Tuesday with Tulsa: Mobile Moments from Scotland

Posted on March 11, 2013 by TU Community

Today’s Tuesday with Tulsa post comes to us from across the pond…Hillary S., a junior Energy Management major from Parker, Colorado, sent us these mobile moments from Scotland.

Hey y’all, I’m back for another edition of Golden Mobile Moments! I don’t normally say “y’all” often, but here everyone says “yous” and it’s really weird.

This time, I’m writing to you from Aberdeen, Scotland, where 3 other classmates and I are studying abroad for the semester. As an Energy Management student, we have the option to study abroad in Scotland or Singapore. We’ve been having a great time meeting new people, but also hanging out with each other. It’s nice to have a little TU family even when you’re far away!

These are letters from my pledge class. They wrote them to me before Christmas break and put them in a huge envelope that said, “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL THE PLANE.” It really brightened the trip over the pond. I was the only person in my house to go abroad this semester, so sometimes it’s easy to feel like I’m missing things. But they have been doing a great job of keeping me in the loop!

There is a unicorn in the middle of the city. What.

I was actually expecting it to be much colder here, but all in all, it’s very good. This was a particularly blustery walk to work one morning, but at least I got to rock my TU umbrella!

Yay, sunshine in Aberdeen!

Superbowl Sunday/Monday. It started at 11:30 pm here! Luckily, Thomas’ flat has a TV. Unluckily, there are no commercial breaks in sports here. So there were extra commentators and no funny commercials. We watched them the next day on YouTube.

People really do wear kilts here, y’all. The boys went to a formal dinner for work and said it was 50/50 tuxedos/kilts. I take a lot of creepy pictures on the bus. There could be an anthology of ONLY bus pictures.

This is right across the street from my office building. My internship is really interesting, because I didn’t really know anything about offshore drilling before coming here. The project I’m working on is a report on the transportation of offshore rigs to locations around the world.

We’re right on the North Sea, so there’s a beach, but I won’t be swimming anytime soon. Reid said that he wants to run into it, just to say that he did. There were people surfing in wetsuits, when we visited.

This river runs behind our campus. It was a nice day this week and I ate lunch out there!

I really miss TU, but there is plenty to see here. Don’t worry, we’re bringing plenty of Golden Hurricane spirit to Aberdeen!

Study Abroad Guest Blog

Posted on February 14, 2012 by TU Community

Arriving in Oxford

Grace W., one of our University Ambassadors, is studying abroad at Worcester College at Oxford this semester. Grace is a junior at TU, double-majoring in Biochemistry and Philosophy. Here is a peek at Grace’s blog from across the pond:

We took the bus up from London and arrived in Oxford around lunchtime. We were escorted around to our different rooms to drop off our things and then hurried to lunch where the four of us who came through IFSA Butler met another visiting student named Victoria. Lunch was Thai curry, there seems to be a universal British agreement to make up for the lack of interest in their own traditional foods by adopting those of various different ethnicities. Afterwards, we did the necessary paperwork and forms. It doesn’t seem to matter what University you go to, everyone has the system of having to register online but not being able to get online until after you register… More interestingly, we went on a quick tour of Worcester (pronounced Wooster or even Woosta) and the surrounding area in Oxford. Worcester was founded as a Benedictine house of study in the 15th century, and was closed when the Church of England separated and all of the monasteries were closed. In the 18th century it was re-founded by a man from Worcestershire for which it was named. Here is some more information if anyone is interested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_College,_Oxford. The effect is a very interesting mix of old buildings and older buildings (most say old and new, but being from Texas, 18th century seems quite old to me as well). One doesn’t expect to see 15th century cottages on the same quad as rather palatial 18thcentury buildings, but the effect is quite intriguing. The lake and the gardens were the prettiest part. I can’t wait till it gets just a little bit warmer and I can go running around the lake! Here are a few pictures:

Front Entrance

Benedictine Cottages

Courtyard

Traditional Staircase

Thanks, Grace! The pictures are beautiful! We will check in with you periodically and publish some of your blog posts here so our prospectives students can follow you on your adventures abroad. Have a great semester.

SENEA: Sustainable Engineering for Needy and Emerging Areas

Posted on January 23, 2012 by The Office of Admission

23 days into 2012, and TU students have already changed lives….

Read this great project report about two TU undergraduate mechanical engineering students who traveled to Guyana, South America a few weeks ago to establish solar powered water chlorination systems in three different villages. This project began in May 2010 and the research and development was performed by students at the undergraduate level.

: Guyana Pilot Implementation

I can’t wait to read the reviews next year, when the students return to expand this year’s project.

Semester 8, week one!

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Tiffany

Every time I start to write a blog entry, I am shocked at how fast time flies by! I’m in my last semester of undergrad? For real?

The beginning of Christmas break was amazing. Finishing finals and getting ready for a month without due dates (well, kind of) was a present in and of itself! The only sad part was that we had to bid both our friends and our Christmas tree goodbye

One of our farewell dinners!At the beginning of break, I went home to see my family and old friends for a couple of weeks. All of my sisters plus my niece were able to come for Christmas and we had a delicious turkey dinner before opening our PRESENTS! I got a lot of great surprises this year! Grey’s Anatomy Season 3 soundtrack, pretty jewelry from Macy’s, and a new winter coat were some of my favorites.

And the fun didn’t stop there… the day after Christmas I took off to Germany to visit Stefan and his family for three weeks! We spent many long nights playing rummy with his parents, and I ate a million baked goods throughout the trip. For New Year’s Eve, we were in Berlin with Stefan’s brother Oli. People were shooting off fireworks everywhere! I didn’t think that was allowed in cities, but I guess it is there! There was a huge celebration at Brandenburger Tor, right down the street (the biggest New Year’s Eve celebration in the world, I believe – more than a million people!). We walked through the area earlier in the evening but had already decided to forego the crowds and have our own party. That turned out to be a good decision since I got to meet a lot of really nice people at the party!

After we had to leave Berlin, we traveled to Karlsruhe, where we stayed for two weeks. I was going to take two weeks of language classes that I enrolled myself in over two months ago… but when I arrived at the school, the secretary casually said “Oh, we cancelled that class… there weren’t enough participants!” Unable to express my anger in German, I had to act like the passive person that I am not. I ended up switching to a different class that started during my second week, and was a level higher than appropriate for me. Boo! But I have to admit, in the end it turned out better because the course hours were nice, the class was challenging, and I saved money by only doing one week of language school.

Regarding my graduate school plans, I have a new list of things to do now that I’ve submitted my first scholarship application! I have another scholarship application that is due on April 1 (right after I hear back from this first one!). Meanwhile, I have to start preparing my application for the German university I want to attend. The hardest part will be a language proficiency exam that I have to take in June. The exam is supposed to ensure that my German is good enough to understand what is going on in the University! :/

Being back at school is great so far. Although I missed the first week of the semester, catching up wasn’t as hard as I envisioned! And yesterday morning I had a great surprise as I woke up (at 6 AM… jet lag!). We have SNOW! I anxiously fired up my computer and basically stared at my e-mail for an hour and a half, hoping for a SNOW DAY e-mail… with no luck! It wasn’t so bad, since I only had two classes, and Jordan, Stef and I celebrated the snow day in my apartment with a hot cinnamon roll party! Mmmm!

Have a great weekend!

The leaves are getting crunchy!!!

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Tiffany

BLOG TIME! Long periods with no blogging are a good sign. Senior year is still incredibly busy, but I am doing a pretty good job of still-having-a-life while keeping up with school!

The last month has a lot of highlights.

Stefan is in town! He finished his master’s thesis and is taking a vacation here in Tulsa before starting his doctorate. Last week we went to San Francisco to visit Adriana, my roommate from Spain. I had never been outside of a California airport before (eew, LAX) so the state was all new to me. We had a great time speed-touring San Francisco in 1.5 days and tromping around Yosemite National Park for the weekend. I think half of the country of Germany was in San Francisco while we were there… all I heard around me was German talk. An old couple approached us in the street with a map (we must have looked like natives) and asked, “Do you know… the crooked… strasse… ” BAM. They gave away their nationality. They were very excited to discover we could give them directions in German, haha. Missing school for a week was awesome!! …until I came back! Oops, now I am pretty behind in several classes, but it was still great timing since I didn’t miss any tests!

The weather has been awesome lately! I can now ditch the A/C and sleep with my window open, and leaves are starting to turn I am a proud member of the facebook group called “Yes, I will walk out of my way just to step on that crunchy-looking leaf”, and this is prime time for leaf-crunching. It’s also perfect for running (to class, since that’s the only running I’m doing these days) and reading outside!

A couple of students and I have gotten together to create the TU German Club. Every two weeks we have a dinner, Der Stammtisch, where students can come to practice their German. The dinners are really fun and a few German students show up each time, which really helps with the conversation!

I have been spending tons of time on my grad school scholarship application that’s due in mid-November. The scholarship I am applying for is funded by a German exchange organization, the DAAD, that would pay for me to do a master’s degree in Germany. Here at TU, we have a coordinator of nationally competitive scholarships who dedicates her time to helping students win these things! Every time I meet her to work on my personal statement, I leave with even more great ideas for how to strengthen my essay. My friend Craig just finished his application for the Gates scholarship to do his doctorate in Cambridge! Now I suppose we’ll hang tight and wait for him to hear back!! Mine is due in mid-November, but I won’t have news until March or April… :/ We’ll see!!

It’s also job interview season here on campus… students all over the place are decked out in suits as they have interviews in between (or sometimes instead of) classes. I recently interviewed with Koch Industries for an IT position in Wichita, Kansas. Next week I’m headed up to the big city (I guess?) for an on-site interview to see if I can snag an internship for the summer!

Thanksgiving break plans are also underway… My friends and I would like to take a small trip from Sunday-Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We are thinking about going to St. Louis, to my roommate Kay’s house. Her house is a lot like the Weasley house when everybody is home. There is always tons of good food, her parents are super friendly and people are always talking and recruiting armies to fight the dark lord. Well, normally we don’t do the last thing, but this year we’ll be in the HP spirit since Deathly Hallows part 1 comes out NOVEMBER 19!!! Woo hoo!! We can end this blog update with a picture of me in my Gryffindor robes.

And Happy Halloween, everybody!!!

Here We Go Again!

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Taber

As you (hopefully) gathered from my profile, my name’s Taber Hunt from Arkansas, and I’m a sophomore here at TU studying Economics and Spanish.

Boy, summer flew by. I’ve only been back in the States for two weeks, but it feels like just a few days. Packing, moving into my apartment, and now working on the fraternity house have absolutely ate up my time. I’ve enjoyed it all, though. I can’t believe another awesome year is about to begin here in Tulsa. I’m starting to feel old! Speaking of that, I turn the big 2-0 tomorrow. Happy early birthday, me.

I’m excited for this fall – Golden Hurricane football (opener against Notre Dame should be pretty good!), John Mayer concert at the BOK center in a few weeks, hanging out with friends way too late every night, subsequently studying until even way later at night, and a little sleep where I can fit it in. I have to admit, after a year in college and two months in Spain with siesta-time (Yes, they really take siestas.), I’ve become quite a napper. Oh yeah, Spain…how could I have forgotten?

SPAIN WAS SO COOL. For two months this summer I studied Spanish in San Sebastian, Spain. What an experience. I’m not even going to attempt to summarize it here, though. If you’re interested in reading more about it, go to viajesdetaber@blogspot.com. If you’re not interested, well, don’t.

Right now I’m sitting on the balcony of my apartment contemplating whether or not to walk the 30 feet to the swimming pool…either way I’ve got to order some books online tonight. On that note, I’ve got some pretty good classes lined up this semester. They all SOUND awful, like “Economic Development,” but I’m pretty sure they’ll mostly be pretty interesting.

Well, I’ve decided I will, in fact, go take a dip. Adios, amigos! Check back in in a few weeks once school’s started and I have more to talk about!

Oh, one more thing. If you get the chance, you should totally schedule a tour of campus sometime in October. The weather’s perfect and campus is absolutely gorgeous.

Until next time!