Sheets

Hello everybody,

You know you've lived somewhere for a while, if you can't remember how often you've changed the sheets. I've been in Boston for approximately two months now, and I really enjoy it. The awesome thing about Boston is that it has a lot of public parks and squares where there's always something going on. For example, a couple days ago, I was on my weekly bike ride to Trader Joe's to do groceries (thanks suite mate Alex for the bike!). Because I rode the wrong way just a little bit, I ended up on Copley Square, where apparently the nice Boston Book Festival was happening. (Pretty logical spot for a Book Festival, since the Boston Public Library is just next to Copley Square.) I'll try to upload a video here, to give you a good feeling of the festival, and Boston in general:

In the video I'm standing right in the middle of Copley Square. The wide building at the end of the video is the Public Library. The beautiful church in the beginning is called Trinity Church. I initially wanted to get more on the video, but my phone battery died..

I received a great question from my aunt from the Netherlands after my last blog. She asked about my experience with having to share my room with two other roommates (and the suite with 11 other suite mates). And she asked, even when they're nice, are you able to be on your own sometimes?
Well, I can assure you guys, I do have some pretty awesome roommates. But of course, we've also had some issues. The biggest issue so far, which is still going on, is that one of my roommates has lost his keys. So for the past three weeks we have to open the door for him, and he's still not motivated to get new ones. (Okay, that is pretty understandable from this point of view: they charge you about $200 for the three new keys.) The rest of the suite gets pretty annoyed opening the door for him every time. We are having a suite meeting about this issue with our RA (Resident Assistant) tomorrow night.
To answer my aunt's question more fully, I don't have much time alone. I admit that I miss that sometimes. If I really need to be alone or concentrate, then I usually go to our library on campus. It is often pretty quiet and it has some very comfortable chairs and couches, compared to the ones in our dormitory.

As some of you may have seen on facebook, I've been to an NBA game with my roommate Ryan this Wednesday. It was awesome to see the Boston Celtics take on the Brooklyn Nets, and win 100-86. The most spectacular play was this block by Jeff Green: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgKqJDrcpFw#t=11 (his last name is a nice coincidence, because the main color of the Celtics is green).

For school I've been writing essays, papers and proofs. The midterms of last week went pretty well by the way. It turned out to be only one big midterm exam for Calculus 1. We had to calculate derivates of about twenty different functions. I've been doing that for a long time in high school already, so I passed the test quite easily. You only pass it if you achieve 80% or higher, because they want everybody to be able to calculate derivates. In the coming weeks, we learn about integrals (also called antiderivates). That's also something I have done in high school. I hope Calculus 2 will be a little bit more challenging next semester. 
My other math classes are already challenging though. In Discrete Math we finally started writing mathematical proofs, which I find pretty enjoyable. In my Applied Math class we are talking about a method to solve mathematical models. And we're using the program MATLAB to apply that method, which is called the Simplex Method by the way.
Another interesting class I have is Computer Science. We are learning the programming language C++. I didn't have any experience with programming before this class, but I am able to follow the material pretty well. I find it fun to write my own programs with the skills we learn.

Baseball is going good as well! We're having a lot of strength training nowadays. I go to the gym at 6 am every morning with the captain of the baseball team. My suite mate Alex has joined us too, so were having a great morning every day.
I look forward to going to New Jersey with Alex for Thanksgiving. Even though that's still a month away, Alex made me buy my train ticket early. That was probably a good idea, because the prices for a Round-Trip were already sky high.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog, I will go watch the MLB World Series now!

All the best,
Bram

Midterms

Hello everybody,

After another two weeks since my last blog, it's already the middle of the semester. We already had a couple tests, quizzes, exams, essays and papers, but now the midterms are coming. I will tell about some exciting things I have done in the last two weeks.

I got my first American haircut, in a real barbershop. I would say that it goes by twice as fast as it does in the Netherlands (just like dinner at almost every place around here by the way).

We had intramural football in the weekends. It was really fun to play American football with my baseball teammates. Later I also played football with my roommates. To make the game a little less aggressive we played the version called "flag football." So everyone has three little flags (lintjes) attached to their hips with velcro tape (klitterband). If a defender pulls a flag of the hips of an attacker, it counts as a tackle.

Another cool thing I didn't tell you guys yet is that almost all my roommates now know how to say "good night" in Dutch. So every time I go to bed nowadays, I say: "weltrusten", and they reply with their best version of that.

Furthermore, the paper I was talking about in my last blog has made some real progress. I have found  the formula to calculate every number of the Fibonacci sequence right away (so without having to add all the numbers, where the Fibonacci sequence is based on). This is what the formula looks like:

To make such a nice mathematical expression we use the program LaTeX. This is the code you would need to type the formula:

\begin{equation}

F_n = \frac15\sqrt{5} \cdot (\frac12 + \frac12\sqrt{5})^n - \frac15 \sqrt{5} \cdot (\frac12 - \frac12\sqrt{5})^n

\end{equation}

It seems a little difficult, but if you start handing in all your math homework in LaTeX, you will learn how to use it. (We are also strongly encouraged to google something if you don't know how it works. We are told that knowing how to google, is a really important skill for now and later.) If you're interested in the rest of my paper, let me know!

Last weekend was a nice long one, we had Monday free because it was Columbus Day. A Dutch friend of mine who is currently studying at Cornell came over to Boston. We used the long weekend to explore Boston really well. Here's a list of a couple places we went to:

• Fenway Park
• MIT
• Public Garden / Boston Common
• Freedom Trail (which is actually a great route along some of the oldest buildings of America)
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
• New England Aquarium

I've made a map in Google Maps with all the nice places on it. If you're interested in that, also let me know.

I hope everything is going well in the Netherlands. I'm kind of missing the "pepernoten" this time of year ;)

All the best,

Bram

Being Dutch in America

Hi everybody,

It's been another week and I feel like writing another blog. This one will be about my experiences as a Dutch person in America. The first thing that stands out is all the measurements. I seriously think that the only measurement we share is time. Imagine if that would be different.

Another example is the cheese slicer. I have finally found one in the Stop&Shop, it's actually pretty nice designed, but I think I like the Dutch "kaasschaaf" better. Here's a picture:

Furthermore, talking English all day is of course a good exercise for later, but it sure was a big relief when I could finally talk in my first language with another Dutch person here in Boston. After we emailed a couple of times he was happy to sponsor me for the Wentworth Baseball practice camp in Florida in the Spring Break. I'm really looking forward to that!

Something that disappoints me a bit is that people around here aren't really interested in the MLB Playoffs. I know that the Red Sox didn't make it this year. But it's crazy that there are about 10 sports channels on our cable TV, all with College Football on instead of the Giants - Nationals game (which by the way is still going on right now). 

I did get to see the Wild Card games, the AL game Royals - Athletics was awesome with the walk-off in the 12th inning.

Our own Fall Ball is unfortunately over already. We had about a month of practices and a couple of games. Now it's getting too cold and rainy outside, so we're heading inside. We have two strength and one yoga workout per week. But the best thing is that Wentworth has an inside batting cage which we may use for free any time we want. (Except when other Wentworth Sports team have practice in Tansey Gym.) So I've been hitting a lot of balls the last couple of days! 

My academics are going good as well. Some classes are more difficult than other, but they're all pretty interesting. The most difficult class is called: Methods and Topics in Applied Mathematics 1. As it implies, it's only for Applied Math majors. My other Math classes (Calculus 1 and Discrete Math) also allow students from other majors, such as Computer Science or Mechanical Engineering. 

For that difficult class (which I would call Modeling by the way, because we're making and discussing a lot of Mathematical Models) I now have to write a paper about a subject which we were free to choose. I chose the Fibonacci sequence. It seems a simple subject where most of you probably already have heard of. But I'm going to try to find a formula which can find any number of that sequence without actually having to add all the numbers in the sequence. 

Oh, and we have to write our paper in LaTeX instead of Word. That's kind of the professional Word for Mathematicians. Has anyone heard of it?

I enjoy keeping you guys up to date. How's everything going in the Netherlands? You can reply below this blog :)

See you next time,

Bram

It has been a month

Hi everybody,

I'm excited to write this fifth blog for you. I got some requests for pictures in my blog, so I've collected a bunch of 'm. By the way, I was planning to write a blog every Sunday, but sometimes that doesn't work out (especially when you're playing 14 innings of baseball on a Sunday). Nevertheless, five blogs in my first month here at Wentworth; you don't need Applied Math to figure out that my "blog-schedule" of a blog per week is going pretty well ;)

I'm having a great time here in Boston, enjoying baseball, study, the city and the extraordinary weather. Yesterday we played two games of 7 innings against Stonehill College, and I got sun burned (on September 28th! (in Boston!!)). It was 30 degrees Celcius (86 Fahrenheit) this weekend. I've been told that it is going to be extremely cold here.

The games yesterday went pretty well. I played the second game, in right field. Made two nice catches and hit three hard balls. One of them turned out to be a hit. I also pitched the 6th inning, allowing no runs. My fellow teammates asked: "What kind of Dutch ball were you throwing out there?" I said: "Oh, that was just my 2-seam fastball, it was moving today."

So, now I will give a summary of my time here at Wentworth by the use of a couple pictures I took.

First of all, does anybody know what this traffic sign means? It was one of the first signs my mom and me saw when we came here. She explained to me what it meant, because she had seen it before in San Diego.

If you want to know what it means, send me a message :)

This is the beautiful entrance of Wentworth Institute of Technology (building Wentworth Hall). I have  my Computer Science classes in there. 

All the famous Red Sox players (plus Jackie Robinson) on flags at Fenway Park!

This is a Boston Duck Tour vehicle riding in front of the Massachusetts State House. A couple days later we took a Duck Tour with all the new international students. It's an amphibian vehicle, which means that it can also go on the water! A few students (include me) got to steer the vehicle when we were on the river Charles.

This is the home of two other major American sports. I've been told that the Bruins (ice hockey) and the Celtics (basketball) play in this stadium called "TD Garden." I'm definitely going in there once!

The library of Wentworth. It is a nice place to study, although it can be a bit noisy when it's busy. The chairs are a lot more comfortable than the ones in our dorm rooms.

Needless to say, we are hoping to add a Baseball Championship title to this beautiful closet.

Applied Mathematics introduction; we had about 10 minutes to get a marshmallow as high as possible, by using 20 spaghetti strings and tape that barely sticks.

The nice and high Tree House Building on our campus. If you're ever lost in Boston, try to find the big orange building and you can walk home.

I wanted to get those weird American tables on a picture. You know, the one where the seat is attached to your desk. I thought that was only a American high school thing. I'll have to get used to it.

Go Leopards!

The beautiful Quad in the center of our campus. Almost every day there are some people playing catch or throwing a frisbee (which I of course participate in once in a while).

People playing Quidditch in the Boston Common. It is the oldest park of America (the sheep of the colonists used to graze here).

(A part of) the Boston Public Library.

Proud to wear my Wentworth Baseball cap!

There are a lot of colleges in Boston, but very few of them have football teams. So we all cheer for the Boston College Eagles. The athletics of other colleges get to work at football games, selling mostly hot dogs and water, to earn some extra money. Our salary goes to our baseball team, so we can go to a Training Camp in Florida in the Spring Break (when it's probably still snowing here).

Unfortunately, we don't have our own baseball field on campus, so we have to take vans or a bus to practice.

A night walk through Boston with three of my suite / room mates.

My side of room 003C.

We had a team run through Boston. And of course you have to run through that big fountain when it's hot.

Watching the Red Sox - Rays game from the Green Monster! I initially had a ticket for the grand stand seats in deep right field. After a couple innings, I went to go get a snack. Then I just walked over to take a look from the Monster, and a nice Canadian guy said: "Take a seat, nobody's sitting here." So I was able to watch a few innings from this historical place.

Watching the game with my friends from the grand stand in right field.

Towards the end of the game we went down to the backstop and got to see Xander Bogaerts really close! He is a Dutch third baseman / shortstop of the Red Sox (he's initially from Aruba).

These pictures sum up my first month pretty well! I hope you enjoyed them, and see you next week (or two).


All the best,
Bram

Move-in, WOW, First Day of Classes, Baseball tryouts

Hi everybody,

As you can see in the title, it has been a very busy week. I moved into my campus room on September 2nd. I wrote a blog the next day, but couldn't get it online. So you'll see it underneath this one.

After the International Student Orientation on Wednesday, all the American students moved in. I got two nice roommates, Jacob from California and Ryan from Maine. We also have nine other guys in our suite. (Our suite has four rooms, two bathrooms, and a common room.) Unfortunately, we don't have a kitchen. So I'm eating mostly on my meal plan on campus.

In the WOW, Wentworth Opening Week, everybody was very busy. We had a lot of presentations, meetings, ice-breakers (getting to know each other) and fun! Because of the busy schedule we didn't have much time to settle other important stuff (like two vaccination shots on one day), or to discover the city of Boston. Luckily I already did that a little bit with my mother on the first days in Boston.

Yesterday I had my First Day of Classes! All of my courses seemed really exciting, and I can't wait to start calculating. (and proving, thinking, being creative, believe me; Mathematicians do a lot more than just calculating.) Here is a list of my courses:

- Discrete Math
- Methods and Topics in Applied Mathematics 1
- Integrated Engineering Calculus 1
- Computer Science 1
- English 1
- First Year Seminar

So I'm really excited about my three Math courses, but also Computer Science. I regret that I didn't listen to my brother Rik that much, when he was putting his computer together. He would probably do better in that course than me at this moment.

And last, but certainly not least, the baseball tryouts! They started just a couple of hours ago. Yesterday we had a team meeting, plus all the guys who were going to try out. The coach told us that the tryouts are going to be all week. So baseball from Tuesday to Saturday, every night. The first tryout today, went okay. I think if you ask any baseball player how his tryout went, nobody will say it went great. There are always things that could have gone better. I did a lot of running, throwing and outfield today on the Turf (kunstgras in Dutch) of Sweeney Field. Tomorrow we will be in the gym, in the batting cages, doing mostly hitting. I'm looking forward to it!

Oh, and obviously I have a ton of pictures. Maybe I'll put some in the next blog.

All the best,
Bram


WentWhat? WENTWORTH! WentWhat? WENTWORTH!! WentWhat?! WENTWORTH!!!
_____________________________________________________________________


Move in (September 3rd, 2014):

Well, I'm finally in my Wentworth room! Yesterday all the new international students settled in their rooms. I will be getting two American roommates soon, probably today or tomorrow. After mom and I got all my bags in the room, we put my clothes in the closet, made up my bed (I don't know if that's the right translation, but that's how we say it in the Netherlands) and went for lunch.

There was a nice welcome luncheon for international students and their families. As we were eating, we were welcomed by a couple of speeches, and introduced to some important people from Wentworth. Right after that, the families could go to the Museum of Fine Arts (which is next to Wentworth, so I'll certainly visit that some time), but the students had to take an English Placement Exam. It was a bit of a shock to have to make a test right on the first day I got there. We had to write an essay in 60 minutes, so it wasn't that long. Today we will get an email which says what English class everyone has to register for.

After the EPE, there was a bit of relaxation time, as we were shown around the campus. The campus of Wentworth Institute of Technology lays right in the city of Boston, but still it has quite some space. It is pretty beautiful, and I think I am going to like it here.

In the evening we went out with a couple of international students (and some supervisors of course) to get dinner. Some students still had to get bed sheets and stuff, so we went to Target after eating. I bought myself a nice traditional alarm clock, a desk lamp and a frisbee. Then it was 10 PM, so we went to bed.

Today, (I'm writing this in the morning, still have to get some breakfast) the International Student Orientation will go on with more tours and other activities. At the same time, most of the American students will move in, so the WOW can really start on Thursday. WOW of course stands for Wentworth Opening Week.

Hope you enjoyed reading my update!

Best,
Bram

Farewell

Well, my mom and I had a save flight! Yesterday we landed and got to the Airbnb we hired. After we dropped our bags we went to off to eat. We found a sushi place, which was great! Really delicious. After that we bought our breakfast for the next morning at Whole Foods and went straight to bed. We had a long day, so we were pretty tired. The next morning we finally got our WiFi ;)

On the Wednesday before I left, I said farewell to the two baseball teams I've played with in the last seven years. It was nice to see those guys a last time, before leaving to the US. Here's a picture of me with two coaches from the Bixie Baseball Academy:

I gave my very first practise shirt (size S!) back as a present. It says: "Thanks for the fantastic training" in Dutch. I started at Bixie when I was 11 years old. They have helped me to become a greatly developed baseball player in the six years that I've been with them.

This last season I played on a higher level, with UVV from the city of Utrecht. Also my teammates from UVV were great, so here is my last picture with (a couple of) them:

My coach on the left actually didn't want to take a picture because "they'll think that we're some kind of B-team" Well, I can guarantee you, UVV is defenitely not a B-team. We had about 16 players and were really competitive in our league (the Rookie League, the second/third league in the Netherlands).  This was a practice where, unfortunately, a lot of players had to study for important exams.

Now, I have to finish this blog, because my mom is really excited to go discover Boston (me too!). Farewell to all my Dutch friends, I'll see you when it's Christmas ;)

Best,

Bram

The Beginning

So, this is my first (ever) blog! Obviously that would be the beginning. But I would actually describe this time of August: "the almost-end-of-the-long-preparation."

I'm going to keep it short for now. Tomorrow I'm really going to start packing my bags, because this Thursday (August 28th) my mom and I will be flying to Boston! I'm very excited to start my study, Applied Mathematics, at Wentworth Institute of Technology in September. Tuesday the 2nd is the start of the opening week at Wentworth, Monday the 8th is the official First Day of Classes!

See you soon!
Bram