Long time, no post

Hey guys. Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks I've been very busy. Don't expect a post anytime soon either...My flatmate moved out and now I no longer have internet at home. I may be able to post something at work eventually and hopefully I'll be able to figure out a solution to my internet problem. That's all for now.

I'm off to the lab.

Ciao Bella!

It's time for the much anticipated (or not really anticipated at all) Milan post. What a weekend...

I left early on Thursday morning at 7 am. The train ride took 9 hours, because it was a local train and we stopped at random stations every half hour or so. I stayed up while we went through the Alps...sooo beautiful. I had 2 transfers as well, but after all was said and done my last train came to a halt in Milan at 16:30 (AKA 4:30 to those of you in the US). Of course Ross was busy doing something until 18:00 so I wondered around until he could meet me. The first thing I noticed though was the train station itself.

I've been to huge train stations before: Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin, but this was a different sight. The fascist regime under Mussolini in the 40's built this train station in the typical fascist extravagance. After Ross picked me up we went dropped my stuff off in his room and walked around for a while to get myself oriented and see a few sights. For dinner we grabbed some panzerottis. For anyone who is ever in Italia I highly recommend them; they're a favorite of Italian locals. Basically its almost like a calzone, with dough that's folded over mozzarella cheese, sauce (and whatever else you want in it) but then deep fried. Italians line up to get them. After that we went out and got some typical Italian drinks and came back and slept.

Day 2. I was supposed to get up with Ross at 8:30 but after a long day of traveling and possibly a little drinking I decided to sleep in. Ross told me we'd meet around 12:30 when he was done with class. I awoke to a note that read something to the affect of: "Meet outside this building at 12:30 the address is 22 Piazza Galileo Galilee ? It's called Daniels. I'm leaving you the map and I circled my dorm on it. XOXO Ross." So like any one I started to look for Piazza Galileo Galilee on the map....but it wasn't on the map. There was a Galileo Galilee Via (aka road) so I figured that was the reason for Ross's question mark. I got to the road by 12:30 but neither Ross nor a building called Daniels was anywhere close. So I made the long trek (30 min walk) back to Ross' dorm. I got there at 1:15. I waited until 2...still no Ross. So I got some lunch nearby. Now it's 2:20, no Ross. I waited until 3:05 and left to get some gellato, beautiful italian (don't call it ice cream they get mad) dessert made fresh everyday. Then I went to the Duomo, the main attraction in Milan. It's a huge cathedral. Construction started in the 5th century but Napoleon had some big influence, and he has a big statue out front in the city square. This is also where people watched the Inter Milan vs Bayern Munich game and where they will watch the World Cup. Pictures are below:

Back to Ross. After going inside the Duomo (sorry no pictures) I walked back in hope of finding Ross. It was about 4:30. Just my luck!...not. He wasn't there again. But the guy at the front desk told me he had just left to play soccer with some of the guys from his class. I pulled out the map and ran to the nearest park, which of course had to be at least a mile and a half away. Upon entering the park I saw the unmistakable, tall, lanky frame of Ross, awkwardly kicking a soccer ball around. It was sooooo unmistakable that it turned out not to be him but some Italian kid. Frustrated, I laid down in the sun for a half hour before running back to Ross' place. He was outside, we finally met up at 6 pm, five and a half hours later than planned.

Funny thing is we almost met up like 3 or 4 times. Every time I came back I missed him by 5 minutes and every time he came back he was only a few minutes late. Oh well. We made traditional italian salami and cheese panini's for dinner and then went out to the Canals, a local Italian hangout. It's literally just a stretch of bars/restaurants along a canal. It's pretty far from Ross's place so we took the Metro. None of us brought a watch nor cared what time it was. We let the night take us wherever. We met an African named Charles Barkley. At some point we decided to go home...not sure why but we decided to walk the 5 miles back. We got back to Ross's place around 3:30 am or so. Ross's dorm has a policy where any guest has to turn in his passport/ID when he comes in (also, people that live in the building turn in their key to the front desk when they leave). So, I took out my passport to hand to the guy at the front desk, and was met with:

Desk Guy: "Oh sorry, you can't stay here."

Me: WHAT!!!!! It's almost 4 am. "I'm sorry. What?"

Desk Guy: "You're not allowed to stay here. No guests between midnight and 7 am."

Ross: (Freaking out) "Where is he supposed to go? It's 4 am. "

Desk Guy: "I'm sorry, it's not my rule. I can't let him stay here. I'll get in trouble."

Ross: "I promise we'll just go up into my room and sleep. I'll be responsible for him. Nothing will happen. He can't sleep on the street. We don't even know where to go."

Desk Guy: "I can't let you do that. I'm sorry."

Me: (Blown away). "WOW, we had no idea. I really can't sleep here?"

Desk Guy: "You can stay down here in the lobby." (SIDE NOTE: lobby is concrete floor with old tables and school chairs.)

So that's how we spent our next 3 and a half hours. Ross brought his computer downstairs. I fell asleep after a while. At one point I was so out of it that my face was literally flat against the table with no support from my arm. Literally, it was completely squished against the table. We had, had plans to get up early and go Genoa the next day (Saturday). So much for that.

We woke up at 12:30, groggy and still tired. The first order of business was to go to the train station to book my return trip. We were hoping that I could take an overnight train back to Munich so that we could go to Genoa on Sunday. No such luck, the late train was completely booked. So I ended up getting a train from Milan to Zurich and then from Zurich to Munich.

The rest of the day we spent seeing a few more sights in Milan. We went to the top of the Duomo and got a spectacular view of the city. (I have more pictures if you're interested). We also saw an old castle in the city (really not that exciting). There was supposed to be a big Middle Age Festival at the castle. Ross and I went to check it out. Luckily Ross is freakishly tall and could see over the gates because they had it blocked off. It was 5 Euros to enter and Ross said it was pathetic...just a few people dressed up standing around. So we skipped out on that and went walking through a local park. The park should have been rated R and I wouldn't recommend it to those who don't like PDA. Walking through the city it wasn't uncommon to see Italians, shall we say, very "close" to each other and public make-outs weren't rare. Going through the park, however, is a whole different story. People were groping and straddling each other. Pretty weird if you ask me. I guess its just socially acceptable there. On a less disgusting note, there was a group of Italians doing basically a battle dance/break dance/karate . I forget what it's called so I'll have to ask Ross. It was pretty cool to see. At the end of the park there is the Arch of Peace. Built by Napoleon, the arch was once connected by a road to the more famous Arch de Triomphe in Paris. Picture is below.

As I said before, I ended up taking a train to Zurich. Luckily, I had a 3 hour lay-over until my train left for Munich, so I got to do a walking tour of the city. I don't feel like writing a lot about it so I'm just going to post a few pictures. Sorry for being lazy.

New this week I'm introducing THE WALZ WORLD, a short update on my physics excursions each post, dedicated to Mr. Don Walz of Governor Thomas Johnson High School.

This week we implanted some polished tungsten samples previously annealed at various temperatures. Depending on the annealing temperature, the tungsten's structure is affected. At around 1500 degrees Kelvin the tungsten begins to recrystallize. The material properties of the tungsten cause different patterns of diffusion within the microstructure of the tungsten, once they are introduced to the plasma. For example, bulk tungsten (annealed at only low temperatures) forms numerous blisters, 10-20 microns in size, across its surface. However, recrystallized tungsten does not form these blisters. Currently, we are implanting these samples with varying plasma parameters (e.g., flux, fluence, temperature). We are still in the beginning stages of data gathering.

That's all for this update. My Mom is coming to Germany this Sunday and then going to visit our former foreign exchange student, Eliott, in France for a few days before heading to Vienna with me next Sunday. Updates soon.

Tschau!

Feiertag! (Holiday)

This week went by super fast...because it's over already. Tomorrow is a German national holiday and Friday is a day of celebration because the Max-Planck Institute turns 50 this year. So I've got a big 4 day weekend coming up. I recently bought a Eurail pass that lets me travel anywhere in Europe for any 10 days in a 2 month period. I'm using it to go see my friend Ross, who is studying in Milan for a few weeks this summer. We don't really have any big plans... of course I'll see the sights in Milan tomorrow and on Friday when he is at class. Besides that I'll let you know what else we do when I report back sometime next week!

Wandern in den Alpen (Hiking in the Alps)

The short week went by fast because I was finally getting into more work. Work is finally getting more interesting since Armin has more time to spend with me now that his obligations for the conference are over. I got a tour of the IPP's fusion reactor. The whole thing is pretty overwhelming; there's so much technology in there. You can find a picture of the IPP's fusion reactor (ASDEX Upgrade) at Garching here. I didn't get to go in the reactor like in the picture (for some reason I didn't have clearance???) but I did walk around it and see all of the contributing parts, which you don't see in the picture. Basically, the IPP conducts fundamental research for a future fusion power plant. Fusion, the fusing of two light nuclei to form one larger nucleus, is the process that powers the stars (including our Sun) and physicists have long dreamed of harnessing its power. Unfortunately, the process only happens at extremely high temperatures (millions of degrees). To sustain such a high temperature fusion reactors employ magnetic fields to control the super hot plasma. Currently, the world's largest fusion reactor is being built in France (as a combined international effort). The reactor, known as ITER, is the focus of a lot of the research being done at the IPP. Just to let you know...


Just a normal 2-day weekend this time.

On Saturday I took the train to Tegernsee. It's an hour ride from Munich, with a round trip costing only 15 Euros. I spent the day hiking in the mountains around the lake. It was the best hiking I've ever done (Stupidly I wore pants because I thought it was supposed to be colder and a cotton t-shirt...needless to say I was drenched in sweat after trekking all day). I think the pictures do a better job of explaining than I could by writing anything.










Sunday was a pretty lazy day for me. I didn't really do much. I slept in until 11 then spent a few hours watching the news, catching up on sports and eating. I ended up biking into Munich and found out and wondering around the Englischer Garten for a while until I got to a lake. It was really pretty...too bad I forgot my camera. I decide to go to the train station to ask them about a German Rail Pass and found out that I could buy a Eurail pass there. So I think I'm going back tomorrow to buy one, I just need to figure out the best way to maximize my money. On the way to the train station I came across a quintet playing a variety of classical music just outside the Marienplatz. They were really good so I stopped and listened for a half hour. On the way home I stopped in the Englischer Garten at a small vendor and got a Weißbier (wheat beer), possibly my favorite and enjoyed that while I sat next to the lake under a tree.

That's all for now.

PS Birthday shout out today for Ms. Michaela Ails!!!! The big 2-0!

Meine erste Wochenende

I'm back with more from Germany...

My first weekend here turned out to be a long one....literally. Monday was a holiday in the Catholic regions of Germany. The holiday, Whit Monday, is a celebration after the Pentacost (which was on Sunday). Anyway, I got the day off. So I had three days to explore.

Saturday, I took the train into Munich. It's about a 20 min train ride from Garching into the center of the city and the train drops you off at the Marienplatz, a Füßgängerzone (pedestrian only zone) in the heart of old Munich. This is where you can find the Glockenspiel, the Neues Rathaus, most famous of Munich's churches and the Viktualienmarkt, an open air market teeming with fresh fruit, vegetables, German food, and Biergartens. It's a huge tourist zone so I tried to get away from there as quickly as possible.

I hopped on another train (speaking of trains Germany's public transportation system is super efficient. Many people in large cities don't own cars and choose the easier and chearp alternative: trains and busses. You could literally set your watch by German trains. Needless to say you can get anywhere in Munich using public transportation. For only 7 Euros I got a ticket that was good to go anywhere in Munich all day.) to go towards the Deutsches Museum. The Deutsches Museum is the world's largest technology museum...it's like the Smithsonian on steroids. You could spend an entire month going through the history of every technological advancement in the world, from the world's first automobile to glassblowing. There are a ton of science exhibits as well. I only had a few hours. Definitely worth the stop for science/history buffs.

The real reason I went into Munich on Saturday was for the UEFA Champions League Final being held in Spain, against Inter Milan

and Bayern Munich (mentioned in the last post). Awesome environment to watch a game! European soccer fans are the best. Bayern Munich's home stadium, the Allianz Arena, sold out and the game wasn't even being held there! I ended up watching the game at the Hofbräuhaus. Although its a typical tourist trap, it has great food and serves the best beer by the liter. Anyway, the Biergarten was full of crazy Bayern fans. Unfortunately, we lost 2-0.

Sunday, I was back in Munich. This time I road the IPP bike into the city along the river Isar. Its about a 10 mile ride on a dirt path through the forest. Much more scenic than along a busy road. I spent the day riding around and exploring the city more or less riding around aimlessly. I probably easily road 30+ miles for the day. Towards the end of the day, I road into the Marienplatz because they have a public water fountain and I was super thirsty (and too cheap to buy anything). When I got there I was totally blown away...the entire Marienplatz was filled with Bayern fans and blaring music. There was no room to move. During the week leading up to the event the team owner/president/whoever had promised the city 15,000 free beers if Bayern won. Despite the loss, he decided to give the free beers anyway in thanks to the fans for being so great over the course of the season. It was awesome to see. Unfortunately, I didn't stay for the beer because I still needed to ride home and it was getting late and I was hungry. A picture and a video of the scene are below. In the video you can hear Bayern's coach talk about who the team beat on the road to the final...basically just cheering on the crowd. The whole team was there too so it was awesome to see world famous players in person....Franck Ribery is even more ugly than I thought haha...If you don't believe me look him up on google.

Monday, I spend the morning/afternoon by the local lake, Garchingersee (AKA Garching Lake) on a real bike ride (with my racing bike). I road about 35 miles, down into Munich and then up to Freising and then back to Garching.

This week I've finally gotten more into the physics besides just reading literature. For those of you interested, my mentor, Armin Manhard, and I are researching the diffusion of hydrogen into Tungsten and seeing how this diffusion is related to the material structure of Tungsten, i.e. whether it has been annealed at low temperatures or at higher temperatures, allowing it to recrystalize. My main job will be sample prep and charicterization, although Armin is letting me be apart of and see everything. I'm learning so much physics! If you have any questions just let me know.

At the end here I'm posting some pictures of the scenery around Garching. If you have any requests for more pictures of my room or those that I've taken in Munich let me know.

In the woods near the Isar River. It's great to run on trails back here.

A look from right outside of town near a local park.

For now, wiedersprechen.

Here comes the sun...

So, I've got some new to report...

First and foremost, my flatmate came in on Tuesday night when I was sleeping. It must have been after midnight because I think that's when I fell asleep. His name is Norman, he's 31 and he is studying at the Max-Planck Institute. He speaks little English and my German is just enough to get by, so we are doing the whole Post-it note thing; write the word for something in German and English and then put the post it on that thing. For example, for a table we'd put the words "table" and "der Tisch" on the post it. Anyway, he helped me find my mail because I had no idea where or how to get it.

On a good note, the institute had promised on Monday to give me a bike. I didn't expect to get this.....

That's good because that's not what I got. I got this:

Despite it's looks it's been great having it. It cut my commute time to work by 2/3. What took a half hour now only takes 10 min. Plus it makes going to the grocery store and running errands much quicker.

You maybe wondering about the title. Well, the weather here has sucked of late. It's not uncommon for it to rain in Munich this time of year but it is far colder than normal. Yesterday it was only 45 and today only 50 with rain much of the day. I went on a six mile run yesterday and for some reason I waited until the rain peaked. Needless to say I was a bit cold when I got back. It's kind of a weird thing running here because each time I go I have no idea where I am going. It's a good way of exploring. I ran along the Isar river yesterday and through the woods. It's beautiful, I'd send pictures but the camera and the rain don't get along so well.

This weekend it is supposed to be nice and sunny with weather in the high 60's and low 70's. I'm hoping to take advantage of the weather and get out into downtown Munich. On Saturday I'm going to go to some Museums and things that I missed during my last trip in Germany and then I'll post up at a bar, pub or restaurant for some dinner, good German beer, and the Champions League final. For those of you who don't know the Champions League is more a less a tournament of Europe's best soccer clubs. Luckily for me Bayern München (Munich's team) is in the final against Inter Milan. There should be a great environment for the game.

On Sunday, hopefully I'm going to run into the city along the Isar river and through the famous Englischer Garten. Then who knows what I'll get into. Monday I'll take my bike from home out for it's first spin. I found a good 30+ mile ride out past a lake and back. If the weather cooperates I'll take some pictures.

Time for bed. Guten Nacht von deinem Freund.

Willkommen!

Hey everyone. Day 3 in Germany and finally pretty much settled in. Unsuspectingly it's pretty cold here. When I flew in it was only 45 degrees. The flight wasn't too bad...I almost missed my connecting flight in London because the Brits told me to get in the wrong security line. I didn't sleep the entire was and I was so tired Sunday night that when I washed my face before going to sleep, I washed it with shampoo.

My flat is pretty nice, I've got a big room to myself. I'll upload pictures soon. I have one other flatmate but I have no idea where he is...I haven't seen him yet but I do know that he has a cat. I don't think he'll be back for a few days because he left out 6 bowls of cat food.

I'm surprised how quickly my German is coming back to me, although I'm not nearly fluent. I was able to open up a bank account today only speaking in German, so I feel pretty good about that. It's amazing how well people at the Institute speak English. They know all of our sayings and even some slang. I wish I could speak German as well as they speak English.

Anyway I've gotta go cook dinner for myself and I have no idea what I am doing.

Bis Später.