Wed - March 10, 2004
Delft, 27 February - 12 March, 2004
Welcome to Delft! This is it. The fourth
quarter. Sudden death overtime. The final leg. The last lap. It has been 6
months, and this is the final 2. Let's hope it is a good one.
The drive to Delft was pretty fun though. I
might as well mention it here. Nora had a friend who was leaving for the airport
in Brussels at the same time that we were going to Delft. So she offered to
drive Nora, Geoff, and I to Delft. It was great, you have never seen so much
luggage in a VW Golf before. We were definitely fully loaded, but it was so much
better than having to take the train. Thanks Catherine!
Posted at 08:55 PM Read More
Sun - February 29, 2004
The Stay in Germany
Well, here is the one and only entry from my
times in Germany. There really wasn't that much going on in Germany for most of
the time, and the lack of internet access made me somewhat lazy at updating the
site, as you have probably noticed. But here is all that I did in Germany that
was of any importance, or that I can remember (which I suppose is the same
thing).
While we were going to school in Aachen (at
RWTH) we lived in a resort village called Hoog Vaals Landal Green Park, in the
town of Vaals, Netherlands. It was just across the border from Aachen, and about
a 30 minute bus ride. It was a pretty nice place, but there wasn't a lot to do
there. We spent most of our time either on buses going back and forth to Aachen,
or just hanging out playing cards and other
stuff.
We did do a couple of fun things. We went on an excursion to Eastern Germany for a couple days. It was interesting, there is definitely a difference between Western and Eastern Germany. We saw some open cast coal mines, and it was a good time. We had a huge snow ball fight in Frieberg, which was just a great, great time.
We also got to do a mine rescue course. Well, not a real mine rescue course, but we got to go to the Mine Rescue school, and go through some of the training. It was really, really hard and really, really fun. We had to put on compressed air breathing systems, and then climb around a HUGE jungle gym kinda thing. Squeezing through tight holes, climbing up and down ladders, over piles of stuff, wriggling on our bellies, and all that kind of stuff. Some of the holes were so small we had to take our air tanks off and push them in front of us. I didn't think I would make it through some of the holes, but I did. It was a really great time, probably the best part of Germany.
Well, those are really the only memories I have that are worth telling of our time in Germany.
Craig "Welcome to the trailer park" Broadhurst
We did do a couple of fun things. We went on an excursion to Eastern Germany for a couple days. It was interesting, there is definitely a difference between Western and Eastern Germany. We saw some open cast coal mines, and it was a good time. We had a huge snow ball fight in Frieberg, which was just a great, great time.
We also got to do a mine rescue course. Well, not a real mine rescue course, but we got to go to the Mine Rescue school, and go through some of the training. It was really, really hard and really, really fun. We had to put on compressed air breathing systems, and then climb around a HUGE jungle gym kinda thing. Squeezing through tight holes, climbing up and down ladders, over piles of stuff, wriggling on our bellies, and all that kind of stuff. Some of the holes were so small we had to take our air tanks off and push them in front of us. I didn't think I would make it through some of the holes, but I did. It was a really great time, probably the best part of Germany.
Well, those are really the only memories I have that are worth telling of our time in Germany.
Craig "Welcome to the trailer park" Broadhurst
Posted at 09:57 AM Read More
Wed - February 25, 2004
The Road Trip
"We just caught a road trip mate" - Tim Heron,
somewhere on the road between Aachen and Milano, February 23-25,
2004
Well, like my good friend Tim said in the
abstract, we just caught a road trip.
But, all good stories start at the start, so here it goes. We had the week off, and sometimes you just have to take advantage of these things. We decided to catch a roadtrip. At first we didn't really have a destination, we just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere.
There was a couple of things that had to be decided first though. We needed to figure out who the "we" included, we needed a car, cause roadtrips are difficult without cars, and we needed a destination. Nothing to particular, just a general direction was fine, so we decided "south" as our destination. It was then decided that the only people who were (fool)hardy enough to go on a roadtrip with a destination of "south" were Tim (the Aussie), Geoff (the Canadian), and me (the Canadian). We found a deal at the rental car place, for 3 days Monday to Thursday (I know that that is 4 days, but it was for 72 hours, and if you do the math it works out).
So, having all the important things decided upon, we picked up a map, chose a route that was off of the major highways, but still mainly on roads, and prepared to embark one of the greatest roadtrips ever.
We left Vaals at 1100 Monday. We picked up our car, a VW Touran, at the rental agency, and were off by 1300. Now, the Touran is a nice vehicle. It is kind of a blend between a station wagon and a minivan, but it was perfect for a roadtrip that was attempting to go over the alps and all the way to Milano. The only problem with it was that it was a standard. This wasn't really a problem until 60 km down the road, the clutch went. And when I say the clutch went, I mean it was gone. We couldn't drive at all. So there we are, in Belgium, with a busted down car. The only thing to do is to call the rental agency. After a very confusing 5 hours, somebody shows up to tow our car and get us a new one. Well, kinda. It turns out the only people the rental agency could find were some tractor mechanics in the next town. The were great guys, one of them was a rally car driver, and we hung out there for a while, just talking. Eventually we called a cab, and went back to Aachen. We got a new car from the rental agency, a Reunot Migane, and by 2200 hours we were off again. Now there was some debate about whether or not to actually start the trip, or to just go home and start tomorrow. But, we were all eager to head off, so it was decided that the road trip would continue.
That night we drove all the way to the border of Switzerland. We stopped just outside Bern and stayed at a place that cost 25 Euro a night TOTAL. That is 8.30 Euro for each of us. And yes, it was as delightful as it sounds.
The next day we drove through Switzerland (at the cost of 30 Euro for a one year highway pass) and entered Italy. We made it all the way to Milano, just in time for rush hour. So we wandered around the city a bit, and then decided that we lived for the road. So it was back in the car again. We headed west through the top of Italy, and then headed up through a bit of France before stopping just outside of Geneva, Switzerland. It was along this stretch of road that
But, all good stories start at the start, so here it goes. We had the week off, and sometimes you just have to take advantage of these things. We decided to catch a roadtrip. At first we didn't really have a destination, we just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere.
There was a couple of things that had to be decided first though. We needed to figure out who the "we" included, we needed a car, cause roadtrips are difficult without cars, and we needed a destination. Nothing to particular, just a general direction was fine, so we decided "south" as our destination. It was then decided that the only people who were (fool)hardy enough to go on a roadtrip with a destination of "south" were Tim (the Aussie), Geoff (the Canadian), and me (the Canadian). We found a deal at the rental car place, for 3 days Monday to Thursday (I know that that is 4 days, but it was for 72 hours, and if you do the math it works out).
So, having all the important things decided upon, we picked up a map, chose a route that was off of the major highways, but still mainly on roads, and prepared to embark one of the greatest roadtrips ever.
We left Vaals at 1100 Monday. We picked up our car, a VW Touran, at the rental agency, and were off by 1300. Now, the Touran is a nice vehicle. It is kind of a blend between a station wagon and a minivan, but it was perfect for a roadtrip that was attempting to go over the alps and all the way to Milano. The only problem with it was that it was a standard. This wasn't really a problem until 60 km down the road, the clutch went. And when I say the clutch went, I mean it was gone. We couldn't drive at all. So there we are, in Belgium, with a busted down car. The only thing to do is to call the rental agency. After a very confusing 5 hours, somebody shows up to tow our car and get us a new one. Well, kinda. It turns out the only people the rental agency could find were some tractor mechanics in the next town. The were great guys, one of them was a rally car driver, and we hung out there for a while, just talking. Eventually we called a cab, and went back to Aachen. We got a new car from the rental agency, a Reunot Migane, and by 2200 hours we were off again. Now there was some debate about whether or not to actually start the trip, or to just go home and start tomorrow. But, we were all eager to head off, so it was decided that the road trip would continue.
That night we drove all the way to the border of Switzerland. We stopped just outside Bern and stayed at a place that cost 25 Euro a night TOTAL. That is 8.30 Euro for each of us. And yes, it was as delightful as it sounds.
The next day we drove through Switzerland (at the cost of 30 Euro for a one year highway pass) and entered Italy. We made it all the way to Milano, just in time for rush hour. So we wandered around the city a bit, and then decided that we lived for the road. So it was back in the car again. We headed west through the top of Italy, and then headed up through a bit of France before stopping just outside of Geneva, Switzerland. It was along this stretch of road that
Posted at 04:47 PM Read More
Sun - January 4, 2004
Days of 27 December, 2003 to 3 January 2004
Happy New Year to everyone out there! This is
just a run down of all the things that I did for the second part of my Christmas
Holidays. It includes all the places that I went, up to my new residence in
Vaals.
Well, so much to cover here. I guess the best
place to start is to tell you that Nora and I ended up touring Belgium. We
visited 5 cities over the span of 7 days. First, we went to the city of Ghent
for one night. We then proceeded to the Brugge for two nights, before heading
out to Kortrijk, then Brussels. We then rounded it all out in Antwerpen for the
final two nights. As if I hadn't had enough travelling after that, we then had
to get all the way to Vaals, and that was a heck of a
journey.
Ghent is really a beautiful city. It is very old, with canals running all over the place. There was a cool castle there, called the Castle of the Counts. Well, it wasn't called that, it was called whatever that is in French, but that is a general translation. There was also a Christmas fair going on, with lots of booths selling various things like WAFFLES and other stuff. Once I saw the waffles I kinda stopped paying attention. We stayed in a nice hotel, right by the train station, so it was fairly easy getting to where we needed to go.
Brugge is just as nice as Ghent. It is another very old city, that used to be a major place in Belgium. There is a large cathedral there called St. Mary's that houses Michaelangelo's Madonna with Child. I spent a lot of the time in Brugge just wandering around, looking at the old buildings and the winding streets.
Kortrijk was a nice rest stop after the days of walking all around Ghent and Brugge. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast out of the city, so it was very interesting trying to find it on arrival in the city. Once we found somebody who had heard of the address of the B & B, it was a fairly easy bus ride to get there. Kortrijk was an old Roman town, and there was some interesting ruins to see. It was a pretty restful place, and we were all ready to tackle Brussels the next day.
When we got to Brussels, it was really cold and snowing fairly strong. We wandered through the streets, and eventually found our hotel. It was in a really old building, and I was somewhat concerned that it was going to fall down. Although it was the most expensive place we stayed at, it was far from the nicest. Once all our bags were dropped off, we decided to go and explore the city. Which we did, for several hours. Brussels is really like any other big city, there were lots of interesting people and some interesting places. Around the city center there were lots of stands, just like in the other cities. So, just like in all the other cities, I had a sausage and a waffle. Mmmm..mmmmm! Delicious! Anyhow, it was New Year's Eve, so we wandered around a little bit more, trying to figure out what was going down and when. But then it got even colder, so we went back to the hotel. We eventually braved the cold one more time that night, and wandered around again, but we were never able to find the big celebration. Until the next morning that is, when we found where the party was. It looked like it would have been a good one, but it was also really really cold out, so no big deal. So after we surveyed the grounds of the New Year's Eve party, we decided to head out to Antwerpen. After a little mix up at the train station ticket counter, the lady thought I had said the Airport and not Antwerp (which is why I call it Antwerpen from now on) we were once again on our way.
Antwerpen was the last leg of our journey, so we were a little tired. Plus, it was New Year's Day, so there wasn't a lot of places open. There was actually very little open except for some restaurants and the movie theatre. So we wandered around a bit and then went and saw Kill Bill, Volume 1. It was entertaining, and provided a nice break from all the touring. The next day things were still closed, but it didn't stop us. We wandered around a bit (did that a lot this trip) and saw some really interesting looking museums, etc. that were closed. We eventually gave up and just went to some Irish bar and drank beer all night. Antwerpen was pretty fun.
Bright and early the next day (well, 730) we left the hotel and ran to the train station. We arrived minutes before our train pulled out of the station, and were soon on our way back towards Delft. Once we got to Delft we grabbed our bags and headed towards Aachen. We eventually winded up taking 4 trains and 3 buses that day, but by 1830 I (well, Nora and I) had arrived in Vaals. I promptly had a shower and fell asleep, a well traveled individual who had eaten too many waffles in too short a time.
Craig "Hey, I was in Belgium" Broadhurst
P.S. The pictures were posted a while ago, but if you haven't had a chance to check them out, then here there are again .
Ghent is really a beautiful city. It is very old, with canals running all over the place. There was a cool castle there, called the Castle of the Counts. Well, it wasn't called that, it was called whatever that is in French, but that is a general translation. There was also a Christmas fair going on, with lots of booths selling various things like WAFFLES and other stuff. Once I saw the waffles I kinda stopped paying attention. We stayed in a nice hotel, right by the train station, so it was fairly easy getting to where we needed to go.
Brugge is just as nice as Ghent. It is another very old city, that used to be a major place in Belgium. There is a large cathedral there called St. Mary's that houses Michaelangelo's Madonna with Child. I spent a lot of the time in Brugge just wandering around, looking at the old buildings and the winding streets.
Kortrijk was a nice rest stop after the days of walking all around Ghent and Brugge. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast out of the city, so it was very interesting trying to find it on arrival in the city. Once we found somebody who had heard of the address of the B & B, it was a fairly easy bus ride to get there. Kortrijk was an old Roman town, and there was some interesting ruins to see. It was a pretty restful place, and we were all ready to tackle Brussels the next day.
When we got to Brussels, it was really cold and snowing fairly strong. We wandered through the streets, and eventually found our hotel. It was in a really old building, and I was somewhat concerned that it was going to fall down. Although it was the most expensive place we stayed at, it was far from the nicest. Once all our bags were dropped off, we decided to go and explore the city. Which we did, for several hours. Brussels is really like any other big city, there were lots of interesting people and some interesting places. Around the city center there were lots of stands, just like in the other cities. So, just like in all the other cities, I had a sausage and a waffle. Mmmm..mmmmm! Delicious! Anyhow, it was New Year's Eve, so we wandered around a little bit more, trying to figure out what was going down and when. But then it got even colder, so we went back to the hotel. We eventually braved the cold one more time that night, and wandered around again, but we were never able to find the big celebration. Until the next morning that is, when we found where the party was. It looked like it would have been a good one, but it was also really really cold out, so no big deal. So after we surveyed the grounds of the New Year's Eve party, we decided to head out to Antwerpen. After a little mix up at the train station ticket counter, the lady thought I had said the Airport and not Antwerp (which is why I call it Antwerpen from now on) we were once again on our way.
Antwerpen was the last leg of our journey, so we were a little tired. Plus, it was New Year's Day, so there wasn't a lot of places open. There was actually very little open except for some restaurants and the movie theatre. So we wandered around a bit and then went and saw Kill Bill, Volume 1. It was entertaining, and provided a nice break from all the touring. The next day things were still closed, but it didn't stop us. We wandered around a bit (did that a lot this trip) and saw some really interesting looking museums, etc. that were closed. We eventually gave up and just went to some Irish bar and drank beer all night. Antwerpen was pretty fun.
Bright and early the next day (well, 730) we left the hotel and ran to the train station. We arrived minutes before our train pulled out of the station, and were soon on our way back towards Delft. Once we got to Delft we grabbed our bags and headed towards Aachen. We eventually winded up taking 4 trains and 3 buses that day, but by 1830 I (well, Nora and I) had arrived in Vaals. I promptly had a shower and fell asleep, a well traveled individual who had eaten too many waffles in too short a time.
Craig "Hey, I was in Belgium" Broadhurst
P.S. The pictures were posted a while ago, but if you haven't had a chance to check them out, then here there are again .
Posted at 01:24 PM Read More
Thu - December
25, 2003
Days from 21 - 25 December, 2003
Merry Christmas, Y'All. Here is what is up with
the first part of my break.
Merry
Christmas!
I am writing this on Christmas Day, just want to tell everybody what has been happening for the past couple of days. Hanging out with Nora, one of the Americans. Neither of us had any plans so we figured we would just hang out together. Maybe tour around a bit, but nothing really planned.
So for the first couple of days we went to Amsterdam, it was fun. Raining and wet, but fun. The apartment we stayed at was fairly small, but it gave us a place to sleep. We kinda walked around, checked out the city, had a good time. It was Monday and Tuesday, so there wasn't a lot of partying. But we did get to check out some cool museums.
For the next week I am looking at checking out Belgium, some of the cities look really interesting, very historical. Hopefully will get a chance to visit Brugge, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, and any other city that looks interesting.
Happy Holidays
Craig "I enjoy living out of my suitcase, seriously" Broadhurst
I am writing this on Christmas Day, just want to tell everybody what has been happening for the past couple of days. Hanging out with Nora, one of the Americans. Neither of us had any plans so we figured we would just hang out together. Maybe tour around a bit, but nothing really planned.
So for the first couple of days we went to Amsterdam, it was fun. Raining and wet, but fun. The apartment we stayed at was fairly small, but it gave us a place to sleep. We kinda walked around, checked out the city, had a good time. It was Monday and Tuesday, so there wasn't a lot of partying. But we did get to check out some cool museums.
For the next week I am looking at checking out Belgium, some of the cities look really interesting, very historical. Hopefully will get a chance to visit Brugge, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, and any other city that looks interesting.
Happy Holidays
Craig "I enjoy living out of my suitcase, seriously" Broadhurst
Posted at 05:45 PM Read More
Week of 14 - 21 December, 2003
My last week in London. Got to finish up some
projects, do some studying, write some exams, and maybe even play the tourist
again.
Well, this week was pretty hectic. I had to
finish up some projects, so that took up a couple of hundred hours. Well, felt
like it at least. Then had to study a bit, since I did have exams to write. And
then on top of that I had to get all packed up and ready to leave. Plus Lord of
the Rings: The Return of the King was being released, so I had to see
that.
But I got through it all with no problems. The exams went really well, wrote lots and lots and it seemed like I actually knew what I was talking about (at least I hope it seemed that way). The projects got handed in, and I even got to see the movie. Really good movie, by the way. I highly recommend it. I am looking forward to seeing all three back-to-back-to-back. It will be one long, but exciting day. Oh yeah.
Anyway, I am writing this on the couch in Delft, so I should mention how I got here. Took the train from Liverpool St. Station to Harwick, and then from there took the ferry to the Hoek of Holland. It was a short train ride from there to Delft. Volkert's place (where I am staying) is actually really nice, and directly across from the train station. It is literally only a one minute walk. Really nice. The ferry was nice, if long. It was supposed to be high speed, but that was cancelled due to the weather. So we took the regular ferry, which took 6 hours. It wasn't too bad though, even got to see Master and Commander. Really made the movie when the theatre swayed. It was like we were actually there.
Now I am going to rest up, and heading toward Amsterdam tomorrow. It should be really nice. Staying at a friend's of a friend's of Nora's Dad's place. I think those are the right number of apostrophes.
So long for now, Merry Christmas
Craig "Touring Is My Name, and Being a Tourist is my Game" Broadhurst
But I got through it all with no problems. The exams went really well, wrote lots and lots and it seemed like I actually knew what I was talking about (at least I hope it seemed that way). The projects got handed in, and I even got to see the movie. Really good movie, by the way. I highly recommend it. I am looking forward to seeing all three back-to-back-to-back. It will be one long, but exciting day. Oh yeah.
Anyway, I am writing this on the couch in Delft, so I should mention how I got here. Took the train from Liverpool St. Station to Harwick, and then from there took the ferry to the Hoek of Holland. It was a short train ride from there to Delft. Volkert's place (where I am staying) is actually really nice, and directly across from the train station. It is literally only a one minute walk. Really nice. The ferry was nice, if long. It was supposed to be high speed, but that was cancelled due to the weather. So we took the regular ferry, which took 6 hours. It wasn't too bad though, even got to see Master and Commander. Really made the movie when the theatre swayed. It was like we were actually there.
Now I am going to rest up, and heading toward Amsterdam tomorrow. It should be really nice. Staying at a friend's of a friend's of Nora's Dad's place. I think those are the right number of apostrophes.
So long for now, Merry Christmas
Craig "Touring Is My Name, and Being a Tourist is my Game" Broadhurst
Posted at 05:39 PM Read More
Sun - December
14, 2003
Week(s) of November 30 - December 14, 2003
Well, what has Craig been doing for the past
little while? Well, since you asked..
Hey
Everybody
Been kinda busy for the last little while, that is what I have been up to. We have been visiting some mining companies around London, like BHP, Rio Tinto, and Anglo American. They were all really cool, and the head offices were pretty sweet. Anglo has this glass lobby that is 5 stories tall with a giant waterfall that goes all the way to the top. Neato! We also visited the London Metal Exchange, just last Thursday, and got to see the prices set. It was really interesting. Those guys go nuts in the last couple of seconds.
Mainly though, I have actually been doing some work. Yes, my prayers were answered (from way back in Helsinki) and we actually had stuff to do. It wasn't quite as much or as hard as last year, but it was enough that I wasn't bored. But now, all the projects are done, they will be handed in on Monday, and the only thing left to do is see the new Lord of the Rings movie. Oh, and study. Two exams this coming week, Tuesday and Thursday, but they should be alright. They are in Finance and Management, so at least I am interested in the material.
Christmas is coming soon too. And I will be spending it in beautiful Delft. Then I am going explore around Germany, check out Berlin, etc. It should be an interesting Christmas break.
Well, not much else to add. Finally figured out a way to post my pictures, so the back log is clear. Now I will have to go out and take some more pictures, so your demand is satisfied.
Talk to you guys (and gals) later
Craig "You call that assignment HARD? I laugh at you! Ha Ha!" Broadhurst
Been kinda busy for the last little while, that is what I have been up to. We have been visiting some mining companies around London, like BHP, Rio Tinto, and Anglo American. They were all really cool, and the head offices were pretty sweet. Anglo has this glass lobby that is 5 stories tall with a giant waterfall that goes all the way to the top. Neato! We also visited the London Metal Exchange, just last Thursday, and got to see the prices set. It was really interesting. Those guys go nuts in the last couple of seconds.
Mainly though, I have actually been doing some work. Yes, my prayers were answered (from way back in Helsinki) and we actually had stuff to do. It wasn't quite as much or as hard as last year, but it was enough that I wasn't bored. But now, all the projects are done, they will be handed in on Monday, and the only thing left to do is see the new Lord of the Rings movie. Oh, and study. Two exams this coming week, Tuesday and Thursday, but they should be alright. They are in Finance and Management, so at least I am interested in the material.
Christmas is coming soon too. And I will be spending it in beautiful Delft. Then I am going explore around Germany, check out Berlin, etc. It should be an interesting Christmas break.
Well, not much else to add. Finally figured out a way to post my pictures, so the back log is clear. Now I will have to go out and take some more pictures, so your demand is satisfied.
Talk to you guys (and gals) later
Craig "You call that assignment HARD? I laugh at you! Ha Ha!" Broadhurst
Posted at 12:20 PM Read More
Sat
- November 29, 2003
Week(s) of November something to November 29, 2003
Craig is back from his excursion to the EMC
reunion in Aachen, and from the week long stay at Boulby Mine, near
Whitby.
Hey
Everybody
Well, I am back in London again, boy that was a long and tiring week. First the EMC flew to Aachen to celebrate the EMC reunion. There was much drinking, and partying, and even a little bit of work. On the Friday, there was a conference with workshops, and we looked at the importance of a companies image. After, we had a wonderful dinner, and then we got to go and sleep on the floor of a classroom. The floor wasn't that bad though, I mean, we are all young and people can sleep anywhere if they drink enough.
On the Saturday we had an adventure school type of thing, with hiking, bike riding, and even some balance-type stuff, walking on elevated wires. It was all pretty fun, and we had a nice bbq afterwards.
On Sunday, we had to get up early and fly back to England. The flight was alright, and it was only 55 minutes long. Once we landed in England, we had to drive 5 hours north to get to the town of Whitby, in Yorkshire. We stayed at an educational outdoor camp, like where schools go to teach their kids about nature.
The mine was interesting, it went down around 1800 m, and a lot of it was under the North Sea. It is a really dry mine, and you can taste the salt in the air. It was also incredibly hot, with temperatures around 40º Celsius. We did our work there, and at the end of the week we did presentations based on the project that we had worked on. I was one of the presenters for my group, and the mine staff seemed to like our work. All and all it was a good week.
Talk to y'all later
Craig "Is that English?" Broadhurst
Well, I am back in London again, boy that was a long and tiring week. First the EMC flew to Aachen to celebrate the EMC reunion. There was much drinking, and partying, and even a little bit of work. On the Friday, there was a conference with workshops, and we looked at the importance of a companies image. After, we had a wonderful dinner, and then we got to go and sleep on the floor of a classroom. The floor wasn't that bad though, I mean, we are all young and people can sleep anywhere if they drink enough.
On the Saturday we had an adventure school type of thing, with hiking, bike riding, and even some balance-type stuff, walking on elevated wires. It was all pretty fun, and we had a nice bbq afterwards.
On Sunday, we had to get up early and fly back to England. The flight was alright, and it was only 55 minutes long. Once we landed in England, we had to drive 5 hours north to get to the town of Whitby, in Yorkshire. We stayed at an educational outdoor camp, like where schools go to teach their kids about nature.
The mine was interesting, it went down around 1800 m, and a lot of it was under the North Sea. It is a really dry mine, and you can taste the salt in the air. It was also incredibly hot, with temperatures around 40º Celsius. We did our work there, and at the end of the week we did presentations based on the project that we had worked on. I was one of the presenters for my group, and the mine staff seemed to like our work. All and all it was a good week.
Talk to y'all later
Craig "Is that English?" Broadhurst
Posted at 03:49 PM Read More
Tue - November 4, 2003
Week of November 1-8, 2003
Well, it was time for a change of scenary, I
mean I had been in Helsinki for almost 2 MONTHS! I was starting to go crazy!
Now, I get to explore London, and all the good and bad things that it has to
offer
Well, so much to tell, where to begin? I
suppose I should start at the start, it is always the sensible thing to
do.
The flight over was nice, almost empty in fact. Went fairly smoothly, even got in the emergency exit aisle with lots of leg room. Once we landed at Heathrow it was smooth sailing, and in no time we were on the tube, heading towards our residence.
We are staying at the Charing Cross Campus of Imperial College. It is pretty much a medical campus, so most of the students are med students. It is a nice enough residence, just like first year at Queen's again, although it is a little bit newer. The area is nice, with quite a few pubs, restaurants, kebab places, etc. We are not as isolated as we were in Finland, which is good.
I have been busy, but I finally found the time to get back to what was important, sharing my travels with all you! So, I have posted several pages of new photos. There is a set that has some random pictures from around London , a set from my visit to the Tower of London , and a set of my visit to the London Aquarium . The Tower was especially cool, as there was a one hour guided tour by a Beefeater! Huzza! Hope you all enjoy!
Craig "I promise I will update more frequently" Broadhurst
The flight over was nice, almost empty in fact. Went fairly smoothly, even got in the emergency exit aisle with lots of leg room. Once we landed at Heathrow it was smooth sailing, and in no time we were on the tube, heading towards our residence.
We are staying at the Charing Cross Campus of Imperial College. It is pretty much a medical campus, so most of the students are med students. It is a nice enough residence, just like first year at Queen's again, although it is a little bit newer. The area is nice, with quite a few pubs, restaurants, kebab places, etc. We are not as isolated as we were in Finland, which is good.
I have been busy, but I finally found the time to get back to what was important, sharing my travels with all you! So, I have posted several pages of new photos. There is a set that has some random pictures from around London , a set from my visit to the Tower of London , and a set of my visit to the London Aquarium . The Tower was especially cool, as there was a one hour guided tour by a Beefeater! Huzza! Hope you all enjoy!
Craig "I promise I will update more frequently" Broadhurst
Posted at 07:34 PM Read More
Wed - October 22, 2003
Weekend in St. Petersburg October 18-21, 2003
I went for a walk one day, and look where I
ended up.
Well, just got
back yesterday from my little journey to Russia. Went for 3 nights and 2 days,
and it was the most interesting city I have ever been
to.
The adventure started after arriving at our train station in St. Petersburg. We had almost no clue which metro line we needed, but we found some guy who told us that he was going to almost the exact same spot that we were going to, and that we could follow him. What a coincidence, eh? I know, I didn't believe him either, but we figured that he would at least get us to our hotel, and it would be easier than wandering around for hours. Well, after about 10 minutes on the Metro (which is one of the deepest in the world apparently, the escalator ride down took about 3 minutes) we had a 20 minute walk to our hotel, which was located just north of the downtown section. Of course we get there and he goes into a big song and dance, but no big deal, he did get us to the hotel and so we all give him a little bit of money and then go check in.
The hotel is clean and in a safe location, so we are all relieved at that. After dropping off all our bags, we figure we should get some local money, and head on down to the exchange. 100 € gets me about 3500 RUR, and it feels really weird to have so many high denomination bills.
For the rest of the weekend, we just wandered around St. Petersburg in small groups, checking out anything that interested us. I visited the State Hermitage , which is the third largest museum in the world (behind the MET and the Louvre) and wandered around for hours. There were some egyptian works, and roman, and greek, plus a lot of paintings from all over the world. There was lots of famous paintings from people like Picasso, Monet, etc. I cant even remember most of them, there were just too many in too little time. There were entire wings dedicated to Dutch painters, and some of the paintings were 20 feet high by 30 feet wide. They also had a collection of weapons from European history, and a special collection of M.C. Escher works. But the best part was just the building. Part of the collection was in the Winter Palace, and it is just amazing. A lot of things I couldn't take pictures of, and of the pictures that I took, they just don't do the building justice.
The other main place that I visited was the Zoological Museum . It had a huge collection of animals found throughout the world. The building went on forever, some of the stuffed animals were really weird. There was also a live insect exhibition, and the girl working there was just playing with one of the tarantulas, having it climb all over her while she read.
The rest of the time was spent just wandering around, eating Russian food, and checking out the interesting parts of the city. Some of the things that we wanted to visit were closed, but we still had a great time. It was always very interesting to order things in the restaurants, as we tried to eat at local places, and a lot of Russians have very limited english. But we always found a way. Here is some more random photos that I took, including proof that I was actually there.
In short, we all had a great time, were constantly shocked at how cheap things were (30 RUR beers, that is less than 1€!) and I will definitely be returning to St. Petersburg sometime in the future.
The adventure started after arriving at our train station in St. Petersburg. We had almost no clue which metro line we needed, but we found some guy who told us that he was going to almost the exact same spot that we were going to, and that we could follow him. What a coincidence, eh? I know, I didn't believe him either, but we figured that he would at least get us to our hotel, and it would be easier than wandering around for hours. Well, after about 10 minutes on the Metro (which is one of the deepest in the world apparently, the escalator ride down took about 3 minutes) we had a 20 minute walk to our hotel, which was located just north of the downtown section. Of course we get there and he goes into a big song and dance, but no big deal, he did get us to the hotel and so we all give him a little bit of money and then go check in.
The hotel is clean and in a safe location, so we are all relieved at that. After dropping off all our bags, we figure we should get some local money, and head on down to the exchange. 100 € gets me about 3500 RUR, and it feels really weird to have so many high denomination bills.
For the rest of the weekend, we just wandered around St. Petersburg in small groups, checking out anything that interested us. I visited the State Hermitage , which is the third largest museum in the world (behind the MET and the Louvre) and wandered around for hours. There were some egyptian works, and roman, and greek, plus a lot of paintings from all over the world. There was lots of famous paintings from people like Picasso, Monet, etc. I cant even remember most of them, there were just too many in too little time. There were entire wings dedicated to Dutch painters, and some of the paintings were 20 feet high by 30 feet wide. They also had a collection of weapons from European history, and a special collection of M.C. Escher works. But the best part was just the building. Part of the collection was in the Winter Palace, and it is just amazing. A lot of things I couldn't take pictures of, and of the pictures that I took, they just don't do the building justice.
The other main place that I visited was the Zoological Museum . It had a huge collection of animals found throughout the world. The building went on forever, some of the stuffed animals were really weird. There was also a live insect exhibition, and the girl working there was just playing with one of the tarantulas, having it climb all over her while she read.
The rest of the time was spent just wandering around, eating Russian food, and checking out the interesting parts of the city. Some of the things that we wanted to visit were closed, but we still had a great time. It was always very interesting to order things in the restaurants, as we tried to eat at local places, and a lot of Russians have very limited english. But we always found a way. Here is some more random photos that I took, including proof that I was actually there.
In short, we all had a great time, were constantly shocked at how cheap things were (30 RUR beers, that is less than 1€!) and I will definitely be returning to St. Petersburg sometime in the future.
Posted at 10:49 AM Read More
Fri - October 17, 2003
Week of October 12-18, 2003
Alright, it is a little early, but I had to let
you know what I was up too.
Well, I am really excited tonight because
tomorrow, at around 6:20 am, I have to get on a bus. The bus is going to take me
to the train station, where at 7:42 am I am leaving for 3 nights and 2 days in
beautiful, historic St. Petersburg. I haven't really decided everything that I
am going to do there yet, as it is an amazing city with lots of things to visit.
I am hoping that I will be able to visit the Hermitage, and St Peter and St
Pauls fortress, and a lot of other things.
When I get back on Tuesday I will update yall on what I did and what I saw. I am taking my camera so there should be tons of pictures on Tuesday too.
Until then, right now I am as excited as a 9 year old on Christmas, but this time I will try not to steal any Ninja Turtles.
(Big shout out to my brother on that one, sorry bro!)
Craig
When I get back on Tuesday I will update yall on what I did and what I saw. I am taking my camera so there should be tons of pictures on Tuesday too.
Until then, right now I am as excited as a 9 year old on Christmas, but this time I will try not to steal any Ninja Turtles.
(Big shout out to my brother on that one, sorry bro!)
Craig
Posted at 10:22 PM Read More
Fri - October 10, 2003
Week of October 5 - 12, 2003
Wow! Hadn't realized how long it has been since
my last update.
Well, so many things have happened it is hard
to keep track of. First, there was our excursion to Lapland. We went the first
week of October and visited a couple of mines, and some equipment manufacturers.
We visited the Kemi Mine, the Hitura Mine, the Tornia Steel Works, and the
equipment manufacturer Normac.
At Kemi we stayed at a little motel that had the tiniest rooms I have ever seen three guys share. But we survived, and the rooms were free, so no worries. The Kemi mine has been operating as an open pit for about 20 years, and they just recently (Sept 2003) started underground operations. It is a very,very clean mine, but I don't think it will stay that way for long.They are mining ferrochromium, which they then sell to steel producers, or ship to the Tornia Steel Works, which is owned by the same parent company. The ferrochrome is used in the production of stainless steel. The deposit is actually the only one in Finland, and is responsible for about 3% of the world supply. There is about 10% of ferrochrome in Kazakhstan, and the rest is from South Africa. We got to go on an underground tour, and went down to the 500 level (500 m below surface). No big deal though, cause it is kinda hard to tell the difference between 5 m underground and 500 m.
Tornia was just down the road, so we visited them next. If you have never seen a steel plant before, it is pretty cool, but once you have seen one, they quickly lose there appeal. It was fun though, and it is always cool to see the hot steel flying along the rollers as it is getting pressed.
After visiting the above two places for a couple of days, it was time for a change of scenery and we drove a couple of hours back towards Helsinki and visited the equipment manufacturer Normac. They had an interesting presentation, and a heck of a good buffet. The Canadian and Dutch even teamed up and won a bottle of decent champagne. After the wonderful party hosted by Normac, we got back on the bus and drove to the place where we were staying the night. It was in a campground area, the kind of place were you can rent a cabin or bring a tent and just hang out. It was pretty cool, and we had lots of fun. There was even a sauna in each cabin. We had so much fun, my Helsinki roomy Pierre broke his leg. Which kinda ended his evening, but he is doing alright now, and gets the cast off at Christmas.
The next day we got up early and drove to the Hitura mine. Unlike the Kemi mine, Hitura is nearing the end of its life. It has been underground for about 30 years, and they do not have that much ore left. They are mining mainly nickel, and it is in very weak rock. They are using a lot of rock support. Hitura was cool because it was a real mine. They didn't have any fancy presentation rooms etc, it was just a canteen and the mine, and the mill.
Well, that is pretty much all about my trip to Lapland. Sorry for the delay in posting, I will definitely try to keep more on top of things. I have too anyway, or else Stephanie will fly over here and beat me up.
Until next time, always enjoy French's Mustard when you can, 'cause in some places it just doesn't exist.
Craig
At Kemi we stayed at a little motel that had the tiniest rooms I have ever seen three guys share. But we survived, and the rooms were free, so no worries. The Kemi mine has been operating as an open pit for about 20 years, and they just recently (Sept 2003) started underground operations. It is a very,very clean mine, but I don't think it will stay that way for long.They are mining ferrochromium, which they then sell to steel producers, or ship to the Tornia Steel Works, which is owned by the same parent company. The ferrochrome is used in the production of stainless steel. The deposit is actually the only one in Finland, and is responsible for about 3% of the world supply. There is about 10% of ferrochrome in Kazakhstan, and the rest is from South Africa. We got to go on an underground tour, and went down to the 500 level (500 m below surface). No big deal though, cause it is kinda hard to tell the difference between 5 m underground and 500 m.
Tornia was just down the road, so we visited them next. If you have never seen a steel plant before, it is pretty cool, but once you have seen one, they quickly lose there appeal. It was fun though, and it is always cool to see the hot steel flying along the rollers as it is getting pressed.
After visiting the above two places for a couple of days, it was time for a change of scenery and we drove a couple of hours back towards Helsinki and visited the equipment manufacturer Normac. They had an interesting presentation, and a heck of a good buffet. The Canadian and Dutch even teamed up and won a bottle of decent champagne. After the wonderful party hosted by Normac, we got back on the bus and drove to the place where we were staying the night. It was in a campground area, the kind of place were you can rent a cabin or bring a tent and just hang out. It was pretty cool, and we had lots of fun. There was even a sauna in each cabin. We had so much fun, my Helsinki roomy Pierre broke his leg. Which kinda ended his evening, but he is doing alright now, and gets the cast off at Christmas.
The next day we got up early and drove to the Hitura mine. Unlike the Kemi mine, Hitura is nearing the end of its life. It has been underground for about 30 years, and they do not have that much ore left. They are mining mainly nickel, and it is in very weak rock. They are using a lot of rock support. Hitura was cool because it was a real mine. They didn't have any fancy presentation rooms etc, it was just a canteen and the mine, and the mill.
Well, that is pretty much all about my trip to Lapland. Sorry for the delay in posting, I will definitely try to keep more on top of things. I have too anyway, or else Stephanie will fly over here and beat me up.
Until next time, always enjoy French's Mustard when you can, 'cause in some places it just doesn't exist.
Craig
Posted at 10:23 PM Read More
Sun - September 28, 2003
Week of September 21-28, 2003
What the heck was Craig up to last week? Well, since
you asked.....
Hey there
everybody!
Using a new method of posting my adventures online, so we will have to see how it looks. It sure is exciting though, isn't it?
Anyway, this week was a party week in Helsinki. On Sunday 21, we went for a hike at Nuuksio National Park . It was only about an hour bus ride away, and it was really nice. It reminded me a lot of the Georgian Trail region though, so it was kinda weird. Kept on expecting to run into somebody I knew.
During the week, we had a couple of nice parties. There was a sauna party on Monday 22 (the Finns love their sauna parties), and then on Wednesday 24 Metso Minerals came and gave a presentation on how great they are and how great it would be to work for them. There was lots of free drinks, and everybody had a great time.
On Thursday 25 we went on our first excursion. We visited Tamrock's plant about 200 km north of Helsinki. They make all sorts of mining machinery, so we toured the factory and sat through a couple of presentations. Then they gave us some free drinks, and food, and, of course, a sauna.
This weekend I was pretty partied out so I just hang around, did some relaxing type things. I even found a basketball net near my apartment so I bought a cheap basketball and messed around a bit.
Well, that is pretty much all that happened that week. When I type it out it sounds kinda boring, but I distinctly remember having a heck of a good time, strange that.
Well, have a good week and remember to check back next week, you never know when something exciting will happen. Oh yeah, and keep your stick on the ice.
Craig "Why is everybody speaking Finnish" Broadhurst
Using a new method of posting my adventures online, so we will have to see how it looks. It sure is exciting though, isn't it?
Anyway, this week was a party week in Helsinki. On Sunday 21, we went for a hike at Nuuksio National Park . It was only about an hour bus ride away, and it was really nice. It reminded me a lot of the Georgian Trail region though, so it was kinda weird. Kept on expecting to run into somebody I knew.
During the week, we had a couple of nice parties. There was a sauna party on Monday 22 (the Finns love their sauna parties), and then on Wednesday 24 Metso Minerals came and gave a presentation on how great they are and how great it would be to work for them. There was lots of free drinks, and everybody had a great time.
On Thursday 25 we went on our first excursion. We visited Tamrock's plant about 200 km north of Helsinki. They make all sorts of mining machinery, so we toured the factory and sat through a couple of presentations. Then they gave us some free drinks, and food, and, of course, a sauna.
This weekend I was pretty partied out so I just hang around, did some relaxing type things. I even found a basketball net near my apartment so I bought a cheap basketball and messed around a bit.
Well, that is pretty much all that happened that week. When I type it out it sounds kinda boring, but I distinctly remember having a heck of a good time, strange that.
Well, have a good week and remember to check back next week, you never know when something exciting will happen. Oh yeah, and keep your stick on the ice.
Craig "Why is everybody speaking Finnish" Broadhurst
Posted at 08:28 AM Read More
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Published On: Mar 22, 2004 04:57 PM
Published On: Mar 22, 2004 04:57 PM