürich doing geophysical data acquisition over two sites: Kloten, a farm with Roman ruins buried underneath; and Lägern, a site in the hills with Neolithic flint mines. Using various near-surface techniques, we managed to actually give some valid interpretations and present some decent results! Our team of four wrote up our reports on the methods and sites and interpretations and did another quite good job. Being an expert now in Latex, I decided: "hey, I can put it in this format and make it science-y!" Fourteen hours and some cursing later, we had a 65 page document of gorgeosity. I learned two things: LaTeX and how not to underestimate the time required for formatting. Now I am halfway through a theory course on decomposing wavefields to model wave propagation through various inhomogeneous media for the purpose of modeling and inverting. Phew, that's a mouthful. I must be learning SOMEthing, right???

Ok, all nerdyness aside, I have been having fun as well. Mark came to visit in March and we explored Zürich a bit during his 4 day layover here between Germany and Budapest. I was so envious of his trip I bought a trip of my own to the east while he was here; but more on that later. Since February I have used my Gleis7 and HalbTax to get around Switzerland for free after 7pm daily, and half price the rest of the time. I have been to Luzern by night, Bern, Interlaken, Basel by day and many nights, Lugano, Locarno, Bellinzona, Milan (only €4.70 from the border, what a deal). I wish to see more, specifically the French regions, but that will come. All in good time, my pretty! Switzerland really is a gorgeous country. No matter what people say about the lack of humor, cost of living, strange languages and anything else, the country is quite nice. And it's small enough to leave easily when desired.

It took until April to leave Switzerland, when I decided to buy train tickets to Rome for Easter. After acquiring said tickets online from TrenItalia, I realized they do not mail tickets out of Italy, do not give email tickets, nor let you acquire any tickets out of Italy. However, they let you purchase a ticket from Switzerland without being very obvious about this. In any case, I had to go to Milan for a weekend to pick them up. Darn, right? It turned out Milan is kind of frightening by night at the Centrale Stazione. The center is nice (by day), full of history, quite nice architecture, and crowded with fashionista wannabes who run around touristing between stops at Italian fashion shops. After 4 hours of wandering, we decided Milan is nice, but lets go to Bellagio. A train/bus combination later we were in the Italian alps, soaking in a gorgeous sunset, and Alfa Romeo convention, nice cheese, and lakes between snow capped mountains. Gorgeous and well worth it. Now here is where the problem arose: last bus out brought us to the station too late to catch any train from the Swiss-Italian border into German-speaking Switzerland, ie: Zürich. By the time we got to Lugano where we knew a hostel it was 10pm, closing time. No hostel or place to stay and no way out of the city, except to Bellinzona, with the same problem. Crap. So we got some drinks until closing time and slept on a bench near the station until the first train 5:30. It was cold and we were unprepared, but it was quite an experience. Mission accomplished though with tickets to Rome in hand!

The next week Mitch and I finished field work and hopped Thursday night's overnight (with two transfers) to Rome. Italian trains, if I may be so bold, SUCK. The one from Milan to Rome was crowded, not checked for tickets, filled with (presumably) illegals and/or bums and smelled like an old Goodwill with a draft of urine. Oh well, again part of the experience. But we arrived in Rome early and (mildly) refreshed, ready for a nice Easter weekend. All in all, Rome is pretty, and old, and fairly big, but not too big to walk. Just standing in the Colosseum and the Forum ruins thinking of all the history, people and years that they have seen is a bit humbling. Walking through the Vatican museum and realizing the strong effect religion has had on formulating everything we know was great. Seeing the places that are the setting for countless movies and books was exciting, and seeing Easter services with thousands of people from around the world given by Pope Benedict himself was enlightening. After all was said and done and I had a good long weekend in Rome, I decided I am done with Rome for a while unless it's with some romantic interest and not in the heart of tourist season kickoff. I happily returned to school to finish the field course presentations with a few good stories and hundreds of nice photos.

After Rome, I almost immediately went for a night up to Freiburg to see Mark and my Mom while she visited. It was a short and fast Easter trip for her, and I had my Rome trip already planned but I got to see her, say 'hi', share some stories and stuff and get some much needed family loving from both of them. However, work called and both of us had to leave Mark again as fast as we came.

Following the field course I took my wonderful trip east: Romania to visit Cezar my SEG pal! Point one: unless unavoidable, do not travel 5hrs by train to an airport in the middle of nowhere to take a two hour flight to save €100. It's not really worth it. 6:50 to Milan, 12:00 to Bergamo, 15:00 flight is too much traveling. 'Nuff said. Point two: Bucharest is amazing! I strongly suggest it. It's got a difficult history to understand but while walking through the streets and conversing with Romanians I was enlightened on a lot. My first real experience out of western culture (even if Romania is recently in the EU) was one I will never forget and will go and repeat again and again. The people are great, the students are humble, the stuff is cheap(er) and food is good. There's too much to storify here, but I would love to talk it over if you want to email, skypechat, write, or whatever. Four nights was just not enough; next time its at least two or three weeks!

Now I am just preparing for my trip with Mark to Stuttgart this weekend! It's a long weekend due to some holiday or another that Swiss celebrate, so we are going to Frühlingsfestival to share some pints and explore some more of Germany. Both of us should, being German now. I can also practice my German a bit more than Switzerland I hope. Swiss German is wieeeeeeeerd.

I promise next time will be sooner. No, really...

Sittin' pretty in Zürich

2009-02-18T01:51:00.009+01:00

Here I am, enjoying week 3 in Switzerland, and already getting down to business on the classes. It's really actually quite nice to be back in the swing of school a bit after a rowdy, crazy, and nevertheless pretty dang good time in Delft. For all the great times I had there, I felt like I didn't really got back into the 'student' role after a whole semester back in school already. I have a great apartment with some classmates of mine (Surinamese and German) and a new guy from Columbia, as well as very close proximity to the rest of my classmates, which gives a great chance to study together. The ETH Zürich is a gorgeous campus right on the edge of the heart of Zürich and full of students who study a bunch and work hard as well as next to the University of Zürich, which gives a lot of opportunity to meet Swiss folk. I also got a HalbTax/Gleis 7 (train discount card giving half price on all Swiss trains, and free after 7pm) which has allowed me so far to take an evening out in Basel with my Irish friend Mur from Oktoberfest 2006 as well as another trip with her and her friends to Interlaken for a party out last weekend. I am really excited to be back in the student life AND have the opportunity to travel as much as possibly in the gorgeous Swiss Alps!

Before I got here, I spent two weeks, as you know from my last blog, traveling The Netherlands, Germany and France with my dad and brother Mark. It was an amazing experience and I have a lot of stories I am really glad I got to share with the family. After two nights in Amsterdam with the Kroesens, which included a night watching the presidential nomination of President Obama and the whirlwind exploration of Amsterdam and Delft, we hopped on an 8am train to Freiburg to meet up with Mark. Once there, we shared what Mark really finds wonderful about Germany and more specifically his new home (according to the German passport). He played a wonderful tourguide for such a short visit to his home city. We were there for one night and still got a great intro to the historic city, seeing great breweries, exploring the market, and learning about the new-old city which was rebuilt to look like it did before being flattened in WWII. From there we headed north to Der Pfalz and Alsace to meet up with Jonas' mom, who graciously hosted us through a wonderful weekend tour of the Bergs (castles and forts on the top of mountains, some so old they can barely be seen anymore), weinstubes, and small towns which left us speechless. We also, on Dad's suggestion, got a tour of the newest can making facility in Europe, in Haßloch, which is Ball property and makes over a billion cans a year!

After such a great weekend, we headed to Stuttgart to explore some Girard family history, which was one of the greatest experiences of the trip. In a small village east of Stuttgart, called Geradstetten, we were able to meet the Pfarrer (priest) who let us fawn over the pages of the church record books, where we found family memebers birth, marriage and death records back to 1739, five generations more than we knew before. Being able to touch those pages, match to our records, and explore a little bit more of where the family came from before going to the US of A was quite amazing. We also got to go to Feuerbach, another small town but engulfed by Stuttgart metro, and didn't have as much good luck with the family hunting. It was neat hanging around those streets though, thinking about the history in the place. From there we explored Ludwigsburg, the palaces of the old royal families of the region, and stayed in the same hotel we stayed in four and a half years ago in Kornwestheim when taking the first ever trip to Europe. It was a great few days walk through the Girard family history, new and old.

The three of us took our rented diesel 6-speed Opel and Autobahned it up to Heidelburg to explore the historical and beautiful university town. It was cold and foggy, and not what we expected, but good to see why it wasn't in the tourguide book. We had to drop Mark at the train station for morning classes before heading north to a small town to get a room in a hotel for the night before sending Dad off to Frankfurt to catch a afternoon flight. We had some great conversations and shared some hugs before splitting up, letting me explore Frankfurt, and haning out on the top of Frankfurt's second tallest building to watch Dad's flight take off from the airport. It was quite cool and Frankfurt is an interesting city, but i was glad to train back to Freiburg for a few more days with Mark before heading to Zürich.

Mark and I had a great time. We partied a bit, saw more city, ate wurst im brotchen at the market, and met up with two old friends of mine. We met Peter first, a friend of mine who did exchange at CSM my last semester there, and explored Vegas with me in 2007. It was great to meet up and catch up on the other side of the world. Next we met Mur, my Irish friend from Oktoberfest '06, who was celebrating a friend's birthday since it was cheaper to be in Freiburg since Switzerland is expensive (which I am quickly learning). It was over too soon though, and now I am here, finished with a great two week travel extravaganza.

Moved out! Off to Zürich

2009-01-16T21:21:00.003+01:00

I am sitting here in Delft, all my things packed and ready to cart along with me for the next 2 weeks until I get to Zürich!! It's pretty exciting, but exhausting, and I am glad I have a bunch of good people to put me up for a while while I wait for my dad to arrive on the 20th. I have studied for and taken all my exams at TU Delft and am (hopefully) done with it here while I take my next big step off to ETH Zürich.

The next few days I am going to have a rough time travelling with all my stuff: one backpacking backpack stuffed to the gills, one small suitcase, one school sized backpack stuffed with books and electronics, and one computer bag. It is way too much stuff, I am now realizing, to travel with for two weeks, but once I make it to Amstelveen tomorrow with the Kroesens it should be ok. From there I can reorganize my things with my dad's luggage (which I hope is minimal so he can take some of my stuff home). We will spend a day in Amsterdam, Hang out with the Kroesens, and a day in Delft/Den Haag exploring and me playing tourguide. It'a good thing I had so much practice with my friends when they came! We will then catch a train to Freiburg im Breisgau to stay with Mark a bit, get guided around, and then rent a car to travel around Germany/France/Switzerland a while.

My dad has been doing some extensive research on the family tree and it turns out we have a lot of family from near there, so we can see where my roots are from. I will dgive more info once I learn more, now that I have some free time. And the Girard name comes from Alsace, near Strasbourg, so everything is really nearby. We will also visit Jonas's mother and home in Landau while he is still on exchange at my parents in Colorado. Then, kind of random but awesome, we will visit the worlds most modern canning facility, owned by Ball, in Hassloch, Germany with a full tour by a colleague (kind of, employee of the same company at least) of my dad. Once he leaves on the 28th, I am going to stick it out in Freiburg with Mark until the 1st of February, when I will catch a train and hoof it to Zürich and my new apartment!

That's all for now! I hope everyone else is enjoying their January as well!

Time to take a look back at what has been going on

2009-01-02T18:56:00.013+01:00

So it has recently come to my attention that I am horrible at keeping a blog up and everybody is once again asking me to give a life rundown. So, here goes:

October saw more classes and exams, as well as a wonderful little geology field trip to The Ardennes in Belgium to explore the rock quarries, carbonates, and sand pits of French speaking Belgium. We also got to explore the gastronomy south of Holland, which was probably the best part of the trip! From Belgian beers to mussels and escargot, followed by great fish dishes and soups, we were spoiled rotten for a geology field trip! by the end of a three day stint, I had the chance to connect with my classmates, eat and drink good foods and drinks courtesy of the school, and learn some of the geology around where I am now living. By the end of the trip, I had written up a report on my findings and learnings and passed another one of my master classes.

After a good round of exams, I found that my friends believed I was a good enough tourguide to play host in Holland. In the period of one month I had three friends stay with me at my apartment. Meagan, one of the girls I travelled to Delft the first time with 2 two years ago, stopped by on her way home to Houston from a business trip in Norway and we got to enjoy Delft and Amsterdam and reminisce about CSM days. Next, Joe Romani came from Pau, France, where he has just graduated from the IFP in Paris and works for Total. We had some great times travelling Europe for the first time together, just like we also dreamed about back at CSM. Then two weeks later Cezar Iacob came from Bucharest, and it was great to see him and catch up as well as play tour guide. Now I have an open invite to Bucharest which I may utilize sometime soon. It was really great that people were willing to travel a long way to see me and that I was able to show them around and give them a place to stay. I hope that the favor is returned someday!

In November Mark and I took a trip to Berlin together to explore our new capital city. I spent three nights (the first in a hostel and exploring by myself) and Mark joined the next and spent two nights. It was the third time I have connected with Mark since arriving in Europe, and I was really glad to have the opportunity to share the Berlin exploration with him. We took tours, learned the underlying history first-hand by being in a city with huge amounts of still-standing history, and then spent time going through the government system and visiting the Reichstag. It was perfect for Mark, who had just been studying the German government, and he got to explain a few things to me I didn't know. I always love traveling with my bro because it is like sharing a new experience every time, even if it is not a new place for one or either of us.

The end of November brought, you guessed it, Thanksgiving! I managed to put together two dinners on consecutive nights for two different sets of friends. The first night (Thursday) I invited all my classmates to enjoy a first Thanksgiving with turkey (breasts only, since not having an oven makes things difficult) and stuffing and the works. We ended up having a great night in until midnight when we moved out to the town to leave my neighbors in peace. After a day of cleanup and no classes (luckily) I went to my old Delft apartment bearing a gift of a turkey. They all chipped in and helped me cook everything else, but by about 7pm we had a huge dinner for 16 people and enjoyed every bit of it. I ended up not going home after that for a while, since the next day was the Flatfeest party at their apartment building. Since there are 9 floors of only students, they get together once a year and throw a huge party in the building. Since I used to live there, i was allowed to join in and even helped by bar tending, painting designs on the walls, and cleaning up in the morning. It was a rough weekend, but much needed before jumping headfirst into my classes again.

The next three weeks turned out to be study, study and more studying. I worked my little butt off to get Swiss visa, get my German passport, finish 2 projects and pass my electromagnetics exploration exam with an A. It was well worth it in the end to have gotten everything done and do well on all of it!

After all that was over, I went, upon invitation of course, with classmates Mitch and Amir (Surinamese and Iranian, respectively) to north of Rennes, France to join Sam (French) and his family for an amazing Christmas. We had gorgeous weather, visited St. Malo and Mont St. Michel, and ate amazing food to our hearts content. I couldn't have imagined it turning out much better, and we ate raclette, foie gras, veal, turkey, wines from as far back as 1988, and a series of really nice (and real) Champagnes. It was an amazing treat for us, and especially since it was my first time eating a lot of that stuff. Talk about a nice change from Dutch cuisine! The day after Christmas the three of us said our goodbyes and thanks and headed out of Rennes and off to Paris for three nights. We met Srikumar (classmate of mine from India) who was visiting a friend at the IFP and spent the night in a student dorm before an exploration of Paris. The next three days and two night we met up with Joe Romani again, since he decided to come up and spend New Years with some friends in Paris and just came early to play tour guide. That was really nice since he knew French and had already lived in Paris for about a year. We did some of the touristy stuff like Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Tour Eiffel, and L'arc de Triomphe as well as some guided (by Joe) tours through Berbés and Pigalle and even a nice night walk down the Seine with a bit of scotch to keep us warm. All in all, it was a great experience for all of us and I was glad to have so many people to connect with all over Europe from all over the world.

However, Mark had decided to come to Amsterdam for Christmas! He stayed with the Kroesens and they happily dragged him along to their family dinners, which Mark found quite exciting. He stuck it out in Holland and came to meet me in Delft at the same time I arrived from Paris, which made for an exciting arrival. He stayed with me through New Years, which we spent at the house of a friend of mine in Amsterdam, and he has just left, finally giving me a chance to get back to my blogging and photo uploading!!! As usual, though, it was wonderful having Mark around, getting more brotherly bonding, and I can't wait to see him again on the 22nd when my dad and I head down to Germany to visit on during my move from Delft to Zürich and our tour guiding of dad through Europe.

That's all for now (I hope. It was a bit long winded), and I will do my best to keep updating more often in the coming months!

PS. I got my summer internship set up at Hess in Houston again, so if anyone wants to make plans, I will be back in the US from July 12 to September 12. I hope to go to CO for at least a weekend (I miss my mountains!) but am always open to visitors if you want a summer vacation! The only badside: Houston in summer...

Zaanse Schanse: a day in the birthplace of industry

2008-10-19T22:08:00.006+02:00

Zaanse Schanse

Last weekend the TU Delft took it's international students, for free, on a trip to Zaanse Schanse, a small city just north of Amsterdam that has been reconstructed to look like it did when it was the first industrial site of Europe. It has some still working and original windmills that mill stones (lime) for paint, seeds for oil, cocoa beans for cocoa, saw wood, make flour, and so forth. It also has the first Albert Heijn, which, if you have ever been in Holland, you know is the higher end grocery store here that everyone knows and goes to for quality products, especially coffee, even if it is a bit expensive. However, the city is more of a small farming neighborhood by todays standards, and we spent about 4 hours enjoying ourselves and getting to know some typical Dutch history, culture, and our other foriegn students. I spent most of my day with two French, three Iranians, a German and a Spaniard walking and wandering through the various museums and shops making and selling klompen (wooden shoes!), pewter, breads of various sorts and cheese.

I didn't get a chance to go in all the buildings and museums, but I had a great day learning everything I could about the windmills, klompen, history of Holland and industry, and the great cheeses of The Netherlands. I was glad that we were given the oportunity to get together and learn about the country together while getting to know about our fellow foreigners. Here is a video I put together of the trip through a windmill, I hope you enjoy!

A bit of a school break for Oktoberfest!

2008-10-03T12:15:00.007+02:00

It's been a little bit of time, and a lot has happened since I have last written. I have gotten down to the nitty-gritty of the school work and am starting to complete some classes already. My Matlab programming course is starting to tie up with one individual and one group project, both trying to model electric fields traveling through a layered media, but modeling in a different way. I have been spending a lot of hours on it and am starting to get back into the swing of school after a long 8 and 1/2 months. I have also started the advanced reflection seismics, and its really good to get back into the theory and basics of acoustic wave propogation. With the end of October also comes the first exam wave and I will be studying hard to get through it with flying colors.
But, I needed a break. I had some time off with classes switching over, and I decided to join Mark and 5 other CSM students to Oktoberfest in Müchen! We went camping with a bunch of Australians (the Fanatics) in München, which was freaking cold for September, but a great time. Six of us got on an overnight train from Utrecht (actually, the same exact train Mark got on less than one month before, so we headed right through Freiburg) on Thursday September 25th, and woke up at 7:15 on Friday morning ready to rampage München and have a great time with the thousands of others at Oktoberfest for the weekend! Mark arrived a bit later in the afternoon and joined in with us having litres of Bavarian beer, meeting all our new friends, and having a great raucous time.

The weekend entailed a few walks around München's Altstad (old city) and always ending up with a bunch of new people having a great time in the beer tents. On Saturday we decided to hit some of the rollercoasters and rides in the Wies'n! We rode on the Höllenblitz (Hell lightning), for a big price, unfortunately, but it was a great time and we had to take some rides; you can't get out of Oktoberfest without taking at least one! Just across the way, there was a Beery-go-round, or a carousel looking thing that rotated with a bar in the middle! So we had to get on and have a few Weißbiers while spinning around slowly and watching the world go by. But, the strangest thing was the people I met: a kid was wearing a Bolder-Boulder t-shirt was wandering around and I yelled out "Boulder woooo!" to catch his attention. We chatted for a bit and it turns out he's from not very far from Lafayette. Not very far at all! It turns out that it was Adrien Chambellan, a kid Mark was trying to get a hold of all weekend and is studying now in Regensburg. And, just to prove the smallness of this world, he used to be coached in soccer by my dad, and is friends with some of my friends at CSM! I have many more stories, but those are for sitting around a few beers and sharing one on one with you all someday.

As was expected, Mark and I had a great time throughout the whole weekend, and on Monday I caught a train back to The Netherlands for some more school, and Mark decided to spend one more day and take some free city tours, learning about the city and it's history.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend, great to see Mark again, and, I hope, as time goes by and my Eurail gets used more, I get have a few more nice trips before heading off to Zürich in January!

Leave Houston, start school in The Netherlands!

2008-09-14T16:39:00.015+02:00

So, it's been a long time since I posted, but here goes for a BIG update!

I spent my last three weeks in Houston making the best of it! On the 3rd of August I went to Galveston with Emily and Tricia and spent some time on the beach and in the ocean, or should I say Gulf, and got myself thoroughly sunburned! In light of recent events (Ike) I am glad I went because I got to go see the seawall, the Balinese room (now no longer in existence) and Murdochs, which was a cool shop and place to get some drinks. We met up with Rhonika and Sam, also from Hess intern group, and wandered around for a while until it was time to go home and watch the sunset! I really enjoyed this trip to Galveston and had a great time. Here is a photo of my car on the beach with Emily and Tricia! We drove home in the dark and grabbed dinner at Freebirds Burritos, which is like a Chipotle, but they have different tortilla choices. I enjoyed it thoroughly!

The next weekend involved a lengthy and amazing trip to New Orleans with Tricia, Emily and Jon, where we drove my car to the French Quarter and stayed in the Bienville House in the heart of party-ville! After checking in and leaving my car with valet we wandered around and saw the French Quarter in all it's non-Katrina damaged glory. Eating cajun food at a nice restaurant, grabbing coffee and begniets at Cafe du Monde, and running into an amazing sight: the Red Dress run! Men, women, children and even dogs dressed in red dresses and ran through the French Quarter to raise money for a charity. I felt left out without red dresses, but we got serenaded by an old guy who stopped and decided we needed a love song. He had a big red fuzzy hat, a red sequiny dress, lipstick, a moustache, and a wand with a miniture dildo on it! We were a bit overwhelmed at the time, but it turned out to be an amazing performance. The evening entailed having a small room party pregame experience in the hotel, where we decided Jon didnt need a towel for the shower (who doesn't put locks on bathrooms, anyways), and then they decided I didn't need one either, but fortunately I expected it and kept my backpack in the shower with the necessities. ;-) We spent all evening on Bourbon street and found signs for Big Ass Beers, Hand Grenades, Hurricanes, and even a guy preaching in the street with a giant cross. For a non-Mardi Gras time I was impressed with the level of partiers there. After wandering a bit we spent some time in Pat O'Briens watching dueling pianos, drinking Hurricanes, and pretty much just making a big raucus party. I can see why they say it's always Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Laissez les bonne temp roulez! After only one night, we had definitely had enough of the French Quarter and wandered the streets for a bit before heading all 350miles back to Houston. It was quite the wicked party and trip and I loved every minute of it! But I had only one week left in Houston to make the best of my summer and present my results for the project.

I worked hard my last few days in Houston, presented my work and everyone was pretty impressed, as was I! Afterwards, the bosses took me and Thomas (my summer office mate) and a few people we worked with to Brennans (now also gone due to the hurricane) for turtle soup, bananas foster (flambeauxed bananas with cinnamon and ice cream! Mmm) and some good wine. What a great end to the summer project with Hess! If you want me to go into more detail on the project itself, please ask, but I am going to move on since I am just getting started!

August 15th, my last day in Houston, was quite a kick in the pants. Jon, Emily, Thomas, Meagan, Tricia and I all drove south of Houston early in the morning, arrives at Skydive Spaceland, and prepared for, yes, you guessed it, our FIRST SKYDIVE! It was pretty amazing and yours truly was the first one out of the plane. There was no door, and we flew all the way up to 14,000ft with me looking down the whole time going "oh crap oh crap oh crap!" I was really excited and a bit worried at the same time. But when the moment of truth came and I fell out of the plane, everything came together and I was having the time of my life for 8,000ft of freefall!!! When I pulled the parachute (yes, I pulled my own!!!) it was a jolt, swinging for a few seconds, then I guided myself the way down with the steering things. I spun around in many circles, looking down and around at the gorgeous view from several thousand feet up in the air, secured only by a parachute. The landing, at my request, was a sit down landing so I skidded accross the ground on my butt for a few yards before standing up and saying "WOOOOOWWWWWW!!! That was AMAZING!" I got the whole thing on video for you to see as well! After that, I immediately went back to Houston, packed the car and drove for 23hrs to Lafayette to be with my family and parents for their 25th wedding anniversary.

The next week at home was quite insane. I had everything I owned on the floor of the basement getting packed up and pretty much making a disaster of the house. Thankfully everyone was very willing to help and pretty much left me to my own devices, since I had 8 days to unpack, pack, and move to The Netherlands. I also went to the foot doctor, who gave me wonderful news about the foot progress. New x-rays showed much imporvement and that things were healing very well! We were both very happy with the progress and ready to let me off on my own in Europe for two years. Later in the week Mark and I got our Einbürgerungskunde to prove our German citizenship, and in the near future we will both have passports. We were totally realy for the trip and couldn't wait to get travelling! But, knowing I would miss all my friends, they graciously agreed to have a going away party in Golden and I spent a lot of time trying to hook up with everyone I could in a short period of time. We had a Bailey's out of a Shoe party (Side note: look up Old Gregg from The Mighty Boosh) and had a great evening reminiscing, telling story's of old times, and planning our future gatherins somewhere, sometime on this planet! I miss you guys and hope to see you soon!

Monday the 25th of August, Mark and I were fully prepared to start our trip to Europe! We got in the car with Mom and Dad and all our bags, drove off to the airport and said our goodbyes. It's going to be a long time before we spend a lot of time together again. It's a bittersweet moment, leaving the family for such a long time to go so far away, especially for me not knowing exactly when I'll be back. But it was exciting, and we got some photos and waved eachother off! Mark and I spent the next 16 hours travelling to Frankfurt and the transferring to Amsterdam, where we got some coffee, took some photos in Schipol, and then were met by Audrey Kroesen and Aurora! We went back to their house and had some dinner and had a great evening, before I went down to Delft to meet my old friends and sleep there before getting registered in the morning. Dolf's (the guy who's room I rented in 2006) graduation party was that night at Het Noorden (the earth science faculty bar) and we had a great time making him feel silly, drinking and making sure he had a good time with friends before heading off to Norway for work.

Mark came down to Delft the next day and I showed him around the city, did the market square stuff (typical European market day activities!) and enjoyed hanging out with the Dutch and my friends. In the weekend we joined the Kroesen's to Ter Apel, a small town in the east of the country, for a Middleeuws Feest (Middle Ages Festival) involving re-enactors, sales of cool handmade stuff, and just a great experience all around. We also saw a miniature Stonehenge like thing that is older and you can climb on it! The Sunday entailed the required tour of Amsterdam, involving showing Mark our family history of the area, some WWII history, the Red Lights, some museums, and some Surinamese food! It was a good day, but tiring, and when we got back to Delft late in the evening we slept like rocks.

Mark and I spent the next day together exploring, having some drinks, and making a gezellig time (enjoying ourselves; being cozy). Then on Tuesday Mark got on a train to Utrecht, spent the rainy day there, and then caught his train to Freiburg, making it safe and sound on the overnight train.

My classes have since been going well. In my study there is one Dutch, three Germans, two French, a Swiss, two Indians, a Surinamese, a Nigerian and an Ethiopian. I think it's going to be a great two years with these guys and girls, and I am really looking forward to it.

I hope all of you are doing well and that everything is going the right way! Best of luck to all those in Texas!

Home to CO for a wedding

2008-07-26T08:23:00.004+02:00

Last week I traveled home to Colorado to be a part of one of my best friend's wedding and to get out of Houston for a few nights. It was great to be home and see friends and family that I have been away from for so long now. Four months between by times if gracing Colorado with my presence is quite a long time, but at the same time, I am happy to be exploring.

The trip started off horribly: I missed my plane do to the need for sleep overpowering the will of the alarm clock. Very painful to wake up just in time to realize "nope, not going to make it." However, I still rushed off to the airport to find that the next flight was 7.5 hours later. At least I was in the right place! I made it on standby and got on the 2pm flight, arriving in Denver just in time to get picked up by my mom, rush to the hospital 7 hours late for my appointment and grab my orthodic, and get to the rehearsal dinner of the wedding only 17 minutes late. However, it was a good time, I learned what I was supposed to do, and got an amazing dinner afterward. I gave a small speech at the dinner and, considering my notes were still on the couch in Houston, did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. The next day consisted of fitting the tux and doing the wedding, which went amazing. Jim and Meghan are young, yes, but I see great things from two motivated, smart people who are very trusting and happy together. It was a gorgeous wedding at the Gatehouse in Lafayette, with the party following. We got to see a cake fight, which I expected all along, Meghan serenade Jim, and then some old Zombie Jamboree from the men choral singers. It had been a loooong time since we sang together and it was abysmal, but all things condsidered it turned out alright! Someday we'll have to work on it again and sing together some more. During the party I also got to show off some dance skills with Nicole and Torie, as well as Mary Lynn and Kate. My skills are not perfect, considering I have been dancing for a grand total of 3 months, but I have lots of fun and they let me do whatever I wanted! It was great.

The rest of the trip consisted of trying to clean up my disasterous closet at home (I do not look forward to having to clean it out in August), meeting up with some of my CO peeps, and visiting Grandpa. It was kind of stressful driving around and knowing I was on a tight schedule, especially since I couldn't see everyone I wanted, but I was glad to be able to see them. After I went to visit Grandpa for a few hours and catch up, I stayed in Golden with what is left of the Ninja-Panda-crazy krew, which, as usual, ended with some drinks, an awkward situation (seven people in one mall photo booth is difficult), and Batman. I love those guys and girls and hope I get one more chance to hang out before I embark on my international voyages!

After all was said and done, I made it to the airport with family to catch a plane to Houston. They also got on a plane and began their summer vacation through the north: Wisconsin! It was nice that we could plan goingto the airport at the same time. It was time we spent all together for most of my stay, I think! After they left, I found out that I was on the same plane to Houston with Chris and Sarah, two friends of Jim and Meghan, who now live there. It was nice to have some folks to chat with while waiting this time.

For now, I am back in Houston, finishing up my job and having tons of fun before heading back to CO, but this time driving. Will update with my new Houston adventures soon!

Travels around Texas

2008-07-09T01:09:00.009+02:00

Even though I posted yesterday, I wanted to throw in a few things that I have been doing NOT in Houston as well. about two and a half weeks ago Bryce, a fellow CSM Geophysicist who is working in Tulsa, came down for some classes in Houston. It was really great to see him again and we even had a few opportunities to get together and eat, since he was on corporate budget (AWESOME). He came up to pick me up at my downtown hi rise apartment, which by the way is amazing (see below), and we went down to Galveston for lunch! It's kind of a long drive, and Galveston is just another city, but I am awed by the beach, having grown up in the mountains. Especially more so when I see the rigs offshore, which I find really neat. We went to a little burger shop and saw some art show of some sort, and went into this really neat little antique shop. I wish I had his photos, but there was old maps, bears in top hats, and cool furniture. I was always wondering, though, what he does in the even of bad weather. I think he must have a fortune in insurance. And nearby was this enormous trumpet statue! I had to get a photo, it was pretty neat, but i think my camera ate it. I will put up Bryce's when I get it from him. After a bit of wandering, we drove back and my tiredness kicked in so I dozed a bit. On the way back we got stopped by a huge downpour and couldn't even see out the windows. I was not worried, but hugely surprised. It's rare I see that much rain!

Then a week and a half ago I went with two co-workers of mine at Hess to Austin for an exploration trip. We left on Saturday at 6am and drove there so Tricia, from Trinidad (& Tobago), could get a hair appointment. After that was done and Cable, from Virginia, and I had taken some rest time, we had dinner on the Lake Austin, which is really just the Colorado River (Texas' version, not the real one haha) dammed up. It was a good little Hawaiian burger joint, and I enjoyed it with three strong margaritas. Next we wandered through the Capitol building and learned about the House and Senate and some of the history of the state. I actually live in Houston at the site of the first capitol! So it was a cool experience. Lots of neat stuff in there like a portrait of every Governor ever in Texas, including G.W. Bush, and some Texas Revolutionary war guns, and Civil War guns, and some really nice paintings of the Alamo and other battles in Texas history. After that we went to the UT Austin campus to explore and see some of the Jackson School of Geosciences, since Cable is thinking of going there as a master candidate and Tricia is a master candidate there. We got the 'grand tour' of the building for a weekend. Was pretty neat actually. And just outside of it is a pretty fountain on a small hill, which made me say "Yay for not being in flat Houston!" (as you can see). We then went to more hill areas and to the top of Mount Bonnell, which is not a mount by my standards, but pretty. At the top we could see the river/lake and the sunset, which was gorgeous.

That night we went to party on 6th street, which is an amazing experience. With some of Tricia's girlfriends and Eric Reid (my old CSM roommate who lives in Austin now) we went out to sushi and then wandered the party blocks, which is literally a dozen blocks of clubs, blocked off to traffic by police so students can party. It was a bit of a shock but I realized it was even a summer when many students are not around and it was STILL crazy. We danced and enjoyed ourselves until about 2am and then drove to Tricia's and spent the night, where we slept in late and then were treated to a Trini breakfast before going out swimming in Zilker park, where a spring had been dammed into a swimming pool. I decided they like damming up water because they can since no one is downstream, but thats another story. After a nice relaxing day we headed back and drove to Houston, arriving at about 11pm, just in time to sleep for the next day of work. A good trip all around! And now I have experienced Austin.

My apartment, as promised, is nearly 100 years old and used to be the Rice Hotel, and before then was the site of the Capitol of Texas. The building is a gorgeous brick with gargoyles and such, as well as a great ballroom. JFK spent his last night and gave his last speech here, and there are parties a lot (weddings, proms, etc) that I have to try and avoid. Also, I live accross the street from the tallest building in Texas, and can walk the entire way to work underground in the AC while not getting hot or wet. I love it for the short term, but there is no grocery nearby and downtown kind of is a weird night life sometimes. I have a (small) gym and pool in the basement, as well as a clubhouse with pool table, TV, and wireless internet and thee bars, a Chipotle, and a sushi joint on the first floor. Its pretty great! I will miss it when I leave but I will make good use of it for the next 6 weeks. Sadly I don't have any good images yet, but I will take one from across the street soon.

That's all for now folks! :-D

Houstonia

2008-07-08T03:07:00.000+02:00

I have just decided that I better get going on this so I don't have to tell my stories a thousand times to all the people who ask, and more importantly don't spam everyone with emails every time I feel like updating. In any case, I am currently in Houston enjoying myself thoroughly. I have been here since March 28th or so, and have been working at Amerada Hess Corporation as a Seismic Processing Intern since March 31st, which makes me a true explorer now! There's been a lot going on with that, and they have taken the interns on several trips and fun dates, like Schlumberger campus in Sugarland, CoreLabs in Houston, an Astros game, beach volleyball, and bowling. I have gotten to know a few interns and full-time employees very well and hope that the friendships continue for a long time. They are great people from around the world. More to come as adventures go on.

In the non-work life, I have been keeping myslef very busy with various concerts (Megadeth, Apocalyptica, Machel, and hopefully Paul van Dyk this week) as well as learning swing dancing, having dinner parties with the CSM crew and my new Houston friends as well. So typical of me to try and bring all aspects of my life together wherever I am. These details about things will also be written as the events unfold.

I also have been accepted to the Master program of my choice: The IDEA-League Joint Master in Applied Geophysics! I will spend the next two years of my life living in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany while studying to be a Master of Applied Geophysics. As of now, i have also received a scholarship from the Earth Sciences faculty at Delft, who reduced my tuition from €11.000/yr to €2.000/yr, so I can support myself through school based on my income. I have already payed my deposit for Dutch residency permit, my €2.000 tuition for first year and all my housing costs at Delft, so everything is all set up. The airplane leaves Denver on the 25th of August with me and my brother, Mark, and takes us to Amsterdam, where we will be met by my favorite Dutch family, the Kroesens. They are going to let us spend the first night at their house, and then give Mark the famous Amsterdam tour on the first day while I do paperwork in Delft. Mark will come down to stay with me after I have my apartment. I start class on September 1st and Mark goes to Freiburg on September 2nd to begin his year abroad. I hope he keeps up on his adventures as well and maybe I will post a link to his writings/musings as well.

Lastly, Mark and my Omi and I all just got approved for our German naturalization! So now we are all dual US-German citizens. This will make my life probably not that much more exciting or different, but I will now not have to get a German visa. :-) More news on this to come as well, probably once I get the finalized paperwork.

I hope all of you who are reading will keep in touch and enjoy my blog name at pandasquares.blogspot.com! Keep in touch...