Ok, going to write about my second week in Boston, as I got a little bit caught up in the moment over here!
So how's it been going? On the Tuesday, we met up for the first time with some of the other Boston interns - Colin, Christine and Alison. They live in Cambridge, outside the city centre, and came to meet us in Downtown Boston. As David and I were the 'experts' on the local area (since we live in the centre), they followed us in the anticipation that we'd lead them to the nearest restaurant. That was a mistake. Half an hour and a bit of a trek later, we found ourselves a restaurant in Chinatown to eat - we'd been indulging so much at lunchtime lately that we'd never had to find a restaurant for dinner! We had a decent enough meal and had about a third of a beer simply to see if our UK Driving Licence was acceptable. It was good to get the ball rolling with the other interns, it has definitely made the social scene fantastic!Throughout the week at work, we started to appreciate the opportunity over here. We're finding that it's amazing how much we can influence the outcome of our project over here: it's completely in our control. We get treated with respect by everyone: our boss, everyone in the office, and even suppliers who have been told that they're dealing with interns. In my experience and from what I've heard, interns often get kept a fair distance from external company projects. However, not only are we involved in one, we're pretty much directing it! I've learned there are three things you need to be influential in a job like this: an influential company, confidence and experience. When you are still at university with little/no industrial experience, it is absolutely essential to have confidence and a company of this magnitude behind you - it's times like this when you realise just how prestigious the Saltire Foundation is. So in our second week, David and I organised a conference call with the suppliers who we'll be liaising with for our project - essentially we're looking at a study to introduce their biofuel into our boilers to replace diesel oil (this was all in the advert for the project on the website, I don't imagine it has become confidential in the last few months!) and so we're going to be looking at the economics, the technical implications and ultimately at doing a field test. We've already formed a close working relationship with the suppliers and, all-in-all, it has given us a great start to the project!
Sandwich of the week: Steak, avocado, onions and green beans. It sounds like an odd combination, but it's very possibly the happiest sandwich of my life. I struggle to describe it without expletives, so I'll move on swiftly! But, as I've found in my stay so far, the food over here is world-class. All part of the cultural experience!
So what did we get up to at the weekend at the end of week two with the other Bostonians? Colin and Camilla came to meet us at the wharf on the Saturday and we went a trip to Georges island some 10 miles off the coast, where Alison and Lynn caught up with us. It was a beautiful day and suffice to say in the ensuing fun, I turned a hilarious colour under the sun in true Scottish form. Anyway, we explored the island, and found a great little civil war fort. There was a big field inside, people were playing baseball and so one thing led to another and we started kicking a football about. There is unfortunately photographic evidence of me falling on my backside after one particularly enthusiastic pass, but the ball reached its target so I was happy! I know it sounds odd, but kicking a football about is one of the main things I miss over here! On Sunday, we all went whale watching, which was pretty interesting. I didn't get any photographs, but I think Colin did...Anyway, that should be enough for week 2!
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