Today was the final competition in which each team's rover competed for first place. First of all, I must say that it takes some getting used to typing on an English keyboard again. I finally was getting in the hang of smoothly typing on a German keyboard for class all the time, and now I'm all thrown for a loop again.
Anyway, the competition was this morning. Our rover finished last because we were having difficulties with the camera detecting the mineral balls, but it looked the coolest and I had a blast. I was glad all of us could laugh and enjoy ourselves during the tournament and really appreciate how far we HAD come, even if our rovers were not perfect. It truly was neat and exciting to watch the success of each rover, watching each search for, detect, load, and deposit mineral balls back to base all by themselves. Some of the robots played various tunes in 8-bit. It's a hard knock life, for us, as well as Mario Bros and mission impossible have been stuck looping in my head all afternoon.
Anyway, the competition was this morning. Our rover finished last because we were having difficulties with the camera detecting the mineral balls, but it looked the coolest and I had a blast. I was glad all of us could laugh and enjoy ourselves during the tournament and really appreciate how far we HAD come, even if our rovers were not perfect. It truly was neat and exciting to watch the success of each rover, watching each search for, detect, load, and deposit mineral balls back to base all by themselves. Some of the robots played various tunes in 8-bit. It's a hard knock life, for us, as well as Mario Bros and mission impossible have been stuck looping in my head all afternoon.
After the competition, our group departed for one last trip, this time to Schaffhausen for the day. This is a medieval village just a half an hour north of Winterthur. First we got to take a tour of one of the medieval houses. Apparently, the owner of the house, a writer and former TV producer (probably somebody famous and we didn't even know it), saw Armin walking around with a huge group of Americans during the trip two years ago and kindly offered them a tour of his home. This year, Armin arranged for us to have a tour as well, and it was stunning. This man was obviously very cultured, very tasteful, and quite a character. I could have spent all day in that house examining all the trinkets and cool stuff in each and every cubby hole. Most of the house was original, dating back 600 years or more, including the hard wood floors, the ornate ceilings, the windows, and the stone furnaces.
Next, we visited the castle there. It was primarily used for fortification when the city was under attack, at which time all the people would go into the castle for safety. It was rather amusing to find a DJ and lights going through sound check on the roof of the castle tower.
After a tour of the city, the group of us visited the Rhinefall. I have never gotten so up close and personal with a waterfall before. The water was a clear silvery blue, not like the muddy Mississippi from home. We had to descend a whole bunch of stairs, stopping at the viewing posts all along the way. After reaching the bottom, a few of us wanted to go visit the souvenir shop before heading back to Winterthur for the farewell dinner. We climbed all the way back up those stairs only to realize that we could not get out that way, but that there was an elevator that we had passed back near the bottom of the stairs. Let's just say we got our exercise in for the day.
Finally, although I had mixed feelings about it, it was time to finish off the evening with the farewell dinner. There were a few heartfelt speeches by Armin, the exchange of gifts between faculty, the awarding of prizes to the various rover teams, and the signing of posters that my roommate had the splendid idea of making and printing at a copy shop in town. The posters consisted of a collage of pictures from our trip on one side (thanks facebook), and the other side was left blank for signatures. It was like signing yearbooks all over again, but most of us embraced it and wrote cheesy stuff to each other with enthusiasm (and some sarcasm). It was a good thing we had that to keep us occupied, too, because three hours passed by the time dessert was finally served. By that time, I was already falling asleep from the wine.
I went home early that night with a few others to catch some sleep before my big day of solo travel, and my last day in Switzerland. The rest of the group went to a club that night in Winterthur with some of the Swiss buddies. I would have considered tagging along for the experience, but sometimes the thought of sleeping is just too overpowering. On the bus to the train station, I ended up sitting next to a young man who took one look at our huge group and grinned, asking me where we were from and what we were studying. He was a delight to talk to, even though it was obvious he had already had something to drink, judging from the beer in his hand, the case of beer in his lap, and the way he laughed more than a joke was worth sometimes. Regardless, I appreciated his genuine conversation. He spoke English very well, and when I couldn't understand him entirely, he was happy to repeat himself three times until I got it. Needless to say, the evening ended on a cheery note. Then it was off to sleep before Bern bright and early the next morning.
After a tour of the city, the group of us visited the Rhinefall. I have never gotten so up close and personal with a waterfall before. The water was a clear silvery blue, not like the muddy Mississippi from home. We had to descend a whole bunch of stairs, stopping at the viewing posts all along the way. After reaching the bottom, a few of us wanted to go visit the souvenir shop before heading back to Winterthur for the farewell dinner. We climbed all the way back up those stairs only to realize that we could not get out that way, but that there was an elevator that we had passed back near the bottom of the stairs. Let's just say we got our exercise in for the day.
Finally, although I had mixed feelings about it, it was time to finish off the evening with the farewell dinner. There were a few heartfelt speeches by Armin, the exchange of gifts between faculty, the awarding of prizes to the various rover teams, and the signing of posters that my roommate had the splendid idea of making and printing at a copy shop in town. The posters consisted of a collage of pictures from our trip on one side (thanks facebook), and the other side was left blank for signatures. It was like signing yearbooks all over again, but most of us embraced it and wrote cheesy stuff to each other with enthusiasm (and some sarcasm). It was a good thing we had that to keep us occupied, too, because three hours passed by the time dessert was finally served. By that time, I was already falling asleep from the wine.
I went home early that night with a few others to catch some sleep before my big day of solo travel, and my last day in Switzerland. The rest of the group went to a club that night in Winterthur with some of the Swiss buddies. I would have considered tagging along for the experience, but sometimes the thought of sleeping is just too overpowering. On the bus to the train station, I ended up sitting next to a young man who took one look at our huge group and grinned, asking me where we were from and what we were studying. He was a delight to talk to, even though it was obvious he had already had something to drink, judging from the beer in his hand, the case of beer in his lap, and the way he laughed more than a joke was worth sometimes. Regardless, I appreciated his genuine conversation. He spoke English very well, and when I couldn't understand him entirely, he was happy to repeat himself three times until I got it. Needless to say, the evening ended on a cheery note. Then it was off to sleep before Bern bright and early the next morning.