vrijdag 12 december 2008

I survived the fist semester!

I survived it, but it has been a whole lot of hard work! I'm glad it's over now, and I'll be travelling to New York tomorrow for a short week, and then I'll go home.
I never thought studying in the USA would be so demanding, but I do have the feeling that this makes me a better engineer. I wouldn't be able to keep this up for many years though.

zondag 16 november 2008

Charleston trip

I'm just back from another trip (probably the last one before the finals, unfortunately).

Friday evening after class, we started our way towards Charleston. It was raining in Atlanta, and the whole 6-hour drive long, it didn't stop raining at all, it only increased and decreased in strength... The next day we saw on the television that there had actually been a tornado in North Carolina, which explains the terrible weather we had on our way. And that weather also explains why we didn't visit anything at all on Friday night, but just went to catch some sleep.

Saturday morning, the first destination was the harbour of Charleston. Suprisingly warm weather and a fierce seabreeze, combined with the charm of the old houses were the setting for the first part of the day. After a stroll along the port, along the waterfront parc and along the Norwegian Majesty (cruise ship), we discovered the historic heart of Charleston some more by visiting the Edmonston-Alston house. The morning and afternoon had been very pleasant, but in the afternoon another series of thunderstorm hit Charleston. Strolling around was suddenly not so much of an attractive option anymore.
To see the Atlantic Ocean, we drove towards the beaches of Mount Pleasant. Finding the ocean was actually harder than we tought. Most of the beach was not accessible from the road, as there were villas built towards the oceanside. But after searching and searching, we finally found a small walking path that lead towards the beach. And the sight of the ocean, the sound of the rolling waves and the fresh scent made the searching more than worthwile.
Afterwards, we went to the Holiday Festival of Lights: the summum of all possible kitsch, and quite a shock compared to the elegant beauty of Charleston. Approximately 2 billion of lights have been used to form the Festival of Lights... and they're combined in the most kitschy christmasdecorationlike figures. Interesting to see, though!

On Sunday, we visited the gardens of the Middleton plantation. I imagined myself Scarlett O'Hara, walking through the endless gardens that at some places looked very English, on other places they looked like a tropical rainforest and a few minutes further, it looked like a swamp. Many cute birds and squirrels live in those gardens nowadays.
After this visit, we started our way back towards Atlanta. We hoped to find a State Park to visit on our way, and we got off the interstate in Crawfordville to visit the A. Stephen State Park. Crawfordville seems to be a depressingly remote town and their State Park only offers a lake that is suitable for fishing... Unfortunately! Sowe headed back towards Atlanta. I'm now uploading my photographs, and afterwards I'll try to soldier through some of the homework that is waiting for me. A tough week (and end of semester) is awaiting me, with as a climax my finals week which will be only on the first two days (and afterwards I'll be just dead, I think).

zaterdag 25 oktober 2008

Trip with my host family

I had a great weekend!
Yesterday I went to a party, and figured out that one of the guys there was another belgian BAEF fellow. I made him happy with some of the chocotoffs my mom sent me.
This morning I had to get up way too early. My host family (assigned through the AMIGO project), planned to take me and their other exchange student Mike to the north of the state. We started by driving up to Amicalola waterfalls state park. My stomach was not too happy with the combination of chocotoffs, Stella and whiskey from the previous evening and the curvy road going up in the mountains. So I was a bit quiet in the back of the car and thinking I should have brought a bottle of water along...
Anyway, in the state park we had lunch on top of the mountain. The lunch itself was pretty good, and the view was simply terrific! The new things my taste buds explored here were fried ocra, southern style carrot salad (with raisins), pecan pie and some warm dessert with cherries that they top off with some soft ice... It was all very enjoyable! Oh, and I had sweet tea to go with my lunch... I'm becoming a bit of a Southern I guess, because when I arrived here I thought their sweet tea was way too sweet for me, but now I do enjoy it.
After lunch, we headed to the top of the falls, a viewpoint from which you can look down over the falls. We didn't hike all the way back down to the bottom of the falls, because it was a bit cold and windy. I might like to do that another time, though.
Our next destination was the apple house in Elijah. And, oh surprise, I got apples there. They're so much better than the ones from the supermarket.
Then we started our return to Atlanta. On our way back, we made a stop in Dahlonega, the place where the gold rush in Georgia took place, somewhere around 1830. It's a cute small town nowadays, with a country band playing close to the court house at the main square.
And then we drove back home, and after putting my photos on Facebook and writing my blog, I'm going to plunge my nose back into my dynamics book and do some more studying. Yes, I do study a lot, I really work my ass off here, but that's just not so interesting to write about compared to my trips around here.

zondag 19 oktober 2008

Lynchburg and Huntsville

Yesterday, I visited Lynchburg (TN) and Huntsville (AL).
My day started extremely early: I got up at 5h35 and hit the road at 6am (half in zombiemode, half excited to see more of this crazy country).
The first destination was Lynchburg, TN where the world famous Jack Daniel's whiskey is distilled. When entering Tennessee, I noitced a small road sign, saying that we where entering the Central Time Zone. I was totally dumbstruck, as I never noticed Tennessee being in another timezone during my Nashville trip. But apparently, Tennessee is neatly split into an eastern timezone and a central timezone. Good to know! But that meant we would early before the distillery actually opens to the public. We used this opportunity to visit the historic heart of metro Lynchburg, which is basicly simply one square with old-fashioned looking shops... A weird fact about Lynchburg is that this place is in Moore county, and that is a dry county. The Jack Daniel's distillery is subject to some exeptional rule, that makes them able to distil their delicious liquor, but they cannot sell their whiskey in Moore County. Only in America...
Another funny fact is that in Georgia, the sales of fireworks is strictly regulated. Just over the border in Tennessee, you can find a whole lot of fireworks supermarkets. My logic has some trouble understanding what the problem is with selling fireworks in a place where guns are sold as if they were toys... No, I'm not judging, I'm just trying to understand this country and especially the South.
So in Lynchburg I followed a guided tour through the distillery. As it is a dry county, tasting was not possible, but I thought it was a very interesting tour. I did have some trouble understanding our guide, as he had a very distinct accent (and I still miss subtitles when it comes to Southerns). After this tour, the GPS sent us through the Middle of Nowhere in Tennessee and I really started thinking who I would be if I would have grown up there, without an academy of arts and surrounded by endless hills.
The next destination was the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. That is the place where I participated in the International Space Camp in 2002. I was so glad to go back there and relive my memories. The museum changed a bit, of course, and the Saturn V replica is now on the second floor of the IMax cinema, with a small exhibition to explain more about the Saturn. I enjoyed being back in the Space Shot (I admit, I screamed a little bit and I was swearing "putain, putain", but that's fine) and in the G-force centrifuge.
Afterwards, we headed towards the Waffle House, as this seems to be very popular around here. I must says that I really enjoyed my waffle. They seem to have a thicker structure than the Brussels waffles, and they're less crispy, but nonetheless, they're great. I was a bit surprised to see my waffle being served with bacon as a side, but apparently my ordering a waffle with pecan was misunderstood as a waffle with bacon.
Driving back to Atlanta was interesting as well. The GPS sent us via an Alabama highway, and I must say that I've never seen a night as dark as the ink-black night in Alabama. There was no moon to shine upon the road, no road lights, no light from houses as there were no houses along the road... it must have been the darkest night I've ever seen, it looked as someone had hung an ink-black velvet drape over the Earth...

maandag 13 oktober 2008

Tennessee trip

Fall break was the ideal opportunity to get away from it all and explore some more of this country.
On Friday, right after class, we left towards Nashville. The first stop on the way (after the WalMart where we got an extra sleeping pad), was Chattanooga. We hoped to see something from the Lookout Mountain, but apparently the Lookout Mountain was more a collection of attractions and a small town than a place with a great view. So we continued to Nashville. In one word: Nashville is amazing! Small bars with live music, great atmosphere... it's all about music! On Friday evening we just went from bar to bar and soaked up the atmosphere of Nashville. The next morning, we visitid the Country museum and Hall of Fame, and I found out that I don't know anything about country music. I couldn't recognize any of the classics we could listen to and there were very little names I knew. But now I have some idea of it. Afterwards, we walked up to Fort Nashborough. It's called a "fort" but it's a bunch of wooden baracks. Interesting... Then we went to the western part of Nashville, the area of the Vanderbilt university. There, in Centennial Park, they have a copy of the Parthenon. Nashville thinks of itself as the Athens of the USA, so they copied the Parthenon. Seriously... The next stop was Music Valley, where we visited the museum of the Grand Ole Opry and the Gibson guitar shop. We had some extremely sweet icecream in Music Valley too, and then we hit the road again, towards the hostel in Knoxville.

In Knoxville, we didn't visit anything. The manager of the hostel told us that it would be very quiet there on a Sunday morning. I thought that they would all be sleeping in, but apparently everyone there is in church on Sundays. By the way, a hostel in Knoxville is not what we're used to as a hostel. It had just two dorms, one with 4 beds and one it 6 beds. Very cosy!

So, on Sunday morning we went to the Smokies. We arrived via Townsend, where we made some rough plans in the visitor center. We had to go to the Sugarland visitor center, because we intended to do some backcountry camping (we decided that on saturday evening). So at Sugarland the advised us some 7,4 mile dayhike and then a 9 mile dayhike... I think the lady at the visitor center must have tought we were really fit, because the hike we eventually did was already enough. But first we got back to the car and planned to visit some of the waterfalls along the Cherokee loop or something like that. Until we saw the traffic jam in the park around Gatlinbrug. So we just headed towards Clingmans Dome and started off our hike. As we had this very intense preparation for the hike, we needed to be a bit inventive (using shoestrings to tie up our sleepings pads and using school backpack as our hiking backpacks). After a 2,5 hour walk along the Forney Creek trail, we arrived at our campsite and had a good time around the campfire with Aussie and local hikers. The next moring, we woke up and thought it was still very early... but it was 9:40... the light was shining bright on the top of the leaves, creating a wonderful sight. Actually the whole hike down and back up was a series of breathtaking sights. And the camping itself was something I never did before, there was just a place to make fire and something to tie up our backpacks in the trees so that the bears wouldn't attack in the tents to get food. It was so great being there, away from the traffic in the national park and away from it all. I've had my mind totally refreshed there and am ready for some heavy studying the coming week(s). The hike back up was quite a challenge. Especially the firs20 minutes, I was constantly out of breath and having a very fast heartbeat. But after about an hour I found my rythm and kept on going and climbing all the way back up to Clingmans Dome (about a 2000 feet higher than the campsite, so it was a steep hike up!). I'm proud of myself that I made it to the top, and in quite a good time.
Then we started our way back to Atlanta. We made a stop for lunch at Sylva, North Carolina, a very small town with a railroad passing it. In Georgia, we also had a look at the Tallullah gorge, and then we got back in Atlanta in the evening.
I really liked the difference between busy Nashville and the silent breathtakingly beautiful Smokies...

zondag 28 september 2008

ProgPower USA

I've been to the famous ProgPower Festival, right here in Atlanta... how cool is that?!

The festival weekend started on thursday evening. Manticora, Gamma Ray and Helloween (together Hellish Rock or something like that) would be the pre-show. I didn't know how to get there and I didn't know any person going. so a bit before the festival started off, I had posted on the progpower forum to see if there were other tech students going to the festival. And there were, and they've been taking me along the whole weekend which was really great!
So on thursday, I arrived at the venue. And I was kinda shocked: it was so small! Like 1/3 of the size of the AB in Brussels!
Manticora didn't really impress me, nothing special.
Gamma Ray was my favourite band of the evening. Good show, catchy songs, great frontman! I didn't know them, but their show got me into them.
Helloween was too loud. I couldn't distinguish the instruments anymore, and I mostly like their old songs. Pitty they didn't play "Heavy metal is the law"... The end was really cool though, the Gamma Ray guys came on stage to play two songs with Helloween. One of which was the classic "I want out". That was awesome!

So the next day, the real festival started. I had class until 4, so I missed the first band. We were just in time to see Elvenking. I expected more from them, actually. The singer didn't sound good to me, the overall sound was pretty bad. But the violin was very good.
I've seen a bit of andromeda, they didn't really impress me.
Riverside has very good music, I think, but their stage performance is really boring. I would rather hear them on CD, I think.
And afterwards, the best band of the weekend hit the stage: Amorphis. They were amazing! Very energetic, very passionate about the music they were playing. I was impressed. The frontman with his kneelong dreads was really impressive when he was headbanging.

Then on Saturday, we spent some time warming up before heading to the venue. The first band we watched was Rob Rock. Embarrassing lyrics, bad stage performance, horrible band.
Afterwards, Mustach came on stage. They were great. Funny Swedes that were so glad to play in America and have American whiskey on stage. Their enthusiasm gave their whole set an extra vibe. Then we went out of the venue for dinner, and I had the best food I've had ever since I came to the US. Bonehead's or something it was called and it was delicious! Then I've seen some of JOP's set. I like his music, but it's CD material. Their stage presence is nothing... JOP himself combines keys and singing, so he is seated all the time. That doens't really give you the impression of watching a metal show... Afterwards I lined up for watching Iced Earth. They started their set more than 30 minutes too late, while their fans had been standing closely packed, waiting for them, for more than an hour... They weren't bad at all, although the interaction with the crowd could have been better. And there was this annoying guy with the white t-shirt that started a moshpit every now and then. He was way too drunk and just annoying me (and jumped on my toe, and then right afterwards a 150kg fatso jumped on my other toe, it looks reddish-blue now...). I was hoping for some cool songs for the encores, but the guitar player's amp had blown up so they had to stop their show. Pretty cool performance, all in all.

It's been a great weekend, I was only a bit dissapointed because it turned out to be so small. I thought it was much bigger, but the atmosphere was really good.

And now I have to restart making homework and the like... I calculated it out, and I spend the double of hours on working here, than I spent at VUB... I now study about 100 hours a week... I need an easier semester coming spring...

vrijdag 19 september 2008

Just a random list

Today, I don't feel like continuing about what I've done and seen already but I do feel like making a list.

What I like here:
- it's new, it's challenging, therefore it's great!!!
- great international atmosphere
- very kind classmates
- celestial seasonings' raspberry zinger tea for sale in the supermarket, and it's the raspberry zinger alone, not some lousy fruit sampler thing
- sunshine!
- so much sporting facilities
- my concrete and my math class
- phonecalls to europe are really cheap
- wireless internet nearly everywhere
- they sell Destrooper cookies (but only the butter crisps are the same as in Belgium. The waffles got some additional artificial vanilla flavor and the "amandelbrood" is here "ginger thins" and adapted to american taste).
- Cosmopolitan (the real one, not some crappy translated version)
- this is such a beautiful country to explore, there's so much open space


What I dislike here:
- making homework... I've never worked so hard.
- english units
- the amount of conservatives, additives and other yucky things in the food (ham is not supposed to conserve until christmas, is it?)
- this university doesn't have cantus and TD
- beer is way too expensive and the alcohol policy is weird
- I seem to be the only person writing with a real pen and ink, and I really had to do my best to find refills for my pen, they've cost me a whole lot of money and I found out that they were actually made in France....
- throw-away-everythings (I don't want to know how much more trash I'm producing here... sorry Earth!) ... and recycled paper is more expensive than normal paper... ?!
- commercial phonecalls, mostly about "the best possible healthcare plan for you".
- fire withdrawals... they should make those damn sensors less sensitive! If someone now screws up his cooking, the whole building here has to evacuate... even if it's at 5 am like last night. That was horrible!!

That's all for now, I'll be off to get my share of sleep (as my sleep was heavily interrupted by that stupid fire withdrawal yesterday).

zaterdag 13 september 2008

The arrival

On the 10th of August, I arrived in Atlanta. That's on my birthday, indeed, and I had a great party on the airplane, listening to the screaming kids that where going to Orlando...

The evening before I left, my parents had a surprise for me:


And that's indeed one of the things I really miss by now...

But well, back to the 10th of August:
So I arrived after a long flight on which I couldn't sleep, and then I really got lost at the airport. I just couldn't find the bagage claim and I was in panic and thinking to myself that I just should have stayed home. But then I just opened my eyes, saw the bagage claim sign and survived my first "what the hell am I doing here" attack.
The second problem was finding a cab. In the end, I found one, and arrived at my hotel safe and sound. I was starving, so I needed to search food. When I'm hungry, I easily can stomach two sandwiches, but the 2 sandwiches I bought on my arrival day, where almost too much for me. So the first lesson I learned was that a small sandwich here equals two belgian "smoskes". (I'd kill for a mom-made smos met kaas en hesp en mamayonaise right now, by the way).
The next mistake I made was calling home. The freaking call cost me as much as one night in a hotel...
So, around 8pm, I had a brilliant idea: sleeping!

The next morning, I had this lovely view:

And after breakfast, I headed toward the campus, but I'll write about another time.

woensdag 10 september 2008

Een goed voornemen

Ik ga mijn best doen om hier af en toe iets van mij te laten horen. Oorspronkelijk zou ik dit zo snel mogelijk doen, maar mijn computer heeft 3 weken niet gewerkt, dus ik loop wat achter.
Ondertussen heb ik al heel wat van Atlanta zelf gezien, en ik ben net terug van een 4 dagen Las Vegas en de omgeving daarvan.