Autostadt in Wolfsburg

** Late posting of Autostadt in Wolfsburg **

10 Juli 2014

Colleagues from work took me to Autostadt in Wolfsburg. Autostadt is very similar to BMW Welt in München. Autostadt literally means a car city and it has brands from VW, Audi, Porsche to Bugatti and Lamborghini (all these manufacturers are owned by Volkswagen Group).

My colleagues and I took a picture in front of the two towers. These two towers have VW cars that are about to be picked up by the customers.

I got to drive the E-Golf of VW! It is 100% electric and was surprisingly very smooth and quiet. I would seriously consider getting an electric vehicle if I had enough money.

I truly had fun in Autostadt.

This is the inside of those two towers from the first picture. We got to take the elevator inside the tower and  had a short tour of the tower.

P.S. Henrik, Christian und Jachim! Vielen Dank für schöne Zeit hier in Autostadt!

Copenhagen and World Cup

21 Juli 2014

When I was visiting Hamburg, someone I met there told me that Copenhagen was wonderful. So I flew myself to Copenhagen on July 12. Everyone spoke at least some English, so I had no trouble communicating with people there. I biked around the city and found many buildings that were old and colorful.

I think this part of the town was called Nyhavn. 

These buildings seem to explain a little bit of Danish design philosophy.

The weather was not so perfect, but I liked walking/biking in the rain for some reason. 

Also, Germany has won the 2014 Brazil World Cup!

Deutschland ist Weltmeister!!

Heidelberg - RISE Scholars Meeting

09 Juli 2014

There was a three-day meeting organized by DAAD, an academic program that connected me to the internship I now have. The meeting was held at a historical city of Heidelberg.

 It happened to be DAAD´s tenth anniversary this year. So we had out meeting at Alte Aula, an old lecture hall for the University of Heidelberg (the oldest University in Germany!). Many people came to welcome and congratulate us for being part of the program. There were about 300 RISE scholars.

After the officially planned programs, I took my mom to Altstadt. Like many southern cities, Heidelberg also had many old-looking homes and stores.

This is a view from Heidelberg Schloss (castle). After climbing up to the castle, we were both awed by such beautiful scenary. We talked about how Heidelberg was surrounded by mountains and had river running through the city, making it an excellent location for trade and protection from invasion. We both understood why Heidelberg was a hot tourist spot.

On a side note, I want to thank DAAD. It has done a superb job of organizing this meeting and connecting English speaking students to German PhD students so that we can benefit from this amazing international experience.

Berlin

28-29 Juni, 2014

Last weekend, my mom and I have been to Berlin, capital city of Germany. I thought it was going to be just a big city, but I actually was quite wrong. I enjoyed the vibe of the city. The city felt alive and people living here seemed to be really enjoying their lives.
We only had Saturday for shopping as all the stores were closed on Sunday. So we walked 5+ hours around Berlin and went to many shops.

This is the famous KaDeWe and Berlin´s traffic light.

Berlinerdom is very ornate and well preserved.

Lastly, beer from Berlin, Berliner. Sehr lecker!

Mom in Europe

26 Juni 2014

Last weekend, I met up with my mom in Paris. Then the next day, we headed to Barcelona and Madrid. Going back to Paris after a year was a nice feeling because I felt like I knew the city (although I stayed there only for a week last year).

We had spent a very short amount of time in Barcelona.

Then in Mardid, we visited a lot of small stores and restaurants and enjoyed our visit. Jamon in Madrid was an interesting gastronomic experience.

All these 'things' hanging on the ceiling are 'Jamon'. The guy working there said it was a pig's leg. 

We went to Tapas restaurant and enjoyed nibbling on various types of food on baguette.

About my work

12 Juni 2014

In my work, my task is to develop equations and a physical model for pedelecs (E-bikes). Using softwares like Excel and Matlab SIMULINK, I combine equations (equations I learned from physics and mechanical engineering courses) to find out expected power input from the rider, given certain conditions.
It involves a lot of research and learning new things - I have learned a lot about bicycles and their technicalities. Also the books I am using for research purposes are in German, so I sometimes struggle to understand what the book is saying,. But, thanks to google translator, I can mostly understand the texts.

Here is a little bit of what I have been doing:

Tschüss!

Visit From a Friend in Paris

29 Mai, 2014

My friend from Paris came to visit me. It was exciting to meet up with a friend in a foreign country. We enjoyed the nice weather and the greens offered by Hannover. Biking around the parks and lakes along with eating great food brought us much fun.

This part of Hannover is called "Altstadt", which literally means "old city". A lot of fun restaurants and pubs are around this neighborhood.

We were taking a break from biking on Maschsee. We were awed by how green the city was and how pretty it was to bike around. My friend from Paris enjoyed her visit a lot since she doesn't get to see much of a big park in Paris.