Third Time's the Charm

For a recap of my summer internship, see the previous post.

After 10 days at home, ten weeks in Washington, and another 5 days at home, I'm back in the dirty T. That's right - school's started again, and I'm an upperclassman. Time flies, does a few loop-de-loops, and smacks your face before you know where to look. I didn't even get to really unpack before I had to go off again. But I did get a chance to cut my hair. No, it's not just tied back.

Looking forward: I've been told by pretty much everyone that junior year is hell. It's already been a bit of a mess because of a bit of a paperwork mix-up and a few extremely boneheaded moves on my part, but most of that mess has been cleaned up and worked out. I haven't even gotten to the academics yet.

A primary issue this year will be stress - the mental and the physical. This semester, my classes are about materials and how to determine their properties. So my classes look like this:
MSE 331R - Fundamentals of Materials, or, Why Polymers/Plastics Are No Good For Most Things
AME 300 - Instrumentation, or, Why Your Thermometer is Wrong
AME 301 - Engineering Analysis, or, The Math You Should Have Learned but We Didn't Teach You
AME 331 - Fluid Mechanics, or, An Extremely Simplified Introduction to the Way Water Moves
AME 324/CE 215 - Properties of Materials, or, This is How You Break Things (and there's a lab!)
MATH 322 - Mathematical Analysis for Engineers, or, AME 301 Plus Theory

I am doing a lot, but I can handle it. I know that I've set myself up for an 8th Circle of hell, but I can do it. (On the other hand, maybe I'm just lying to myself). On top of that, I'm treasurering for the Rube Goldberg Club, staying active at Newman and with SWE, and got suckered into being an Honors Mentor (though I'm kinda just doing that one for the free food). I have this awful problem where I can't say no to things I'm interested in, regardless of time commitment, but somehow, I always make something work.

Yes, I'll be in hell, but stress is part of the job description. I've got some friends, some study buddies, and some enthusiastic (if heavy-accented) professors, so I'm going to knock it out of the park.

I'm feeling like I'm descending into the Pit right now, but I know that I'll find my Virgil and my Beatrice and get out alive. I don't think that I'll need to abandon all hope, but there's no doubt that this will be a difficult year.

Internship in Perspective

Sorry for the long wait between posts, but I haven't had a ton of time to breathe.

TL;DR - yes, I HAD A GREAT EXPERIENCE.

I l earned a lot over the summer. I learned things I can put on my resume, like how to read a P&ID (piping and instrumentation diagram) and how to use MathCad. I also learned things that can't go on a resume, like how to get around in a city where you need a car without a car and how to productively bug people. There's also the ever present, extremely ambiguous leadership skills, communication ability, and public speaking that you can pull out of almost any experience, but all joking aside, I learned a lot about those, too.

The last couple of days were slow. I got my performance review, gave my report out again, and got to talk to my lead a bit. The powers that be told me that I did a great job and that I would be welcome back next year - a good finish. My group took me out to pizza lunch on my last day. The very next morning, I flew home - uneventfully. I can say that I had (non-coffee) Starbucks in Seattle (Airport).

Some of my fellow interns who are local to the area finagled a deal where they could stay on through the year. The company wasn't willing to pay for my commute, so that fell through for me.

Overall, I learned a lot about what it means to be an engineer, to be accountable for your work, to not know everything. I met a ton of fantastic smart people, and saw how many different functions are needed to make a project progress.

Outside of work, I got to go paintballing and tubing for the first time. I got to see the Columbia River. I got to experience a bit of the small (okay, small-ER) town feel. I got outside a lot, and ate healthier in the past two months than I had been in the past two years. I got through a TV series (Heroes - I would recommend), and figured out how to get around in a new neighborhood.

So, yes, my summer was awesome. Thanks to everyone who helped get me there1