After a much needed good night of sleep Malcolm made us a great breakfast. We had fried eggs, bacon, and toast with a variety pack of spreadable Swiss cheeses. It was a nice way to start our day of Masterlabing (The Atlantis STU term for working in Matlab). After breakfast Malcolm took us to his lab which is at ETH Zurich. The lab was full of technology that’d make any geek happy. For starters the meeting area were these tables that had an electronic box that raised up out of them with power connections as well as AV connections for the big screen tv. When the system was activated the blinds automatically shut. When we turned off the system later the blinds automatically re-opened. There was also a robot that delivered mail right outside the lab. Think star wars big black box on wheels roaming the Death Star. It apparently could interact with the elevators and go up and down floors as it needed. Then in the actual lab part its self it was like stepping into a neat freak mad scientists room. I think we all agreed there was more technology in that entire room than there was in our whole university if not Slovakia. It wasn’t long before we were all crowded around one another’s computers sharing our ideas and methods I think on both sides we learned quite a bit and gained an appreciation over all for the power of Matlab.
We worked in the lab for a good five hours or so and it was well after dark on a Sunday when we left. This is a good thing as we would have never gotten Laura-Ann out of the shopping area when Malcolm showed us the “main square”. Zurich is a very pretty town it incredibly clean and neat. Malcolm said he has seen normal citizens on more than one occasion picking up trash and putting it in the trash cans. His accommodation also has one day out of the semester where they come and do a cleanliness inspection and he said it was really intense and they were checking under the cabinets to see if that was clean. They also expected the stove top to be spotless. This mentality was well reflected in the actual city. Despite it being either dark or overcast when we went out and saw it, it was always very clean. Anyway the only thing open on a Sunday there was the main train station. So we headed there to grab a pre dinner dinner as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and then took the amazing trams back to Malcolm’s. When we got back we found out that we would not be able to push our presentation back and we’d have to stay in Zurich longer than indented Malcolm was very accommodating and offered to let us stay as long as we needed (In fact he told us to stay Tuesday night after the presentation and just go in the morning). So while we Masterlabbed even more to make sure we could wow Dr. Enikov for the presentation Malcolm prepared a wonderful fondue dinner for us. It was a traditional Swiss Fondue with melted Apenzeller cheese and bread and potatoes for dipping. It was a very hearty and filling meal. After the meal there was a little more project discussion that was quickly surpassed by food coma.
The following morning we got up and saw the city. We walked around the lake under the recommendation of some of Malcolm’s friend. It was really pleasant there were also a ton of curious swans there. Every time we approached the edge of the lake they would stick their long necks up looking for food. We also saw a bunch of them flipping themselves over in the water and splashing about. It became pretty clear they were just cleaning but it was pretty funny to watch. The whole city was just nice to be in. When you look out over it though all you see are the church steeples stick up out of the rest of the buildings.
After our little city tour we had to book it back to the car as we were meeting a friend of Steve’s who works in Frey’s chocolate factory. The friend, Johanas, was willing to give us a tour of the factory which happens to be the largest in Switzerland. When we pulled up you could smell the chocolate permeating the air even inside the car. Once inside we had to get all suited up for sanitation reasons; I had no idea they made beard hair nets. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside of the factory but I imagine I looked pretty goofy. During the tour we learned a fair bit about the factory there is still a surprisingly large number of people required to run the factory despite so much of it being automated. A lot of the checking systems were really cool though they were often based on balance and if the chocolate item was too heavy or light it would fall of the line into a bin to be melted down and put back through the line. After each pass of the line there were huge piles of samples of what was being made on the line. The samples were specifically for guest and well we started stuffing our faces with chocolate. We were absolutely shocked because Johanas picked up some stuff for us to try and said the chocolate was not good anymore and he just chucked it. He did the same with whatever we tried and didn’t finish. (We were all like wait that is still good chocolate). My favorite chocolates were the little truffles at the end. There were some with a pistachio filling that were to die for. We were all quite sick of chocolate by the end of the tour though.
To repay all of Malcolm’s generosity we decided to stop and buy a bunch of groceries and make some homemade fajitas for him and his roommates for dinner that night. They turned out quite well and I think every one really enjoyed them (It was a first for his roommates). After dinner it was back to work on the project which we had to give a big presentation for on Tuesday night. After another late night we turned in.
Tuesday was a bit boring in terms traveling as we all got up late and spent the entire day working on the project. Malcolm made us another breakfast and then had to take off for class. Up until about four we worked on our project and presentation and at four we did a couple of practice runs. When Malcolm got home it was only a few minutes until we gave the presentation. It went over really well, there were a couple of things that Dr. Enikov really wants to see and soon, but it was things that we were aware of and just until we get the right equipment cannot proceed on. Dr. Rilo seemed pretty happy with our work as well although wants to show us the current system that is in place to see if we can implement some of the features. Once the presentation was over it was celebration time. We started with leftover Mexican food and margaritas. There was also an appearance of the Green Man.
It is still unclear how Malcolm arrange the appearance but we are grateful none the less. It was a pretty good party night that unfortunately had to end with an early morning in the car again.
Is there some kind of backstory to "the green man"? He looks kinda... S&M
ReplyDelete