Hey guys!

Sorry I haven’t written in a while. I’ve had a pretty busy couple of weeks! Summer B ended up being a successful bump of 0.004 to my GPA (woo!), and then I had a whole two weeks of summer vacation. The first week I mostly slept until at least 1 or 2, watched some afternoon court TV (because that’s all that’s on, and it’s strangely entertaining), and did some work in the lab. We are looking into topographical features on both Earth and Mars that may induce atmospheric waves (remember that mumbo jumbo I talked about in my first couple entries?). Which has been a lot of reading papers and fighting with MATLAB’s mapping toolkit. No real progress to report, except that I managed to generate a topographical map and have no idea how I did it.

Target Field is only a few years old, and is located right in downtown Minneapolis amidst the skyscrapers. It’s a beautiful stadium.

Then Saturday rolled around and I was on a flight out of Daytona Beach headed back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes for a short, jam-packed visit ’cause my family misses me and stuff since I live so far away (I don’t blame them, I’m pretty awesome.) The first day I was home, I went to a baseball game with my aunts at Target Field to see the good ole’ Minnesota Twins play the Chicago White Sox. We lost 🙁 But it was okay because I ate nachos out of a baseball helmet. Along with seeing a bunch of friends who all obviously miss me, I also managed to fit in a doctor’s appointment, dentist appointment, hair appointment, and applying for a passport within the first couple days I was home. Uffda!

Taking a picture with one of the cows in the cow barn at the State Fair. Moo

Thursday the whole family went down to the Great Minnesota Get-Together – the State Fair! It’s a magical afternoon where you eat delicious foods like cheese curds, corn fritters, and Sweet Martha’s Cookies (which come in a bucket), and look at cows and stuff. AKA the best fair ever. It was pretty hot outside – all of the people who didn’t spend in the summer in Florida were complaining; I, on the other hand, thought the weather was gorgeous.

One of my photos of Ville Valo (HIM’s singer). I love taking pictures at concerts, and I got some really fantastic ones this time.

My last night home I went to a concert with my brother, where I got to see one of my favorite bands, HIM. I pretty much planned this trip around that concert date, because the tour didn’t come down to Florida, so it ended up being a win-win. I was right up in front by the stage, which was awesome. The next morning I was up at 6 am to catch my flight back to Daytona Beach.

Well, the Fall 2013 semester is one week in and classes are already underway! This semester I am taking three undergrad classes (Thermodynamics, Spaceflight Dynamics, and Astronomy) and two grad classes (Numerical Methods and Software Engineering Disciplines) along with a one-credit EP seminar course. It’s going to be a busy semester, but I’m really looking forward to these classes. The best part of college is when you’re finally finished with classes like just physics and calc and you get to start taking classes that actually pertain to your major.

One of the Blue Men took a selfie with us after the show!

One last thing before I close out this entry. Blue Man Group has a stage down at Universal Studios, and their show is amazing. My boyfriend’s birthday was this weekend, and we went down to see it – it is really like nothing else in the world. It’s definitely one of those fantastic attractions that Orlando has to offer that gets overshadowed by all the rides and Disney stuff. The show is both awe-inspiring and hilarious, and incredibly entertaining. Go see it, you shan’t be disappointed!

That’s all for now folks. I’ll fill you in more about my classes in my next entry, once they really get going. I hope you’ve all had a good Labor Day weekend – I, for one, am a sunburned mess after spending the afternoon at the beach yesterday. But the weather was gorgeous and the water was perfect, so it was totally worth it.

Peace out!

Hey Everyone,

I hope that you all are enjoying the last bit of your summer. I, like you, am preparing to become a fully committed student. These past few weeks have consisted of making friends who will go to the same school as me, checking items off of my summer to do list, and revisiting some of my favorite places in Paris.

Since the last time I wrote, I have met some pretty interesting people. There is Scott who is from the Netherlands and actually lives in Amsterdam. An older student named Jette who is from Berlin, Germany. Even though at 26 she is older than most of the other students, she is by far the most petite. I have also met Alessandro, who is from Italy but spent a year abroad in the United States when he was in high school. They are all so much fun to hang out with because we each come from a different country and can compare and contrast different aspects of our countries, such as our respective school systems. Scott, Jette, and Alessandro will also attend EPF for the fall semester. I am looking forward to recognizing at least a few familiar faces at university.

Last weekend, I finally had the chance to return to Montmartre and thoroughly explore the hilltop artists’ haven. Well-known artists who have worked or had studios in the area include, but are not limited to, Salvador Dali, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh. Today, there are many different types of artists located all around the town. Photography, ceramics, paintings, drawings, music, artists were selling all different types of art. One of my favorite artists was a man who would use paint markers with slanted tips to create portraits of people on the street. We stood there and watched him create a painting of a young girl in about 20 minutes. He was pretty talented.

An artist creating a portrait of a little girl. Photo credit: Alessandro Piccoli, August 2013

During our wanderings of the town, we also saw some musicians playing in the street. Called Les Presteej, these three men were a lot of fun to watch and were very gifted. We enjoyed their music so much; we pooled our money together to buy one of their CDs. Since all of their music was written in French, we thought it would be a good way to practice our language skills.

Scott rocking out with one of the members of Les Presteej. Taken by Alessandro Piccoli in August of 2013.

This past weekend, I showed Scott, Jette, and Alessandro Bercy Park. They liked it a lot and thought the walkways were very pretty. Even though I had been to the park previously, I still had a nice time and was surprised that there were some parts of the park that even I did not know about. Tucked in one of the corners of the park is a small enclosed area where locals can practice tricks on their skateboards, BMX bikes, scooters, and roller blades.

A young man practicing sets in the air in preparation for larger tricks. Taken by Alessandro Piccoli in August of 2013.

There was one guy on roller blades who was very skilled. I saw him perform skills that I did not even know were possible to do on rollerblades. He did side summies, which are like front tucks, just sideways. I also saw him do a back layout with bent knees. This guy got an incredible amount of lift off of the ramps.

A young man practicing sets in the air in preparation for larger tricks. Taken by Alessandro Piccoli in August of 2013.

Last Thursday was a holiday in France, so we took the day off from school and went to the movies in the evening. Scott and I were trying to make it to the cinema in time to see The Lone Ranger, but waiting for the train took longer than expected. As a result, we were too late for the showing of Lone Ranger and we ended up seeing Elysium instead. I won’t spoil the movie, but even though the movie was a bit gory for my taste and there were major plot gaps, I liked it quite a bit. The movie was about a futuristic dystopian society and about the rise of the underdog.

Friday night, we again tried to go see The Lone Ranger and this time it was a success. I know that the movie did not do too well in the U.S., but even though the movie had been out for a while in France, the movie theatre was still crowded. From what I understand, the storyline of the movie was not entirely consistent with the U. S. pop culture icon. Even so, I still enjoyed the movie. I tried to think of it as kind of like the new Star Trek movies. If the films stood apart from the rest of the universe, they were good, but placed in the context of the other films and stories, they weren’t.

We also took the opportunity to explore the Paris Plage. The Paris Plage is essentially an artificial beach that Paris created along the Seine so that its citizens and tourists can enjoy the warm summer months. There were beach chairs for people to lounge and tan on, buckets and pails so children could build sand castles, and some sprinklers set up so that people had a way to cool off since people do not swim in the Seine.

This is a picture of me showing demonstrating the size of the rings used to anchor boats along the Seine. Taken by Alessandro Piccoli in August of 2013.

A picture of the photographer himself. Taken by Alessandro Piccoli in August of 2013.That is all for now. As always, thank you for reading.

That is all for now. As always, thank you for reading.

-Brenna

Hello again everybody!

I can’t believe my summer is almost up. Only 3 more weeks separate me from being back in Florida! A lot has been happening in the past few weeks…and wait for it…I have pictures at Boeing (ones I was actually allowed to take!)

Let’s start from the beginning (yes this is my shameless plug at delaying the pictures until the end). The weekend before the fourth of July, we decided to take in more of the beautiful Washington State scenery. My roommates, a few friends and I went on a 2-day trip to the Olympic Peninsula (yes for you Twilight fans, Forkes is there). Friday night, right after work, we made our 3.5-hour drive over there. We spent that night in Port Angeles. The next morning, bright and early, we went up to Hurricane Ridge, part of a series of mountains in the area. What a breathtaking place.

Rocks placed by an artist in the Olympic Peninsula

Although it was the middle of summer, there was snow everywhere after a certain elevation. The funny part? It was actually very warm and humid up there!!

Snow bank at Hurricane Ridge

Despite the lack of cellphone signal, we spent most of the day there. Most of the trails were covered in snow, so instead of giving up, we decided to climb over the snow and keep going. When we made it to the top, I must say it was one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen. You could see out to Victoria, Canada, and on the other side—more mountains covered with snow.

The view from near the top of Hurricane Ridge

That afternoon, before we made our way back to Everett, we made a pit stop by the beach. Again, beautiful. Nothing like the East Coast! The water was freezing!
That following weekend, we took a trip to Vancouver,BC (not Vancouver, WA…because there is one…). I’d never been to Canada before! After a short 2-hour trip, we made through the border. I must say, the officer was quite intimidating, but at last we made it to Canada! Immediately, you could tell it’s a completely different country. Everything from road signs to speed limits to gas prices are in SI Units. Plus having no cell reception (unless you want to pay those ridiculous roaming fees…), it was very hard not to get lost. Eventually, though we made it to our hotel at Vancouver airport. Yes, at the airport. Our room had an amazing view of the runway! I even got to see a Disneyland airplane!!

Disneyland airplane – the view from our hotel room.

Yep, I must admit that was the highlight of my trip!! The next morning, we spent all day walking around Vancouver. It was the Canada Day holiday that following Monday, so the city sure was “popping”! We left right after posing for pictures in front of the Olympic torch (since the 2010 winter Olympics happened there).

Standing in front of the Olympic Torch in Vancouyver

And now the moment everybody has been waiting for…Boeing pictures! As an intern, we get a lot of benefits. Some of which include some pretty gnarly tours. Most of them are of assembly lines, testing facilities, labs or such. This week, however, I got to go to the Dreamliner Gallery. What exactly is it? Think of a furniture showroom. Whenever an airline orders any airplane, they must pick out what exactly goes in the interior (seat, colors, carpets, lavatories, etc…). Instead of months of back and forth coordination, Boeing devised a way to cut on that time and stress of picking out the little things. They brought everything together under one roof: what is called the Dreamliner Gallery. There, the airlines will come in for a few days, and pick out everything, and everything is on display! They even have a full mock-up of a Dreamliner fuselage/flight deck so that the customer can see how their choices will look like on an actual airplane.

In the lobby of the Dreamliner Gallery

Now, technically, this facility isn’t Boeing operated, which is why we were allowed pictures. Now on to the fun stuff!

Stereotypical flight deck photo

We were taken into all the showrooms. There was even one that was dedicated to the crew: flight deck options, and crew rest areas. I never knew there was such a thing!! It’s literally a little room on the “ceiling” of the aircraft, where the crew has little beds or seats to rest on for long-duration flights.

Sitting inside the crew rest area in the “ceiling”

The entrance looks like a closet, pretty cool! Next time your flight attendants disappear, now you know where they went!

Pretty cool LED lighting option available as an option on the ’87

Anyhow, that is all for me this week. Until next time!