Better late than never......
I’m Alex McAulay and I am currently 3 weeks into my internship in Boston with Veolia Energy North America. As the title might suggest I have been a little late it posting my first blog. This is my first ever time blogging so if it ends up being a cure for insomnia I do apologize. My other blogs won’t be as long as this either, writing this one just slipped my mind with everything that has been going on!
It didn't truly feel like I was in the states and about to start this 8 week internship until I had successful passed the VISA check. During the VISA application my name had been spelled incorrectly (Not by me), MacAulay instead of McAulay on the formal documents and that would have been enough for me to have not been issued a VISA, had I not noticed before travelling to Belfast to submit the forms. I have had the fear since then that I would get turned back at the airport in Boston after travelling all this way on account of some other silly and trivial error. Fortunately after 3 attempts at the passport check desk all forms were cleared and I was in. I was able to take quite a lot of the city in during the taxi ride from the airport to the university halls where the other Scottish interns and I are staying. Everything looks very American; cars are massive, buildings huge, flags all over the place. Between halls and work there is a street that is a pretty good advert for the USA, a trumpet player busking in the morning to the tune of Star Spangled Banner with flags of the same name everywhere.
The first few days in Boston were spent getting to know the group of Scottish interns out here just now. Along with myself there are 5 other interns over here in Boston, Sean and I who are working with Veolia Energy North America and Mack, Rhea, Rudi and Stuart who are working for the finance firm Liberty Mutual. Everyone is really down to earth and the group has gelled really well, you wouldn’t have thought when you see us all together that just 3 weeks ago we barely knew each other!
On the first day of work the office staff at Veolia took Sean and I out for some pub grub to break the ice. Everyone in the office is really friendly and interesting, all seem to own speed boats and all keen golfers it would seem. We spent this lunch talking about the programme and general conversation about Scotland and Europe. It was during this lunch that we found out that our global Scot at Veolia Energy had actually left just the week before to start his new position in Australia. It is a shame that I won't be able to meet him as he is one of the people who have made this opportunity possible for me, along with many others.I would like to thank everyone involved with running the Saltire Foundation, you have really organised everything so well and we are so lucky to have you put the time and effort into making this programme the success that it is!
Work itself has been an eye opening experience. Being around professional engineers and seeing how they go about their day to day work, how they approach problems and tasks and also how they develop solutions. The project which Sean and I are working on is involved with massive problem, or opportunity depending on how you look at it that exists in any process plant, which is waste heat. We are assessing whether it is economically viable for Veolia to invest in the equipment and technologies, which will generate electricity from waste heat energy that is currently lost to the atmosphere and not being used for any practical application. The common stereotype for anyone caring out and internship is that they will be a pro-coffee maker by the end of it and not really be given a great deal of responsibility, which is definitely not the case here. While I would never compare the work that Sean, and I are doing to that of any of the fully qualified engineers in the office I still feel like we achieving something, and carrying out a task which has attached to it a degree of importance. Findings from our research and reasoning in the context of this engineering problem may at some point influence the company’s decision to go ahead with such a project or seriously consider taking it further. Daily Sean and I are in contact with vendors for equipment and liaising with engineers on how we can adapt their services to our problem, with no supervision we have been trusted to contact these vendors on behalf of Veolia Energy which has been quite liberating.
One aspect of life in America for me which I have a greater appreciation for now that I am here is portion control. Regardless of what you buy out here it is going to be HUUUUGEE!! The Saltire Scholars all went for a meal at the Hard Rock Cafe one of the first nights we were here and the starter portions would have constituted a main course back in Scotland, Massive. We have a buffet breakfast included with our accommodation so I take this opportunity to not eat my body weights worth of food. Evidence of the size of the meals here is a shop across the road from my work which sells a 20’ sub, man has no practical use for a sandwich this size other than to use the one half for dinner. One saving grace of having an accent in this situation has been that something has definitely gotten lost in translation when I last ordered lunch from there and the Italian man in the sandwich shop refuses to serve me now so the temptation for nearly 2 feet of sandwich isn't there.
The Saltire Scholars here in Boston when not enjoying this during our time off from work;
Have been taking advantage of this only 40 minutes away.
Not bad eh? The beach is called Singing beach and it’s at the seafront in ‘Manchester by the sea’. I never thought earlier this year in March that I would actually been successful in my application and get the opportunity to come over here, never doubting that I could but still appreciating the competition that would also be applying, I never had 'Boston' penciled in on my calendar for the summer. This is my first time in the states, and I live by the sea back home so it was a nice sentiment for me visiting the beach and realising that I was on this side of the Atlantic for a change. I didn’t make a very good advert for Scotland and it’s people at the beach when I decided to dive into a developing wave as the main body of water was moving out, leaving just the pebbled ground to cushion my fall, I think I was selected for the Saltire programme to fill some kind of clumsiness quota, that coupled with spilling liquid all over everything in my wardrobe one Sunday night before work ruining just about all of my clothes more or less sums me up. Under estimating the power of the sun yesterday at the beach has left me looking extremely lobsteresqe and has also been another highlight of me being a bit daft .
Since we arrived we have been able to enjoy some of the stero-type 'Chad Hogan' style American parties that you see in movies, red cups, kegs, beer pong and the like. Rhea turned 21 which is the legal drinking age in Massachusetts so we enjoyed an interesting night out on the town on Friday to celebrate.
The next few weeks of work I can see being quite intense. We still have 5 full weeks left but in this time we have to continue communication with about 25 vendors, that Sean and I have identified as potential suppliers of our equipment and build up a range off quotes. As the vendors that we are in talks with are large global companies replies can take some time so that can limit how much work we can complete in a week. Along with this task we are assessing a number of waste heat possibilities so we will be kept very busy! Work may be particularly difficult for me this week as I will be doing most of it myself, Sean McManus may have to leave the internship programme early and return to Scotland due to the embarrassment and humiliation, he will endure after I continue to mop the floor with him at ping pong. I have noticed from his blog that he has made several slanderous statements with regards to his table tennis results against the other interns so I have made it a personal goal of mine this week to reveal him as the true novice he is.
If you have made it this far through the blog you have the patience of a saint. Thanks.
Take it easy,
Alex