7:55 am. Exam in 20 min. Building is locked at all entries, with no access from my student card. Bad way to start my Saturday morning.
What's worse is that there was NO ONE from my class around. Funny, considering the Swiss are supposed to be on time - maybe it was 8:15 Vaudois, meaning that people have a 5 min leeway.
In any case, when someone from my class finally does show up (after I panicked and called Paolo, Claire's boyfriend, to let me in since he is an architecture student), he's all relaxed and chatty and whatever. No care in the world. So, we chatted beforehand, me all the while worrying about last-minute cramming possibilities, when we arrive to the testing room. The tables happen to be covered in the first year architecture year projects, which doesn't work if you are trying to write an exam.
The professor shows up, looks in the room, walks away to find another room. We sit there. The others lag in about 5 min before exam time. Okay, so I guess this may work out, maybe.
Well, we get the test (never having had any exercises during the semester, I have NO IDEA what to expect). Turns out that we don't need a calculator, so that's good. Then I turn the test over. First of all, they couldn't decide which language they wanted the test to be in, so they used a little of both. Some questions were in French, some were in English. It seemed funny, considering that the slides we had learned were often in the other language, something they forgot to homogenize. So, I had to translate vocabulary that I didn't even understand in the original language to the other language. Just to let you know how completely out of it I was during this whole thing, it took me halfway through the examination period to remember the word "development." It's the same in both languages. Yeah.
Through the course of the 5 questions, each from a different professor (and me trying not to confuse and combine concepts that we learned from each), I tried to write as much and draw as many diagrams as I remembered from the slides and my notes. This was the point where I was getting pretty desperate. I mean without math, the test was just full of concepts, and very few that weren't common sense sorts of things. What was I supposed to do?
At the end of all of this, I have the most incredible headache of all, and no clue how the result of this exam will be. Talk about encouragement!
Showing posts with label EPFL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EPFL. Show all posts
10 February 2010
UNESCO International Scientific Conference on Technologies for Development
EPFL organized a three-day conference on sustainability in the developing world.
In light of the recent meeting at Copenhagen, Claire and I attended it in hopes of learning about the current UN projects in developing countries. We also hoped to have an introduction to the establishment of NGOs and the research process involved in creating appropriate and sustainable technology. The result? We ended up being the only two undergraduate students in attendance at the conference of over 200 people. This was our first clue to being slightly out of place.
___________________________________________________
Many of the topics - for example, bamboo roofs and solar-powered lantern rentals - were quite interesting and innovative. We had the opportunity to talk with some of the presenters during the lunch break, and it was nice to have a one-on-one conversation with a person who was interested in implementing different types of wall materials for houses. It was evident that this group of people did not have much respect for students of our age, as the topic of conversation usually steered toward the casual, "So, you're an exchange student? How do you like Lausanne?" or "So, have you found any good places to go out?" instead of discussing the importance of community and cultural understanding, on-site implementation, and discussion with villagers on their daily needs. It was quite frustrating at times to keep moving the conversation back to the main topic, but it is possible that we made some sort of lasting impression on the scientific community and their views on undergraduate attitudes.
___________________________________________________
The lack of student interest was surprising but not unexpected, considering the cost of the conference. Claire and I decided that the US, especially Iowa State, does a better job of advertising upcoming conferences and seminars and makes them economically feasible for student budgets. We are privileged in the US to be able to choose our courses and have a more focused curriculum of study, whereas undergraduates in Europe are required to take a fixed list of courses each semester based on their year and subject. The flexible American university system allows students to take courses based on different disciplines and helps students form more concrete ideas about their area of interest. In materials engineering, for example, EPFL students take courses on ceramics, metals, polymers, and electronics, along with many mechanics and processing-related courses. This does not leave room for specialized courses, thus making it difficult for to students to find their interests at an early stage in their bachelor studies.
___________________________________________________
I was particularly frustrated with an NGO representative during one of the last debate sessions of the conference. He asked us about feedback on how to make NGO efforts more successful, and people contributed ideas about having more facilities available for student research and providing opportunities for students to travel to the developing countries and perform on-site work. After the debate, I walked up to this representative and tried to ask him a question about his views on providing information seminars at universities for bachelor and master students. Before I could ask my question, though, he claimed that he was not part of EPFL, he was an NGO representative. After I informed him that I was aware of this fact, he told me that he did not have time for my question - that he had to go talk to someone else - and that I should email him so that he could fully understand my question before he responded. In short, I guess he was not looking for feedback from the likes of me, and Claire concluded that he just wanted funding. It's great to know that is such little regard or respect for student input.
In light of the recent meeting at Copenhagen, Claire and I attended it in hopes of learning about the current UN projects in developing countries. We also hoped to have an introduction to the establishment of NGOs and the research process involved in creating appropriate and sustainable technology. The result? We ended up being the only two undergraduate students in attendance at the conference of over 200 people. This was our first clue to being slightly out of place.
___________________________________________________
Many of the topics - for example, bamboo roofs and solar-powered lantern rentals - were quite interesting and innovative. We had the opportunity to talk with some of the presenters during the lunch break, and it was nice to have a one-on-one conversation with a person who was interested in implementing different types of wall materials for houses. It was evident that this group of people did not have much respect for students of our age, as the topic of conversation usually steered toward the casual, "So, you're an exchange student? How do you like Lausanne?" or "So, have you found any good places to go out?" instead of discussing the importance of community and cultural understanding, on-site implementation, and discussion with villagers on their daily needs. It was quite frustrating at times to keep moving the conversation back to the main topic, but it is possible that we made some sort of lasting impression on the scientific community and their views on undergraduate attitudes.
___________________________________________________
The lack of student interest was surprising but not unexpected, considering the cost of the conference. Claire and I decided that the US, especially Iowa State, does a better job of advertising upcoming conferences and seminars and makes them economically feasible for student budgets. We are privileged in the US to be able to choose our courses and have a more focused curriculum of study, whereas undergraduates in Europe are required to take a fixed list of courses each semester based on their year and subject. The flexible American university system allows students to take courses based on different disciplines and helps students form more concrete ideas about their area of interest. In materials engineering, for example, EPFL students take courses on ceramics, metals, polymers, and electronics, along with many mechanics and processing-related courses. This does not leave room for specialized courses, thus making it difficult for to students to find their interests at an early stage in their bachelor studies.
___________________________________________________
I was particularly frustrated with an NGO representative during one of the last debate sessions of the conference. He asked us about feedback on how to make NGO efforts more successful, and people contributed ideas about having more facilities available for student research and providing opportunities for students to travel to the developing countries and perform on-site work. After the debate, I walked up to this representative and tried to ask him a question about his views on providing information seminars at universities for bachelor and master students. Before I could ask my question, though, he claimed that he was not part of EPFL, he was an NGO representative. After I informed him that I was aware of this fact, he told me that he did not have time for my question - that he had to go talk to someone else - and that I should email him so that he could fully understand my question before he responded. In short, I guess he was not looking for feedback from the likes of me, and Claire concluded that he just wanted funding. It's great to know that is such little regard or respect for student input.
16 November 2009
Andrew visits: Yvoire, Nyon, La Chaux-de-Fonds
This weekend, Andrew paid me a visit all the way from Washington, DC!
On Thursday, he arrived at the Lausanne train station exhausted and ready for a nice nap after being in transit for so many long hours. He recounted the extensive journey from London to Geneva, which involved changing of many trains, buses, planes, and other modes of transportation. Unfortunately, I had to go to class quickly after his arrival, but that also gave him a chance to recuperate from his previous adventures in the UK. When I returned, we first went to the museum at La Place de la Riponne, where they had a Darwinist exhibition, among other fine museum artifacts. It cost 4 CHF (almost nothing!) to see the museum of architecture, archeology (including a lock of Napoleon's hair), money (mostly ancient coins), zoology (with jars of mutant cats and stuffed owls), geology (gorgeous, shiny, brilliant crystals and precious stones), paleontology (fossils, bones, and ancient natural structures), and others (which I cannot recall at the moment). We learned a lot about Swiss heritage and native flora and fauna, which served as a nice comparison to those of the United States. After our nice tour of the museum, we took a relaxing pause at Le Barbare, the cafe with the famous hot chocolate. We were in heaven with the rich, pudding-like goodness of the warm chocolate. It really is a heavenly experience. We had some nice conversation in the cafe but then promptly returned to my apartment for a quick bite to eat before meeting some of my exchange friends at le Satellite, the local bar/lounge on the EPFL campus. We spent the evening chatting with people from all over the world, and the bar was very lively with old American pop hits playing over the speakers and people letting go the stresses of the school day.
On Friday, we took a boat from Nyon, Switzerland, to Yvoire, France, a small medieval village that used to be completely protected by stone walls. We were not aware, however, that the season of tourism influenced the frequency of the boat trips, so we arrived only to find that we had 40 minutes until the last boat departed from Yvoire back to Nyon. We were able to see quite a bit of the village and to take nice pictures of the medieval structures, albeit the short amount of time, though, and we also found a persimmon tree, where we pilfered this strange fruit to take home and try. It was quite an effort climbing over the mossy stone wall, but we succeeded in grabbing one! (After letting it ripen over the weekend, we tasted it, but, to our chagrin, it was rather disgusting. Due to its strong tannins, the fruit was very astringent and it sucked all the water out of our mouths. It had the same effect as novocaine.) So, after taking a train to another city to only spending 40 minutes in France, you might ask if this time was wasted. I would have to say that this was not the case. We took great delight in returning to Nyon to spend the afternoon in a lovely nautical museum near the lakeside, only to find that our tickets were also valid (for up to a year!) to the fine art museum as well as the ancient ceramic museum found in the Nyon castle. Because it was late in the afternoon, we did not have time to explore the other museums, but I hope to use the tickets in the future and profit from this wonderful little city! After everything had closed, we walked around the city center and purchased (my first!) roasted chestnuts. To be honest, I don't know why I never tried them before...maybe it is because Iowa seems to be lacking in these delicious treats, but they were quite delectable, and we happened to chance upon them once again on our weekend excursion to la Chaux-de-Fonds.
So, you may be wondering where la Chaux-de-Fonds is found on the map. It is a very small city in the northeastern part of Switzerland in the canton of Neuchâtel. My Tandem partner, Valentin, invited us to stay in his parents' chalet at la Tête-de-Ran (in the canton of Jura) for the weekend. "Jura" refers to the jurassic era, when the tectonic plates caused the region to become very hilly with many peaks and valleys. We took this opportunity to eat molten cheese, hike through Swiss hills (where we saw an expansive view of the city of la Chaux-de-Fonds), and learn a bit more about Swiss culture - idiomatic expressions, dining customs, etc. We also had the chance to explore the Musee d'Horlogerie (watch museum) and les moulins souterrains (underground mills). If you take a peek at the photo album, you will understand more about the watchmaking industry as well as the underground mill process.
On Sunday, Valentin's parents were gracious enough to pay our way for the underground mills and a tour of the city, as well as to prepare a wonderful dinner of pasta with pesto and shredded cheese, lamb chops, and fennel and carrot salad on Sunday evening. We thanked them heartily for such a wonderful stay, and we departed with Valentin and his girlfriend, Vanessa, for our return back to Lausanne. I have to say that it is rare to find such generous hosts, but I often find them here in Switzerland. I think that maybe their beautiful country and their high quality of life makes them appreciate and enjoy the little things enough to share their joy with others. Although I did not initially expect it, I have made friends with Swiss people with relative ease, and, overall, I find them to be kind-hearted and incredibly generous.
On Thursday, he arrived at the Lausanne train station exhausted and ready for a nice nap after being in transit for so many long hours. He recounted the extensive journey from London to Geneva, which involved changing of many trains, buses, planes, and other modes of transportation. Unfortunately, I had to go to class quickly after his arrival, but that also gave him a chance to recuperate from his previous adventures in the UK. When I returned, we first went to the museum at La Place de la Riponne, where they had a Darwinist exhibition, among other fine museum artifacts. It cost 4 CHF (almost nothing!) to see the museum of architecture, archeology (including a lock of Napoleon's hair), money (mostly ancient coins), zoology (with jars of mutant cats and stuffed owls), geology (gorgeous, shiny, brilliant crystals and precious stones), paleontology (fossils, bones, and ancient natural structures), and others (which I cannot recall at the moment). We learned a lot about Swiss heritage and native flora and fauna, which served as a nice comparison to those of the United States. After our nice tour of the museum, we took a relaxing pause at Le Barbare, the cafe with the famous hot chocolate. We were in heaven with the rich, pudding-like goodness of the warm chocolate. It really is a heavenly experience. We had some nice conversation in the cafe but then promptly returned to my apartment for a quick bite to eat before meeting some of my exchange friends at le Satellite, the local bar/lounge on the EPFL campus. We spent the evening chatting with people from all over the world, and the bar was very lively with old American pop hits playing over the speakers and people letting go the stresses of the school day.
On Friday, we took a boat from Nyon, Switzerland, to Yvoire, France, a small medieval village that used to be completely protected by stone walls. We were not aware, however, that the season of tourism influenced the frequency of the boat trips, so we arrived only to find that we had 40 minutes until the last boat departed from Yvoire back to Nyon. We were able to see quite a bit of the village and to take nice pictures of the medieval structures, albeit the short amount of time, though, and we also found a persimmon tree, where we pilfered this strange fruit to take home and try. It was quite an effort climbing over the mossy stone wall, but we succeeded in grabbing one! (After letting it ripen over the weekend, we tasted it, but, to our chagrin, it was rather disgusting. Due to its strong tannins, the fruit was very astringent and it sucked all the water out of our mouths. It had the same effect as novocaine.) So, after taking a train to another city to only spending 40 minutes in France, you might ask if this time was wasted. I would have to say that this was not the case. We took great delight in returning to Nyon to spend the afternoon in a lovely nautical museum near the lakeside, only to find that our tickets were also valid (for up to a year!) to the fine art museum as well as the ancient ceramic museum found in the Nyon castle. Because it was late in the afternoon, we did not have time to explore the other museums, but I hope to use the tickets in the future and profit from this wonderful little city! After everything had closed, we walked around the city center and purchased (my first!) roasted chestnuts. To be honest, I don't know why I never tried them before...maybe it is because Iowa seems to be lacking in these delicious treats, but they were quite delectable, and we happened to chance upon them once again on our weekend excursion to la Chaux-de-Fonds.
So, you may be wondering where la Chaux-de-Fonds is found on the map. It is a very small city in the northeastern part of Switzerland in the canton of Neuchâtel. My Tandem partner, Valentin, invited us to stay in his parents' chalet at la Tête-de-Ran (in the canton of Jura) for the weekend. "Jura" refers to the jurassic era, when the tectonic plates caused the region to become very hilly with many peaks and valleys. We took this opportunity to eat molten cheese, hike through Swiss hills (where we saw an expansive view of the city of la Chaux-de-Fonds), and learn a bit more about Swiss culture - idiomatic expressions, dining customs, etc. We also had the chance to explore the Musee d'Horlogerie (watch museum) and les moulins souterrains (underground mills). If you take a peek at the photo album, you will understand more about the watchmaking industry as well as the underground mill process.
On Sunday, Valentin's parents were gracious enough to pay our way for the underground mills and a tour of the city, as well as to prepare a wonderful dinner of pasta with pesto and shredded cheese, lamb chops, and fennel and carrot salad on Sunday evening. We thanked them heartily for such a wonderful stay, and we departed with Valentin and his girlfriend, Vanessa, for our return back to Lausanne. I have to say that it is rare to find such generous hosts, but I often find them here in Switzerland. I think that maybe their beautiful country and their high quality of life makes them appreciate and enjoy the little things enough to share their joy with others. Although I did not initially expect it, I have made friends with Swiss people with relative ease, and, overall, I find them to be kind-hearted and incredibly generous.
08 November 2009
Les Caves Ouvertes and Extraterrestrial Visitors
This Saturday, EPFL Xchange took a trip to the vineyards in Gland, Switzerland, for a day of wine tasting, called "Les Caves Ouvertes." We bought a glass that was our ticket to 24 vineyards. After having taken the train and then the shuttle bus to Vitzel, we ambled along cobblestone roads and through autumn-colored grape vines to get to each "cave." Unfortunately, it rained all day, so we often ran to seek refuge in the warm indoors. We were lucky enough to find many with fireplaces and large tables for our group. They were also generous in offering us bread and cheese in almost every place.
We learned a bit about how the wine was made - in the wooden barrel pictured in the album, it takes 10,000 L of grape juice to fill the barrel! We were going to be enginerds and figure out, according to estimation of the volume of the average grape, how many grapes were required to fill the barrel, but we were too tired from drinking all that wine. All in all, we managed to visit 9 caves and were thoroughly content to return to Lausanne.
Afterwards, there was an alien-themed party at one of our friends' apartments, and they covered the floor in red paper and had amazing lamps and craters made of papier maché. It was great to see the creativity of the costumes, and we had a lot of fun dancing the night away!
This guy used squash balls to make his super-power orb martian costume.
Leticia brought some music from all over the world. She is a big fan of 20's music like Django Reinhardt.
Gil and his alien costume.
Melanie and Emmanuele, our fashionable hosts.
I'm a friendly alien!
24 September 2009
That math class
I have decided that it is imperative that I take this Mathematical Logic course. After having read the book in English, I have a semblance of understanding, and I understood more of the material when the professor actually was here this week to teach the course...which leads to the next reason why I feel compelled to continue the class. He walks into the room with his motorcycle helmet, leather jacket, and carbon fiber hard-case backback, and I almost fall over on the floor laughing. My math teacher is a motorhead. A tall, bald guy with an ear piercing, tight jeans, and a six-pack. That will teach me not to judge mathematicians. Next time I see a muscly guy wearing a surfer t-shirt, I will wonder if he knows how to make a decomposition tree for a well-formed formula.
10 September 2009
They recycle here! And sell food!
Happy Welcome Day, aka Journée d’acceuil…not. So, today, I thought I would get a 2-hour head start on my 11 am day of welcoming at EPFL. I ate breakfast and packed a lunch and headed off to school. When I arrived at Hall SG, I was expecting to see droves of people, but alas, there was only one girl standing there with a map and a friend. I asked her if she knew where they were having the meeting for new students, and she said to me “Oh, ce sera demain.” Tomorrow?! Did I read the email wrong? Of course I did. After realizing this important error, I set off to the student services building to verify this girl’s information. Evidently, I was a day early, and there were more meetings scheduled before the 11 am session on Friday. Good thing I checked, I guess.
So, instead of meeting new exchange students and gaining a semblance of orientation, I was alone on campus. Fear not, though, because I managed to find the library and look up my classes on the internet. I found some of the locations, including a great computer lab in the basement of MX, the materials science building. I couldn’t figure out the printing situation, but I am almost positive that I now have free printing access at this location. Score!
After spending some time in the computer lab, I went in search of some of the buildings and classrooms that I couldn’t find before and found some great places for recycling on campus. They are much more aware of their environmental impact here, which made me quite delighted. I’m sure people were looking at me in wonderment because I was fervently snapping photos of PET and aluminum waste containers, but they would understand if they could see these outstanding photos…proof that Switzerland (or at least EPFL) cares about the environment.
Next on the agenda was to find the grocery store, and I chose to meander around PAM, a store at the Cérisaie métro stop. I have yet to calculate how much I save at any given chain (Migros, Co-op, PAM, Denner), but I am on my way to maximizing my use of money, especially considering the cost of fresh produce and other daily vittles.
So, instead of meeting new exchange students and gaining a semblance of orientation, I was alone on campus. Fear not, though, because I managed to find the library and look up my classes on the internet. I found some of the locations, including a great computer lab in the basement of MX, the materials science building. I couldn’t figure out the printing situation, but I am almost positive that I now have free printing access at this location. Score!
After spending some time in the computer lab, I went in search of some of the buildings and classrooms that I couldn’t find before and found some great places for recycling on campus. They are much more aware of their environmental impact here, which made me quite delighted. I’m sure people were looking at me in wonderment because I was fervently snapping photos of PET and aluminum waste containers, but they would understand if they could see these outstanding photos…proof that Switzerland (or at least EPFL) cares about the environment.
Next on the agenda was to find the grocery store, and I chose to meander around PAM, a store at the Cérisaie métro stop. I have yet to calculate how much I save at any given chain (Migros, Co-op, PAM, Denner), but I am on my way to maximizing my use of money, especially considering the cost of fresh produce and other daily vittles.
Oh, and I bought my first bottle of wine, which may or may not be of high quality. I have decided to make a frittata and green salad for dinner because I have been craving vegetables lately. Perhaps this will be a nice compliment to my meal this evening. 
Curious side note: Sweetened condensed milk comes in a tube!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
