Roller Coaster

Hellooooo. So today kind of had a rough start. I had a rather terrifying nightmare about my dog back home and woke up several times. Besides that my sore throat had not gone away when I woke up. I got ready for the day and, being the genius that I am, completely forgot to take halls or ibuprofen not only before I left for work but also with me. Managed to get to work a little after 9 and started my observations for the day. At the moment I have very little to do while reactions are running except to read about our materials, search out documents that talk about their production and also learn as much as I can about zeolites (which are pretty darn awesome, by the way).

As you may know, I'm here through a PIRE program (Program for International Research and Education). As a result I get "paid" a little bit of money; basically they reimburse the fees of living and working (i.e. food and bus passes). Today I submitted my first set of receipts and purchases for reimbursement. That was a nice variation from reading and reading. Funny thing though, the program is based in New Mexico so I sent in all my stuff at like 1 or 2 in the morning there. The time difference the world over still intrigues me.

Anywho, I went into the lab right before lunch and found Esben and Martin. Martin is another PhD student but he is still at DTU. He is also a master of zeolites. We three had lunch (Arkady and Klas are at that big festival thingy) and it was a blast! I talked about Madison and how much I love it and Badger football as well as describing Milwaukee and what there is to do there. Martin was full of questions and just the right remarks to draw laughter and "shocked" looks at his teasing. We all know I'm easy to make fun of in the first place so throw in the fact that I'm an American and it gets even better. :-) Esben was super animated today, which was cool. I love getting to know people and he was relaxed and just animated! Haha :-)

The afternoon was not so hot. Well, that's a lie: it was hot but it wasn't good. The pain I'd felt when I swallowed actually moved down my throat. I don't really know how to explain it except that now when I breathe I feel a pain/discomfort near the bottom of my neck/throat. It's weird. Anywho, that started to hurt and the pain area got longer and started to wipe me out. I waited till I got my GC results then booked it out of there. All I could think about was going home. However, I met up with one of the women I met at Friday's bbq (I still don't remember her name!) and we ended up chatting. I have been researching Haldor Topsoe and all and found out they have a small plant in Houston, TX and somewhere in CA. Plus, I think I would enjoy doing more Process Engineering than R&D and the woman I met up with actually worked as a process engineer for a year before moving to marketing and sales. We had a really good talk about what that job entails and the opportunities with it and how you don't need a PhD to be one. Plus she reminded me that Haldor Topsoe is a different kind of company when it comes to hiring internationals. So who knows, I may search out a job there--we'll have to wait and see. :-) We also talked about the guys and she praised them all as being gentlemen with the only fault of possibly drinking too much. They are gentlemen, to be sure, and she claims I will see the social life of Copenhagen once they are back from the festival. I hope she's right.

Anyway, I got home and went upstairs and immediately started looking for a doctor that would be covered by my health insurance. That didn't go so well. I reached one place and was told to call another doctor. He called back and talked more to Lise than me (makes sense since she's Danish and I have no idea where anything is). As it turns out, you need to call between 8 and 9 in the morning to schedule an appointment and it's 500 kroner cash up front. So I don't have an appointment and am praying and hoping I wake up feeling better tomorrow. I missed out on a bbq because I wasn't feeling well. I was finally going to meet my mentor (who leaves next week) and then had to pull out because of my throat issue. I was super disappointed by that and frustrated that I am not well. I was thinking about it and I don't think I've been 100% since before Finals Week. Ridiculous. I spent the evening Skyping and watching The Other Boleyn Girl and actually called my mom and brother. My brother: he's amazing. I love getting to talk with him and my mom. They lift my spirits and usually have something funny to tell me (like how he realizes baked beans are not good) or something funny happens while we are on the phone. Oh, did I mention I called her at work? And that he sat on her desk while talking to me? Yeah, this is a BIG shoutout to everyone in her office: Thank you for letting me talk with them today!!!!

Well, I'm pretty much done for the night and will be going to bed once the movie is over. I would ask that you pray for my throat and that if it isn't much better tomorrow that I would have the courage and determination to be seen by a doctor. I also ask that you pray for my relationships with all the people I've met. I'm being challenged to stand by who I am, both as a single young woman and a Christian. This whole experience has been filled with lessons: and I've only been here two weeks! Ah, two weeks. I only have six weeks and two days of work left. How can that be? Too fast.

OH!! TOTALLY FORGOT! Something big happened yesterday. Not big as in the world would be surprised by in my life, this was big. At lunch yesterday, as Esben and I were talking, Haldor Topsoe walked into the lunch room. That's right I SAW the man that founded the company. And get this: he's 96. Besides the fact that his face looks old you would never guess that the man in the suit who carries himself so well and is still very sharp, was 96. He still does quite a bit around the company as he is the chairman. But yeah, I saw Haldor Topsoe yesterday. Pretty sweet. :-)

And with that, I'm off for the night.
Until tomorrow!
Bekah