Derby: Settled In

Crazy to think I have already been in Derby for 5 of my 12 week internship, since I have not posted in a while about derby this is sort of a “catch up” post on what I’ve been up to so far.  Mon-Fri there is little room for variations in my schedule I wake up at 6:45AM every morning, yet I don’t return till about 7:00PM at night.  Outside of the standard 8 hour work day, my time away from home is spent on public transportation to/from work and gym time(yes I go every day).  By the time I get home change and make dinner I often don’t start on the “other things” until 8:30/9:00.  That leaves me about 2 hours a day that needs to be split between, planning for my Euro trip, Skyping, gathering info for my study abroad in Hong Kong and blogging.


Work

NX CAD Modeling example from Google
(Same Program as my work, but I cant show my Drawings)

My last post mentioned how I was working on a manufacture change for the OGV’s to be proposed at a “high-spots” meeting with all the senior executives.  My main role in the presentation was gathering information from many of the involved parties then organizing it into tables and diagrams for an organized PowerPoint.  Intermittently with this assignment I was assigned some more CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) oriented tasks which I find very enjoyable to do.  One of which was making modifications to a component on the rear fan case to confirm proposed weight saving values a supplier predicted if they made certain changes in the manufacturing process. Another involved taking the lessons learned from the most recent engine in the Trent Engine family the (XWB) and applying it as part of an upgrade package to a previous engine (T100); This is actually the preliminary design that will then be sent off for computer testing and refinement by other divisions in my building.  However, there is a large flux in my workload, at times I get pulled into a busy task then other times I almost have to beg to be assigned work.  On Friday I got the start of 2 more long-term projects and will be assigned another one this week so hopefully this will lead to a more steady work stream.

Roommates

Roommates (minus Caroline)

Last time I posted it was me, Becca, and Stuart all of us from the states here interning with Rolls-Royce.   It was only the 3 of us individually renting rooms in this 6 person house.  Since then the other 3 rooms have been filled with Caroline, Anna, and Angie.  Caroline moved in while I was in Morocco and in the 2 weeks I have been back I have literally seen her only 3 times, she works odd hours as a server at one of the local bars and seems like a fun, pleasant girl.  Unfortunately, I really don’t know much about her cause I have spoken a cumulative time of max 10 minutes with her.  Anna and Angie are Derby University Students originally from Latvia, who will be letting their rooms on a long term basis.  They brought not only high-speed internet, but a lot of life to our house.  Since they are students at the local university they have a large social network of friends who come over semi-frequently and are all really friendly.  Angie works at an outdoor open club/bar which Becca and I visited last weekend and hooked us up with some heavily discounted drinks.  Similar to Morocco, I have embarrassed myself trying to pronounce words in a different language, I’m just thankful everyone speaks English well.

Activities


Heights of Abraham

Green English Country Side

Last Sunday Becca and I (Stuart was with his parent in London) took a 30 main train ride to Matlock where we visited the Heights of Abraham.  This ex Galena mine, turned national park was recommended as a good day trip by one of Becca’s co-workers and ended up being the perfect day trip from Derby.  After taking a gondola up to the top of a mountain there are multiple activities to do, including museums, restaurants, playground and two guided cave tours.  We were fortunate to have “the best weather in 2 weeks” as proclaimed by one of the tour guides while also avoiding the large crowds that sometimes flood the area.  For whatever reason it was not very busy which resulted in one of the tours being just The Guide, Becca, and me; this is unusual the guide says there are often upto 70 other people on each tour!  Overall it was a great day to see part of the English countryside.

Derby Olympic Torch Festival

Olympic Torch Bearer

With the 2012 Olympics taking place in London, I was able to watch the torch as it passed through Derby.  Derby was picked as one of the 5 English cities for extended torch coverage by BBC and also chosen for a Friday evening visit!  The walk back from the bus station to my house I walked through the packed city center, passing numerous English Flag vendors, food companies passing out free samples and proud UK citizens fully decked out in their Union Jacks.  I got home, quickly changed before returning to the torch route with all the roommates (minus Caroline) to stake out a spot.  The actual torch bearer was precluded by large tour buses with people on top to pump up the crowd, with big name sponsors like Coca-Cola and Samsung.  The torch bearer actually ran by quite quickly, I was able to grab a picture but I overheard some of the other spectators around me saying they missed getting a good photo.  Becca and Stuart joined me for the short walk to a park just on the outskirts of the city where a large stage with a brazier had been erected to accept the torch flame for the evening.

Wish everyone the best back in the States, between the West Coast wildfires and East Coast hurricanes it seems like quite a tumultuous time.  On a more upbeat note with the recently acquired high speed internet, I can Skype most weekdays 7:30-10:30 my time then sporadically on the weekend so add me (Cam.Thurman) if you haven’t already and we can catch up!