A Dependency - 08-31-13

It isn’t hot, it’s the hottest place on earth, of course, we have to stick to our superlative principle! And if it’s so warm, it has to be cold inside, but cold is boring, so it’s now about 18°C in my office in the basement. My colleague started bringing a blanket and I … got a cold.Never mind, the weather’s warm, so at some point Physics deduces a thunderstorm. But just any storm and lightning, again, would be normal. Thus, the lights went off and an interesting sound started, immediately stopped again and everything was switched back to the previous state.

That’s been the appetizer of an one-hour electric power outage. We sat in darkness with emergency lights on the corridor and smartphones as torches. Slowly all the consequences came to my mind: The fridge shut up, the dryer stopped and the water turned cold. No Internet, no TV, no connection. That was funny, but just in retrospective ;-) ... when everything worked again, taken the Internet as an exception.

Now, what to do without my social life ;-) I went to Downer’s Grove downtown where I tried to escape the rain. Haha, great idea… no chance:

I mean, everything was great: I got the bus (bus station signs are totally superfluous, by the way), found the Public Library and the post office and was not hijacked by anyone! But, still… there are more exciting places than the “City Center” of a Chicago suburb. But probably I’m just fastidious, the trip was exciting! :-)

And, did you know, that mailmen have to scan a bar code at some buildings so the can prove that they actually visited this place? Just another small part of supervision …

A Germanism - 08-30-13

There might have even been a proper battle call of the warriors against Anglicism (I could imagine at least "Nationalsprachsschutzgesetzabkommen"), manifested in  many German classes and books and warning monologues...

 But now let’s see, how some German words enter the English language cosmos:

• There are the nearly normal ones: Kindergarten, Kindercare, Auto, autobahn, zeitgeist or even weltgeist, angst, gestalt, weltschmerz and many, many more, but especially interesting are:
• doppelgänger and poltergeist (even in Harry Potter!),
• schadenfreude (mh, strange that there has to be German word to describe the emotion ;-) According to some language theorists things just exit when there is an expression for them… ;-)), but there is also gemütlich to compensate the impression schadenfreude might leave - and don't forget about wanderlust,
• eigenvalue and eigenstates (great! Quantum physics rules),
• gedankenexperiment (that was explained by the author: it's an experiment in your thoughts; as far as I can remember it was Griffiths)
• ansatz (that’s some kind of problem, since I use the plural in my report: “there are several ansatzs (? or ansätze?! ) to solve the problem…”),
• rückwärts (my Serbian colleague told me, that you go either forwards with your car or backwards or rückwärts) 
•  … and last but not least, which actually made me laugh and I still have to smile when I read it: The infamous Aha-Erlebnis. I just bumped into it, when I read the last chapter of the book (that does not imply that I read the whole book or vice versa) where the author mentions his hope to satisfy everyone’s expectations with his book (De Graef, An Introduction to Transmission Electron Microscopy):

 “... [reasons to like the book]. If you are an experienced microscopist, it is hoped that you could find something new in this text, perhaps a derivation that suddenly makes sense, or an illustration that provoked what the German language so efficiently describes as an "Aha-Effekt".” (footnote: An Aha-Erlebnis is: "Ein eigenartiges im Denkverlauf auftretendes-lustbetontes Erlebnis, das sich bei plötzlicher Einsicht in einen zuerst undurchsichten Zusammenhang einstellt." (K. Bühler, speech phsychologist)

Even if the exchange rate is not fair, the languages have started mixing and let’s hope that there are sensible completion and we won’t end up with an unified Kauderwelsch.

A Bike Tour - #1 - 08-24-13

The weather's amazing and my bike can't possibly stay at the wall in my room. Thus, I decided to get on the 10-miles-track in the Waterfall Glen County Forest Preserve around the ANL. Somehow, the 10 miles became 14, but I don't mind - I got a tiny little bit confused at one crossroad and why always take the path straight ahead?! So I took the other one and couldn't believe my mind when I looked on the map after some time and it just stated the position I had left about 30 min. ago.

After all, I arrived at my accomodation safely :-) and with memories of a cute waterfall (which does not represent a great concurrence to the Niagara Falls) and of many nice, quiet moments in nature :-)

A Nanoscientific Piece of Art - 08-23-13

"I've got a job for you." - Alright, that sounds interesting! "Could you reconstruct this pattern?"

Eeer, NO?!

Okay, yes, of course, finally I was able to manage that... With a super nice demo version of a mathematical software which was so kind that I could not safe the image in its construction mode. Thus, my laptop had cope with a hard time, but we survived. Furthermore we adjusted the length and width to 6.8 microns (pixel-scaled of course ;-)).

But... why?

The direct occasion were some people from Norhtwestern  University of Chicago. They build the pattern, which is a Penrose tiling (quasicrystalline structure (1)) and ran a simulation of the pattern engraved in a magnetic nanomaterial to see the magnetic domains. That's just been a simulation  - now here we are and we  patterned the image yesterday on a permalloy membrane. The observation of the magnetic behaviour will take next Tuesday, I hope.

(1) Ha, the quasicrystalline structure has been the greatest fun factor during the construction of the flower: Quasicrystalline means that there is no "brief" mathematical description like the direct, not turned repition of a small pattern. Nevertheless, a formula exists, but I had more fun to pull out all the stops in geometrical construction. And - don't you immediately recognize the "golden ratio" between the main short and the main long strokes? ;-)

If you got interested (as I hope), there exists more information about my work here.

A Taste of India - 08-18-13

The highest, the greatest, the best. That's the US.

To be honest I didn't expect one of the greatest Hindu Temples just at Lemont's village boundary. I just passed with my bike and realized a sign saying "The Taste of India, 08-18-13", just tomorrow - lucky me! Eeerr, including many other people of course: When I arrived on Sunday a car line already welcomed me. Probably my bike had found the easiest parking space :-)

The event itself was brilliant! Mainly there was a lot of food and many clothes to buy, everything accompanied by Indian music. I just had to try one of the offered culinary delights - but I could not match the names with the dish so I just guessed and got kulfi faluda, which consists of ice cream and noodles. That was really cool :-)

Afterwards I finally started my exploration of the Glen Forest Park Preserve which is next to the Argonne National Laboratory. And I met a nice company:

We glanced at each other for a long time (mh, maybe in reality just 20 seconds) until a car came which destroyed my mental countryside idyll. Nevertheless, new friends  :-)

A Brothaaa! - 08-17-13

"Thanks!", "Thanks, brother!", that's what I'd call welcoming. After now about three weeks which just span away I can understand that cyclists own a dangerous life, so once you meet another you are quite happy to see another surviving example of your species. Now I was invited to this new community on the bridge to Lemont because one whole meter was granted the bikers to be kept safe from the cars (haha, or rather: to keep the cars safe from the unasthetic scratches a bike leaves ;-)).

Two cyclists came close to me, so I had to dismount my bike. I'm sorry, I'm just too happy about getting the "Thanks"  and then this hail-fellow-well-met Thank :-)

Lemont itself is a really nice, small town or village (that's a matter of definition; the basics are just here). I just biked there and enjoyed the view on the heritage corridor:

Today's greater idea was the visit of Las Ryds Greatest Show Un-Earthed. My associations consisted of some medieval stuff, children's games and maybe a few artistic shows. To be honest, I was really scared: It turned out to be an exhibition of hearses. Those cars are probably not too scary, indeed, but the people did the job! I mean, most of them smiled and were just wearing black clothes, but then there was this Ferris wheel for skeletons and I was alone ... aaaah!

To sum up, it was interesting! :-)

A City's Dancing - 08-10-13 (or: how to get rid of 10$)

Fortunately I haven't woken up in a midsummer's night tream yet, but then it was Sunday and we went to Chicago downtown again. Then imagine 200 people of all ages and all cultures dancing in the park to music from the 50s and 60s! And add an old-fashioned band with a car-piano and a proper party stage.

Probably that's been the most fascinating event I've seen so far - in fact, we could not resist to join in and so we danced our own version of Rock'n'Roll, Discofox and Line Dance. Then we built a huge snake touching the shoulders of our forerunner (of course it's been the greatest one the band has seen in their lives ;-)). They also player "Surfin' USA" a song we sang in high school - brilliant! I think I'm a fan of my parents' music now...

The overall bouncing did not even pause when the rain set in... We started dancing in the rain.

... and another story:
Grrrr... You want to get rid of 10$? Great!! Me, too... it just hasn't been my intention: 

"Oh, may I help you, what are you looking for?", asked a slightly mumbling gentleman when we stood at the crossroads in the center of downtown waving with our street map. We just briefly outlined our problem and immediately he started telling us to follow him; he was going to show us the way. I got a very unwell feeling due to his surprising kindness and began to be busy with the street map again.

What the holy burger was he going to do with us? When we arrived at our destination he continued talking about the Magnificent Shopping mile (since I am female, I love shopping, yes... indeed... just found a sense for my life...) and about McDonald's and so on...

Until (okay, actually that's just been five minutes) he asked for his charge, 40$. I would underestimatedsay that I was alarmed. Luckily we haven't been alone and we got away with 10$ without a tumult - but with a lesson learned.

Nevertheless, we found out about the once busiest McDonald's restaurant - so please look here to trace our whole path (please scroll down then, the effort will be worthwhile).

A Social Time - 08-09-13

"Is it, like, you know, prost?!" asked one of my colleagues, when we went to the Gordon-Biersch-Company for lunch. He'd just been promoted and invited us to a Steakhouse which is famous for Burgers and Beer (of course, from Germany ;-) ; by the way, it's rumoured that you can feed babies with American beer, but that's still not an alternative to the slightly chlorinated water.).

I answered, "yes, indeed, prost! And cheers!". The translation of phrases has become a ritual during lunchbreak: My supervisor learned "Guten Appetit!", and we all had to cope with the pronunciation of the Korean version. "Schönes Wochenende!" - that's was the goodbye for today.

 

(Actually I was supposed to publish this picture at 7pm, now it's about 3 o'clock in the morning ;-))

During our sponsored lunch I was glad not to talk about Physics - instead, we talked about Steve Jobs and about all the world and his brother. I remember especially one joke my supervsior told:

"In the Eighties we used to have Johnna Cash, Steve Jobs and Bob Hope. Now Steve Jobs's dead and we don't have any cash, jobs or hopes."

I thinkt that put all pessimism in a nutshell ;-)

Unfortunately I was a little bit pessimistic about mankind, too, when I was jogging. At some time, that's probably a law by nature, I had to fall. Thus, I got scrapes on my knee, hip and hands. There was no way around going in a strange position back to my acocmodation.
And it's just unbelievable how many people driving or riding passed me without a look! Do people just not notice what's going on around them or do they not want to know? It's indeed quite late that I pick this issue up, but it's always astonishing; sometimes life seems so much easier without much cerebration.
The point is that I don't want to blame anyone, because it's so likely that I acted in the same way; I just can hope that the will for recognition exists.

A bike’s license – 08-06-13

Once upon a time I took my driver’s license to demonstrate that at least once somebody thought that I represent enrichment to the traffic; finally I (somehow) passed the practical and theoretical exam.

Waiting for so long I was confronted with quite demanding challenge: I was told to watch a video lasting for an hour and afterwards there was going to be an exam (what a surprise!). Then another form would be issued to me saying that I passed the bike safety course ESH561.

Thus, the nervous, curious intern concentrated on “Jason” who showed how not to wear your helmet, how to examine your bike with the ABC-Quick-Check and how to act when some deer might cross the street.

I clicked the button “Next” with a rising adrenaline level and read the instruction tasks how to take the exam (one passes with a score of 80%!). Again, “next”…

Question 1 of 1: “Did you watch the video and agree on all terms and conditions?”

NOO!! Of course I don’t…  No further questions, passed with 100% ;-) (Actually an interesting method for university examinations, isn’t it? You just have to end up with a Gauss distribution…)

Alright, that was indeed a cakewalk. One of the safety and security xaminations (one out of four) was challenging since I had to think about whether to call 911 (US emergency number) or not in case of emergency... 

To sum up, I have spent as much time on safety courses and instructions as on reading papers. But that'll change soon :-)

An "individual" number - 08-05-13

B123456, N00123456789, H654321, ... I'm a badge number, I'm an application registration number, I'm a visa number - how multifaceted I can be! I haven't been aware of my multiple existences in the kosmos of codes before I started the visa application process. But about six and more numbers are quite modest, I forgot, there are many more, like the SSN (social security number) which is hopefully just needed if I wanted to get a bank account, so I think I'll withstand it.

Nevertheless, it was a great feeling to come to the US. Nearly nobody knew me and I could start a second life starting from anonymity.

That's what I thought and what I see.
But somewhere there's the CV of my application, the data of all my finger tips, the data of all my visits to the US, of my intentions during this internship... Of course there's a lot of information which has been collected since my birth. However, I have never faced a so uncovered contrast of this "nice-new-world-feeling" to "we-exactly-know-who-and-how-you-are-observation" .

A Start: The First 24 Hours - 08-03-13

My Supervisor welcomed me and I've already met a part of the team I will work in. I'm glad everybody's nice and the "how're ye?" isn't directly followed by an "oh, that's great" (some people in the town just asked you and didn't wait for your answer because it was evident that you were well, of course).

Thus, we finished the first grocery shopping trips (buying everything you need, like an XXL-sized bottle of milk, drinking water to get the chlorine balance alright and chocolate cookies) and got my bike, rented by a colleague, fixed at a bike shop. Additionally it would have benn useful to get an US phone number, but the price levels differ slightly from the ones I am used to (at least around 25$/month).

Today I learned a lot of stuff again: A Grap & Go Breakfast consists of muffins, coffee, chocolate bars, fruit and an Oatmeal To Go which you have to microwave for 10 seconds. (Apparently you can do everything just with a microwave - even produce a thunderstorm, but that's another story ;-))

I went jogging to find out where to go biking and  had to accept the successful surprise of my bike chain's break after 500m. It'll need another cure... now it's just standing in my room at a wall which has been made for bicycles, of course - there is just no cage around here.

A Train To The Suburb - 08-03-13

There are many adventures in Chicago and one of them is to get away from the other ones by train. My advisor had warned me that the public transportation system might not be the most elaborate one, but still everything worked out well and I caught a train to the suburb of Chicago, Lemont. However, when the train brought up to speed, water suddenly began pouring down the door like a water fall - it had accumulated on the roof of the two-storied wagon and searched for the fastest way down.

A Walk through Chicago - 08-01-13

As we went throught Chicago, "searching" something to eat, unfortunately ;-) a chocolate shop jumped out of the street (not any shop at all - Hershey's is probably the most famous chocolate label in the US):

Hershey's at 822 N Michigan Ave

 There was no chance we could just pass by. After leaving this wonderful shop offering everything you need to survive we got into a canyon in downton (the streets are indeed famous for their canyon-effect):

Some interesting firefighters overtook us:

And, then, finally on our last day in Chicago the weather turned sunny and we stretched on the beach. The only problem of slight luxury we had to face was a skyscraper providing us shadow during our intended sun bath.

A Brief Look at Chicago's Food - 02-08-13

 Skimming through the Chicago guidebooks it became obvious that we have to see this and that and the other half of your time must be spend tasting the delicacies:

• The Deep Dish Pizza: Similar to quiche (I should be banned into a pizza oven for this association), mainly pizza with a thick crust and any content.
• The Chicago-HotDog: HotDog filled with mustard, relish, onion, sport peppers, tomato, picle and celery salt. Actually every store insists upon an own recipe.
• The Cicago-Cheesecake: Very creamy and after scarfing it you can't stand up any more.

A Jetlag's Effect - 07-28-13

I couldn't believe it, but it's possible to buy heartless cookies without their soul:

And that's just the beginning (not the jetlag's one, but of a dietary illusion): There's even 0% milk (no worry, I didn't buy it!) and an extra label for the hotdogs containing less than 400kcal. Maybe there've been four out of twelve which were categorized as a "better" class.
Oh, you've tried one of the others? If you have not instantly dropped dead (what a surprise!) you should visit one of the fitness centers here around. I haven't seen a city center with so many (unfortunately sparely visited) gyms yet!
But I should get my biases cleaned up - the gyms often open 24/7 so why don't lose some pounds just after midnight?!

A Physicist's Arriving - 07-28-13

I don't want to call it boring, but we slipped through the passport check and the baggage claim within an hour (even if it is rumoured that you need three hours since Boston). Still there was enough time to have a little chat with the controlling officer who asked where I was going to work and if I belonged to this "physicist kind of people". I answered and had to smile; his response was a knowing "Aaaah!".