Day 2 - First Day of Work

So it was my first day at work. dany bursts into our room and tells us Obama is the new president. Elisabet picked me up in my sweet Fugro car, we drove to work and parked in the parking garage. top level because we got in a bit late around 8:30AM. We walk in the building go through several doors and up on level. each door you need to scan your keycard which has your picture on it. very high security it seems. the building is huge with a big atrium in the middle with a glass roof to let light in. offices are very big with big windows.

I get into my cube and there are two people per office. my mate is not in yet, i meet him later his name is Robin and he's super cool. seems exceptionally bright and i'm hoping to learn quite a bit from him. he has like 4 Plaxis manuals so i know he's for real (plaxis is a difficult finite element modeling program).

Elisabet hands me a red cup that has no bottom. i think 'how the heck am i going to drink with this? maybe its broken, should i say something?' so it turns out that little plastic disposal inserts go inside of the reusable cup. there is no breakroom in my office, but there are automatic coffee/capuccino/tea machines around every turn. the machines also make hot chocolate so i'm in heaven. secretly, i think how much i miss the fugro ventura breakroom.

I meet my new boss, Adriaan Van Setters and i'm immediately smitten. he has a wonderful positive aura and seems genuinely interested in supporting a positive learning experience here. he is quietly confident and his whole body moves when he laughs. he is interested in my field experience, as it seems fieldwork is "below" engineers in this office.

I meet everyone in my group (Fugro Inginersbureau B.V.) which is about 35 people. several other Fugro opco's are in the same building, but it seems they are quite separate from us. everyone is really friendly, and when i meet them, most said "oh, the american?" they ask about Obama and who i've voted for etc. everyone is very interested in US election. everyone seems very nice and interested in me and my experience. i catch some people staring at me. i think they are curious mostly. i hope to get to know everyone well while i'm here. i would say 30% of people i met today spoke fluent nearly perfect english. about 60 % spoke fluent ok english, and about 10% struggled a bit to talk to me. overall i was impressed on how well they spoke english.

lunch. ugh. its cafeteria style. i get anxious about who's table i sit with. my group all goes to the cafeteria at the same time so i jsut sit at one big table with them. my lunch was a chicken curry sandwich, some soup, banana juice, and a big meatball. most people get a big hunk of bread and spread some cheese on it with a big carton of milk. the lunch thing is a bit strange.

after lunch i meet more people, get my computer all working, and robin comes in. i get my first assignment from Wouter - he wants me to proofread a pile foundation recommendation report he wrote for an english-speaking client. the document is pretty good but i made many edits. it was a great first assignment so that i could see the structure of the reports and what types of recommendations they provide.

i go to this big warehouse across the courtyard to another fugro building to get a pair of steel toe boots and a keycard lanyard. they guy comes to the front and yells 'what d'ya waaaaaannt'. i cant help but laugh - at him and the posters of snoop dogg on the back of the door. the warehouse is full of drilling and office supplies, parts for the CPT and drill rigs, field supplies etc. there are several CPT and drill rigs in the warehouse. they look awesome.

i went to the lab where they calibrate and manufacture the CPT cones, which if you work for fugro, is like finding the holy grail. it was so cool to see all the different cone types and to get a personal tour of the facility. i also toured the soils testing lab and met the lab manager who used to work in Vetnura for about 1 year.

dany and i left Fugro at about 5:30PM and got horribly lost on the way home. it was raining and dark and we ended up on some one-way streets and almost hit some bikers. we finally made it home, got shonna, then went over to the train station and headed for the Hague. got off at the hague central station and found a great spot for dinner at a restaurant in the main Hague square called Cloos. we had a super cute waiter and chatted and laughed, talked about youtube videos and sung along to the best restaurant soundtrack in the world. on the way home shonna taught us some sing-along songs which resulted in uncontrollable laughter.

personal thoughts - the hague is more hip than delft. i need to get a bike ASAP.