The first month at an American College
So, dear readers, it has been a while since I published anything on my blog. Not that there is nothing to tell, but I’ve been waaaaay busy with orientation, coursework, social stuff and getting settled in general. So, here is my account of the past month.
I arrived in Boston from the Niagara Falls… But only barely. It all started out at a very dark, and very sketchy bus stop at 1:30 AM. Turns out, the Greyhound bus is regularly about half an hour late, so I had to wait… Literally, the sketchiest thing ever. Anyhow, around 2-ish, the bus shows up, I get on, and we start driving towards Buffalo airport. We arrive at the border crossing (the same one where I had the whole 6 dollar problem…) and see that there are 3 other greyhounds waiting in front of us. Knowing that that bus runs every two hours, you can figure out how long they had been waiting there already.
An hour went by, two hours went by, three hours went by… And we were still sitting on the damn bus, with no opportunity to get off (since we were technically in an international zone). When we were finally allowed into the border checkpoint, it was already past 4, and my flight was leaving at the airport at 6:20. The cause of the delay was apparently a man who tried to get into the States with children who weren’t his… Sometimes, I really do doubt the average IQ.
But we weren’t there yet. The greyhound route went to Niagara airport first, and only then on to Buffalo. Sensing that we wouldn’t make it in time, I shared a cab with three other young guys from Canada, booked on the same flight to Newark as I was. But, they were getting a connection to LA, and I was connecting to Boston. In the end, we made it to the gate 5 minutes before boarding. I still remember the ride, thanks for the moral support guys!
Also, somehow I got upgraded to First on this flight, which means in a Bombardier Q400 aircraft (which is tiny and has propellers) that you get to sit in a seat apart (configuration is 1-2 in front, 2-2 in the back) and get served a glass of orange juice… Woo-hoow!
Upon arrival, the other three decided they wanted a drink, and so went to a conveniently-located Heineken bar right in front of our arrival gate at 8 in the morning. Keeping my Belgian pride, I politely refused to drink Heineken, even though after the whole ordeal, a drink was definitely in order.
The flight to Boston, four hours later, was fairly unadventurous. Upon arrival, I waited a little more (and got Dunkin’ Donuts), met up with the other arriving exchange students Andy and Carole, and got to meet our R2, Sarah. We got into the van, were updated on some Olin policies, got our keys and keycard, and started to settle in!
We arrived together with the incoming class of freshmen, doing the orientation together. Orientation is a couple of days during which the new students get to know the college inside-out, get tips and tricks, and get to meet and know each other. It’s generally a really fun time to offset the start of the new academic year, and get revved up and ready to go. For example, we went to Boston on a scavenger hunt, and my team came in first! The prize, $25 worth of ice-cream (for 6 people), still has to be picked up. Also, we got to ride in a very real, very yellow school bus!
The first week of actual classes was a bit of an eye-opener. Normally in Belgium, I’m used to classes gradually ramping up over the semester, culminating in a final exam for which you study quite intensively. Over here, however, classes take off like a fighter jet, and they give you tons of homework to keep you busy over the weekend and offset the fact that there are not really final exams, and almost every exam is open-book. It really is a different learning style.
The classes I’m taking over here are:
- HFID, short for Human Factors in Interface Design. It is about (duh) designing system interfaces, and over the course of the semester, we will actually create one ourselves, based on our own research. It’s very promising right now, but also a pain in the ass because it consumes a very big amount of my working time.
- Elecanisms, which is about mechatronics. For those of you not in the know, it is the combined fields of electronics and mechanics, so basically making stuff move in a controlled and very awesome way. Also, a lot of the class is projects where we need to work on outside of the class. So instead of doing homework, you finish a design, and hand that in. Super cool!
- Computer Architecture, which is based around how processors work. Up until now, a lot of what has been taught in the class is not new to me, but it is still good as a refresher. The teacher promised me that it would get interesting for me as well rather soonish!
- And the final one, which is a bit of a strange twist to my original plan: I’m taking a class called Computer Vision. However, it is not an Olin class, but a Wellesley class. Wellesley is an all-girls liberal arts college near here (about an 8 minute shuttle ride), and has a Computer Science department. The class is very interesting, comparing computer vision (for example object detection and stereo depth detection) algorithms to the way the human vision works. It definitely is more theoretical than my other three classes, but I don’t really mind. I have a feeling that a fourth project-based class would’ve overloaded my work backlog!
What is also very strange, is being the only guy in a 20-person computer science class. An experience on its own, that’s what it is.
Of course, not everything is always centered around classes. Because Olin is so far away from anything interesting, there are regularly parties going on in the dorms (think alcohol and beer pong), and a lot of activities get communicated through the use of mailing lists. Email is really indispensable around here.
One of those activities was a hiking trip including a camp-out to the presidential range (Mt. Washington) up in New Hampshire. I really had a blast!
Another fun thing we did, is going to a baseball game. Contrary to what you may think, baseball is NOT an active sport, as we found out. For an end score of 3-2 (Boston lost…), they took four hours! And still, the stadium (Fenway Park) was packed with supporters. We were lucky to get discounted student tickets at 14 dollars apiece, because regular seats in our section were 35, and the ones in the middle of the stadium (with the best views) go for over 300 dollars! Crazy!
We did get a good view of how passionate these supporters are of the Red Sox, Boston’s home team. Baseball is really a social event, and not so much about the score…
As for me, I’ve already adapted to the work pace (which as I said, is insane). I also regularly go running to clear my head, with 10 kilometers now being my default distance. It’s really refreshing to go out running, because Needham is an upper class residential area, and is literally covered with trees. There’s a nice route around the Babson-Olin campus, which means that I don’t have to run the same stretch over and over again. Yay!
I’ve also been asked by the Wellesley neuroscience lab to do some hardware stuff for use with their lab rats. I won’t bother you guys with the details, but the research topic is the minimum audible audio level which rats can hear, and I’m responsible for outputting the right levels. Expect more on this later!
This is it, I hope you enjoyed my first blog post out of Olin College. I’m trying to keep the updates coming more often as stuff happens, but am terribly busy. So no guarantees, capiche?
See ya!
Steven
The Niagara Falls
Seems I arrived at one of nature’s wonders after all! The bus out of Toronto arrived at 21h, an hour later than scheduled, because traffic in Toronto is an utter biatch. Checked in at the hostel, and did a quick food run because I hadn’t eaten since lunch that day. The Falls would have to wait until tomorrow, then.
So, off to Niagara Falls! Arriving at the scene, I immediately notice what a commercial thing they have become. There’s stalls with overpriced crap everywhere, and people buy that stuff, too. Argh. Anyhow, concentrating on the water puts me at ease again, and I find a (relatively) quiet spot somewhere. It is however hard to find quietness if there’s a constant buzz of helicopters soaring overhead.
Random fact: did you know that there are 2.500.000 liters of water gushing over the edge PER SECOND? And that Lake Superior (where all this water comes from) has a volume of 12.500 cubic KILOMETERS?
And 50 meters from this beauty of nature, you find this:
It’s really indescribable. Neon lights worse than a frickin’ luna park on steroids and high on XTC. Let’s escape this manmade hellhole, and (although I admittedly never thought I would say this), cross over the border into the US. They apparently had the decency to make the area surrounding the falls a state park, preventing mass commercial exploitation from taking place, and that’s a very good thing.
However, since I had acquired a student visa, I had to pay (again, wasn’t the $300 I paid in Brussels enough?) six dollars for a stamped piece of paper saying I entered the US on the 30th of August, 2013, at Buffalo. One problem: my bank doesn’t allow transactions with Mastercard without a PIN (in the US they still only swipe), and the customs didn’t have a PIN-enabled cash register. And I didn’t have any US dollars. AARGH! Why couldn’t they have stamped my passport as a tourist, and I could’ve gotten the damn visa paper the same night (making sure to have dollars on me), while crossing again into the US for my flight to Boston? In the end, the solution was that I had to beg the other people standing in line to change some of my Canadian dollars into US dollars, which eventually worked out. Bureaucracy, sigh.
Anyways, it was definitely worth it.
See that sweet patch of soft grassy hill on the left-hand side? That’s where I spent my afternoon, reading a book on my Kindle (thank god for that thing, it’s a huge improvement over carrying books around), and finally taking a day for myself to relax.
Oh yeah, and even though I missed the fireworks festival in Knokke, I got my fair share at Niagara. Apparently the tourists do keep the cash flowing.
And that was about it! Now I’m waiting for my bus at 1:35 in the morning, which will get me to the airport by 3:10, and my flight leaves around seven. I’m not getting any sleep tonight, that’s for sure. On the flip side, I will finally get to meet all the other students tomorrow… So excited!
Keep you posted
Steven
A day in Toronto
So, after a blitz visit to Montréal, I headed onwards to Toronto. For those unfamiliar with my flight schedule: I was booked on a flight from Montréal to Toronto because it came out cheaper… Which is the very short version of the story. Anyways, after getting on a ridiculously big plane (Boeing 767 for those in the know) which was also quite full, I landed at Toronto’s Pearson airport a short 50 minutes later. Little did I know that I still had to wait close to an hour until the bags finally came out on the carrousel, and that the city center was an hour away by public transport. So, after landing at 3:55, I was finally at the hostel around 6-ish.
Just in time to catch my two roommates, Emma and Kevana from New-Zealand (should really look into going there, once…) and grab some dinner together over a good chat. After that, I still managed to find enough energy to go explore downtown Toronto by darkness, walking for two hours straight. Man, did my feet hurt!
Also, for anyone doubting that Canadians are a bunch of progressive people: this was smack-bam in the middle of the main shopping street.
Because I decided not to take a backpack for just a walk, I must’ve looked very un-touristy, because I got many questions about where this or that was situated. Regrettably, I also didn’t know, but was able to help out with common sense in a couple of the occasions…
After getting some well-earned sleep, I then took off in the morning, and decided not to go on the CN tower. Whoever thought that 30 CAD is a fair price to go up there must be out of his *bleep* mind. Instead, I went a bit off the beaten path, and so discovered a local market where farmers from the province came to sell their food directly, cutting out the middle-man and enjoying a bit more profit that way. Could you imagine seeing a scene such as this in the heart of Brussels?
Oh, and did I tell you yet that a Canadian $20 bill has a transparent section? Pretty weird looking at one…
Two cookies and three apples later, I walked even more to get to the ferry terminal, which would take me to Toronto island, a small island located (you guessed it!) just out of Toronto, with a magnificent view of its skyline at one side, and an endless view over lake Ontario on the other side.
Funny thing: when I got off the ferry at Hanlan’s point, I started walking across the island, and eventually stumbled upon a beach. I took of my shoes, and started walking along the shoreline, mesmerized by the water quality. It really is crystal clear! After seeing the water, I wanted to swim in it, but evidently didn’t bring any swimming gear or towels with me. So much for swimming.
Well, after a good 50 meters or so, I started seeing naked people. Apparently, this section of the beach was clothes optional o_O So, after some hesitation, I just said to myself ‘fuck it’, took off my clothes, and started swimming. Luckily, the weather was excellent, 30° with not a cloud in sight, so I dried up in the sun after coming out of the water to avoid getting sand *everywhere*. Oh yeah, and some random guy started a conversation with me while I was still in the water (and evidently, both of us naked). Must’ve been one of the most un-touristy things ever!
By the time our conversation ended, it was time for me to continue my tour of the island, and take the ferry back to the city. On the way, I spotted this pirate ship:
And got the scenic vantage point on the bus to Niagara Falls! (read: front window on upper deck)
By the way, this got me laughing today:
See you soon for the next update out of Niagara!
Steven
A day in Montréal
Well, this has to have been the shortest citytrip I ever made. Just a mere 23 hours after landing on the flight from Zürich, I am now typing this blog post waiting for Air Canada to take me onwards to Toronto. Well, normally people don’t take flights for such a short distance, but since it was included in my ticket, I’m not complaining.
Anyhow, this whole trip kicked off at Brussels airport, 5:45 in the morning, where I said goodbye to my girlfriend for four months (since I’ll be continuing to Boston for an exchange semester). I then flew to Frankfurt, connecting onwards to Zürich, where I was stupid enough to go through passport control immediately, so I had to kill two hours in an empty terminal (Zürich’s intercontinental terminal has very few things to see or do). The flight to Zürich itself was very pleasant though, but you can judge for yourself from the picture J.
Then onwards to Montréal. That flight was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that I was surrounded by kids who couldn’t sit still, and further down the aisle a couple of babies crying intermittently. On top of that, there was one guy who managed to snore his way through the flight o_O! Thank goodness for the in-flight entertainment system. I’ve seen a couple of action flicks: Olympus Has Fallen, A Good Day to Die Hard and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. And read a book on the Kindle. How else to kill time, right? Near the end of the flight, they served us our second meal: pizza and ice cream! 😀 With that stuff still in my stomach, I cleared customs and border control at Montréal airport, and not too long afterwards, was on my way outside.
An hour and nine dollars (Canadian, at this moment about 1.35 CAD for 1 EUR) later, I found myself at the hostel where I would be staying the night. I was tired, but after putting my sheets on the bed, I decided not to give in to the jetlag, and go explore the city. Following a recommendation from the hostel staff, I started on foot towards “vieux-Montréal”, taking in all the different impressions. Well, the first one was already a timewarp, back to last summer when I strolled along Sunset blvd. Walking along rue Ste. Cathérine gave me exactly the same impression, but with Mont Royal in the background instead of the Hollywood hills. Except all the signs were in French. Ouch.
Somehow, French is supposed to be a delicate and sophisticated language, but combined with the bluntness of American buildings and blocks, it gives a really strange feeling.
Next flashback: Chinatown. I walked through there after walking through a street with peepshows and erotic theatres, thinking “Am I still on the right track?” but evidently, yes. The smell in Chinatown was so akin to the one in Shanghai, I immediately had to think of the school trip I made…
Afterwards, arriving in the supposed old city centre, I found that there was not too much to see, so I continued on to the old Port de Montréal. From there, you can see a really strange dome across the river, of which I’m still not sure about its purpose. There was also a small park nearby, where I powernapped for a good twenty minutes, before grabbing some food and going back to the hostel. There, they had planned a pub crawl for the evening, which I joined up until about midnight, in order to not miss the last metro back.
The following morning I got up at 8, waited half an hour for another person to stop showering so I could go to the toilet, and headed out the door. I was advised to climb (or rather, walk) the Mont Royal, and I didn’t regret it. You can really see the whole city from here, a good 200 meters above it. Too bad it was a foggy morning. There’s also a really big park there, which I decided to explore.
By 11:00 I started walking back to the hostel to pick up my luggage, and wait for the bus to take me to the airport.
In short: a 24 hour layover in a city you want to explore is a very good way to immediately burn off the jetlag!
Steven
FINAL NOTE: the weather in Montréal was not really ideally suited: a warm 27°C and a very high humidity level, leading to a Turkish steam bath effect which immediately gets you sweating! So, next time I’ll wear something else than jeans and a cotton shirt…
What happened afterwards…
So, what happened after my awesome time in Flagstaff…
It was a sad goodbye, the morning of the 8th of September, 2012. Checking out of the common house, closing the door behind me, memories coming back from all the awesome moments and people I met the past two months. I had rented a one-way rental car (thanks, Budget, for waiving the underage fee for us ACE volunteers!) and was about to drive down to Phoenix to catch my plane onwards. But not before saying final goodbyes!
When I finally managed to leave, I drove the scenic route from Flagstaff to Phoenix…
But, I was also looking forward to something most awesome… A trip to Orlando, Florida! After all the hard work and sweat, I thought I’d deserved some straight-up childish fun and booked myself a spontaneous 4-day outing before heading back home to Belgium. So, this is why I ended up taking a small jet from Phoenix to LA, and the redeye flight into Orlando, to finally get to Disney World!
Disney World, of course, is as awesome as their marketing makes it out to be. No, really, I’m serious! I never, ever got bored during my four days there. There’s always new things to see, explore, details you’ve missed previously, and entertainment to keep you, well, entertained. My absolute favorite was a cover band they called “Mulch, Sweat and Shears”, playing in the Hollywood Studios park. They played 45-minute sets with a varying setlist. If I recall correctly, I’ve seen about 5 of their shows during the four days!
Oh, and one more thing: I also went dolphin-swimming! This is something I’ve always wanted to do, a dream come true. It happened at a place called “Discovery Cove” (also in Orlando, a short cab ride away). Yes, I know, it’s morally difficult to defend the exploitation of these creatures living in captivity, but I must admit that thought disappeared from my mind once I was actually there…
In summary, this whole trip has been a blast, and what I’d call a once-in-a-lifetime and life-changing experience. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat! (But maybe after filling up my bank account again…)
Adios!
Steven
Roadtrip, yee-ha!
Hiya! Phew, these last few days were a big blur… But let’s start with the beginning.
A couple of days ago, while still on project at the Grand Canyon, Manon and Kristina asked me if I would be up for a roadtrip, because they were both too young to rent a car. Of course I was! I was already contemplating joining another group to hike down the Grand Canyon to the Colorado river, but that didn’t work out in the end, so we decided on going to San Diego.
The next day, Manon and me were already fully thinking of it on our last whole day on project, and thought that we could also combine it with LA, which made sense, ’cause the car was going to be rented anyway, and we could save some time and money in combining the two cities in one roadtrip. Kristina, however, didn’t feel that way, and decided not to come along, because she had already planned a five-day stay in LA after her time at ACE.
Luckily, Bekki (Rebecca) decided to join us for a roadtrip, and she is also old enough to drive around here, which meant I didn’t have to drive all the way, yay! 😀
Before we got our car, though, we had no idea how frustrating the experience would be. We reserved a car in the morning through the Hertz website, but when we got there, the ‘agent’ had gone to another location to pick up a car. When she finally returned (at which point we were sitting there for 40 minutes already), she informed us that we couldn’t get a car, despite the reservation. Totally disappointed, we tried Avis, Budget and the airport rental agencies, but none of them would have one available the same day. Finally, we tried an agency called Enterprise, which informed us that they most probably would have a car for us starting 4:30, and that we should call them back then. 4:30 came, but no car. I called again at five, but still no car. Finally, at 5:15 (they close at 6), there was a car available, and they’d send someone to pick us up. Worried that we’d miss out on our car, I called again at 5:50, because our pickup wasn’t there yet. In the end, he showed up at 5:55, and got us there, and got us our car (a white monster called Dodge Avenger 2012). After grabbing a bite to eat, we finally got on the interstate by seven, on our way to LA, baby!
The original plan was to drive on Thursday, but due to our late departure, we were too tired to continue driving through the night, and after some very vague adventures involving a certain ‘Pirates’ Cove’, we found a place to get our heads down for the night. It was a standard motel, but a bed is always better than bunking out in the car! The outside temperature was blazing though, comparably to Yuma, and the A/C had trouble keeping up, which prompted me to sleep without blankets and still feel warm. Ah well…
The next morning we got on our way to LA again, after a traditional American breakfast, AKA a cup of coffee. When we got there at approx. 10, we were surprised to find our view of the city blocked by a frickin’ huge amount of smog. This wasn’t what we signed up for! Luckily, after paying our visit to the Hollywood blvd and the Amoeba music store, the smog disappeared, and we could grab pictures of the Hollywood sign (with, oh surprise, a Scientology sign in front). Satisfied with the buzz of Hollywood, we went to check out the beach at Santa Monica, and take our first dip in the Pacific!
Santa Monica pier was also a bit of a special thing, with a rollercoaster, a ferris wheel on solar energy, and some more funfair attractions on the pier. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach, and did some shopping (well, Manon did anyway, I refused to accompany both ladies into Victoria’s Secret) there in the evening. For the night, we booked a last-minute hotel room through the Apple Store’s wifi network. Oh Irony!
The hotel room was very comfy, and after a bagel-bacon-egg-muffin we tried our luck, and drove off to Long Beach, the starting point of the Pacific Highway. We visited the aquarium there, which was awesomely good with petting pools of baby sharks and other fish, and drove along the coast towards San Diego.
Peter and Kate gave us a very warm welcome at their home in San Diego, and took us to the Mexican quarters that night, where I had my first Mexican food, and it was a great experience! Before that, though they treated us with a swim in their neighbourhood’s pool and hot tub, which was really amazing after a four-hour drive.
The next day we slept in, had a great breakfast after an amazingly comfortable night on the fluffy carpet and sleeping pad, and went out to go relax and bodyboard at Del Mar beach. It was the first time I ever bodyboarded, but after getting the hang of it, it’s real fun! Not something you’d be able to do on the miserable North Sea miniwaves…
We were foolish enough not to reapply sunscreen, so after chilling out on the beach, we returned all bright and red… I’d seen sun before in Italy, so my burn was not that bad (after a day, only a few patches on my belly remain red), but Manon was really hurting that night and the next day. Ah well, it won’t happen again I guess 🙂
I can be short about the last day: we got up at 6:30, left at 8, and spent 8+ hours in the car driving back to Flagstaff, where I’m leaving for my next, and sadly last, project: back to the Canyon! We had to return the car by 6PM, and got there at 5:30, nice timing! In the end, it was a pretty dull ending of an otherwise amazing, fantastic roadtrip. Thanks to all who made this possible, and especially my two travelling companions, Bekki and Manon!
That was it, next post will be the last from Flagstaff, detailing my upcoming second tour at the Canyon. I’ve heard some rumours that we might be going backcountry, but nothing has been verified yet, so all cards are still on the table!
The mother of them all
Whew, it’s been a while since I last posted, but what a great experience has this been! We went out Tuesday morning, had a comparatively short hour-and-a-half drive to our campsite, set up camp, and set out on our first working day: gathering regular-shaped stones that would eventually get used as steps in a rock-built staircase.
The next two days were spent working on the anti-erosion measures at the Bright Angel trail, the busiest of the trails at Grand Canyon, especially near the top. Why? Because it has resthouses with toilets and drinking water at regular intervals (1.5 miles down, 3 miles down, etc.). Anyway, we were moving rocks, clearing sediment from blocked ditches, creating paths for the water that run away from the trail so it doesn’t erode, and other fun stuff like that. We really had a good time out working on the trail, despite the rain coming in one day.
Look at the view I had from my workplace! If that’s not a huge motivator, then ACE might not be something for you, because picking away at rock-solid soil, shovelling the dirt to other places, moving rocks, and getting the trail walkable again can be physically exhausting activities, especially with the sun high in the sky and humidity soaring on some days in monsoon season.
On our evenings, we were either just relaxing by the campfire, going out to the rim for an amazing view down the abyss (I even went there once at night. Everything was pitch-black, and you could see all the stars, and the milky way as well!), or to the staff recreation center to go for a drink, some soccer or WiFi.
Inbetween two periods of working on the trail, we had two days of fencework to do. The National Park Service asked us to put up a fence around some piles of rock that they had specially selected for use on some trails later on, and didn’t want the subcontractors to use in their work the coming weeks. So, we started doing again what I did back in Bryce: pounding in posts, and getting the orange plastic mesh up on them.
On the next-to-last day, while working on the trail again, we even stumbled upon this little fella
Now, the scorpions around Grand Canyon are not lethal (at least not for fit, healthy young people like us), but they will make you feel extremely miserable for a couple of days. That’s why we always wear gloves while working, and lift rocks away from us so any critter under it doesn’t go running towards your legs!
On our last day, we only had to work until twelve, so it would be a waste of time to go back on the trail (we were working a bit more than a mile down at that point, and hiking up and down the trail every day, carrying our equipment with us), so the Park Service got us to build some armour for a rainwater underpass, so that the rain doesn’t erode the road. I must say I was pretty good at getting these rocks in the right way, must be the son of an architect 🙂
After that, we returned back to Flag, with our minds already set on the 25ct-per-drink (yes, any drink! Go Vodka-Coke!) happy hour at the local bar. I had already made plans for a roadtrip on project (more about that when we return), so we’ll be off tomorrow until monday. See ya!
Scorching hot desert
Guess who’s back from another awesome project? Me!
We left monday the 30th quite early in the morning, to begin our 7-hour drive to southern Arizona, where we would be staying for the duration of the project. We passed Phoenix for a lunch break, and when we came up to Quartzsite, it was raining like hell, and the floodchannels were already filling themselves… We could only wait at each section for another vehcle to pass, so we could judge whether our van would be able to drive through it as well, without washing away.
Once we got there, we were in for the next surprise. We would be staying at a real home with A/C and a TV/DVD combo! Well, not that we would’ve gone there otherwise, with temperatures never dropping beneath 30°C at night! During the day, we would have 35-45 degrees, with barely any shade once the sun got high enough. Needless to say that in such a climate, your transpiration becomes the only opportunity to cool down, but it also extracts water from your body while doing so. As such, there were days that I drank more than 10 liters of water, and still had a dry mouth!
We spent the first two working days spraying herbicide in a big marsh-like environment, with a thick foliage and plants that reach over four meters high. This made for a very humid and uncomfortable working situation, and when you figure in the fact that we had to spray selectively with a dye-coloured herbicide to mark the plants that hadn’t been sprayed yet, it was not that great of a working environment. I did have a very nice crew of six people in total, so we kind of had to entertain ourselves to keep up the spirit.
Joe, our local project partner, did notice that we weren’t getting that much work done on our days, and that the marsh was way too big for us to finish. So, on the third evening he came in, and told us that we would get to do something else, at which point everybody cheered! The next day, we got to dig a den for a couple of desert tortoises, which got everyone very excited of course.
That’s me digging the nice new tortoise home! They’d better be appreciative of it!
We finished this in a day, and the day afterwards (the last day in Imperial) we got to repair a couple of sections of a desert trail that got washed away in a flood, and were also tasked with erasing off-road tire tracks, so that people don’t get enticed to drive off-road.
We spent our weekend in Yuma, watching some movies, and generally relaxing in the comfort of an airconditioned environment. Luckily we were all of age, so we got to go to a couple of bars during the weekend.
The second week, we were working at Cibola NWR, which is a two-and-a-half hour drive away from our housing. The reason that we weren’t staying at Cibola itself, is that they couldn’t provide adequate cooling in their accomodation (they only have RVs around there). Due to the long drive, we were only working for 3 hours a day on our second week, so that was a bit more laid-back. The work we got to do in Cibola was digging out arrowweed plants complete with their root system, so that the mesquite trees wouldn’t be overgrown by a very expansive arrowweed vegetation. The temperature in Cibola was even higher than in Imperial, but there was much less moisture in the air, which made it more bearable in the end.
Another thing which struck me, apart from the huge distances, is that you can drive 65mph (a little over 100kmh) on a single lane road! Crazy, only in America.
On Friday, while we were driving back to Flagstaff, we burst a tire. Nothing to worry about, we thought, because all vans have a real spare tire. But, after changing it out, the van wouldn’t start anymore. Apparently, we had broken the fuel pump in the process! Because ACE would rather have the van repaired in Flagstaff, they decided that instead of calling roadside assistance, they’d send someone over with a trailer to pick us and the van up. Luckily, we were only a mile and a bit from a gas station, where we spent 6 hours waiting for our transportation. In the end, we arrived at the office in Flagstaff by 00:30 instead of 13:00. The longest day, ever.
Next period, I’m going to the GRAND CANYON!! Very much looking forward to it, and we’re leaving on Tuesday!
Back from Bryce!
So, as the title says, I'm back from an exhausting but satisfying week in Bryce Canyon!
It all started at 6:45 AM Wednesday morning, when I left our house as one of the last people to go on project. The first project day consisted of driving, driving, and... more driving! Ultimately, after 7 hours in a cramped van we got to our designated campground. I'd expected a bare-basic place in the middle of nowhere, but we were actually camping right in the middle of all the other tourists with their tents and RV's! Bonus points of course for having a toilet and small store nearby!
So, the next day we got up at 6 to go working. Well, first falling back (semi) asleep again in the van, because our working site was an hour away from the campground, over dirt roads. Once there, it was time to carry all of the tools and supplies up on the hill, which was good for about 100 metres of elevation. Imagine carrying 45 kilograms of general bulky stuff on your shoulders that far uphill... Everyone got pretty exhausted from that! The general elevation is also close to 3000 metres above sea level, so it took some getting used to.
The work itself carried on through the week, consisting of cleaning up the previous fence, preparing the ground for a new stretch, and placing that new stretch. Because of our remote location, and the fact that we didn't use any power tools, we only managed to place about a quarter-mile of fence.
My boots and arms also got a few cuts from the old barbed wire lying around, but luckily no major incidents happened because we were all focussed on safety.
You might wonder why we were building a fence that far uphill, and which will most probably get washed away again the next year. Well, the official work order says it is to prevent cows from getting into Bryce Canyon National Park through the border with Dixie National Forest, but as soon as we got to the top of the hill, we thought this to be non-sense. There were almost vertical cliffs for as far as you could see! No cow would ever survive that... So, they probably just needed to burn through their alotted budget, to make sure that they'll receive the same amount next year. Anyways, we didn't worry too much, 'cause we had fun doing it.
Also a lot of fun was the cooking on project. Because we are working hard during the days, we need to replenish our energy by eating throughout the day. During the day, this means regular intake of fluids to prevent dehydration, and eating salty snacks throughout the day. My favorite was definitely the trail mix with raisins, peanuts, cashews, various other salted nuts, and M&M's! In the evening, we all took turns cooking on a propane camping stove, with prearranged food which we took with us from the ACE office. Since we were 12, we split up in 4 cooking teams of 3 persons, so you'd only have to work 1 night out of 4 (cooking team does the cooking and the cleanup). I've been on duty for... wait for it... burger night and chili night! The burgers were pretty well done (thanks Ash!), and we made some homemade fries to go with them. It's certainly an experience, cooking fries in a saucepan filled with oil, on a gas stove, using unpeeled potatoes. But, all's well that ends well.
Chili-mac night was more towards the end of our project, which means that all the food for it was in cans or vacuum wrapping. For those like me, who are not really accustomed to mexican food, eating chili results in a very windy day afterwards...
On our previous-to-final day, it started thunderstorming so hard that we had to gather all our tools and equipment in a hurry, and get back down to the van. Result: a very dirty van, and six people, including me, who had to push the van with trailer because it got stuck in the mud! Please, ACE, get us FWD vehicles next time... Another consequence was that we couldn't return to our assigned worksite the day afterwards (last-whole-day, or assholeday in common ACE language), because we were afraid to get completely stuck. So our fantastic crewleader, Pete, decided to go do something else: Fence-scouting! We went to the complete other side of the national park, and started walking along the fenceline to check it for damage, and carry out small repairs while we were there. It was a nice change in work for the last day.
Of course, something had to happen. Towards 2PM, some very very dark grey clouds started to appear, and they were moving in our general direction. Getting a little bit concerned, Pete decided to start walking down a wash (emergency water canal), in order to find the road on which we drove in. Literally five minutes after we found the road and got out of the wash, somebody yelled 'GET COVER!', and mere seconds later, a massive amount of hail started falling from the sky, followed by a frickin' downpour with accompanying thunder and lightning. The scariest part was that we had a bolt of lightning strike a good 100m from our cover position...
Anyway, we've all come back in one piece, had an amazing crew dinner wednesday night (I love BBQ!) followed by a night in the bar which had drinks at 25ct during happy hour. Life can be good!
For my off-days, I haven't planned anything yet, but I'll see where I can go and what I can do. There's still some amazing stuff to see in Flagstaff, and I think I'll go out and climb Mt. Humphries one of these days, the highest peak in Arizona!
'Till the next time,
Steven
Let’s get this started!
The past two days, I have been safety and regulation-trained by ACE, so that us new volunteers can start working without too much trouble. Speaking of new volunteers, there were 8 of us last saturday at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport: an English guy, two Italian guys, two German girls, an Austrian girl, and two Belgians: me and Gil.
We've been split up over three different locations: There are the wavertree appartments to the south of Flagstaff, in the vicinity of the Northern Arizona University, then there are the Cedar houses to the north of Flagstaff, with nice surroundings but quite far away from downtown Flagstaff (on foot, anyway), and then there is Cisco house, the one which I'm staying in, right in the middle of the town. It's a nice location, and we're 24 people, all 21 or older, living together in a single house. One disadvantage: my bed is located next to the street and the window doesn't fully close, so the first few nights I got woken up by traffic a lot. Fortunately, I'm gradually getting used to it.
Over the past few days, I've slowly begun integrating myself around here: learning the city map, getting to know the other ACE volunteers, getting around, etc. I've still got some work in that department, but I'll get there soon enough. At the moment, I'm only focussed on one thing: getting ready for project!
I'm going on my first project tomorrow!
Yesterday, I've received the first schedule with my name on it, and boy, I am one happy guy right now! I've been lucky enough to be assigned to... wait for it...
Bryce Canyon National Park!
The US National Park Service has called upon ACE to do fencing work at Bryce Canyon, which means that we'll be repairing, improving or putting up new wooden fences in the park. Since the campsites are predetermined, that also means that we'll be hiking each day from the campsite to the workplace, and back again in the evening.
This is an 8-day project, Wednesday through Wednesday, which means that we'll be working 10-hour-days, to correspond with a 40-hour work week.
Anyways, I'm going back to packing... Tomorrow's the time to rock and roll! Look for an update sometime after the 26th.
Steven
(By the way, I've now got a US cellphone, which means I'll stop picking up my Belgian phone. Those who want to reach me, can do so on -REDACTED-. Thanks for understanding!)