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.
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.
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