Week in Review - June 9th

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My first week in Bochum was a success! I've had a lot of trouble getting WiFi in my apartment, so I apologize for the lack of posts since I've arrived. Here's an update!

The  Language

Not knowing German has made life harder than I thought! Luckily Megan is pretty much fluent, so she helped me at the bank, the student administration building, the grocery store, the restaurant... Basically everywhere I've been so far :)

Currently I Can: 

  • Understand the subject of the conversation ~50% of the time
  • Know what people are saying ~5% of the time
  • Go to the grocery store by myself (probably because it's mostly visual)
  • Read some of the advertisements on the train
I'm still trying to learn, and I think I'm making progress! Duolingo is somewhat helpful, and my German for Dummies book comes in handy too. Hopefully I can keep learning lots of words and maybe someday order for myself at the bar!

The Lab

This week, we helped an undergraduate student named Daniel in the foam lab. He's studying the properties of soil when it's mixed with foam, which is made of water, air, and a tiny bit of surfectant (basically soap). We did slump tests using different types of foam, which measure the consistency of the resulting mud mixture. We also used a cool little instrument to measure the strength of the soil mixture, and filtered the foam through a fancy glass jar to test its quality. Super fun!

This is the slump test equipment that we used. It's way fancier than the one we use for concrete testing at Mines.

The foam bucket just looks like a really luxurious bubble bath to me :)

Foam quality testing!


The Food

I've had some amazing street food here already, and the cafeteria at the University serves the fanciest food I've ever seen at a school. Some highlights:

  • Megan and I had Döner, which is like gyro meat except made of chicken, veal, or lamb, from a cart outside her apartment. I got mine on top of a basket of fries, and then the whole thing was topped with creamy garlic sauce and a chili sauce. So delicious!
  • The second day at the Uni, the cafeteria downstairs was serving currywurst! It's a classic snack food in this part of Germany, and is basically a cut up sausage simmered in a yummy sweet and spicy sauce. This version also had vegetables in the sauce and was served with a brötchen (literally "small bread" - basically a crusty roll).
  • In Münster, we went to a cafe and I had a cappucino with a slice of apple cake. Apple strudel and apple cake are very popular around here, and this version was really good. I was surprised it was served cold, but it tasted like the inside of an apple pie encased in yellow cake plus a crunchy topping.

Day by Day

June 2nd

  • I arrived in Bochum and my Air B n B host picked me up at the train station.


June 3rd

  • My first day of work! I tried walking to the Uni but it started pouring so I decided to take the train.
  • Megan and I registered as students at the University so we could collect our SemesterTicket. It gives us free rides on all public transportation in the state (North Rhine Westphalia), and is a super deal for students!


June 4th

  • I got the key to my apartment and was able to move in a day early! Mariüs used to be an RA at the dorms, so he called my house master and was able to pull some strings :)
  • My first task in the office was to review a PhD student's thesis. Ivan is Croatian, studying at the German university, and is writing his thesis in English. Megan and I were reviewing it for grammar and spelling errors, and helped make it flow a little better. I really enjoyed reading it, and it's the first thesis I've read where I actually understood most of what was being discussed!
  • I tried to go to the electronics store in Bochum to get an Ethernet cable, but I accidentally bought the wrong one and had to order it off of Amazon instead :(
  • Megan and I got döner for dinner, and it was so delicious!

June 5th

  • Mariüs took Megan and I to IKEA to get some things for our apartments. I needed a lamp, a bath mat, sharp knives, and various other things that I couldn't/didn't bring from home.
  • The three of us also went to ALDI so I could stock my kitchenette, and it was so nice not to have to carry everything back home.
  • At the office, Megan and I continued reviewing Ivan's thesis for grammar and spelling errors. I was so impressed that English is his third language because there really weren't that many problems! The Croatian language doesn't have articles, so I mostly added "the" and "an" to everything.
  • My Amazon package was undeliverable because I put in the wrong house number for my apartment, so I reordered the Ethernet cable and had it delivered to a package shop nearby so I could pick it up instead.
  • After work, Megan and I walked to the lake near the Uni. So pretty!

June 6th

  • Our first day in the lab! Megan and I were helping an undergraduate student, Daniel, run some slump tests and shear vane tests on his soil-foam mixture. The lab closes at 3:30pm, and we started cleaning up around 2 o'clock. We also prepared solutions for the next day, and it was very interesting to me that we got so much done in such a short time because all the prep work had already been done.
  • I was able to pick up my Amazon package with my Ethernet cable from the package shop, but when I got home I realized my laptop doesn't have an Ethernet port... I ordered another package from Amazon with an adapter, but since June 10th is a holiday in Germany it won't be delivered until Tuesday.
  • This was the first day where I just hung out at my apartment after work, and it was honestly kind of nice to have some time to just relax and do nothing.

June 7th

  • We did foam quality tests in the lab with Daniel, and Megan and I were able to mix the foam ourselves! When we tried to do it previously, we kept messing up the ratios and Daniel had to redo it, but we were actually successful today.
  • We also went bouldering with Elena, and it was so much fun! I really prefer climbing with ropes, but it was a fun activity and I was super sore the next day.
  • There is a bar in the basement of my apartment, and Megan and I went to check it out after we got back from the climbing gym. She told the bartender that it was my first time drinking because I'm not old enough in the US, so he was giving us free beers the whole night. Some students from my dorm also invited us to play a dice game with them, and I got to practice my German numbers while meeting new people!

June 8th

  • Our plan was to go to Münster today, but I made us miss our local train and we ended up having to take a taxi to the main train station. It cost 10 Euros for a 6 minute ride, but we made it in time for the train!
  • Megan's friend Jan made us a traditional German brunch and gave us a private bike tour of the city. We saw a farmer's market, churches, the lake, and his university.
  • The three of us had döner burritos for dinner, and they also had roasted vegetables inside! That's not very common for this type of food, but I thought it was extra delicious.

June 9th

  • After Münster the day before, I just wanted to stay in Bochum and relax for a day. I did my laundry and had to hang it up to dry, but luckily my apartment has a whole room full of clotheslines right next to the washing room.
  • Megan and I decided to sign up for a 10 kilometer race (6.2 miles) at the end of June, so we started training today with a 3 mile run. It was actually really fun to see the city from a different perspective, but 6 miles is going to be super hard! Wish both of us luck :)
  • Mariüs invited us to go out to a bar at night, and we met a few of the other people from the lab there. We drank beer, played cards, went to an "American themed" pool hall, and stayed out until 2am. It was so much fun but I was so tired the next day!
All of us at the bar!

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