Recommended Summer Reads from the Train!

Recommended Summer Reads

Authors

·         Larry Niven

·         Orson Scott Card

·         Douglas Adams

·         Andres Norton

·         John Green

·         Susan Cooper

·         Neil Gaiman

·         Meg Cabot

·         JRR Tolkein

·         Oscar Wilde

·         Stephen King

·         Tamara Pierce

·         Ian Flemming

·         Edgar Allen Poe

Books

·         Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas

·         D’artagnan Trilogy (Series), by Alexandre Dumas

·         Beauty

·         Spindles End

·         Avalon High

·         Dune, by Frank Herbert

·         Ender’s Game (Series)

·         Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Series), by Douglas Adams

·         Atlas Shrugged

·         Paper Town, by John Green

·         Hunger Games (Series)

·         Game of Thrones (Series)

·         Host, by Stephanie Meyer

·         The Name of the Wind (Series), by Patrick Rothfuss

·         Artemis Fowl (Series), by Eoin Colfer

·         Poison Princess, by Kresley Cole

·         The Odyssey

·         The Iliad

·         The Great Gatsby

·         The Beautiful Love (Series)

·         50 Shades of Grey (Series)

·         Harry Potter (Series)

·         Silver Linings Playbook

·         Perks of being a Wallflower

·         1984

·         The Color Blue

·         Mass Effect

·         Eragon, by Christopher Paolini

·         Arabian Nights

·         The Mortal Instruments (Series)

·         Complete Stories of Franz Kafka

·         Fatherland, by Robert Harris

·         Flatland

·         Mila 18, by Leon Uris

·         Catch 22, by Joseph Heller

·         White Bone

·         Ugly (Series), by Scott Westerfield

·         Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead

·         Secret Life of Bees

·         Dragon Rider

·         City of Ember (Series)

·         City of Angels

·         A Great and Terrible Beauty

·         Beautiful Creatures

·         Pendragon (Series)

·         Morganville Vampire Series

·         The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks

·         Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks

·         The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks

·         Safe Haven, by Nicholas Sparks

·         Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

·         The Gone Away World, by Nick Harkaway

·         Percy Jackson Series

·         The Forever War

·         Diskworld

·         Good Omens

Hello, everyone!

Here is our group photo from Museum Boerhaave in Leiden on our first full day in Europe. We will be getting the photo sharing site set up soon for those of you in the course, so watch for that info in addition to the course survey and final exam questions that Liz and I will be sending you tomorrow.

Drinking Habits! Culture Post

One cultural difference that I have noticed is that many people go to restaurants for just a drink. At every single restaurant I have gone to, they've asked us whether we are there to eat or to drink. I've also noticed many people just drinking at a restaurant without any food. In the US this is more common to do at a bar, not a regular restaurant.

Apartment Shopping...

I thought that Marie Curie's first apartment was very interesting.  It amazes me that she had no electricity, no heat (except coal), and still loved where she was living. That sort of speaks about where she was in life and where she wanted to be. I was also surprised that they don't have her apartment marked off and that tenants live there to this day. I wonder if they even know it was Marie's apartment?

Pantheon - Kristy

One of my favorite places to see was the Pantheon. The architecture there looks amazing and I was astounded looking at the all the statues and paintings. It was all really beautiful and was masterfully created. The graves underground were also a great experience to see. It's nice France provides a place for the great people in history and science to group all together, so if you want to visit the grave of several you can visit all of them in one location.

June 2nd - Culture Post

Language is a bigger deal here in France than it was in the Netherlands. Perhaps it stems from more nationalistic sentiments here in France, or maybe just because the Dutch are more multicultural given their population and size; but regardless it seems as though people in France are much more likeley to get peeved at you for not knowing the language than the dutch would. I can't say I blame them. In the States people get mad all the time when someone starts speaking anything other than English. Maybe we all just need to take a chill pill and eat another stroopwafel ;)

Kyle's Curie Tour

The Curie tour gave me a good idea for the types of conditions that Curie experienced during her life. The most interesting thing to me is just how expensive it was to create just a gram of radium. That just 1 gram cost $100,000 is insane, but the fact that it required 4 grams to use the radium bomb for testing just makes it even more insane. This price for the radium doesn't even include the cost of designing the machine and the parts that are used to make it. The fact that a women during this time was able to accomplish so much is astounding, but what made it even more fascinating is that her father in law was willing to watch the kids so that she could continue her research.

June 1st - Curie Tour and the Pantheon

I enjoyed the walking tour of Marie Curie's apartment's. It really helped to solidify the places and experinces portrayed in the book. It's interesting that you can find such a large chunk of one person's life in such a concentrated area. However, I suppose thats true for most of us. The pantheon was an impressive building, and of course we saw the curies there as well. Regardless of their reasoning, I really like how the french have not only immortalized, but also glorified portions of their history in statues and paintings.

Kyle's French Culture Post

The first thing I noticed in Paris is the abundance of cars and how much less bike friendly the city is in general. After being in Amsterdam where nearly every thing that could be used to lock a bike to had at least 5 locked to it. Here in Paris there is actually some room to sit on the railing. Along these same lines while there are bike paths here they are much less utilized and don't really meld into the roads nearly as well. Overall this gives the city a much different feel and also makes traveling via bike around the city harder. They compensate by this by having their tram system that runs pretty much everywhere in the city.

French Culture insights, ect. ect.

Yes the title is French culture but let us first have a quick and contemplative mourning of no longer being in easy access of the Belgium Belgium waffle. Internally I am mourning such a mouth watering delicacy. The Belgium's knew how to make a waffle. As what is seemingly normal for Europeans traffic is one of the scarier things one can experience. It is right up there as a staring contest with a cobra. One have much confidence in doing things which I believe is the Europeans secret to navigating their traffic system. Though I greatly appreciate their public transportation system; the squeals of the metros in Paris is ear-splitting, and sometimes the smell of human lesser fragrant odors pluming into ones nose with the expected ammonia. Though that now shows why they wear scarves, to hide ones face. I now own two. I just need to remember to wear them. Another thing on Paris that is less, icky, is the couples. One can view a bout of "p.d.a." while people walking. In parks the cute couple walking in the parks holding each others arms, sitting on benches and feeding ducks. Fresh flower shops on every other block adds to the warm and fuzzy picture. No wonder Paris is the city of lovers. I absolutely adore how well pedestrians get around, barring the traffic can get around. Again what is needed is a sense of confidence. If one does not walk with purpose or becomes hesitant about whether to cross or not it causes issues with those with vehicles. It is not about being polite when it comes to being a pedestrian, nor is it always about the rules. It is about going. As the lady said on the tram in Amsterdam, "Just push." As I spend more time here I am more confident in my ability to get around and not being ran over. I will miss being in a place that was constructed with pedestrians in mind rather that that of personal vehicles like it is in the United States. I would like to also mention the different smells. I have noticed different ambient smells in each country. Each very distinctive in each country. With the exception of the trams, fish stalls, and some random areas Paris smells sweet almost. Maybe its the perfume. Belgium, though was rainy so that may have had an influence, but it smelled like a sour metal and Amsterdam smelled warm, it may also have been dependent on weather, since it was our warmest and sunniest days on the trip thus far. Though Paris was not my favorite, sorry Dr Stanley, I will miss Europe, again. The culture is worth attempting to immerse ones self in.

Cultural Learnings of Europe for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of United States

One of the more interesting observations that I've made during our trqvels of the last few weeks was the impressive amount of languages that the average person here speaks. While being bilingual in the states puts you ahead of the curve, over here it's not unusual to run into people who speak many more. One day when we went to lunch in a Brussels sanwhich shop the man behind the counter quickly cycled through 4 or 5 languages to see which one we were most comfortable speaking in with him.  This really is quite astounding to me. Also, France doesn't use the standard qwerty keyboard setup, which made this take much longer to type than it should have taken.

the Curie

I knew about Marie Curie, many have. Pierre Curie is taught in schools as a background character if taught at all but the love story of Pierre and Marie is more epic and romantic than Romeo and Juliet (as anyone who actually know what is entailed in Romeo and Juliet can attest to). Marie was helped greatly by the men in her life helping support her and working with her. Pierre who eventually became her husband supported and worked with her. I thought that learning about Pierre Curie through the walking tour and the text was very interesting. Yes Marie was important because being a woman scientist, one of the first, but just because she was important doesn't mean we should ignore Pierre. Maybe learning of their love story may even get more people interested in the Curie's history overall!

European Culture Post.

Something I found interesting in France compared to the other countries we've visited is that there are times resteraunts wont serve food. At these times they only serve food. Also when you walk into a cafe they ask you right away if youe drinking or eating.

Emily's European culture

One thing that I noticed was that over here in Europe yellow mustard is rare. They also don't seem to eat pickles either. Another thing I noticed is they don't have Mexican food.

Marie Curie Tour Post

Something I found inyeresting on the tour was that Marie Curie hired about forty women in her lab. This wasn't common for the time, and think it showed be admired. She made advancing the the scientific careers of women one of her priorities.

Emily's Pantheon Experience

I really enjoyed seeing the Pantheon. It was neat to see Marie and Pierre Currie's grave. Even seeing Victor Hugo's grave was awesome. It is neat that Marie is the first woman to be buried in the Pantheon of of her own works.

European Culture

Between the three places that we've visited, one piece of European culture that I've noticed is the way that the different countries interact with you once they know they are talking to a foreigner. In the Netherlands the native people treated you with warm hospitality, loved to joke around, and are more surprised than angry when you can only speak a limited number of their language. Belgium was in the middle and didn't show too much emotion either way if you didn't know their culture or language. France though is on the other side of the scale. While some Parisians joke around, most are quick to give you annoyed stares or become irritated and snippy when you ask if they speak English. And in a way I can understand this since we're the same way in the U.S. It's hard to come into a country where you don't know the language and expect them to speak in a language other then their native tongue. In  all though all three countries were different in their reactions from the others.

Adam's cultural post

The hardest thing for me to get my head around here is the act of tipping at restaurants. Do I tip? Do it not tip? How much do I tip? I just found out today though that it is customary to tip  10%. What I am loving the most here is the food! Even the mashed potatoes are to die for! Just being in Europe for the past two weeks makes me want to move here, the old architecture make me speechless because of its tremendous being.

Le Museé Curie 01/06/13

It was fascinating to visit the Musée Curie and see all of the displays about how radium was used in a fashion that would be considered haphazard to say the least by today's standards. From cosmetics to fishing reels, it was added to just about everything because of its almost mystical presence within culture at the time.

Adam's pantheon post

I really enjoyed the visit to the pantheon today. I really enjoyed the visit because I got to see my favorite author's, alexandre dumas, grave. I also liked learning that the curie's tombs are lined with lead because they are still radio active.

European Cultural Differences

It seems to me that Europeans in general are camels and don't drink water. 200mL of water in a bottle with a meal isn't enough three meals a day. In the Netherlands this was normal here in France however, we have awesome waiters who deliver new jugs of water whenever we contemplate needing new ones. The food in general is exquisite but expensive. Also, between the cities we've been to, France is the one with the most disparity between the parts of town being radically different in regards to neighborhoods. For instance, in Amsterdam, there feel was the same whether you were in a slightly outlying area or the center of town. But in France there seems to be different parts of town that are better than others, the area around the Eiffel Tower for example is a very nice place to be, the area our Hostel is in seems to be kinda cut from the concrete mold with little embellishments. Belgium we really didn't get to see many places besides the bustling downtown districts in Brugge, Brussels and Ghent but they looked ok. Oh, the countryside in Belgium is really cool too, sorry we walked to an observatory and it was beautiful.

The Paris Pantheon by Thomas

Where to start... The view outside the building was amazing of the surrounding area. I was just completely in awe of the time put forth in the scrollwork by the artisans on the tops of the pillars and on the ceiling of the building's exterior. The inside was cool with the art in the windows, and the colored rocks incorporated in the floor's design. But what really caught my attention was the crypt beneath it, it seemed to me that the crypt was more airy than I thought any underground cavern would be, it was no different than being in a train station that's made of sandstone bricks with the way that it was constructed. It felt, dare I say it airy, although it felt churchlike because we were supposed to be quiet and respectful of the graves of the dead entombed there. Also, in the gift shop there was a leather bound notebook that caught my eye because it looked really old and homemade also really easy to reproduce, so we took a picture of it. to remember for later how to make one. (and I'm blogging about it so I don't forget to look at the picture, or remember it in general,)

Pantheon - Marissa

This is Marissa:

The Pantheon we went to today was quite remarkable. Personally I was very impressed by the architecture and all of the paintings and sculptures. The crypt below it was quite fascinating as well with some important French figures buried there (e.g. Pierre and Marie Curie). The structure itself I felt represented some great aspects of French history as well as the building had a nice view of the Eiffel Tower.

Brent's Pantheon Visit

Walking through the pantheon and seeing the final resting place of Marie and Pierre Curie was pretty cool to me. The structure alone was impressive in itself. Building a structure of that size in 1790 had to be a huge undertaking. The building is impressive today, so back in the late 1700's this had to be a monumental accomplishment.

Brent's Culture Observation

The biggest thing I have noticed about this eurotrip is the intercity/intercounty train system. This is way beyond anything the US has as far as infrastructure goes. While the states does have some railways that offer intercity travel it is not nearly as common. Europe is much smaller so this is easier to accomplish but I would imagine it still takes a lot of coordination between all the different countries to offer a international railway.

Curie Walking Tour- Kjerstin

  It was so cool to see all of the sights on the walking tour of Marie and Pierre Curie's life.  I absolutely love the book that we are reading (Radioactive by Lauren Redniss) about the Curie's, so seeing the actual places that they lived and worked was very interesting.  It was cool to see some real examples of the products that the general public put radium into at the time of the Curie's first discoveries.  It is crazy how fast and widespread they put radium into without knowing the possible effects that it could have.  Seeing these things made me happy for the FDA and government organizations that regulate things like that today.  It was overall a great experience to see these things firsthand!  

Public transportation - Marissa

This is Marissa:

All the countries we have been to have all seemed to have had a big emphasis on public transportation. The Netherlands seemed to embrace this lifestyle the most with tons of bikes, bike paths, trams, trains, etc. Belgium still utilized bike paths and trams but not nearly as much. Finally, France seems to have the least focus on public transport with only a lifestyle emphasis on the metro. All in all, the focus all of these countries have placed on public transportation, however small or large, is quite remarkable and different from the U.S. norm.

Cultural Observation- 06/01/2012

   My new cultural observation that I would like to share is that I have noticed that through all of the countries that we have visited, they seem to be very friendly to elderly people and couples.  It was very surprising to me  right away in the Netherlands when I saw many elderly people cruising around on bikes. In Belgium and France I have seen many elderly people using public transportation and strolling around, being very active.  It is a cool thing to see and would be cool to see more of in the US.

Adventures to the Pantheon

Today we visited the Pantheon and while there I spent the majority of the time exploring and paying my respects to the souls buried in the crypts. It amazes me how many famous people were all buried near each other. I kept thinking about how amazing it would have been to have all of those people together at the same time while they were alive.

culture thing (ryan leahy)

their mcdonalds here are ten times better than the ones back in the states. You get your food in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds even. they have pre order stations where you can use your debit card. the food is made better, the resturants are larger, their menus are better. their system is just simply better and way more efficent.

Cultural Observations

I have made an observation regarding the use of bicycles in Europe. I have noticed that as we have traveled around Europe there have been an ever decreasing amount of bicycles. I personally enjoyed the fact that so many people in Leiden used bikes instead of cars.

saturday 1st(this is Ryan Leahy,Account stopped working)

the pantheon was a very interesting and visually stunning. the basement was very interesting because of the tombs of deceased intilectuials and military leaders. i really enjoyed the massive colums throughout, and the ungodly large paintings. the paintings were my favorite part.

Adam's plantarium visit

I loved the observatory/planetarium. The information I got was amazing. One thing I didn't like though was the fact the astronomers are assuming what is going on with other planets and stars. Even though we can see the color doesn't mean we can know what it is made of since no one has been there we don't know, but the scientific community takes these things as facts. Barely anything good, in my experience, comes out of assuming.

History of Science Museum (Ghent)- Kjerstin

   Many aspects of the History of Science museum were very interesting to me yesterday.  Right at the beginning, the scientist that worked with visual effects sparked my interest.  It is very apparent that in science, the inventers and fathers of scientific things can be very controvercial.  Still to this day, it can be like this with giving credit to people and scientific authors.  The transition electron microscopes [TEM/SEM] were very interesting as well!  I loved looking at them because of using simmilar [yet much newer] ones in my undergraduate research.  Lastly, the discussion on the chemistry professors were super cool!

Leo Baekeland and Bake-O-Lite from the Ghent Museum.

So, about Leo Baekeland who was a Belgian scientist specifically he loved photochemistry and invented Velox. But upon selling his share of the rights to Velox to Kodak company in 1899 for $250,000 as part of his parting agreement he couldn't do photochemistry experiments again. So he invented Bake-O-Lite. The first fully synthetic hardening resin like compound. Used to make all sorts of household and industrial stuff. His children and grandchildren needless to say don't have to work for a living, but they do anyways to keep busy. There is apparently a kind of bake-o-lite that is used to coat electrical wires in old buildings which is drippy looking that we (my family and I) found in a home we were remodelling. I made that connection and just sat there for a while as my brain put itself back together.

Liz's Waffle Experiences: #s 2 & 3

Oh, Waffles 2 and 3. I will never forget you. As Adam said, after these waffles, what we got previously in Rotterdam may not even deserve to be called a waffle.

I got these waffles in Brussels, at a place called TradiNatura. Adam and I got different types, and then went halvsies on them so we could try both kinds. Liege Waffles are chewier. Brussels Waffles are crispier. Both are AMAZING.

Liege Waffle

Brussels Waffle

Liz (right) and Liege Waffle

We had both with chocolate syrup and whipped cream.  The Brussels waffle was crispy and light, easy to break apart with your fork, with nice big squares to hold chocolate. The Liege waffle had bits on it that were almost carmelized, and it was chewy but not at all tough. 

They were AMAZING. If you eat a waffle and don't feel like "OMG! This waffle is the best thing that's ever happened to me!" then you aren't eating the right waffle.

Kyle - Observatory

Yesterday we visited an Observatory in Brugges, while there we got to see a video about how exo planets are discovered and some types of them that exist out in the universe. For example super earths that are planets that are not gas based but rather are more similar to our planet and are larger than the earth. We also got to see some of the telescopes that they had on their Observatory. While these were older it was still cool to see them. It also introduced me to several new types of telescopes that are being used nowadays. The ability for the telescope to be aimed at any star through the computer was pretty fascinating too. I would have liked the roof to move along with the telescope too but that may be asking to much.

The history of science museum in Ghent 30/5/13

Bright and early in the morning we made our way into the history of science museum. I found the display discussing the discovery of the molecular structure of benzene to be pretty interesting. I also found it inspirational that a student newspaper printed a monkey based diagram of the structure after hearing benzene referenced in such a manner.

Brent's observatory thoughts

On may 30th we went to the observatory in Brugg. This observatory seemed much more modern and adavanced equipped with new technologies such as a computerized telescope, than the one in Utrecht. While both places had there own cool little perks I especially liked how our tour guide explained all the different aspects of space as we know it today. The ability to discover other planets, or hot Jupiter's, without actually being able to see them is really quite impressive. The ability to use the fluctuation in light output from other suns to detect the orbit time of the other planets is another very impressive feat. I had no idea that some of these discoveries had been made. Im very curious to see how much more we will discover over the next 20-30 years, since we have made such massive leaps just recently.

May 30th - Brass and Besbroek

It was interesting to see the progression of microscope design over the turning centuries - how you could tell how old a microscope was by the amount of embellishment added to the instrument. Things got more utilitarian as they got more modern. Also, apparently everyone had decided that brass was a no go post 1900.   Bresbroek was a pretty cool place as well. I'll definitely be needing one of those projection domes. I'm glad that one of the main topics was exo planets. I attended a conference last summer regarding the spitzer telescope and the likelihood of life supporting planets. Very cool.

The Scenic Route to the Observatory

The view on the way to the observatory was absolutely beautiful.  Not only was the view a plus, but the dome in which we watched the informative video was really awesome too. It was really cool to be able to lay down in the absolutely amazingly comfortable chairs and feel like we are on a journey through space.  The ideas and theories mentioned during the video were really fascinating but they also made me wonder if we can actually base the creation and evidence of new planets off of the information gathered from telescopes. For example the charts showing dips in the amount of light being shown over a span of time, doesn't necessarily mean that we can state that the dips show that new planets are actually in that area of space.

Museum of Science Post!!

Although we didnt get to see the entire museum, I still enjoyed it. My favorite part was learning about the early cartoon cards. It was intereresting learning about the progression of film from those cards.

The Museum of the History of Sciences

Today we went off to Ghent to visit the Museum of the History of Sciences at the University of Ghent. At the museum we learned about the history of moving images (early cartoons), some basic electrodynamics, and we concluded with the basic history of famous chemists from the Ghent area. Personally, being an electrical engineering major, I found the electricity section to be the most interesting. I especially liked the part when she turned the crank and produced the static electricity between the two balls.

the rambling history of science museum... because history is never over.

In our short time in Belgium, whose waffles deserve a Shakespearean soliloquy, we spent time in two places. So instead of writing of really comfy seats in the observatory I will instead write of the history of science museum in Ghent. It was a quaint place whose microscopes were reminiscent of steam punk. The tour started with the father of film, I don't remember his name but, he did not create film but moving pictures that started as ocular experiments. An interesting fact is that he got his true calling by walking into a science class instead of his then major law. This ended with him having a double major. Then in the tour, skipping the electricity demonstration, we were lead to the chemistry display and again another, famous to Ghent, scientist was going to a different major, architecture, and ended up in science. Rewinding; our tour guide in the beginning of the tour disclaimed that a lot of science and or scientists, 'happened due to happy coincidences'. Which I find terribly awesome. Not all who wander are lost, sometimes they just find the path they were not looking for which is historically fascinating.

Observatory - kristy

I found the observatory projection movie to be really fascinating. It was great to see a close up of all of the planets and I felt like we were actually flying through space for that short period of time. It is really eye opening to realize how large the universe is and a little humbling at the same time to know there is a lot out there and that as a planet we barely register as a speck. Besides let's be honest those chairs were also amazingly comfortable and provided most of us with a great nap for at least a small portion of the movie. When I build a house one of those rooms with the screen and chairs are going to be the first thing to be built.

Observatory (5/30/2013) - Marissa

This is Marissa:

I really enjoyed the movie at the Observatory on exoplanets. I had never heard that term before and to hear the recent discoveries as well as the methods and technology that was used to locate all these new solar systems and various other cosmological entities was quite amazing. The math, different systems (i.e. the examples given), and telescopes/satellites used to determine presence, size, chemical makeup, etc. of orbiting planets through transit and the wobble method was impressive. I also thought the technology to display the video itself was quite impressive so that an entire visual could be displayed without any overlap or shadows from the machine.

Pofferjes Race

Liz's Waffle Experiences: #1

I will be reporting on all the waffles I eat while in Belgium. This waffle, #1, was actually eaten in Rotterdam, Netherlands. I thought I'd begin with a non-Belgium waffle, to see if I could notice a difference later.

This waffle has milk chocolate, strawberries, and whipped cream. I bought it at a place called "Coffee and Sweets" on Coolsingel in Rotterdam. It came with a cute little fork that had a serrated edge on the side, so you could also use it as a knife. It was a little tough tasting at first, I thought, but then I got into it. I think the whipped cream helped with the consistency.  The chocolate and cream combo was better than the chocolate and strawberries combo. Also, the milk chocolate itself was DELICIOUS.

Indonesian food

My Planetarium Post!

Hey guys! I really enjoyed the planetarium. It was amazing how accurate a planetarium built in the 1740s was. I also thought the artwork and decorations were amazing. I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit this planetarium.

Erinn's Delft Experience

I thought that Delft was extremely interesting. I had seen that sort of work before, but I had no idea it was so coveted. It's really neat that they have a special clay mix, that their artists are trained for at least ten years, and that there is a way to tell if it is true Delftware.

Delft tour - Kristy

When touring the Delft museum I thought the porcelain making process was really interesting. I was surprised to hear that the factory was the only original one to survive to today and that they still use the old recipe to make their products. I think it's cool that they still hand paint everything to make every product personal and unique. It must take a lot of time and I'm curious to know how long the whole process actually takes.

Adam's magically impressively super spectacular botanical gardens blog post

I really enjoyed the guide at the botanical gardens. I liked hearing about the wormwood and how the drug that was supposed to save you was just as likely to kill you.

Hortus Botanicus from Eric

So far while staying in Amsterdam my favorite school based activity was our trip to Hortus Botanicus. I found it amazing how our tour guide seemed to know everything about all of the plants. I also found the tour guide we had very amusing. It was extra interesting how ferns are able to actually grow into full trees. I only know of ferns being small and low to the ground. I learned a lot about the plants at the garden as well as the medical applications which they were used to treat.
-Papa Duck Out.

Botanical Garden- Kjerstin

On Friday we went to the Botanical Garden in Amsterdam, the Hortus Botanicus.  It was such a cool and diverse garden.  There were so many different plants from all over the world. It was very interesting to learn more about the different pharmaceutical plants from history and actually see them in person.  It was also very interesting to see the greenhouses that were set up with different climates.  I love to take pictures of plants and animals, so the whole idea of having all types of plants at my disposal was great!  I really loved the time we spent at the botanical garden!

May 25th - Planetarium

Eise Eisinga's planetarium was simply amazing. As mentioned before, this guy's wife must have absolutely hated him. But of course, it was totally worth it. I found out that Eise's planetarium belongs to a smaller catagory of devices called "orrerys", which are essentially mechanical models of  celestial systems (side note: summer DIY project). I like the fact that the construction of the orrery was for a specific purpose, and that purpose was to prove a bunch of silly people wrong. 

 If Eisinga really wanted to disprove the apocalypse prediction, he could have perhaps drawn the people a picture, or have shown them a mathematical equation. But instead he decided to do the more eclectic thing, which was to turn his house into a giant space clock.

Delft Factory - Marissa

This is Marissa:

I really enjoyed the trip to the delft factory. I knew that they produced porcelain products and that blue and white was very common but I wasn't sure if that was all they produced. Apparently they had used other colors but no longer produce anything but blue and white. I really thought the label the master painters put on each piece to verify that the product is authentic was really neat as well. The fact that the master painters undergo about ten years of training though was quite amazing. Watching the master painter work though showed their talent and was quite amazing to see how easy it seemed for her to make the design but how difficult it must be to personally mix the blue to make the correct shade.

Amsterdam post number 1

It could have been the tour guide that made the botanical garden in Amsterdam so interesting, but I found that it was the most interesting thus far location that we visited thus far while staying in Amsterdam. While all the plants were interesting and the green houses with very old plants and tropical plants was enjoyable I found the medicinal garden quite fascinating. Historically things that were used as medicine was a poison or if not taken correctly would be fatal. Which is similar to botox, it kills the nerve endings. It is curious on how in the future medicine in the present could be seen as barbaric. Also absinthe, bad to be addicted to; but can you feel the love? For everything, in small doses.

Thomas' Rediculously Magical Impressively super spectacular Delft Visit

So we went to Delft on 26th of May. And in Delft we went to a porcelain factory and museum. The only remaining porcelain factory after the rest closed down in the Great Depression and world war two. Umm, the same processes are used as were developed in the 16th century. They have produced other colors of porcelain but the one that has withstood the test of time is white with blue accents. It's rediculously expensive, 135 euros for a single teacup. The end.

Emily's Magnificently ridiculously magically impressively super spectacularly Delft Visit

On Sunday we went to Delft and saw the porcelain factory and museum.  The factory looked like an artists heaven because there were plates, bowls, vases, and thimbles everywhere.  I found that the hand painted artwork was impressively mass produced onto a variety of items.  It is remarkable to think that artists hand paint the very pictures and images onto the variety of pieces because the images look so real.

Nathan's impressively super spectacular planetarium visit

It was really interesting to go into a house in which a man dedicated 7 years of his free time towards making a ridiculously complex and accurate mechanism for showing the position of the heavenly spheres. I also really like clockwork devices, so all of the different ornate pieces for telling anything from time to different data about the solar system.

Kyle's Super Spectacular Botanica Visit

The Botanica visit in Amsterdam was very interesting. It really made me think about when people were first figuring out which plants are able to help with what diseases, and also how much to use to treat different ailments. Trying to think how much trial and error was used to discover the properties of the plants and also that after taking the plant people had to then realize what effects it had on their bodies. After they figured out all these properties, the fact that to become a doctor you just had to realize what different plants were and their properties is astounding and I personally would want a doctor that knows more than just the plants in the Botanica.

Brent's Spectacular Planetarium Visit

I found the planetarium tour very interesting for a few different reasons. First off the fact that Eise Eisinga actually built that in the main area of his house. Thats definitely not something you see everyday. Another thing that impressed me about the planetarium was how he was able to keep everything scaled properly and be able to accurately display the known planets positions, as well as their moons. As if that wasn't enough having a calendar built into the entire thing that keeps track of day, month, year, moonphases, etc just makes the whole room that much more impressive.

May 23rd - Sonnenborgh Observatory

So, its no secret that I like space... a lot. And I'm pretty sure many of you feel the same way. This said, I really liked this observatory. Having to locate celestial bodies through equipment similar to what Galileo was using was both interesting and... difficult. We know that Christiaan Huygens was the one to discover Saturn's rings. But even the fact that Galileo was able to detect that there was something different about Saturn in the first place is impressive. The amount of time, patience, and careful planning that it must have taken early astronomers to do their work must have been ridiculous. The giant meteorite was great too. Fun fact: It's estimated there's enough raw iron in the asteroid belt to envelope the earth in a 9,000 story building.

Also, as I write this... there's a dude in the lobby wearing nothing but a T-Shirt, and a cooking pot over his penis.

May 22nd - Art and Science

When touring the Boerhaave, I really liked how closely entwined art and science seemed to be. Not only in the embellishments added to the scientific instruments, but also in the way science was depicted through paintings and textbooks. I like the idea of tracing science and art back to a common ancestry, partly because  many people I know today seems to think of them as complete opposite subjects. True, early science may have had a very artistic appearance only because it was a topic that was catered to the upper echelons of society in both England and France. Regardless, I believe that STEM related academics are best discussed though an artistic lens - artistic in the sense that an artisan must be both creative and imaginative. Unafraid of exploring new territory, yet cognizant of the fact that their work has direct impact upon society.

adam thursday post

I really liked the observatory. I was supraised learning that astronomers of the 17th centurary were actually able to see the rings of saturn

Adventures with Emily (Thursday)

The one thing on Thursday that I enjoyed was the observatory.  I not only learned a lot about the history in astronomy diagrams and telescopes, but I also had fun using replicas of old telescopes that people like Galileo used.  I thought it was neat when we saw the moon through the larger telescope.

Adventures with Emily (Wednesday)

On Wednesday we went to the Borhaave Museum in Leiden, Netherlands.  At this museum I saw the works and contributions of Willem Gravesande.  This was awesome because after the hard work of researching about him, I finally got to see the stuff I read about.  The main thing that I enjoyed seeing was the air pump Willem made with Jan because it was Willem's personal air-pump that was on display.

I thought it was weird that they kept the fetuses in the glass jar with the beads. I am having trouble understanding why they had the beads

Wednesday in the Boerhaave (Kyle)

At Boerhaave, we were able to see a huge variety of different historical pieces from the 16th century onward. When I'd heard about Leeuwenhoek's discoveries in the past I'd always assume he'd been using the type of microscope we always had heard about in the past. What he was really using really shocked me. The fact that it was just one lens and it was focused by simply tilting the lens very slightly was very interesting. I didn't even realize that a single lens was able to view a single cell using one of those microscopes was really fascinating and made me appreciate the work that he was able to do.

Thursday in Utrecht (Kyle)

Yesterday at the Sonnenborgh Observatory in Utrecht, we were able to look through a replica telescope that is similar to what Galileo may have used. When looking through it,  I gained a much larger appreciation for all of the discoveries that he made looking up at the stars. Just trying to get a really good look at the moon was fairly difficult for me. The view through the telescope was fairly small and also the slightest movement would throw off the view.

23/5/13 Utrecht

Today we went into the city of Utrecht and were able to visit the stonebourough observatory. We were allowed to attempt to delve into the secrets of the cosmos with recreations of Galileo's own telescopes. However, once it became obvious that it was difficult to even find a star/planet through the telescope, much less view any mind boggling, world-view shattering details, Galileo's accomplishments became that much more impressive.
-Nathan Asner-

22/5/13 - Leiden

We were invited to the university of Leiden library to see some of their collection of books that were exceptionally old. And by exceptionally old, I mean to say that these ponderous tomes are older than several nations that are around today, Including the United States. Besides the content of the books themselves, which included anatomical guides from the 1500's, it was interesting to note that despite the library allowing people to touch and flip through these books with their bare hands, they were all in much better condition than most of the books that one gets from Platteville's textbook center.

-Nathan Asner-

23 May 2013 Utrecht -- The Walls

When it came to city defenses I was always under the assumption that the bigger the better.  Smaller walls only happened due to the lack of financial planning and budgeting. Yet we learnewd at the observatory that smaller walls were eventually the perferred. When cities had walls atleast. Mayhaps I like it when long held child assumptions are learned to be wrong but it was a bit of a surprise when I learned at the observetory that when the canonball was improved, to be steel instead of rock, the walls were readjusted to fit the new weapondry. Bigger walls were a larger target, most likely inspiring "the bigger they are the harder they fall"statement. Interesting. Due to smaller walls not only did the opposing forces have a smaller target but also the city was more easily ably to return fire. I wonder if small walls became a deterrent after this, like "Oh they have a small wall they most have the better canons, we should leave them alone!"on second thought the war types were probably more like "Oh a challenge" Pity. -- Alix Carpenter

22 May 2012 The Universtiy of Leiden- Bibliotheek

 We are researching the history of technology and staying at Leiden we learned much about Christian H. and body parts, complementary with our reading assignment, but when we reached the university we came across  a technology, that I believe, far out strips many of the inventions we saw on display or listened about from our wonderful guides. Books. Books in general are quite important, they help us learn so we dont each have to learn what the guy before us learned and wasting essentially years of life learning by experience the exact same things as everyone else. But at the library we were allowed and able to touch a five hundred year old book. It was not yellowed or falling apart, infact it did not look its age at all. The technology used to create it was different. It was purely by chance that I listened in as a fellow student asked about the old anatomy book. Instead of being made of beaten-plants like books of today, or paypurus, or of vellenum (sp?) or animal skin this book was made up of old fabric, so very beaten-plants that went through more processes. Because of these processes there is no yellowing caused by a chemical reaction oxygen and oils do not deteriorate the anatomy book as it does our more modern book. So why do we have such books now when there were books more superiorly made earlier? Simple, money and digital libraries. Books keep updating, and are no longer required to be individually created. Yet I got to touch a five hundred year old book so I believe that so far that is the most important technology we learned about on our trip thus far. ---Alix Carpenter

Thursday- Utrecht Museum

  There was a lot of interesting things to see and learn at the University Museum of Utrecht.  First off, the gardens were very beautiful and diverse.  It was cool to see how the garden was split into the regular plants and then the medicinal plants.  It was also very interesting to learn about the "orangeriee" (not sure how this is spelled) houses which are an old type of greenhouse.  Once inside the Museum, there were a lot of interesting, hands on things to do, but my two favorite parts were the two cabinet rooms.  The first one was the contents of the cabinet of a medical professor from long ago at the University.  Though the specimens were gruesome at times, it was very impressive to see how well preserved they were and the types of specimens that they had.  I know the tour guide said the preserving liquid was a type of alcohol, but I was wondering what it was to preserve it, yet not degrade it over all these years.  I am sure it is a pretty nasty chemical.  The second cabinet that was interesting was the top cabinet of the mysteries.  I think the history behind this was interesting as it was at first used as a showpiece for rich, mostly non scientists as a status tool.

The tour of the observatory was somthing that i really enjoyed, especially the tour of the basement/cannon rooms. To be in somthing from the 15th century was very sureal and somthing that i would have never thought i would get the chance to be doing. When the guide was explaining the dynamics of how the room worked i was very interested. lastly, i would of loved to been able to throw a party down in that basement, although the stairs would be difficult when the party would end.

Wednesday- Christiaan Hugyan

   On Wednesday, one of the most interesting things that I learned was learning of the works of Chrisiaan Hugyan.  I had a little memory of his work from previous Physics classes, but was not completely sure what he did as a whole.  Being able to see all of his original instruments and experiments at the museum was very cool and then being able to see his original notebooks/ "scribbling" was even more impressive at the Library. It was easy to see how important his works were and how important he is to the history of Lieden as a town.    I know that after this trip I will know this scientist's work better because of how I was able to experience it here.

One thing that i found very interesting/suprising was the fact the leiden university let us handle, and flip through the pages of those very old historically important books. I imagine some of those books are worth millions to tens of thousands (fabrica corporis de humini), so the fact that they let us flip through them was simply amazing.

Kristy's Thursday Thought

On Thursday I found it interesting and slightly disturbing that our tour guide gave me a heart to hold and then proceeded to tell me it once was a real pigs heart. I don't know how they turned it into plastic, but after hearing it was real it didn't really feel like plastic anymore. It was a cool representation for learning purposes, I just wish I didn't have to know that fact.

Kristy's Wednesday Experience

On Wednesday I found it interesting that in the museum exhibit they had displayed two of Leeuwenhoek's microscopes. This mainly surprised me since there are only nine microscopes of known origin. Plus it's surprising how small they were. Even though I knew they had small lenses, I didn't think the actual microscope would be as small as it was.

Erinn's [Experience] Thursday

Today at the museum I thought that the curiousity cabinet was interesting. I knew that they enjoyed showing off their discoveries, but I had no idea that they made such productions out of them! Also, it was interesting to find out they began the debate between gorilla & human relation before Darwin.

My Thursday Post!!

Hey guys,  I really enjoyed the greenhouse portion of the Utrecht University Museum. I especially  liked the firn tree. The fact that you can see them in the fossil record was fastinating. I also liked that they had a complety seperate garden for pharmaceutical plants.

Brent Carlovsky Thurs

The observatory basement/fortification was really cool to see. I thought it was ironic how they built that huge bunker like building and then never used it. The fact that they converted it over to be useful to the university was also very cool about the history.

Observatory - (Marissa)

This is Marissa ->

For the observatory trip today I found the recreations of the telescopes to what Galileo Galilei may have used to be very fun and fascinating. To see firsthand what was available for technology and how difficult it was to use the available lenses (i.e. magnification) helped showcase how difficult it would be to find information that would counteract disagreeing ideas of the time. Also, I thought that the information about that along with the ideas of geocentrism there was also the belief that any orbiting body outside of the moon's orbit was "perfect". Therefore, the orbits and surfaces of any orbiting body further than the moon was perfectly circular and smooth, in corresponding order.

Erinn's [Experience] Wednesday

One of the things that I learned on Wednesday at the museum was that they placed organs/fetuses in jars. I had no idea that it was common practice to place organs in jars for preservation, although that makes sense. I also did not know that they injected wax into these organs to preserve them.

My Wednesday Post!

Hey guys, the most interesting thing Ilearned on Wednesday was that early anatomy lessons whetreonly conducted in the winter. I was happy to hear that early Dutch scientist did not stand around smelly rotting flesh and watched disections. I also thought the set up of the disection theater there set up.

Boerhaave - (Marissa)

This is Marissa ->

For the trip to the Boerhaave Museum I really enjoyed the portion of the tour in reference to Christaan Hugyen's work on pendulums. The fact that he was able to quantify and mathematically determine the relation between gravity and potential energy of a pendulum into a useful mechanical energy source (i.e. pendulum) to create a pendulum clock was not only fascinating but a proven useful too to European, and following societal, eras. Also, the fact that Hugyen used a variety of mathematics as well as invented his own math in an attempt to solve the issue of pendulum movement was very interesting. However, not all attempts or assumptions are correct even for great minds like Hugyen. This was proven true by the Hugyen finding his calculations incorrect after five years of work.

Eric's Thursday Experience

Today I enjoyed the observatory very much. It was really quite fascinating that the large telescope we used was wooden when it looked like it was made of metal. The fact that the roof rotated in order to account for different directions was a really intelligent design. On a side note I found it very inconvenient that when we got back to Leiden, the McDonalds was "out of order".

Brent Carlovsky Wed

I thought the museum boerhaave was very interesting because of all the old medical tools they had in the hard to breathe room. Seeing all the old tools that during the time were the best of the best was kind of frightening seeing how crude they really were. Being able to see the progression of the medical instruments throughout all the centuries was also very cool about the museum.

Eric's Wednesday Experience

I liked the books the the University of Leiden library because I have worked at a library since I was a freshman in high school. I found it interesting that I did not have to wear gloves. The book from 1517 was really interesting that it was still in such good condition. Finally, I really thought it was neat how the pictures of skeletons had the same backgrounds but reversed when looking at the other side of the skeleton.

Thomas' Thursday Post (Observatory)

     Well, the day started off well with the lovely train ride to Utrecht, and lots of pictures of amazing doors umm, but the piece de resistance (correct my horrible french Adam when you read this) of the day in my opinion was the observatory. We again met with Teamen (Is that the correct spelling of his name, I assume not, but I spelled it phonetically.) who it turns out is very much a telescope fanatic. We attempted to see the moon with his replicas of some period telescopes. But to me the most interesting part was discussing with him the process of (at high magnification) of taking pictures of different wavelengths of the same object as at high magnifications the indivitual wavelengths are separatable. The term he used was Astrophotography for that topic. I found it interesting, with Adam, Nathan and Trent. Maybe they remember further what we discussed with Teaman (again correct my spelling if you know the appropriate spelling of his name.)

Thomas' Wednesday Post (Library)

     So, when we were at the library on Wednesday May 23rd I inquired about the nature of as to how books were organized in the libraries in the Netherlands. To which I was given this response... The books are organized by size. The larger books go on the bottom shelves and are given a size of "A" and then slightly smaller books are given "B"and so on up to shelf "F"and at which point the book sizes are slightly larger than pamphlets. Then with regards to how books are sorted by subject, in short I was told that they are NOT sorted in that regard. The reason I was given for this manner of sorting is that the library of Leiden was increased in size by the acquisition of new collections of books from various professors, wealthy people with books, and from estate sales and it was not feasible to sort by subject. As to which shelves the books go back on, the shelves are labled 1,2,3... 2007... etc. and the books are given two stickers, one with the shelf number on it, and the other with the book size letter and a number corresponding to which book from left to right it is on the shelf. The University of Leiden was the first to publish a "Book Catalog" and now their online catalog is sortable by author, book title, and year of publication. There is no opportunity to sort by subject as they were not taken down in the beginning and as we know people are loathe to deviate from tradition. 

So, as I was checking out the cities on the itinerary, I noticed that Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels all have Hard Rock Cafes in them. Does anyone want to make lose plans to hit all three of them up? I kind of have Hard Rock Cafe Pins from every major city that I've been to. Part of the reason I really like going to them is because there's always pieces of rock and roll history adorning the walls, and the food and service are always excellent. So it'll be interesting to see what being in another country will mean for being in a Hard Rock Cafe. Whose in?

Travel books: Essential Paris, Amsterdam, and Best of Brussles, Bruges, Antwerp & Ghent

Hello I just wanted to tell ya'll that I have the travel books for our destinations and if any of you want to borrow them, I am leaving them at the Karrmann library. I have a not so just ask for them they will be on the middle table.
Alix

Welcome!

Welcome everyone! Here is where you will post your informal write-ups while we are abroad. You are also free to post other things here (photos, comments, etc.) that your family and friends back home might be interested in seeing. Link to this blog on your facebook page, tell your folks about it, etc. 

Looking forward to traveling with you all!

Liz