My Typical Day

During the week, I sometimes go out into Regensburg, but besides that, I find myself getting a lot of work and training done so I can travel on the weekends. Monday-Friday go something like this:

7:30 am: Get out of bed, shower, get dressed, leave by 7:50am for the bus station on my sketchy bike

8:00 am: Catch the number 7 bus that goes by Siemens, Continental, Osram, and BMW

8:30 am: Start work, grab some breakfast (zwei weißwurst, dunkles Bröt, und suß Senf = two white sausages, dark bread, and sweet mustard = delicious)

11:15 am: My whole team takes a lunch break followed by a 10-minute walk outside

5-6:00 pm: Catch the number 7 bus back to downtown and ride my bike home

6:30 pm: Ride 2-3 miles to McFit (gym) and do my hockey lifting (maybe play some roller hockey at the professional arena next to the gym--you can imagine how excited I was to find this)

8:00 pm: Ride 2-3 miles back to the city and do hockey sprints/shuttle runs

8:45 pm: Get home, shower, and cook dinner

9:30 pm: Relax, plan weekend trips, update blog, etc.

12:00 am: SLEEP! At this point I have no gas left in the tank.

As you can see, I don't really find myself sitting around with nothing to do here.

REGENSBURG- Getting Settled and My First Day At OSRAM

Today my roommate, Stefan, and I woke up and headed out into Regensburg for my first daylight experience here. It's home to about 200,000 and located on the Danube River northeast of Munich in Bavaria. The city dates back to the Celts, but also has routes in the Roman Legion camp Castra Regina, and is still the home of the Thurn and Taxis family. Supposedly this family (well the one gold digger, I mean, wife who married in and inherited it all) is one of the wealthiest in the world. Their property occupies about 40 acres in the middle of Regensburg, and the castle is said to be bigger that Buckingham Palace. There is a church there that is almost entirely gilded with gold and has skeletons of some famous Catholic church figures. I think it is the most impressive church I have ever seen. Anyways, the town is very historic, extremely romantic, has a historic/world famous Bratwurst restaurant that cranks out sausage all day, and seems to be full of life during the summer.

After our walk, Stefan helped me outfit my room with a bed, desk, chair, and storage unit. By the afternoon it was looking much less lonely--red sheets on my trendy new twin bed and my Mac on the IKEA desk opposite of my IKEA dresser--a perfect setup for a summer's stay. The bed and mattress were given to me by Stefan's friend, Stefan, who I met the first night at Bismark Platz.

The next morning I woke up at around 8:00am for work, a little later than I had wanted to but no so bad for my alarm-less rising (I usually set about 5-6 alarms to get up for my 9am classes). I arrived around 9:30am, checked in with the security office, and was introduced to the Human Resource people who setup my internship with MIT Germany. The building is really phenomenal and brand new. Then I was led to the fifth floor (and did I mention that in Germany the 1st floor starts on the American second floor) for my first summit of the OSRAM box. It would be the first of many times that I would walk these six flights. I met supervisor, Julius Muschaweck, and my team, the Applications Engineers, and instantly felt a sense of excitement. All of the workers in my department are really friendly (wirklich freundlich) and interesting people to talk to. One of my older colleagues and I have a 45-minute discussion each day at my desk over interesting politics, ideas, and difference between America and Germany. I would have never thought that I would be so intrigued talking to someone about some of this stuff, but this guy was a professor at five or so American universities in different parts of the country and brings a great perspective on the two countries.

My work at OSRAM will begin with me writing some C++ code for part of the applications website in order to help their customers better choose LEDs for their products. It should be a good challenge, but I am already finding myself growing a lot in the workplace and in the programming department. We'll see how the summer turns out after working with a bunch of fun Germans. I can't imagine it being too bad.

First Days

Thursday, May 29, 2008

I flew out of Logan airport in Boston on an overnight flight to Munich, Germany. It was your average flight complete with crying babies, average food, and an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia. I couldn't sleep well for one reason or another, but to be honest, Lufthansa was probably the best airline I have flown with in terms of how they treat you and the entertainment system.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Upon arriving at the Munich airport, I picked up my 100 lbs worth of luggage and proceeded to walk without destination around the airport. I had no idea if there was a place to check my luggage, so I took it everywhere I went (bathroom, Döner Kebab restaurant, internet cafe, etc.). My situation was such: I had nowhere to be until 6pm when I would meet Gleb at his BMW apartment. However, I had forgotten to print out the direction to his apartment before leaving the US, my laptop was dead, and I didn't have the right converter for charging it. Lastly, my new digital camera had not been charged , and I was already disappointed that I was missing out on precious photo opportunities from the moment that I picked up my luggage and walked in front of a giant BMW display modeled as the front their cars that turned on when it sensed motion (lights, engine sounds, etc.) Therefore, in the best interest of my trip, I claimed a significant amount of territory at an Avis car rental lounge, and read about Germany while my camera charged.

Once I was fully prepared for 8.0 Mega pixels of fun and the feeling of a Mississippi swamp between me and the chair was too much to bear, I enjoyed my first German beer at 11 am and headed for the internet cafe. I located Gleb's address, spent quite a while figuring out the concentrically circular zones for the Munich S/U Bahn train system (for which the tickets varied), and off I went into the big city. The only problem was that I read my watch wrong (I am not so good at simple 6 hour time zone addition) and arrived at Gleb's at 3:30 when I thought it was 5:30. After waiting for an hour, a woman going into the BMW apartment asked me (in German) if I would like to come in. I said, "No, that's okay. I am waiting for my friend who will be here at 6." (in German) Her response, which I didn't understand, must have been along the lines of "6, why the hell are you going to just sit here until 6?" This is when I realized the actual time and left for more food.

That night, Ian came from Regensburg (the town that I also live in for the summer), and the three of us went out for some German drinking fun at the Hofbräuhaus, perhaps the most famous (among tourists) and highly-visited beer garden in Munich. There was music, Bavarian clothing, and 1 Liter beers. Amazing. (see photo album: Deutschland I: Munich Arrival)

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Toan woke us up with his early arrival to Gleb's apartment. We began the day with a trip to Dachau, the site of the longest-lasting concentration camp during WW II where over 30,000 people died during its 12 year existence. In high school, I remembering feeling moved by talk of the war, the Nazi party, and the influence that the Holocaust had on many different people, but nothing compares. Until you walk through the buildings, see the crematorium, and imagine the shear brutality that occurred where you stand, you cannot grasp the situation. I thought about how so many people in America never have nor want to have that experience, and the affect that has had on how we understand what happened.

After this almost-overwhelming experience, we went into town and got a recommended meal from one of the guide books (Hendl a la Parville-almost a whole lightly-fried chicken with a vinegar potato salad.) While sitting there, a traditional Bavarian procession occurred. There were about fifty people sporting their Bavarian attire led by a marching band into the restaurant for what we interpreted as a celebration of a new flag that somehow related back to the church that would last for up to three days (see video below).

We visited the Englischer Gartens in Munich that afternoon where the river allows for surfing, swimming, and summer fun. Thousands of people flock here to show off their man thongs and swim among nudists and surfers wannabees. Quite an eclectic crowd to say that least. Afterwards, Ian and I got on a train for Regensburg, because we wanted to get settled at our new homes, and three guys on the tiny floor of the BMW apartment with no pillows did not seem too appealing.

Mein Mitbewohner (roommate), Stefan, picked me up from the train station in Regensburg. He is a 27-year old physicist that works for Infineon Semiconductors. We have a lot of academic and other interests in common, so I think it will be a really great experience. We dropped off my luggage at the apartment (see photo album: Deutschland III: Regensburg), packed a backpack of beers, and he took me to Bismark Platz, a square with two fountains where hundreds of 20-40-year olds flock in BYOB style to drink and socialize.

FINALLY

I would like to welcome you to my blog for my summer of 2008 in Germany. Deutschland ist sehr schön! My name is Bill Near. I am twenty years old and will enter my junior year of college this fall. My favorite thing to do with my time is play ice hockey. I play the saxophone and harmonica and love all kinds of music (except some country).

Although this is my first post, I have been in Germany for nearly one week and there is already much to be said. Let me preface my summary of the past week with a quick description of what brings a small-town New Hampshire native to Europe.

My trip begins at MIT where I currently study Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. It is here (well there) that I found the gem of a program called MIT Germany, one of the branches off of the tree that is MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives). Here's how the program works, at least from my experience. Last fall I was doing something (not the important detail) when I thought, "I think that I want to be in Europe next summer doing something related to my major and travelling. How can I get there?" From the sky an answer came--"MISTI"--but I needed more. After attending a few information session for the different European countries that had placement programs, I began discussing the process with MIT Germany Managing Director, Dr. Sigrid Berka. Dr. Berka basically has a list of all the companies that she has "connections" with. You tell her what you like or a particular company that you are interested in, and she tells you where to begin. Basically, if you already have a good resume and a draft of a cover letter, all you need to do is refine the cover letter for the company that you are interested in, fill out some simple background forms, and Dr. Berka will wave her magic wand to get you there (well here).

When I began looking into the MIT Germany program, I sent an email out to my fraternity, Phi Sigma Kappa, and others immediately jumped on board. There are now 6 Phi Sigs (Matt, Toan, Lawrence, Gleb, Ian, and myself) in Germany among the other 35 or so MIT students here. I am working for OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, as is Ian. Matt is working for Deutsche Bahn (transportation), Toan for Siemens, Lawrence has a research position at the university in Würzburg, and Gleb is working for BMW.

I arrived on Friday May 30, 2008 and will stay until around August 16, 2008. My blog will document the "interesting" details of my work, travels, and random times while here. The stories will most likely contain unnecessary, excruciating details from time to time for which I will apologize once. I'm sorry. I am an engineer, and to us, details matter.