_luukleclercq.nl

Hi all,

got a slight problem, there seems to be some time (about two weeks) between the cancellation of the one internet-contract and the new one. As a result e-mail and updates are only possible when I am at university. Anyway it just requires a slight change of attitude regarding internetting, so no biggie.

Lectures are now in full swing, so it has really begon here in Southampton. Quite tough, but still very enjoyable. Long days (9am start and home just after six on Monday and Tuesday), but enough time inbetween lectures to keep the amount of work that has to be done in the evening reasonable.

Than looking forward to the upcoming weekend, I’ll be doing bow on a First 31.7 during the autumn championships (OD-racing). Anyway, I’ll have two interesting days ahead here at Uni before the weekend starts.

All is very well.

Ciao!

And damn, that’s quite tiring.

Started this morning at nine, finished at six. And almost continues lectures as well. But it is fun as well, the lectures I had today were all interesting. The one subject might be slightly less interesting than the other, but in most cases the lecturers made up for that.

I am keeping it short, because I need to do work tonight and I also need to have dinner and relax a little.

I’ll keep you all updated here.

Ciao,

I did a simple update of the website. If you see anything wrong, please let me know.

Ciao,

Today is the final day of induction week and therefore the day where we (as first years) will race our ship against others in a contest to transport as many bags of gravel across a 10m distance in 5 minutes as possible. We as a team went for Bigger=Better and came up with a design capable of transporting up to 25 bags of gravel (50kg) at the time. Unfortunately only 18 bags of gravel will be available for the competition today, still we have good hopes to outperform the rest of the teams.

Some photos of our vessel, please note the attention to detail(photos are taken by camera phone):

Ciao,

UPDATE: We won!
After delivering as many bags as we predicted and giving a stellar presentation, we were awarded an award bij the Royal Institution of Naval Architects for our performance. Wohoo!

9am Start, interesting introduction. Then some time off before some more lectures and an introduction to this weeks project: Building a boat to race across the swimming pool and transport as much gravel as possible in 5 minutes against 5 other teams to get the first RINA Award of your career.

Fun day, relaxing start, great forecast for the rest of the week!

Ciao,

Tomorrow I finally get to start taking lectures here at Southampton Uni, 9am start, continue till ’bout 6 so it’s a proper start as well.

The weekend first:
Saturday I went with Pietro (Italian, first year Ship Science) and Olivier (French, Master Ship Science) to Hamble for a practice session with a first 40.7. It was ok, the team is still getting shape and a large part of the crew is still learning heaps everytime they go out. I was there just for the weekend and together with the other two foreigners we had quite a bit of fun. After practice we arrived just in time back in So’ton for the French match against the Kiwi’s so it was all good.

On Sunday we were supposed to be doing the first race of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series (http://www.garminghamblewinterseries.co.uk) but the breeze never showed up and as a result we were home early. Next week I’m phoping to be racing the whole weekend with the big boat series at Hamble as well, but confirmation still hasn’t come through. I did see however the Dehler 34 #2 in racing trim present and the new X34, so it would have been nice to see how both boats would compare to each other. Furthermore, the HYS dry storage is very very impressive: DK46’s, Rogers’46’s, Swan 45’s, Farr 45’s, Cookson 50, Ker 50 (Snow Lion) and many many more top condition racing boats present…Nice!

Anyway, tomorrow should be a fun day and well as always I’ll keep everyone updated.

Ciao,

Freshers’ Week is almost over and well… It’s difficult to compare to the OWee in Delft. Far less active during the daytime and in the evening is with respect to the usual British times…

Today was the first event with the Ship Science undergrad group. We’re a group of 38 this year to start with, several Italians, Spanish and Portuguese make up the group of international full program students. I also received the final schedule for the coming semester. The first week is very ship sciency, with a contest between the lab-groups in building a model boat.

From week two the real lectures start with on Monday and Thursday lectures and lab-work from 9-18, Wednesday is from 9-13, Thursday 9-16 and Friday 9-14. Quite a busy schedule, but all in all the week should consist of 40 hours of work anyway.

The house is still great, So’ton a nice place and the weather continues to be un-British like.

Ciao,

Finally some time for a serious update.

The first week in Southampton is almost over; Freshers’ week is just around the corner. After arriving on Monday and paying the first possible house a visit, I arranged that I could stay the rest of the week with them. On Thursday the roommate of Neil and Ed arrived and with the meeting of Oly they decided I could indeed stay. I am actually very happy with that after hearing not so great stories from several of my fellow international students on the Halls.

With finalising the housing (though the contract still hasn’t been signed) I can start arranging a bank account and of course a British mobile phone contract. I also could finalise my enrolment with the University.

What else… Well the British are indeed a strange bunch when it comes to their drinks. I still think the Dutch way of drinking your beer (as in cooled, smaller amount and pressurised drafting) is preferable, but hey when in Rome…

The International Welcome by the University was very well arranged with an approach to everything in such a way it was interesting for postgraduate students and undergrads alike, as well as the more experienced students, such as myself. The Ship Science course I am taking has at least 5 international undergrad students and I already get along very well with the Portuguese, Estonian and Italian delegation within that small group. There are also a bunch of American master students for Ship Science and they actually are a bit of a problem since they don’t fit in to the stereotype American image… They are a real nice bunch of guys as well. And since we are all here at an engineering course talk is always fast returning to nerdy subjects: I already feel at home!

I guess that’s about it: housing is arranged, international welcome has been successful and the to-do list is much clearer now.

-Arrange a UK-banking account
-Arrange a UK-mobile account
-Hook up with a UK-Sailing Team
-Do Freshers’ Week
-Get started with Uni (as they call it here)
And then some small stuff, but that really isn’t very important…

Well, I really appreciated the messages the last week. And I’ll keep updating everyone.

Ciao,

ps. Here’s a map of the area I am.

had a bit much traffic on the way in, but as I’m typing this I am indeed in So’ton, UK.

It’s a short one, ’cause I’m off to watch an available room in a sec.

Ciao,

Tomorrow is going to be the day! Damn I can’t believe how I am looking forward to going to Southampton, one last (short) night here in NL and then I am off!!!

Got some viewings lined up for tomorrow afternoon and if all goes well (and I am sure it will) I am able to send an update from my new place on Monday evening.

That’s it for now, one last check of my stuff that’s lined up here and then the big adventure starts.

Comments, greetings and other news can be shared via the website, my e-mail or a call (though I do not think it will be lengthy conversations, I still got my Dutch number).

Ciao!