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Published: February 16th 2006
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Group Photo
All the students who participated in the intensive program. For the first two weeks I was in Belgium I participated in the Renewable Biomaterials Intensive Program. It was a ten day series of lectures on various aspects of green chemistry, sustainability, renewable materials, etc. The course was amazing. Professors from all over Europe and the U.S. came to lecture, and a very wide range of topics were covered. Everything from supercritical fluid extraction, to biodiesel, to biodegradeable plastic cups, to wood preservation without the use of arsenic.
I've been involved with renewable resources, biodiesel specifically, for a couple of years now. After attending the intensive program, I feel like my knowledge base about not only biofuels, but also renewable materials in general, has been increased dramatically. There are many wonderful things going on in the field of green chemistry, but there are also a lot of problems to be solved. Did you know that we can make diesel fuel from vegetable oil? Did you know that we can make a gasoline additive from corn? Did you know that we can make biodegradeable plastic from starch? I know these things sound great, but what is the major problem with all of them? Cost. That is by far the most frustrating
The American Invasion
Here I'm having dinner with Caroline (U of A) and the students from Iowa State. Starting at the lower left and going clockwise we have: Janice, Sara, Sara, Scott, Mike, Caroline, Kerry, and Yours Truly. aspect of the biorenewables field. There so many ways to lessen our dependence on petroleum based products, but more often than not these ways are more expensive. The bottom line is that petroleum is cheap. But therin lies yet another problem. Do you know how long our crude oil reserves are going to last? Not very long. We have a choice. We can either be forced to live without petroleum products sometime in the not so distant future, or we can start trying to reduce our consumption now so that we can ease the transition away from petroleum products when it eventually becomes necessary. I leave it to you.
Okay, enough ranting. I know I went to Hendrix, but I'm not a hippie (although the preceding paragraph may lead you to believe otherwise). It's just that over the past few years biorenewable technology has become something that is important to me (it's why I'm in Belgium right now), and I think it should be important to others as well. Plus, if you want to look at my photos, you can read my rants too.
The intensive program was an amazing academic experience, but it was also an amazing
Photo
L-R: Mike, Scott, Me, Janice social and cultural experience. The course brought together students from all over Europe and the U.S. All of us stayed in the same youth hostel, we all went to the same lectures, we all ate breakfast and lunch together, and as a result many of us spent our leisure time together as well. The photos in this blog show some many of the people I met, and the friends I made. I know that many of the photos were taken in a bar, but don't let that tarnish your opinion of the program. It's just that I only took my camera out at night.
As far as the structure of the program was concerned, it was very well planned and executed. Two meals a day were provided (breakfast at the hostel, and lunch at the Univeristy cafeteria), and we were given cash for the evening meals. All of the students participating in the program were housed in the Hostel De Draecke
Hostel Website for Belgium. The hostel was quite nice. It had a bar/lounge area, internet access (4 euros per hour), a small cafeteria that served breakfast every morning, and no lockout time (unless you forgot to get the door code before
Dreupelkot
Here's Scott and I with the bartender of a well known Jenever bar in Gent. Jenever is locally made gin. you left at night ). I roomed with three guys from Iowa state (Mike, Kerry, and Scott). The lounge area was where many of us congregated to see what everyone else was planning for the evening. Often times, evening plans were made over a light dinner of whatever bread, cheese, wine, meat (or pickled herring in Mike's case), etc. was picked up from the Spar (small grocery store) on the way back from that day's lectures. It wasn't uncommon for a group of 20+ foreigners (I'm including myself in the "foreigners" category) to go "out on the town" in Ghent. There were many nights when the biggest obstacle we encounted when deciding on a place to go have a beer, was finding a bar or restaurant large enough to accomodate all of us. Needless to say I had a great time.
On the last day of the course we had a huge dinner courtesy of the intensive program. It was great. We all took a bus to a hotel in Ghent. The hotel had a very nice dining area with a large area set up for us. Champagne was served as we walked in the door, and we had
some time to mingle around before dinner was served. The spread was fabulous. The first course was half of a cold lobster with some pasta. Next we went through a buffet of appetizers. I had a little bit of everything, but since I'm writing this over a month later (Feb 16) I can't remember all the details. I do remember one of the appetizers I had was half a tomato topped with these tiny shrimp that I think are a local Belgian delicacy (remember, I'm less than an hour from the North Sea over here). Another was some kind of pate, and another was some smoked salmon. All delicious. The Main course was served buffet style. We had our choice of fish or chicken, with vegetables and fried potatoes. Dessert was typical Belgian greatness (just think chocolate). Over all the meal was wonderful. All the good food combined with an open bar well stocked with Belgian beer made for a great evening. I know I had a good time.
After the dinner it was off to our favorite bar "Vijf voor Twaalf" for a final hurrah, where I tried to take my picture with as many people as
Out in Gent
Here's Fabien (France) bringing the table a round of drinks. possible ("Five till Twelve" because all the clocks inside said five minutes till twelve. I call it our favorite bar mainly because it was one of the few that could hold all of us, so we ended up going there several times). The night was a lot of fun, but bittersweet at the same time. We were celebrating the end of the short course (6-8 hours of PowerPoint presentations for ten days gets tiring) and being finished with the exam. But it was also an evening of goodbyes. The next day everyone, except me of course, would be leaving on their respective trains or planes to go back home, or on to the next new place (this means you Scott and Caroline). But not to worry. On the first day of the course we were each given an e-mail list with everyone's e-mail address, so perhaps some of us will keep in touch.
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