Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Recharging...

What a relief that my 1st year finally comes to an end, especially on a positive note. I'm glad that all the hard work has paid off. Now it's the time to take a break! Woohoo!

It was still wet, cold & dark winter when 2nd semester started...brr..

My 1st year chemeng lecturer, Prof Harro. Thanks prof!

Just happened to see this row of birds while studying. @_@

Our plant visit to SAB (South African Breweries). It is the only brewery in SA that uses spring water to make beers.


An engineer giving us a tour explained to us about the entire process plant and how beer is made.

This is the 1st real-life heat exchanger our class has seen!

Fermenting tanks for the yeast.


Bottling section! They have cameras made by NASA to spot differences on the bottles that is moving very fast on the production line, making sure every bottles are perfect. It's amazing!

Open bar at the end of the tour. Free drinks to everyone! Our prof started drinking so others joined.......we wrote physics straight after the tour. >_<


At the end of the 3rd term, we were taught about valves & pressure and so we had a competition that requires us to control valves to move a bearing/ball around the pipes twice. The group that can complete the race in the shortest time will be exempted from doing the write-up. It requires lots of team work. My group was unfortunate to get knocked out of finals cos our bearing became stuck at one of the valves! It was really fun afterall.

Nearly 2 hrs in the chemistry labs, we made our first aspirin! Not edible!

Dont' know what this is called, some german dish.


German bread. It's hard & sour. -_-


This guy was happily packing his bag when his pen fell into the basin in the lab. So he tried to get it back using a tong thing but ended up both in the basin. XD

There's birds everywhere in campus! They build nests in classroom and sometimes find food there too...


It was end of exams, so a bunch of us went to hike up Devil's Peak! Starting time: 8:30am.


First water break!

Haha..I thought we were almost there but that's the wrong peak, Devil's Peak is behind it!
Green Point Stadium for next year's World Cup!

Yes, we're really high up...
Mobile reception is exceptionally good up here!

My first experience of rock-climbing! No mistakes allowed!

Taking a break in a old fireman shelter.

Taking a break again.
That's the end of Table Mountain. I used to think Devils Peak is attached to Table mountain. Interesting!

Red clover leaves?

Almost there...

Looking down from the peak!


Wind is 40km/h!

The weather was warm but up at the peak was freezing!

Going down takes longer than climbing up...it's dangerous!

Clean, sweet mountain water!

Total hiking time: 8 hrs. Tired. @_@


Wasp building a nest outside our bedroom in cape town.

Driving back to PE with mum & bro.

Baby pigeon in a nest in our garden.

Right now I'm thinking of possible companies which I can apply for a bursary. I would like to work in cape town but many big companies are based in Johannesburg...oh man, I'll avoid that place if possible! I'm also thinking what's my specific interest? oil, mining, water.....
So far, the following companies offers bursaries to permanent resident:
1) Chevron Caltex (Oil)
2) Anglo American (Mining)
3) Sappi (Pulp & Paper)
4) De Beers (Diamond)
5) SAB (Breweries)

Yesterday, I happen to bump into a technician working in Sappi so I asked many questions about the company and such. Seems like a good company. hmm...

argh...let me just enjoy my holiday so long. :P