November 30, 2008

So Mel and I are just finishing up our Thanksgiving weekend and boy has it been a great one! Before I get into that, I thought I would do a quick little refresher of the past three months so that everyone who isn't caught up on my extended break from the blog could do so.

• I finished up my "last" class at DTU at the beginning of September and went to Aberdeen to reunite with Melanie and to visit her parents at their new Scottish residence.
• In Scotland, Mel and I made a quick visit of Edinburgh.
• Afterward, we flew back to Denmark for a couple of days so that I could get packed up and show Melanie some places that she didn't get to see over spring break.
• We then took a plane to Oslo, Norway and toured around the city a bit -- our favorite site had to be Frogner Park with the amazing sculpture garden.
• Our next stop on our Scandinavian tour was Helsinki, Finland.  This was both Mel and my favorite destination in Europe.  It was neat to see the blend between Scandinavian and Russia.  One of the coolest places was Suomenlinna, which was an old fort that was traded back and forth between Russia and Sweden.
• Our final location was crossing the Baltic Sea to visit Tallinn, Estonia.  I was surprised by the modernity of such an exotic place -- especially one that has only recently gained independence (1991).
• We then went back to Copenhagen for a night and boarded a train heading down to Munich.  Fortunately, on our trip we were able to find a place to live during our time in Germany.
• We arrived on October 1 and I began work (after a tedious amount of time spent on paperwork) in late October.

We just recently got internet in our place, so that is why there has been such a dearth of updates for the site.  Anyways, if you would like to check out any of the pictures from our trip, you can check them out at my picture site.

Anyways, back to present day... Melanie and I were able to prepare a nice Thanksgiving dinner thanks to some care packages by mine and her parents.  The menu included: turkey (7 lb. one), stuffing (Stovetop of course!), green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potato, and apple strudel for dessert.  Here is a picture of our dinner:

So there you have it!  Looks like we are making it out OK so far.  Now that we have internet, I'll be sure to keep everyone updated as our time abroad comes to an end (well, in a couple of months at least!).

-Bryant

November 27, 2008

I guess it's been a while since I last updated.  After a successfully vacation, relocation to another country, no internet access for a while, a broken computer, endless paperwork, and a reunion with Melanie, I think I am ready for a new beginning! Stay posted for some new updates and also some written up comments on my travels and how exactly I got to Germany in one piece!

-Bryant

August 27, 2008

So it looks like everything is wrapping up here in Denmark.  David and I finished our one-week course and all we have left is a project that we'll get started on tomorrow.  Daniel came back from Germany and defended his thesis the same day that Jason did (both winding up with passing grades and thus getting their Master's degree from DTU).  Both are in the process of packing up their stuff and getting prepared to leave before the weekend (!!).

I am also starting to sell all of my furniture that I've bought over here because new people have been arriving in droves lately.  I figured I might as well get rid of it now and make a larger profit because everyone is needing stuff for their rooms.  I pretty much sold everything in my room (table - 100 Kroner // bookcase - 150 Kroner // rugs - 100 Kroner // chair - 100 Kroner // three shelf organizer - 100 Kroner // bicycle - 800 Kroner [which I got for free!] ) for a total of 1350 Kroners (about $260) which is not too bad and will definitely help out on some traveling expenses.

I also have been trying to purchase necessary items for cheap from Jason and Daniel so that I won't have to pay high German prices.  I bought Jason's wireless router for a fair price and also got his electric water boiler.  Daniel sold his bicycle that he used in Freising to me for 50 euros (about $75) which means we only have to find one more for Melanie and I.  Knock a couple of things off the checklist...

Mel and I also found a place to stay in Germany and have FINALLY gotten in contact with the relator over there.  He is going to discuss the potential move out date (move-in for us) with the present tennents and then get back to us.  If you want to view it here it is (translated through google translator).  It seems pretty nice and the rent is one of the cheaper ones we've seen (the monthly rent including bills are going to be 460 euros = $690).

Finally, David and I have planned one last trip before I sort of head out on my own to Germany with Mel.  Not this Saturday but the next (the day after we turn in our project), we are going to be heading to the island of Bornholm which is about a 6 hour ferry ride east of Copenhagen.  The ultimate goal is to bike ride around the island.  You might be asking yourself how I am going to bike ride since I sold my bicycle.  The simple answer is that I am going to borrow one from a friend.  Anyways, here are a couple of maps of the area:

The path that we are going to be taking is roughly outlined by the yellow line (however we will be dipping a lot more south than that).  The total trip is 60 miles which is pretty considerable since I have never been on a bike ride before!  The plan is that we'll arrive on the island at 6:00am Saturday morning followed by bicycling all day and spending the night on the eastern part of the island.  We'll wake up the next day and finish the journey before heading out at midnight Sunday night.  This will be good practice for my heading to Aberdeen because Skip (Melanie's dad) wants to go bike riding around where they live.

Anyways, that's about it!  Things are just starting to get exciting!

-Bryant

August 21, 2008

So it looks like google is going to do away with "google pages" and will be focusing more on their more popular "google sites" which allows for more customization by the "blogger." What they plan on doing is not allow any new sites to be registered via google pages and will gradually phase out and convert the present websites into google sites in the coming weeks/months. What this means is that one day, when you try to view my site it won't be there! But don't worry, google will either redirect you to the new location of the website or I'll send out an e-mail to everyone telling them the location.

Things have been going pretty well lately.  I am almost done with my one week course (which is more like a lecture series) and then have two weeks to turn in the assignment associated with the class.  I also got in contact with a person from TI-Freising, so he knows that I plan on starting there in mid-October.  He also gave me a loose idea on my thesis area so I can start my pre-thesis work -- saying that I'll get my actual topic and mentor next Thursday.  For those who are interested, I will be working under the broad scope of "Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) topologies and control mechanisms" and will be pretty much doing something similiar that Daniel has been doing over there (surprise!).

It's getting pretty lonely in the containers as of late with everyone moving out and heading to their respective homes around the world.  Jason and Daniel are scheduled to "defend" their thesis next week and will be heading home back to Lubbock shortly after.  I am sure Daniel will be especially happy because he hasn't been home since he first came over here last June!  

With no one around, it makes me incredible anxious for the reunion with Melanie.  We went ahead and reserved our hostels for our trip in the middle of September, so that vacation is pretty much planned.  We are going to be staying in pretty interesting places: The Olympic Stadium in Helsinki and a really old building near the "Old Town" of Estonia (Oslo's accommodations are a little mundane in comparison).  Pretty much the only thing left to do is find housing in Freising as well as get our train tickets.  We arrive back into Copenhagen on the 29th which gives me all day on the 30th to pack and clean up, making a train ride down to Munich/Freising on the 1st likely (fingers crossed).  As for housing, we've inquired about a couple of places but have either not heard back or been rejected on every place we have been interested in.  I think in the coming week (once I am done with my class), we'll be a lot more active of finding a place to stay.

Well that's about it for me.  I really don't have any trips planned for the coming days/weeks until my Aberdeen expedition.  I think I'll mostly be working hard on my project for this one week course (trying to complete that in a week) and then looking into the basics for my pre-thesis.  This class has been incredible helpful because I have always been most worried about the thesis, and now I feel a little <aghast> excited about the topic, so i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

As always, until next time...

-Bryant