Wine and Cheese

So Germany basically has some of the most awesome foods I've ever tasted. Yesterday afternoon I went to the Lindt factory and outlet with some of the kids from the program. Walking into a supermarket-sized room where the entire place is stocked with nothing but chocolate was probably one of the most exciting things I've done. I couldn't even begin to see all of the types of chocolate in that store; however, I did take advantage of the insanely cheap prices and stocked up with pomegranate-chili, black current, and assorted speciality chocolates.

After that experience we all walked back down to Ponstrasse (we were all so pumped full of sugar that it was a damn good we were walking) where we met some other people and went to a cheese store near the Humboldt-Haus. We ordered two cheese platters and a bottle of wine, both of which were incredible. Some of the cheese was a little sketchy-looking at first, and the pickled vegetables didn't look awesome, but after a taste-test it was definitely some of the best food I've eaten yet, especially the cheeses.

Stuffed with good food, some of us went for a walk to the park where we slept, talked, and enjoyed an awesome day for a few hours. We finished off the day by going to the market near my place and making a beef-vegetable-rice creation.

Virtual Reality Center

On Thursday I got to experience one of the most awesome pieces of technology I'd ever seen. I say "experience" because it was a virtual reality center, where I got to walk into what they call "the cave" - a room about 8 by 10 feet across and probably 8 feet high - and have my first full-emersion virtual reality experience. The room works like this - two projectors display an image onto massive glass panes on each side of the room and also on the floor. The image from each projector is polarized, similar to a 3D movie. Special glasses are put on, including a "control" pair which has infrared markers that are tracked by cameras inside the cube. The door is slid shut behind you (it is too heavy to be opened by hand and must be operated pneumatically when closed) and the images surrounding you are controlled by the movements of your head and by a sort of in-hand joystick. Each eye receives a separate image due to the polarization, which creates a 3D effect. The first simulation we got to experience was of a track, similar to what is on a caterpillar, climbing up a set of steps. When I put on the glasses I immediately got run over by the massive track, and as it moved I actually passed through it and was able to see the internal mechanisms passing by. When I paused the image I was able to look around and have it revolve in front of me, then un-pause it and watch it crawl away up a virtual flight of stairs. The sensation was completely amazing, though I can't even begin to fully describe it. The images were so real that we all kept reaching out trying to grab the object right in front of us only to have our hands pass through thin air. We talked a lot with one of the main programmers for the system and he loaded a virtual Aachen tour for us, which allowed us to fly around the city, stand on the roof of the cathedral, and step into a tower overlooking the city.

In the pictures it will look like the image is blurry, but that's just because of the two separate images being projected onto each wall. In order to generate and accurately display all of these images, 10 computers have to be working constantly - 9 for image rendering and another to synchronize all of the computers. All of this and only a one million dollar price-tag!

Sights of the City

In the past week I feel like I have been all over Aachen, so I figured it was time to post some of my favorite sights from the past week. One of my favorites was definitely a few evenings ago when Arne and I sat on the roof of his apartment and overlooked the city at sunset. It's a pretty awesome view and I stitched a few photos to make a semi-presentable panorama of the city.

Another awesome view is the downtown area where the old cathedral and town hall are located. The town hall has various statues portraying Charlemagne and some really great architecture. I still have to get some shots of the cathedral (which inside is one of the most massive buildings I've ever seen) but the main square has a really beautiful fountain in front of the old throne entrance.

One of the best areas of the city is definitely Pontstrasse, the main dining and student area of Aachen. The best time is definitely noon and evening, especially on nice days. The following is a shot from near where I have language classes at the Humboldt-Haus.

My Project

At the UROP welcome night, I was able to meet a ton of new people from the program, including coordinator Beate Wassenburg and also the man I will be doing my research with, Axel Cordes. The event was in the top of the 'Super C' building, a strange piece of architecture with a massive 6th floor that overhangs the courtyard below. It was actually a really awesome place to have the meet-and-greet and dinner sessions, because it overlooked oldtown Aachen as evening was settling in. I had no idea what to expect from my project supervisor, whether he would be young, old, friendly, reserved - however, I was pleased to find an jolly and interesting man shaking my hand and saying, "I'm Axel".

During a short dinner of pizza, he gave me a quick overview of the project, "Development and Evaluation of a Multi-Channel Sensor Array for Non-Contact Monitoring". Basically, the system he is developing is a new sort of heart rate and respiration monitor that eliminates the need for electrodes being physically placed on the body. The device is being designed for use with baby incubators, and testing has already been done with some small pigs to see what kinds of vital signs could be read. The actual design is pretty awesome - basically one circuit is used to generate magnetic along known path lines, while another perpendicular receiving unit is used to read the magnetic fields. The body has a natural tendency to alter the magnetic fields with a varying degree of intensity as the heart and lungs operate. So for the first part of the my work I'm supposed to write some algorithms to take the raw data from the hardware and extract out any breathing, heartbeat, and noise from the signal.

On Wednesday I actually got to go to the biomedical technology center to check out the current system and tour the facility. The center is doing some other pretty awesome things, including the design of artificial hearts that are able to adapt to their environment to alter blood flow as the body needs it. The center also has its own facilities for circuit fabrication and also a prototyping machine that I've always wanted to work with but never had any access to in the states! So I'm definitely excited to start working in about a week and get my hands dirty. (Oh, and Axel said if I do good work then I might get my own pig to test.)

Slacklining in the Park

One of the things I've noticed is that there are a ton of parks and open areas around Aachen. The first day Arne, Miriam, and I went to a park near a casino named Eurogress, where we slept and hung out for a few hours and did some pretty awesome people watching. Then the next day, since the weather was again perfect, Arne took me with him to meet up with some friends and go slacklining. (In case anyone doesn't know, a slackline is essentially a tightrope strung between two trees that people try to walk on.) The park we went to was awesome, complete with a lake and swans! Though I have never been very good at slacklining, I did manage to balance for a bit and walk a few steps and even won a few times when Arne jumped on and challenged me to see who could stay on longest.

Settling In

My first day in the city was pretty awesome because it was just one new sight after another. I think we walked pretty much the entire breadth of Aachen while getting me some supplies like sheets, plates, pillows, a handy (cell phone) and bike. The phone and bike are two of my favorite things - the former comes complete with a monochrome screen and strangely translated English, while the latter was probably put together using parts from about 5 other bikes. Both, however, are awesome and I have already been using them a ton.

I also got to walk down Aachen's main student street, Pontstrasse, for the first time. It's such an awesome place because there are a ton of restaurants, pubs, bakeries, and shops. Arne and Miriam were nice enough to take me to the store with them, after which they made a stir fry dinner and started educating me on all the best beers in Germany. One of the things I noticed immediately was the lack of refrigeration here - eggs are just placed on the shelves in grocery stores and the aforementioned stir fry was simply left on the stove for Arne's and my dinner the next night! However, no sickness yet so perhaps the States are just a little too paranoid about pathogens.

Aachen

I can't believe that I've been in Germany less than a week. Already so much has happened and I've encountered so many awesome people and places. After two days of traveling, I arrived exactly on time early Saturday morning at the Dusseldorf airport. I had been exhausted on the plane but managed to sleep for a majority of the flight and also got to know a really interesting girl from Canada who was in the seat beside me. As soon as I stepped into the terminal all of my reservations sort of melted away and I was overwhelmed by an incredible sense of excitement as I looked out on the sun coming up over a German morning. A few minutes later I had cleared customs and collected my bags, then wandered out of the airport and across the street to the airport train station.

It was pretty amusing to immediately see the German efficiency at work as I walked to a ticket booth and was guided completely through the selection of a route to Aachen. The train arrived the exact minute it was supposed to and hit each of the successive stops without any hitch. My shortcomings with the language surfaced quickly as I was unsure of the station names, and after traveling for a while into increasingly rural areas I got off the train to figure out exactly where I was. A brief encounter with a man who spoke no English but was good with a map had me back on course and I was able to arrive at the main terminal just in time to catch the train to Aachen.

The scene outside began to change from industrial to suburban to rural and back again as the train sped west. There were a couple of sights that I particularly liked, including a building with a giant exclamation point (something which I thought was a fitting descriptor of my feelings) and an incredible mural of a thoughtful monkey which read simply, "Was tun?".

I loved the blend of rural fields, houses, and wind turbines as the train got closer to Aachen, and was surprised at how quickly the city arrived. I double checked my stop and was able to disembark in the main station at almost exactly the expected time. However, after a bit of wandering through the terminal I began to worry when I didn't encounter my assigned "buddy" for the program, Arne. Just as I began rooting through my bad for his phone number, a friendly voice asked if I was Chris, and I looked up to find a tall brown haired guy standing with his smiling girlfriend. After some quick introductions Arne and Miriam, as they turned out to be, took me to a bus station where we found a ride to my new home, Kullenhofster.

When the bus stopped, I realized that my mind had been so overloaded with new sights and conversation that I had absolutely no idea where I was. Arne and Miriam led me through a series of courtyards (where I found out that Germans often don't appreciate people walking on the grass) and up some flights of stairs to my room. "Naked" had been how Arne had described the room in an email, which I think was pretty accurate. A sink, wardrobe, bed, and desk were about all there was to see, but I was excited for my corner windows and high-level view of trees and the courtyard below. As I set down my bags I realized completely for the first time that I was not only in a completely foreign place, but that I was also getting ready to settle in here. Fortunately, I think my new friends picked up on this and smiled with a simple, "Alright, well shall we go?"

Flying Out

After a slightly hectic night of last-minute packing, I have finally left for my German adventure. I got to Toronto around midnight and so far have been loving the people here. (I didn't think I would actually hear "eh" and "doncha know" so much.)

The airport had this awesome wall at the baggage claim - a sort of blueprint perspective drawing which falsely extended the room.