Am I just a duckling?
I woke up at 8:39am and cursed aloud. My first day and I already overslept!
Tied my hair and ran out of the dorm... only hoping that I was running in the right direction. Thankfully, I made it to the metro station no problem and I arrived at the lab exactly on time, at 9:30am. The only person there was Juanito.. lol.. I was early I guess.
S0on Umberto arrived followed by Christian. He talked to me and asked me how much I knew. I basically told him I had no chemical engineering lab experience. He then gave me a lecture on the board of what their research was about. For the most part I think I understood it. It's just polymer synthesis.. basic stuff, polyethylene and polypropylene but using a catalyst that starts with an m.. and different cocatalysts such as MAO (which has higher "activity" but poorer form) and TMA which has less "activity" (a word which I had never heard of before, but found out the units are kg/ (mol*atm*hr). I learned how they did the reaction using toluene solvent, and that the air quenches the reaction and so it's done in these boxes where you stick your hands in these giant gloves attached to the box. I learned that the air inside the box is nitrogen. I saw the machines they used to test the resiliency or elasticity of the polymers as well as the ones to press the polymer as well as the ones to analyze the properties (such as molecular weight). I learned about nanomaterials and the theory behind separating a nanoplate from clay (since clay is polar they have to first make it nonpolar and then can add ethylene to make it in the proper form). I learned the form is important so that it can go to industry.. I learned what good form looks like. But when observing the reaction it looked pretty much like Chem 6B stuff. easy! Yeah I learned but I want to do more.
The thing is, after following Christian around and observing the first reaction it seemed like he had no idea what I was supposed to do. I thought I would be given work immediately, I mean after all I'm getting paid. So put me to work! I want to prove myself useful. I don't want to just be paid to learn theory and observe other people. That gives me little gratification.
Next I followed Paula around and watched her do her reaction. She spoke more English and so was easier to connect with. Maybe because she's a girl as well. Anyway, I had fun talking to her and meeting people through her which includes Mario, Katie, and Lorena. I learned that they all like to dance and Paula wants to take me dancing on Friday -- yay :) I also learned that Juanito is an excellent reggaeton dancer. lol i wouldn't have guessed that. Let's see how they dance to reggaeton here, I'm curious.
5 o'clock came around so quickly. They all talked to me and wanted to help me and tell me where good places to go and eat and shop were. They are all so nice and sweet. I look forward to getting to know them.
Oh I'm in the lounge and Shannon just walked in. We're talking to a guy from Panama named Erik. Maybe we'll eat soon. So I'll wrap this up now. Bye!
Tied my hair and ran out of the dorm... only hoping that I was running in the right direction. Thankfully, I made it to the metro station no problem and I arrived at the lab exactly on time, at 9:30am. The only person there was Juanito.. lol.. I was early I guess.
S0on Umberto arrived followed by Christian. He talked to me and asked me how much I knew. I basically told him I had no chemical engineering lab experience. He then gave me a lecture on the board of what their research was about. For the most part I think I understood it. It's just polymer synthesis.. basic stuff, polyethylene and polypropylene but using a catalyst that starts with an m.. and different cocatalysts such as MAO (which has higher "activity" but poorer form) and TMA which has less "activity" (a word which I had never heard of before, but found out the units are kg/ (mol*atm*hr). I learned how they did the reaction using toluene solvent, and that the air quenches the reaction and so it's done in these boxes where you stick your hands in these giant gloves attached to the box. I learned that the air inside the box is nitrogen. I saw the machines they used to test the resiliency or elasticity of the polymers as well as the ones to press the polymer as well as the ones to analyze the properties (such as molecular weight). I learned about nanomaterials and the theory behind separating a nanoplate from clay (since clay is polar they have to first make it nonpolar and then can add ethylene to make it in the proper form). I learned the form is important so that it can go to industry.. I learned what good form looks like. But when observing the reaction it looked pretty much like Chem 6B stuff. easy! Yeah I learned but I want to do more.
The thing is, after following Christian around and observing the first reaction it seemed like he had no idea what I was supposed to do. I thought I would be given work immediately, I mean after all I'm getting paid. So put me to work! I want to prove myself useful. I don't want to just be paid to learn theory and observe other people. That gives me little gratification.
Next I followed Paula around and watched her do her reaction. She spoke more English and so was easier to connect with. Maybe because she's a girl as well. Anyway, I had fun talking to her and meeting people through her which includes Mario, Katie, and Lorena. I learned that they all like to dance and Paula wants to take me dancing on Friday -- yay :) I also learned that Juanito is an excellent reggaeton dancer. lol i wouldn't have guessed that. Let's see how they dance to reggaeton here, I'm curious.
5 o'clock came around so quickly. They all talked to me and wanted to help me and tell me where good places to go and eat and shop were. They are all so nice and sweet. I look forward to getting to know them.
Oh I'm in the lounge and Shannon just walked in. We're talking to a guy from Panama named Erik. Maybe we'll eat soon. So I'll wrap this up now. Bye!
posted by Elina at
7:03 PM
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