Kayaking at UMich

The first time we went to the pool there was basically Katie and a ginger kid myself and George. We played around and had fun, but we did wonder where all the other student kayak members are? The second session, as I mentioned in previous posts, had a couple more people Brian the president, Daniel, Michelle, the Tuesday lifeguard girl, and an old guy called Jim. We were told that Jim runs the club basically. Having old hands within a club helps bring about continuity and things often run more smoothly. Uni clubs have a fast turn-over and the captains/presidents are sometimes too young or inexperienced to cope with a large membership. At Leeds there is a gent who has been paddling with the club for more twelve years. Anyhow, the older member showing up was no surprise. George being lacking in confidence asked lots of questions to Jim about her roll etc. He seemed quite helpful to be honest.

We went again on the next Tuesday and then on Thursday. It really does break the week up - I'm in favour of that! A couple more older members showed up on the Thursday session namely Paul and Karen. Paul is a dentist. They were practicing rolling in Karen's new boat. Jim introduced us and told us that Paul was going to paddle the Huron (the local river) on Saturday. Jim sorted it so that we could go. Daniel and Michelle offered us a lift as we have no car. They also signed out club boats for us too. Daniel was keen to get on the river and this was the first trip of the year. The river was fairly frozen before this. Michelle meet Georgie on Friday and they went to the canoe shop to buy a couple of things. They seemed to get on well.

The river Huron is a grade I/II. It only really has one grade II really. However its good to get out. At the get in we met more older paddlers, Martin and Marissa? they seemed ok. Paul gave a safety talk and really talked the whole thing up. I heard this stuff lots but also know its not a good idea to appear uninterested. Georgie's nerves were shot however so safety talks probably didn't help her. We got on. To my amazement everyone but us did a roll at the top. I didn't have a dry top or a head cap so I thought better of it at this stage.

The river had nothing to speak of but I enjoyed it. Paul made me do some tail squirts which did actually boost my confidence a little. We all did a roll in moving water. I rescued Marissa in a slight unconventional way. She missed one or two rolls so I broke out to get her with an eskimo rescue. Trouble was she suck her hand up on the wrong side of the boat and she couldn't have much more air left in her lungs so I used my head and reached over with my hand and grab hers on the far side. I then pulled her someway up and then grabbed her boat. She was very greatful and slighty embarrised. George refused to get involved with the playing. She just wanted to get down safely- I tried to encourage her but only got negative responses. To be fair she did try when Paul told her what to do. Towards the bottom of the river an older guy called Rik caught our group up. The trip was pretty good in the end and we ccompleted our first US river.

I Pedal Off

Georgie is back at home and I am still here. The apartment seems too big for just me. Well I watched "flushed away" and thats three times now and I am bored of that. I'll save the last viewing for when I see my brother in ten days or so. Perhaps I should invest in another DVD.

Before we even arrived in the US Georgie had her heart set on getting a bike. Not just any bike, but a folding bike. We had been in the US a couple of days and had moved into the apartment. Clearly walking to work every day was too much. We don't have a car, can't afford one yet and want to get fitter, so the bike option sounded great. I selected a new bike off the Internet; it was a Dahon and is also a folding bike. The reviews look good.

The bike arrived after a few days and George was more than happy to put it together for me while I was at work. When I got home the bike looked great. I admittedly soon realized that this was not the kind of bike you fold up and get on a bus or a train. It’s more of a fold up and put in the back of your car/cupboard at home. Never the less, it was a solid looking bike with a mountain bike look about it. We took it for a test ride around the car park about 50 yards away. It was great fun and it has seven gears, so handling the small hills around here is no problem.

On the first ride out to work I was impressed with how quickly I could get across to North Campus. No more than 15 minutes easy ride (last bit is the worst). The ride back is cool too. I can really get some speed up for the first half and the journey before the long slow gradient catches me and before long I am in second gear. The very last hill is very steep and this requires first gear. All this riding is done on the sidewalk/cycle path so not too much traffic to contend with. However, there are a couple of intersections where you have to cross the roads. They have pedestrian crossings, but remember cars can turn right on a red, so you have to be careful. Some drivers are better than others. More often than not drivers give-way for you too early.

I caught the bus yesterday. The weather was average and I didn't want to get wet. Today the sun was shinning and I couldn't wait to get on my bike. I worn just a T-shirt, but regretted it because it was quite cold when riding at speed into the breeze. I left work at 6pm today and after getting lost trying to find a short cut out of the Chem. Eng. building I was glad to get on my bike. I zipped down the hill onto the main road and steamed down the path. The road crossings were kind to me and I was making good time.

As I mentioned earlier, the last part is a slow sloping hill that takes it out of me. I end up going quite slow. Just before my right turn there is a multi-story car park and a lady had pulled past the barrier. She was some yards ahead and I felt she should cross my path before I even got there. I signaled her on with my hand as I was crawling along. She refused and smiled. I had come to an almost standstill but had to push on. So I smiled to the lady to say thank you and stood up on my pedals to increase the speed of my passing. And with that I felt like I had slipped off the pedal and I fell off to my left. I managed to keep on my feet and couldn't understand what had happened. The lady in the car looked more shocked than I did! She signaled are you ok, and I replied. When I looked back a saw a pedal on the floor...

I tried to fix it back on but the screw thread was broken. I walked a bit further and tried again. Nope it doesn't go back on. Well I was a little deflated to say the least. Now I had to walk up the last part of the journey and I was disappointed in my bike letting me down. I got up halfway up the hill and saw a bunch of male runners. They half laughed at me walking my bike up the hill and I had once passed them I heard one of them say "A new mode of transport. Walking your bike up the hill! Ha Ha ha ha." Bastards...

Kayaking in the Pool

On the Thursday night we went to the kayak session at the North campus indoor pool. We arrived at 8pm ready to go and guess what…. Nobody there. We blagged our when into the centre. Normally there is a fee of $10 to get in (unless you are a member then its $20 per month). We decided to go in and get changed and wait at the poolside. The life guard said that they should be here. At about 8.20 a couple of student showed up, that is two students… Anyhow Katie checked out our ability to capsize safely and we picked boats and got on the pool. We paddled around and did rolls and such like. Georgie’s confidence is very low these days so we mainly practiced in close proximatey to each other. I could roll fine but still felt uncomftable – A lack of confidence too… With only 4 or 5 people at the pool it was a bit weird, but fun. We clowned around. Even a ball appeared and I went around practicing my canoe polo skills. On the following evening we had food out at the Ann Arbor Brew company. Turned out Daniel was there. I said hello and introduced Georgie to him. He had a girlfriend with him. They are due to be married later this year. We separated from them and went and sat down to eat. I had fish and chips – a rare thing in the US. Even more rare is the fact that they served it with vinigar. The waiter told us what to do with the vinigar to my amusement!

The following Tuesday at work I asked Daniel about joining the NCRC to make it easier. He explained how but said I needed an ID card. I mentioned that I was going kayaking and as it turned out Daniel was a kayaker too. He was reasonably excited about the idea of kayaking, and he went into explaining about the club and were they meet etc. Now this is were I should have said "Actually I went last Thursday", but for some reason I didn’t. I never like stopping people in full flow and then it get harder to say – I know! Later on he said he would go to the kayak session. I realized now that I should have told him that I had already been. When I got home we had tea and talked about the day. I told George that Daniel was a kayaker too. I also explained that I hadn’t told him I had already been last Thursday. I am a wally.

We got to the session and Daniel was there early as keen as ever to go kayaking. He explained were everything was and then Georgie said I know we came last Thursday. There was more than a moment of silence….. “You should of said something” and I weakly replied, “I was interested cos only Katie was here time…”. Well we got over the ugly moment – entirely my fault. I went about rolling etc. Daniel liked the reverse screw roll. He had never seen this before and was interested in giving it a go. Daniel and Michelle practiced rolling most of the night.

First Week of Work

So the Friday was a stressful day for both of us not only because we had to find a home, but also because we had to go in and meet our respective bosses. We arrived at the north campus in the afternoon feeling fairly broken. We decided that I should knock on my bosses’ door first - Then Georgie would. Feeling very tense I slowly knocked on the door.. then knocked again... nobody there! George went to meet her boss and she was welcomed. I walked around the labyrinth of a department and got back to over-hear Georgie saying that she would work from 7am till 6am the following day.

The weekend was a mixture of emotions. We were still in the hotel till Sunday and I still hadn't meet Nick. I was putting a brave face on my own situation, but Georgie sees through this every time, which just means we both stress and both avoid talking about it.

We were able to move in to our flat on the Sunday night. This cheered us up and we were back to high spirits. Then we packed our stuff into our apartment, which is considerably larger than the spaces we have become accustomed to living in. Peter had installed a couple of desks, a sofa, a bed, and had promised to take us to hypermarket. We made a list of cleaning products, some food, and basic stuff to get us going. Peter dropped us off and left us a number to call when we finished. The shop was overwhelming and we must have been a couple of hours. We filled a trolley full of household stuff and then another trolley of food. The food we bought was basically rubbish - we spent all our energy on the household stuff.

I went into work on the Monday and arranged to meet Nick, my boss; he was actually really friendly and gave me a quick tour of the facilities within the labs. He also sorted some desk space for me and introduced me to Paul, his senior grad. student who basically runs the show. We arranged a time to meet and I was left to it. That afternoon I had a meeting at the international office from 3-5pm. Quite boring but also quite necessary. For example they sign your travel documents and sign you up to some health insurance policy ($81 per month). I attempted to get my UMID card only to find some of my documents from Chem. Eng. had not made it to the central admin. I was told it would take at least three days to get on the system.


We decided to hit downtown that night and stumbled across the Ann Arbor Brew Company Pub (a micro brewery). I had heard of this on the net so was curious. We ended up having loads of beers and to be honest they tasted fairy good. Bit hoppy for my liking but they had been modelled on english style bitters. They have different names for the types but all was good. Better still was that it was happy hour all night! We got chatting to some locals at the bar and had a bit of fun.

I got up early the next day and felt ok. George had a hangover. I left for work. I didn't meet Nick until the afternoon. by this time I had sorted out a lab book, got my story straight and felt confident about this meeting. Nick apologised for the admin. nightmare that I had/was going through. We talked science. I explained the project in my proposal as best I could - my worst fear came alive. Nick didn't see a big picture in the project... he wanted more.. or something different.. I had to think fast. I started talking about everything I new about my nanowires. Nick did that thing were he rubs his head with his hands but didn't say much.. I was dying on my seat. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Kevin, I have something that is really cool", he paused, and I shunted up my chair. "This will be really cool, a Science paper if you pull it off!". He went on to explain what he was thinking. He introduced me to Daniel who worked on CdTe nanowires/particles which is exactly what I needed. We arranged to start work in the morning at 8am. I felt somewhat releaved until later on when I relaised that I had to do the project I proposed to the EU. there was no way around. I told myself I would do both. As the day went on a head ache built up until I just had to go home. It had similar symptoms to that of a mirgrain which I suffered badley from as a kid. I got home and went to bed feeling awful. It took a few hours to clear but that was it I was knackered. By this time there was no way I could go to meet the kayakers. The night had been written off…

I started early on the next day and got in for 7.40 am. When I got in I was surprised to find that nobody was in and all the office and lab doors were locked. I should have known when I got on the bus – I was the only one. Daniel came in a short time after 8am and told me he had trouble getting up in the dark mornings. We began work and he showed me how to go about CdTe nanoparticle synthesis. This is something that I needed for my EU project so I was more than happy. I took substantial notes. This is something that I get worse at as time goes by until the notes dry up and I can’t remember what my samples are anymore. This process took all morning with lots of waiting. I was glad to be doing something. I was using the lab computer, which is a bit of a shocker to use. Old slow and crashes all the time. Georgina had managed to get access to the internet at a local café so she was relatively happy. In the afternoon I chased up some of my paper work. I clearly needed keys and UMID card. I arranged to get a Mac Book Pro ordered through the department. This took a little bit of perswading as it is not standard procedure here. Laptops are bought by students and post docs out of there own pocket. I think myself and George might have met up and tried to sort out our bank account. It was surprisingly hassle free to set up a joint account. What surprised us most was how backward the banks seem compared to the UK. Perhaps this is just our impression.

In the beginning...

I sussessfully obtained a Marie Curie Outgoing Fellowship which allows me to study for two years in the USA and a further year back in the UK. Well done me. Myself and my wife, Georgie, flew from Manchester. We been through a week of leaving dos and goodbyes so in some ways it was good to be actually leaving rather than talking about it. Georgie was travelling on the visa wavier program while I travelled with a J1 Visa. To cut a long story short Georgie has been offered a job in the US too but there was a delay in getting the documents.... The flight was long and boring. I have done a few cross atlantic crossings and none of them have been anything like interesting. We arrived in Chicago to a cold but wonderfully sunny day. Chicago looked amazing and we have promised each other that we will visit it for a weekend sometime soon. A short flight from Chicago and we where at Detriot airport. A guy from golden limos picked us up (arranged by the new boss). He was a nice chap and Georgie had endless questions for him including "what's a beat-up car?". It takes about 20 mins to get accross from the airport to Ann Arbor - Our new home town. Snow was on the ground, it was cold, and it was about 7-8pm US Eastern Time. After checking in we noticed that the hotel had a bar and a pool, so not everything was bad. I was very tired but George convinced me it was a good idea to go swimming. We got down to the pool only to find half a dozen prospective students messing around in the pool. We decided to get in anyway. The pool was small but had an underwater exit which took you outside. Its the weirdest thing being outside, in a pool, at night, with snow on the ground. We didn't stay too long the kids in the pool made it a strange atmosphere.

We had some wishey washey beers and some bar food and called it a night. We were booked into the hotel for three nights and since Friday was the only working day we decided that we had to find a home that day. Not only that but we had arranged to meet our new bosses on that afternoon. We jumped onto a shuttle bus from the hotel to the hospital and went on foot from here. The first memorial image was of the US flag in the central campus area.

The first apartment was in the basement of a cool looking house. The rooms would have just about satisfied a down and out heroin addict. The next place was on the second floor of an old house. The living room was small, but nice; however it was still being decorated. Now we had been on foot since 8.30am and were starting to feel it. The following joint was a basement that was nice, but there was no way we could move in for several weeks/months. More dishearting was the talk of the need for credit checks, references, and large deposits.

We walked to another house that was miles away - the sun was shining and it was actually get pretty hot and we were dressed for the cold. There was nobody to meet us at this house. Things were looking bad. We were running out of time, getting tired, and hot and bothered. We went to the second to last place to visit that day. A grey haired balding chap was there ready to meet us holding a cup of coffee. The building he was standing infront of was old, red brick, big and impressive.

The man showed us two flats; a small one one the 3rd floor; and a larger one one the ground level. Both looked more than fine and even the smaller one would of done us just fine. We took the larger one in the end. It was more flexible in that the lease ran til August. More post later!