Break continues...

Promised an update and here it is!

So as said, I went down to Austria last weekend and we spent all day Sunday on the slopes. I survived and managed not to break any bones, which is also a plus. The weather was nice (well, sunny and not too cold) and the area was absolutely beautiful.

Then I came home Sunday night. Monday I started my first day of researching! I really like Ana, who I'm doing the work for. Their project (to give a hopefully-not-chemical-background-needed-to-understand-what-I'm-saying explanation) works with removing nitrogen and sulfur from gasoline (processes called hydrodenitrogenation and hydrodesulfurization) respectively. This results in less H2S (very toxic gas) being released when the fuel is burned. These elements also corrode the metals put in gas to raise the octane rating, so obviously that's not helpful either. Specifically, she is (and now I am) looking at different catalysts for the reaction and (specifically) the effect of nickel being used in the catalyst. I have my own catalyst that I'm doing all sorts of tests with to fully analyze. It's actually really interesting (or I find it to be, anyway). Technically I need to work 30 hours for 4-6 weeks to get respective 3-4 credit hours. I've got one week in now and should be able to work the next two weeks "full time" as well, so I actually should be almost done by the time classes actually start! Which will be really nice. At the end I get to write a report of my work and present it to the professor.

Speaking of which, turns out classes start on April 20th... a week later than I had thought. Not sure how I missed that one. As far as classes go, I'm much more organized than last semester which is a huge relief. And my schedule might end up being very pretty too, especially if I end up finishing the research up early on. Of course, classes are also going to depend on if I manage to pass linear algebra (by U of IL's standards) the second time around. For those of you who don't know, the passing grade at the TUM is anything about a 5 (as in 4.7, 4.3, 4.0, 3.7, ... 1.3, 1.0). Unfortunately the passing grade on my TUM/UIUC grade conversion is anything above a 4.0. Well, I got a 4.7 on linear. So technically... but yeah. Second try will hopefully go better, though I have my doubts. It appears that they're not so big on the partial credit bit... or so I assume after I compare the answers to the final with what I remember putting. Oh well. We'll see what happens.

Other than that... I've actually been keeping pretty busy. I finished my paper and just emailed it in. Final project is a 17 page (Title, Contents page and Works Cited page inclusive) paper written in German about Muslims in Germany. Quite the accomplishment, I would say. We'll see what he says though. That's the last grade (other than linear) that I'm waiting for. I still have one more to go pick up (professor currently not responding... must keep contacting). Ahh.... Thursday and Friday I went out to dinner with Americans. Thursday Ashley had 5 friends from the States who had come to Munich for spring break, so she invited Hans and I along for dinner. Friday another Fulbrighter (Hans and Ashley's program) from Heidelburg was in Munich for the weekend and had met up with two people she knew from her university (Fulbrighters in Spain and Italy), so Hans invited me to come along too and we went and got dinner again... Then Saturday night I went to Starkbierfest.

Starkbier (yes, "strong beer"...) is a mini-Oktoberfest. Same length, different location, and much smaller. It takes place during Lent because starkbier is what the Monks used to brew to get through the fasting time. It's basically a meal in itself. It's really, really dark. And apparently has an alcohol content of around 8%? Or so one source told me. Anyway, it was basically Oktoberfest all over again. People dressed in Lederhosen with their Liter ("Mass") of beer in hand, dancing on the tables. Basically, a German festival (or Munich, more precisely). And... coincidence of coincidences (I'm running into a lot of these!), I met Jack there! Jack is the student from U of IL who was here last year. He helped me out at the beginning of the year when U of IL was being obnoxious and I finally met him when he came back to Munich for a conference back in December or so. Well, apparently he has a job in Southern Germany now and came up to Munich to to go Starkbierfest! And... he just happened to have sat at the same table as the people we were meeting there. I went with some friends at around 8:30 that night. The other guy had been there since 3, so we were going to join him... and guess who's at the table! Jack! Who I hadn't even known was in Munich! Go figure!

But anyway, back to studying for Linear!