So I'll start at the beginning. After getting to the airport Friday morning, I took a train to Amsterdam, where I met Justine, a friend from Iowa State who is also studying at Delft. We walked around Amsterdam with a couple of her friends and some people we met at a hostel. Amsterdam is alright. We were only there for a couple hours, which may be why I wasn't terribly impressed, but the canals and old buildings were nice for a while, and then I got tired of walking around and dodging bikes and trams. We stopped for lunch, and I had lamb pizza and a beer. Beer is alright. I would rather have a root beer though. We headed to Delft, and Justine let me stay at her place for the weekend, which was very nice of her. Delft actually looks quite a bit like Amsterdam: canals, closely spaced buildings, brick roads, and lots of bikes. It's a little bit quieter though, which I like. The first weekend was pretty uneventful. I did a lot of walking through Delft and got lost a bunch.
On Monday, I started classes and moved into my flat (apparently that's what they call them in Europe). The flat is nice enough. It has more space than a lot of other places in Delft, and has a washing machine; not every place does. It's near the city center, right between a canal and the train station. It is a good spot if the trains don't keep you awake at night. (I don't mind them.) My housemates are Libor from the Czech Republic, Peter from Austria, Juan from Spain, and Riccardo from Italy. They seem like pretty good guys. Tuesday we had a meeting to talk about cleaning, sharing groceries, etc., that ended with me having my first vodka and schnapps. The vodka was terrible; the schnapps a little better. I don't think I'll be an alcoholic anytime soon.
Classes are good so far. Sustainable Engineering and Earth Observation (different techniques to measure charecteristics of the Earth, mostly climate-related) have been very interesting so far. My Sustainable Engineering professor was an astronaut in 1985 and is involved with all sorts of cool projects, like airfoil-shaped kites that produce power, a solar-powered speedboat, and water reservoirs that store power. My other classes don't sound so promising. (In case you're wondering, they're Jet Engines, Supersonic Aerodynamics, Composite Design, Vibration Analysis, and Structural Design and Airworthiness.) I also have three of them during the same period, which makes it a little tougher. I hear that you learn more on your own than you do in the lectures, though, so I'm not too worried.
It's about a 30 minute walk to the AeroE building, so Tuesday I got a bike. It's very old and heavy, but it has fenders and chain guards and all the other things that are nice for an urban bike to have. A generator attached to the front wheel powers lights--neat! After riding it for a couple days, I will say that Delft is a city best experienced on bike (you could say the same for other cities, but Delft especially). Riding through the city streets, with the bricks rumbling beneath me and the wind (which can be vicious sometimes) in my face, I feel like a Dutchman.
Thursday I went to a lecture about the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. I was very impressed. They seem to have thought of everything--more aerodynamic housing for the engines, bigger windows, quieter engines, the way they sell it. The supports for the flaps are smaller because the flap only has one slot, but the spoiler deflects downward, heads-up display for pilots, so it generates just as much lift. The electrical system is powered by generators in the engine instead of bleed air. All told, they say it's 20% more fuel-efficient than the 777. The guy also said that most airlines customize the plane heavily, and the cost of changing just the cockpit from one airline to another is around $10 million, so they standardized things a bit. It will be interesting to see how it competes with the A-380, the giant plane from Airbus. So far Boeing's sold more planes (although you would expect that from a smaller plane). There's more info here if you're interested: newairplane.com
Some general observations:
People are tall here.
It is very nice here--the high today was about 45 degrees. There are even flowers blooming!
Lots of places have free coffee/cappucino. I think it's a great idea.
I need to learn Dutch.
I'll try to keep this more or less up to date--we'll see how that goes. Until next time, thanks for tuning in.
