TWP: Greenwich

Morgan, Emily, and Laura went to Greenwich. Here is Morgan's write up:

This past weekend the girls and I took a trip to Greenwich so we could stand in the Eastern and Western hemispheres at the same time. Although our only plans for Greenwich were to see the Prime Meridian we ended up making a whole day out of it. From the boat ride to Greenwich to touring the city of Greenwich to eating our first fish and chips to actually standing on the Prime Meridian, it ended up being a very adventurist day.

Instead of taking a train to Greenwich we decided travel by boat, the more scenic route. I really enjoyed traveling down the Thames and getting to see some of London’s biggest attractions. Even though we were not on a touring boat, our captain told us lots of information about each place we passed. It was really cool to hear the history of different buildings and places along the river. This also gave us a chance to see which places we have not visited and figure out which sites we wanted to visit later.

Greenwich was a really pretty city with lots of cool places to visit. We visited the chapel and painted hall which sit in Queen Mary’s and King William’s Courts. Each was filled with beautiful art and designs. We also visited Queen’s house which was a former royal home. The inside was filled with art and photos of past royal family members. One of the coolest places we visited in Greenwich was the Market in the middle of the town. There were venders selling all kinds of handmade items and little deserts. We also experienced our first fish and chips in London, which will now be a regular meal for us.

The best part of Greenwich was being able to stand on the Prime Meridian and be in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres. We decided not to go into the National Maritime Museum but we were still able to find a place outside the museum that showed where the Prime Meridian lies. Now I can finally say I have been in two places at once.

TWP: Mercedes-Benz Museum

Andy went to Germany last weekend to visit his relatives. Here is his write-up of the Mercedes-Benz Museum:

One of the most obviously engineering specific locations I visited during my time in Germany was the Mercedes-Benz museum. The building itself is an impressive structure on the scale of the types of projects Ramboll is working on. It opened in 2005 so it’s fairly new, and I was told that construction of the building itself was only possible with modern computer models and testing. Of course the building wasn’t the reason why I visited though; it was the cars.

 The collection of vehicles at the museum can be described as nothing less than massive. Hundreds of vehicles on at least 4 or 5 floors (it’s difficult to tell because the museum spirals from top to bottom). You first take a very sci-fi looking elevator to the top floor where the oldest vehicles in the collection sit. Many are replicas because the originals no longer exist, but it was nonetheless very interesting to see the origins of the European car industry.  They did have the oldest surviving Mercedes on display, and I believe it was near a hundred years old. As you walk the spiral ramp from each level down to the next, minor exhibits line the wall with current events from the transitional time period to give you context as to the era of the vehicles. My favorite cars across the various floors were the limited editions and the prototypes since I had never seen most of them before. One such car was designed for a race that got canceled, and then was driven instead by an executive in the company. There was also a collection of one off prototypes and F1 race cars. I thought it was pretty awesome experiences because the museum is one of the only places you could ever see them in person.

Finally I have to comment on the simulator that I experienced at the museum. After a couple of bad experiences at the science museum here in London, I had low expectations for the experience, but it was actually quite good. Instead of animated footage, they used actually footage taken from the cockpit of various Mercedes F1 cars, and added the motion of the simulator. Between the motion of the simulator, and the turning of the fake steering wheel, you could almost imagine being in the F1 race. The footage makes you realize how much skill it takes to participate in one of those races. The cars are blisteringly fast, and turns come every second or two. My brain could hardly process the imagery coming at it, so I have a renewed respect for F1 drivers.

I can’t possibly write about all of the awesome cars at the museum, but I hope this gives potential visitors a reason to make it a planned destination. Anyone with the slightest interest in cars should definitely visit. You can even buy a Merc at the lot next door if you feel so inclined.

Site Visits

The site visits for our program have been very beneficial while at the same time being problematic. The goal was to spend a day each week at an international company and ask questions about their communication based on the Professional Writing Committee's Communication in the Workplace (CIW) report. 

In the planning stages, AIFS agreed to arrange two visits and I was responsible for two.  Over the last year, I networked with my contacts and corresponded with multiple companies and got agreements from four locations. Unfortunately, one fell through before we left the US. And two, Detica and SAS, had to back out once we arrived in the UK. At this point, we have finished two successful site visits to Keane (that I arranged) and Ramboll (that AIFS arranged). Despite the changes, we are able to readjust our schedule and make changes to our assignment while still maintaining the integrity and rigour of the course.

We were scheduled to go on a site visit this morning arranged by AIFS. However, it has been rescheduled to next Wednesday. On Tuesday, we are going on a behind the scenes tour of the Olympic site thanks to Dylan's father. We are counting the Olympic visit as our fourth site visit.

Although our visits may not have gone precisely as planned, they have been and will continue to be a valuable part of this program.

TWP: Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies

Luke's comments about the sequel to Phantom of the Opera:

I saw Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre on July 15, 2011. I wanted to see this musical not only because of my musical theatre interests/background, but also because it is the sequel to one of my favorite musicals, Phantom of the Opera.I arrived at the theatre 5 minutes late due to forgetting which Tube stop to go to, but I only missed the first scene. 

One of the first thing I noticed is that the Adelphi Theatre is much larger than the Garrick Theatre. That's to be expected because the scale as well as the cast of Love Never Dies is much larger than Pygmalion. Also the presence of choreography and large, complex set pieces requires a bigger stage. 

I was impressed with how the cast and crew incorporated aspects of theatre in ways that I haven't seen before. They used the lighting to make a glass door look and behave like a mirror so the Phantom could have a really cool entrance. They also used transparent screens to project images and videos onstage for scene transitions. The cast also incorporated pyrotechnics into their performance. The use of pyrotechnics was very clever for some of the scenes; but for other more dramatic scenes, pyrotechnics are essential in order to achieve the desired effect.

This musical takes the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride. It tells a dark story of revenge and desperation while taking you inside the disturbing mind of a physically deformed composer.

I highly recommend this musical to anyone who wants to know what happens next in the Phantom of the Opera. This musical has made my top five list of musicals. Love Never Dies will make you laugh and cry, but it will leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

TWP: Phantom of the Opera

As a group, we went to see Phantom of the Opera. The next few blog posts will be about the students' opinion of the experience. First off, we have Laura's posting:

We went to see the Phantom of the Opera, and, like a 6th grader would say, OMG!

The flow of this play was like nothing I had ever seen before in my life. It was one smooth and quick transition after the other. Costumes, makeup, the scenario, everything fit together and was obviously planned and rehearsed down to the last detail. The performers were amazing, with their acting as well as with their singing. The sound was so good that at times I felt I had the phantom whispering behind me and It gave me the chills.

What I loved the most was the wide range of scenarios displayed. Since it was a play about a theater, the actors were themselves actors in plays inside the play, and those plays went from an Egyptian-styled opera to a masquerade, so I felt I got like 5 plays for the price of one. Great!

It was mind-blowing to sit there and try to figure out how they managed to put all that together. I mean this play had theater balconies, beds, whole rooms, stairs, chandeliers, smoke, clouds, thunder... you name it, and I couldn't even tell when they got stuff in and out. A project of this scale requires some serious management skills, to have to put all components together, plan for the unexpected, and have it come out so perfectly is an amazing feat. Hat's off to the project manager.

Although I can't imagine how in the world I would pull something like this off, I hope I learn enough in college so that one day I can.

Till then, the show must go on

To hear some of the music from the show, go to the Monkey Music Box.

TWP: Sustainability

Dylan's write up about his experiences with sustainability in London:

During my stay here in London, I’ve seen a noticeable change from where I’ve lived in the U.S. in regards to sustainability. I am so excited to see this, as sustainability is important to me and I want it to be a major aspect in any job I may take after college.

A major aspect of sustainability is energy use, and I’ve certainly seen a lot of examples of London trying to lower their carbon emissions. On my ride in on A3, I saw a billboard that said “Ricoh: 100% solar and wind powered billboard.” I was immediately impressed with the visibility of sustainable energy use in London. 

Other examples of renewable energy use have been EDF’s sponsorship of the London Eye. In each capsule, the signs on the side not only explained the skyline, but how landmarks such as Tate Modern and City Hall were working to become more sustainable. Even though EDF is primarily a coal-fired energy producer, I was really impressed with their attempts to inform people about the sustainable aspects of London. Also, when I was looking at music festivals to go to, there was a service called liftshare.com that promoted ridesharing as a way to “do their bit and reduce pollution on the environment .“ I was impressed that this service was promoted on the website of the actual music festival.

Another aspect of sustainability is recycling. There isn’t a radical change here, but the subtle idiosyncrasies struck me as making all the difference. For example, every box of every product I buy from Sainsburys tells what part of the packaging can be recycled. This is better than in the US, where to some people, it is not clear what can be recycled. My cereal box from Sainsburys also took a stand for recycling, where it proclaimed “If every Sainsbury’s customer recycled their cereal box, 750 tonnes of cardboard would be reused every year. That’s the equivalent to 101 double-decker buses!” All sorts of other products seem to claim what percent recycled material they are, like my Sainsburys plastic bags that are 50% recycled material.

On one hand, I am extremely excited to see all these revolutionary changes in regard to sustainability happening in England. On the other, I am disappointed at how poorly America compares to the prevalence of sustainability here. Hopefully, I can take the lessons I’ve learned from London about recycling and renewable energy back to America to find out some way to enact social change on a large scale level. As an environmental engineer at NC State, my courses will mostly focus on water quality, but I am intensely dedicated to include a sustainability aspect in my education. I know it will be hard, but one day I hope to be part of the change that causes America to be more sustainable like London.

TWP: Madrid

Last weekend, six of the students went to Spain. Here is Page's write up about their trip to Madrid:

I knew I would be going on at least one large trip out of the country while studying in London. For a while there was much talk of going to Paris or possibly somewhere in Germany. I knew the girls of the group had talked about going to Spain but I didn’t think that plan was going to formulate. When I found out that it had, three of us guys spontaneously agreed to tag along. I was happy to go to Madrid because I had never been before. I had been to both Paris and Germany before, but Spain was somewhere new.

I studied French throughout high school, which was of little use to me in Spain. I knew very little Spanish and even less Spanish history. But these hindrances did not set me back at all. None of us who went spoke much Spanish, so Laura was the official translator for each of us. The rest of us together could make basic conversation and communicate well enough.

When we traveled during the day, Laura was our guide. She told us and led us to several great tourist attractions. Even though I don’t know too much Spanish history, the places we went didn’t require very much historical background. The Cathedral and palace we toured were amazing structures. The art museum we visited had both English and Spanish captions for all the art. The language of art, itself, is universal, so I was able to enjoy all of the works.

One of the coolest sites we came across was a small park with a fountain. It was really cool to me because there were two statues; one of Cervantez’s Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. I read Cervantez’s Don Quixote my freshman year. It was really cool to see a monument and recognizing it.

Overall, I really enjoyed going to Madrid. It was a great experience to go somewhere brand new and be thrust into a new culture. 

TWP: Science Museum

Emily went back to the Science Museum after our tour and here is her TWP write up:

After attending the Science Museum for a scheduled tour, I knew that I would be going back as soon as possible to see the Health and Medical exhibits. My major is biomedical engineering; therefore, I enjoyed looking around at the inventions displayed throughout this exhibit. I learned more about the origins of my major as well as inspired about all scientists have accomplished over the years.

When I got to the Medicine and Heath section of the Science Museum, there was a piece of equipment that immediately caught my attention. It was a table with a mask for a face and then a drill going down towards the mask. This machine was used to first treat patients for head cancer. Patients had to wear Perspex face moulds fixed to the table in order to keep their head completely still. From the looks of the machine, I can only imagine how claustrophobic the patients felt when undergoing surgery. I personally cannot even imagine having to sit with a mask strapping down my face while they drilled into my head. Today they have significantly improved the process for treating head cancer. The process is much more comfortable and accurate.

Another machine that really stood out to me was an old MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging. This machine was used in 1989 to take pictures of people’s brains. Today doctors frequently use MRIs when diagnosing patients. The clarity of the images have greatly improved since 1989. I thought it was fascinating seeing how far technology has come. I hope to one day use my biomedical engineering degree to further improve machines such as the MRI.

Finally, two of the last machines to stand out to me were the automated DNA sequencer and chromatography machines. Both of these pieces of medical equipment have a lot of significance to me because I worked with different versions of these labs in my classes at North Carolina State University. The first machine, the automated DNA sequencer, has been around since the 1970s; however, the specific machine I saw was from 1987. I used an automated DNA sequencer in Biology lab. The model I worked with in biology was much smaller than the one I saw in the museum. Similarly, the chromatography machine I used in college, but I worked with this piece of equipment during my bioinstrumentations class. Chromatography has been around since 1930, but the machine I saw was made in 1993.

By looking at the head cancer table, MRI, automated DNA sequencer, and chromatography machine, I learned more about the history of my major and the significance of biomedical engineering for improving the medical world. I really love how London has free museums like the science museum so I can gain knowledge on what interests me most.

TWP: The London Eye

Instead of writing about our trip to the London Eye, I will let Andy's TWP describe our experience:

As an engineer, I cannot help but write about my experience at the London Eye. It is a huge technical achievement to have built it is tall as they did. One of the things I find so interesting about it, is that as huge as it is, and as expensive as it was to build, it was originally only designed to be a temporary attraction. After all the engineering that went into it, the original plan was tear it down. However of course, most people know that it has become incredibly popular. So much so, that instead of tearing it down, they decided to make it a permanent London attraction, and today it is one of the city’s most famous attractions.

Of course, what impacted me the most about the London Eye was the actual view of London from the top of it. The city looks truly stunning spread about before you unobstructed by little more than an inch or two of glass. I could see all of the various places I had already been we were so high up. Even Big Ben seemed small compared to the scale of the London Eye.

Finally I felt I was able to appreciate the London Eye not only as a tourist, but also as an engineer. After our site visit to Ramboll, I have a greater appreciation for not only the difficulties of building massive structures like the London Eye, but also challenges of building in London at all. I don’t know the actual specs, but I do know that the London Eye is one of the tallest structures in London, and it is built right next to the Thames. That gave the engineers a whole other set of problems to solve with the tidal forces that affect the area, and the general instability of riverside ground. I noticed the massive supports pulling the Eye towards the land, and thought about some engineer somewhere had to go through the process of rolling all of the building challenges into a single set of numbers, to know what the tolerances needed to be and how big that support needed to be. Although I’m a computer engineer, and not a civil or mechanical engineer, I definitely had to respect the challenges that I’m sure the London Eye presented to its designers.

Overall, I’m really glad we were able to visit the London Eye as part of our study abroad experience. It’s a great example of civil/mechanical engineering that resulted in a fantastic viewing experience for everyone who has visited it.

TWP: Travel in Italy

Morgan travelled with her family before arriving in London. Here is her write up about Italy.

Before starting our study abroad program in London I took a week to travel Europe with my Mom and sister. We started our trip by spending five days in Rome, Italy. Most of the places I visited were either related to my major, Biological Engineering, or related to several of my interests, which include architecture, art, and design. 

One thing Rome is most famous for is its structures that are about two-thousand years old. I was most fascinated by the structures in the Roman Coliseum and the Roman Forum. It was really interesting to see how the city was layout two-thousand years ago. I also liked comparing the new structures of the city to the old structures. These two sites are just mind blowing to see. 

Another amazing place I visited in Italy was Vatican City. We went to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum. The art and design put into these two places are just breath taking. St. Peter’s Basilica had amazing high ceilings with beautiful designs within each part. The Vatican Museum was filled with thousands of paintings and pieces of art from some of the world’s most famous artists. Within the museum is the Sistine Chapel which is the most spectacular place I have ever visited. One could stare at the ceilings of the chapel for hours. 

One of our days in Rome we decided to travel to the city of Naples and then take a ferry to the beautiful island of Capri. Even though the island of Capri was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited, I was also very interested sites we saw traveling from Rome to Naples. Taking a train from Rome to Naples allows one to see about two hours of the country side of Italy. As a student studying agricultural engineering I was very interested in seeing the different types of agriculture production taking place along the southern west coast of Italy. The few types of crops we encountered were many vineyards, sunflower fields, and hay fields. I was very surprised not to see any livestock along the trip. I was also amazed about the geographical layout of this area. If you looked in one direction you could see the sea and if you looked in the opposite direction you could see mountains. It was quite interesting to see so many crops growing in an area that is close to both the sea and the mountains. 

I would strongly suggest others to visit Italy if they have never been. 

Site Visit to RAMBOLL's London Office

This morning we met Jena from AIFS at the Gloucester Road Tube Station and we followed her to the Ramboll office which is between Soho and the West End.  Ruth Johnson gave us an overview of what Ramboll does and took us on a tour of their office. All employees--from HR to engineers to the CEO--sit at tables in an open floor plan.  After the tour, we had tea and Ruth presented the students with a case study: examining and evaluating two possible building sites. Even though my 8 students are not civil or structural engineers, they used their critical thinking skills to approach the problem. 

Luke and Dylan asked the interview questions and Ruth provided great information for the students. Best quote from Ruth: "If you can't design a good report--how can you design a good building?"

TWP: London transportation

Dylan's TWP write up of his experiences on the London transportation system:

In one way, London’s public transportation is exactly like Raleigh’s. There are trains and buses. But look at any other aspect than what the public transportation system consists of, and London is another beast entirely. My use of London’s trains and buses drew from my previous experience in Raleigh and Washington D.C., but also taught me lessons I could never learn in smaller cities like Raleigh.

I use the tube almost every day to get around in London. Having an Oyster card provided is a huge bonus, as it would cost tremendous amounts of money to get around without it. In my experience the tube is not overcrowded, and TFL (Transport for London) is working to improve it anyway. The more capacity the tube has for people, the less people can take cars and be better for the environment. Catching and figuring out the directions of the tube is relatively easy, and after only a week I am fairly familiar with our usual routes. The only bad part about the tube is that it closes at midnight.

The night bus is an adventure that every tourist in London needs to try to believe. Coming back to your apartment at three in the morning with a bus full of reasonably drunk people is more fun than you would think. Also figuring out which routes you need to take home at three in the morning, even without having a bit to drink yourself, is a challenge in and of itself. This bus is a good alternative to catching a taxi, which is more expensive and worse for the environment.

London’s public transportation system relates to my major because I believe an effective public transportation system in any reasonably sized city will have to be a part of a sustainable future. As fuel-efficient as we can make cars, putting dozens of people on one of these fossil-fuel burning vehicles is better than five at the most. An effective rail system (let’s face it, Amtrak isn’t the best) is also another part of the solution. Sustainability is where the future lies, and part of sustainability will have to be public transportation.

TWP: Stonehenge and Roman Baths

Page wrote about his impressions of Stonehenge and Bath in this TWP posting:


With modern technology, the strenuous jobs of yesterday become the easy tasks of today. A replica of Stonehenge could be built in a couple of hours today and natural hot spring baths have already been built all over the world. The fact that Stonehenge was built between 3.5 thousand to 5 thousand years ago is amazing.
Without giant dump trucks or cranes, it is a marvel as to how Stonehenge was constructed. The speculation of the use of simple machines and physics to haul and lift the 50 ton slabs of stone shows some of the earliest use of basic engineering. The innovative strategies used to complete the structure demonstrate the importance of advancing technologies. We are able to push the limits of yesterday by developing newer technologies.

The Roman baths were built approximately 2 thousand years ago. The innovations demonstrated in the construction of these baths are different than those demonstrated at Stonehenge. Stonehenge required the ability to haul extremely heavy objects, solved in part with various simple machines and brute force. The construction of the Roman baths required the ability to control and conduct the various natural springs. The baths are a prime example of how engineering had developed over a thousand years. Tasks were becoming more logic driven. This sort of engineering task could not be solved with blunt force. Today, most problems we face can’t be solved by blunt force either. In order to solve many of the tasks presented to us, we will have to strive to develop creative new solutions.

I really enjoyed being able to see both of these marvels not only for their natural beauty but from an engineering standpoint too. Although I am not a civil or structural engineer, I am still fascinated with the ways in which these two places were built.

TWP:Churchill Arms

Andy's TWP write up of an unusual pub:

The Churchill Arms is a traditional English pub on Churchill Street, with little more than some ornate flower arrangements and a barely visible sign to declare its presence. When you enter, you’re greeted by several friendly waitresses and…  a Thai menu. In the back of the pub is one of the most fantastic Thai restaurants you will ever visit. Each meal is only 7.5 pounds, a relative steal in south Kensington, and you get as yelp puts it, an “American-sized” portion. As an individual entirely uninitiated on the delights of Thai food, when I received my meal and took my first taste, I immediately discovered a new nationality of food to make a habit. However the biggest shock of the experience came a few minutes into the meal. As I ate my meal I looked up and noticed one of the blue signs mentioned on our bus tour as government issued historical declarations. To my surprise, the sign indicated that Winston Churchill, one of the most influential Englishmen in history, had given his wartime speeches to the nation in the very room I was eating from 40-45. This combination of fantastic history, and frankly, the general oddity of the establishment made this a place I simply must write about.

 As I began to think about what experiences of the first week I wanted to write about, I was determined not to write about a pub, until I visited the Churchill Arms. The oddity of a fantastic Thai restaurant sitting in the back of a seemingly traditional English pub just hit me as a perfect example of the great diverse nature of the people in London. All of this was then followed up by a realization of the historical significance of the room in which I was sitting. I am humbled by the influence that Sir Winston Churchill had on not only England, but history as a whole. To have a casual lunch in the room in which he gave some of the nation’s most serious and grave speeches was just an example to me of the amount of history sitting in every corner of London. 

NC State in the London METRO paper

Every weekday morning, a free newspaper is available at the Tube station. Most Londoners read the paper or listen to music. As a result, the Tube is a relatively quiet place (unless there are tourists or people from other countries riding).

Yesterday morning, while reading the METRO, I found an article about NC STATE!
Belly button explorers find life in outie space

Although the topic may cause some to squirm a little, it was fun to see an article about NC State while we are in London.

Students in Spain, Greenwich, Southbank, and new foods

The majority of the students went to Spain this weekend. Laura's cousin lives in Madrid and they are visiting her and then going to the beaches in Valencia. Sounds nice, right?! Two students stayed behind--their travel plans are to Germany and France later this month.

So, Luke and Andy joined my family for a day trip to Greenwich.  We spent some time in the Greenwich museum getting an overview of the area. There were many interactive exhibits including armor to try on. It was heavy and hot and almost impossible to see out.

Trying on armor

Then we made the trek up up up to the Royal Observatory.  Since 1884, time has been measured for the world at the Royal Observatory and we stood on the Prime Meridian! The Royal Observatory sits on top of a hill that overlooks London. The views were amazing since it was such a beautiful day.

We stopped at a cafe attached to a small museum and had "tea." We would call it a late lunch.  Both students tried scones and clotted cream for the first time and loved them.

While at the museum, we discovered that there is a foot path that goes under the Thames River.  So, we ventured down eight flights of stairs into a tunnel that runs under the Thames. It was quite cool and damp when we got to the very bottom of the tunnel. After a brief rest on the other side, we went back through the tunnel.

Instead of taking the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) and the tube back, we opted instead for a ride on a Thames Clipper. We stayed on the boat until we got to the London Eye at Southbank. At that point, Luke headed back to the apartments but Andy stayed with us.

Southbank is very busy and very crowded on a Friday evening. We stopped and watched street performers and saw a break dancing show. We ate dinner at Yo!, a sushi conveyor belt restaurant. Andy didn't eat sushi with us, but he tried edamame and ginger.  It is good to be adventurous with food!

Tomorrow, the forecast is calling for rain, rain, and more rain. So, it was great to have such a bright day for our excursion.

TWP: Disc Golf

Below is Spencer's write up of his experience with disc golf. Not all TWP experiences have to be directly related to academics. This TWP write up is about Spencer's hobby.

Disc golf is such a huge part of my life, so this TwP event related solely to my personal hobbies.  It was not easy to find out where the nearest disc golf course was in London.  Most people I asked simply replied, "disc golf, what is that?"  So, I went to the top and joined the British Disc Golf Association webpage forum.  There, I was led to the Croydon Disc Golf Association forum.  With the help of a few extremely nice disc golfers, I found out when they play and detailed instructions on how to get to Lloyd Park, which is their home course.

In Raleigh, there are about 10 courses within a 30 minute drive so we have a lot of options to choose from and easy access to a lot of good courses.  This is in no way the case here.  On my way there, which required a 30 minute Tube ride to Wimbledon and a 30 minute Tram ride from Wimbledon to Lloyd park, I noticed someone with a disc golf bag, certainly not something you see everywhere around London.  So, as I got off the Tram at Lloyd park, I introduced myself to Dan, a local Croydon disc golfer.  If I hadn't run into him it would have at least taken me a good 15 minutes to find the first tee pad because it was hidden behind a building and through some trees.  

Once I was there, I ran into the people who were in the league, about 10 of them, and introduced myself and before long we were in groups and teeing off on the first hole.  It was really interesting to meet the people there, all of which have to be pretty dedicated to disc golf to have the motivation to make the trek out to Lloyd Park; some said they had to drive up to an hour to get there.  Even though I am in a different country altogether, it was amazing to see the similarities between the disc golfers here and those in the States. 

The course was much harder than I expected it to be. I did pretty good on the first nine holes but went down a pretty steep hill on the back nine. The whole layout of the course was just beautiful. With such a small following, someone there said there may be only 1,000 or so people in the UK that play disc golf, it was surprising to play such a long and challenging course.

I met a few really cool people and I plan on going back to play with them at least one more time while I’m here. It was no Big Ben or London Eye, but this was by far my best experience so far on the trip. They are working on a new course around the Wimbledon area and one of the people I met said he’d show me the layout later on and I can’t wait. I feel like I’m seeing the foundations of disc golf in the UK in the making, and it is absolutely the most beautiful thing.

TWP: Bath

Emily's Tourist with a Purpose write up:

For my second adventure for Tourist with a Purpose, I traveled to Bath, a city in England. I selected this location in order to see how much medicine and biomedical engineering has advanced over the last thousands of years. This location relates to my major, biomedical engineering, and inspires me to want to accomplish more once I enter the work force.

I first began my adventure to Bath excited to see the beautiful town and travel to a location outside of London. The city did not fail to disappoint on its striking landscapes. The breathtaking views of the countryside, extravagant columns lining the buildings, and lively city streets made this town a quick favorite of mine. My favorite part of the trip was walking around the streets of the town. Every front of the buildings was required to have the same gold color as well as to be styled similarly, while the backs of the buildings were not uniform at all. Driving around the city it was interesting to see the consistency; however, as soon as you turn a corner and catch a glimpse of the backs of the houses you notice not everything is as harmonious as you would think. Nevertheless, this ancient city was beautiful.

Despite its gorgeous views, I realized Bath had even more to offer me: more knowledge on my major. The ancient Roman baths, established in 43 AD, were thought to heal the Romans for life. They believed in this healing power because they had never seen anything like the hot springs that bubbled from the ground. Drinking six glasses of water a day in 43 AD was seen as a method to cure a person for life. This example for curing signifies how much the world has advanced in medicine and biomedical engineering fields over the past thousands of years. Clearly, we have come a long way since then.

Today we know the scientific reasoning behind the great healing powers of the bath water. This spring water is full of minerals that are good for the body. Since 43 AD, we have significantly advanced in medical fields. We now can transfer kidneys, engineering fake limbs, or reconstruct parts of the heart. Back then, the closest thing to biomedical engineering was discovering magical powers in water for no known cause.

By comparing the ideas of medicine treatments in 43 AD to today’s biomedical engineering advancements, I am inspired. We have come such a long way since the beginning of our calendar. I do not doubt that there is a lot more to discover in the biomedical field. There is so much left to learn and engineer and Bath made me eager for my future in the field of biomedical engineering.

TWP: Science Museum

Luke's Tourist With a Purpose write up:

On July 11, 2011, I went to the Science museum to see the Medical Exhibit on the top floor. When I arrived at the museum, I was naturally drawn towards the biotechnology section of the exhibit. I was very impressed how many items were on display. 

Everything from early spread-plating techniques and old vaccine syringes to one of the first chromatography columns and complex electron scanning microscopes. I knew that biotech research and applications have been around since Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA in 1953 and the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. What I didn't know was how quickly the biotech industry grew or how the design of certain machines like syringes and chromatography columns evolved and improved over time.

The main reason I wanted to visit this exhibit is because I would like to have a career in the biotech industry, specifically the upstream (fermentation) process. I have taken many classes on bioreactor fermentation as well as a few microbial bioseparation courses. I did expect to see a bioreactor on display in the exhibit somewhere, but unfortunately there wasn't one. Although I was disappointed with the absence of a bioreactor, seeing one of the earliest chromatography columns helped me realize exactly how far we have come with biotechnology.

I highly recommend this exhibit to any one who is interested in biotechnology or who's major is influenced by biotechnology.

Site Visit to KEANE's London Office

We had our first site visit this afternoon so we met in the lobby and walked to the Gloucester Road tube station together. When changing trains at Notting  Hill Gate tube station, one of the students did not make it on to the train. She was too far away to get to the train before the doors shut and the rest of us were too far into the train to get out before the doors shut. We waited at our final stop and her train arrived just a few moments later.

We went to KEANE located at the Royal Exchange in the City of London . We met with Ian Miller, the executive VP, and Julie Downing, the VP of HR for Europe.  They graciously shared their time and expertise with the students.

Page and Emily took the lead today and they asked 9 questions from the Professional Writing Committee's Communication in the Workplace report.

Communication in the Workplace Questions:

1. Are oral and written communication a part of your performance appraisal?
2. What percentage of your work week do you spend writing (planning, drafting, revising)?
3. What percentage of your time is spent working with others to plan and write documents?
4. What percentage of your writing time is spent composing the following: Email, Chat, IM, Text, blogs, wikis, short internal documents, short external document, long/formal documents? Other?
5. What type of documents do you write?
6. What percentage of your time communicating on the job is with people from other countries?
7. How did you learn to do the writing you have to do in your work – on the job, workplace training, college course, etc.?
8. In what ways has technology changed the way you communicate at work, especially over the past five years?
9. Please describe any examples of the consequences of effective or ineffective writing within your organization.

Page and Emily added some context to each question and Ian Miller answered each one and provided examples from his experience at Keane and EDS and offered helpful career advice.  Julie Downing discussed the importance of following codes of ethics and how international communication can be complicated due to regulations and laws.

It was a successful site visit. Mr. Miller was engaging and even funny at times. It was a worthwhile experience for the students and for me!

TWP: Hampton Court Palace

Each week, the students select 3 activites or locations that are related to their academic and personal interests.  We call these activities "TOURIST WITH A PURPOSE" or TWP for short.

Below is Laura's TWP write up of Hampton Court Palace



On Monday, July 11th, I went to Hampton Court palace; this is where Henry VIII lived. Henry was king of England from 1509 until 1547, and he is the most well known and controversial king that England has ever had. 

The experience was amazing from beginning to end. As soon as I set a foot past the gate I could see a royal guard all dressed up like he had been taken out of the XVI century. A little after, I got to bow down to his majesty King Henry himself, as well as his wife (one of them) Queen Katherine Parr. My favorite part of meeting them was that they were true representations of how royals and servants would behave, and expect others to behave, and they never, ever broke character.

Plays and reenactments were taking place all over the palace. It was mind-blowing to sit there and think about all the royals and politicians that have stayed at the palace, and all the world-changing events that took place in those very rooms I was walking through. I kept thinking, If I stood here and turned back time maybe I could hear King Henry saying that if the pope didn't grant him his divorce from Queen Katherine of Aragon, he would declare himself as the head of the church of England and get an annulment by other means; this little thought went on to become the reformation of the church that would change the world forever.

Hampton Court Palace was also a true learning experience. The Tudor court numbered around 1,000 individuals who lived at the palace; such a large household demanded a great deal of organization and planning. Many systems were developed to have all areas and personnel of the palace work well together, as one big well-oiled machine.

The kitchen, for example, was divided into areas where a specific type of food would be made. Rooms to store and prepare fish, pies, meats, soups, and so on, each having its own section, but all inside the kitchen. Once the food was prepared, it was placed on top of a half-wall, kind of like the ones in restaurants now-a-days, and then a bell (an actual bell-shaped metal bell) was rang to let other servants know the food needed to be picked up and taken upstairs through a short-cut stairway intended for service only. The kitchen system is a clear example of techniques applied to improve quality and quantity while minimizing time; it was also a great representation of an early assembly line, storage systems, project management, planning and applications of statistics to figure out how much food to make based on previous data. A true living factory.

It was such an unforgettable place, and to me, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

God save the King! 

Theatre: Pygmalion at the Garrick

We enjoyed an evening of Theatre together. We saw Pygmalion at the Garrick Theatre with Rupert Everett http://garrick-theatre.co.uk/current-show.htm .
Despite some minor technical difficulties--including the curtain breaking before the second act, it was a fun and interesting show.

In front of our apartments after the show

Excursions

Everyone is working hard to complete their reading and writing assignments for each class (including me!). Summer school is much more intense than a regular fall or spring semester. However, we are finding ample time to explore London and go on some excursions.

The students enjoyed a tour of Bath and Stonehenge arranged through AIFS.  There were not enough tickets for me to join them, so I went to Dover and Canterbury.  One of the students joined me and my family at Hampton Court Palace to immerse ourselves in all things Tudor.

The London Eye at night

Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace

Stonehenge

Bath

End of First Week of Classes

We have finished our first week of classes! Our last student arrived and the other students have helped her get acclimated. The students turned in their first assignments this morning and I really should be grading rather than updating the blog...

Next week, this blog will include entries from the students and their impressions of London and how it relates to their engineering studies.

After many days of sunshine and "warm" weather (upper 70s), we are experiencing cooler weather (high 50s-low 60s) and rain. The sun made an appearance this afternoon and we see some blue skies, but it has been a damp day.

First Day of Class and Science Museum Tour

Our first day of class in the Asa Briggs building went very well. Everyone was on time--even the few who got lost (briefly) on their way to class.  The classroom is on the street level and right next to a cafe. The sidewalks on this little road are almost non-existent.

Asa Briggs Hall--our classroom is
the farthest window on the ground floor.

After a break for lunch, we went the the Science Museum. Mike, a Blue Badge tour guide, showed us around the museum (see http://www.blue-badge-guides.com/ ) .  He pointed out important British engineering accomplishments (and some German and American as well). I did not force the students to pose for a group picture and I am sure they were relieved.

Steam Engine at Science Museum

Tour of London

The class went on a coach (bus) tour of London today and the students (reluctantly) allowed me to take lots of pictures of them in front of St. Paul's cathedral, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace.  It was hard to digest all the information that was shared because our tour guide was a walking encyclopedia. She provided a good overview of the city and suggested a number of activities for the rest of our trip.

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's Cathedral

Tower Bridge 

Big Ben and Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace

Orientation

We checked in at Ashburn Garden Apartments today. Unfortunately, one of our group members has not made it yet, but we are looking forward to her joining us soon.

After unpacking some, we met with Jena from AIFS. She walked us over to Asa Briggs building—where we will have our classes.  Amy from AIFS shared information about Kensington, the apartments, groceries, and other necessities.  Sgt Paul talked with the students about how to stay safe and out of trouble.  

We logged in to the computers in the AIFS computer lab and everyone checked email and Facebook. I directed them to our Moodle site and talked about expectations and what work needs to be done before our first class.

Our next stop was Sainsbury’s for groceries and then back to the apartments for dinner.