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Summer in the Netherlands

George Privon — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:24:35 +0000

I’m back from my summer internship in the Netherlands. I had a great time there both with the research and the cultural experience. It was great to be back in Europe and have the opportunity to explore the Netherlands. I highly recommend the ASTRON/JIVE summer program for aspiring astronomers. It’s an excellent internship and the people are awesome. More info on the ASTRON/JIVE summer internship. There’s a short page about my group here.

I’ve been posting pictures online from my adventures all summer, and many of them have been posted here. I’ve grouped them all into a collection. Please feel free to check them out at the link below.

Collection: ASTRON Summer Internship – 2007

It was a great adventure! I hope I can get back there soon. But for now, it’s onward to the next adventure: PhD!

Last Day in the Netherlands…

George Privon — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:03:17 +0000

My time in Dwingeloo is coming to an end. I’ve finished up my research and given my 15 minute lunch talk about the results. It went quite well as far as I can tell and people seem to have enjoyed it. Studying neutral hydrogen in radio galaxies was very interesting. Also, it was a lot of fun to see the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, where I got some of my data.

I had a great time in the Netherlands. It’s nice to go exploring and seeing Amsterdam, Groningen, and the areas around Dwingeloo (Zwartewaterland, Aalden, Lhee) was always enjoyable. I’ll have great memories of the country and the friendly people.

Soon, I start my next adventure. A PhD!

To Germany for some Ice Cream

George Privon — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:02:10 +0000

Today was my last opportunity to ride to Germany, so I hopped on my bike and left at around 10:30 this morning. I spotted a section that didn’t seem to be too far away. Probably about 30km to the border (as the crow flies). You can see the whole route I took (~100km in total) here.

It was a beautiful day, with just a few clouds in the sky…

I rode south through some familiar towns (Pessa and Hoogeveen) before entering unexplored territory. As with most of the Eastern Netherlands, it’s mostly farmland. The clouds were quite nice overhead and I got some nice vistas of the countryside.

Finally, a short while after passing through Coevorden, I crossed the border into Germany. My goal was Emlichheim, about 9km from the Dutch border. About half an hour later, I was in town, treating myself to an ice cream cone.

After my lunch and ice cream stop, I turned around and headed back. The rest of the trip was rather uneventful.. with more farmland and sunshine. I was getting a bit tired by this point. But, I did see another windmill! That brings my total for the summer to 4.

At 16:25, almost 6 hours and 100km after I’d left, I returned to the guesthouse. Now I think it’s time for a nap!

For the rest of the pictures from the trip: Cycling to Germany on Flickr

Lhee Harvest Festival

George Privon — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:08:09 +0000

Today was the Harvest Festival in Lhee. It celebrates farming and features a number of attractions including a tractor show and demonstrations of farming life 100 years ago. It was a really cool festival.

I went with another summer student (Gabriele). We started out walking between a row of tractors and a row of turn of the 20th century engines. 2- and 3-hp motors were loudly pumping water and belching out smoke. It was quite something. We rounded a corner and saw a fake house facade set up in a field. In each window there was a board with flames painted on it. About 30ft away, a line of kids were waiting for their turn to use a small firehose to knock down the boards and “put out” the fire.

Just past that was an open field where three horses were being used to plow for planting. Behind them, a collection of machines were being used to bale hay.

All around the town were stalls with vendors selling everything from Disney posters to wooden-shoe neckerchief slides. In fact, there was even a man hand-carving a pair of wooden shoes!

The rest of the pictures from the trip are online: Lhee Harvest Festival on Flickr

Dwingeloo Radio Telescope

George Privon — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 10:09:27 +0000

Sunset on the Heath

George Privon — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:51:40 +0000

There was a very nice sunset last night on the heath. I snapped a few pictures as the sun slipped below the horizon. See my flickr page for more.

Cycling to Aalden

George Privon — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:02:59 +0000

As I didn’t go wadlopen today, I opted for a nice bike ride. So far I’ve been North, West, and South. But not East. So, my decision on where to ride was quit easy. I headed off towards Emmen, which is near the German border. The route mainly passed through farmland and small towns. At the turn around point in Aalden, I was treated with the sight of a well preserved windmill. It was located on the very edge of town, next to a field of wheat.

All in all it was a nice ride. I covered over 30 miles at a leisurely pace, ending up with around 3 hours of cycling. I roughly followed this route, out and back. If I hadn’t been here for the weeks and weeks of rain in July, I’d think it was always sunny and warm here in the Netherlands!

To see more pictures from the ride: Cycling to Aalden on Flickr

No Wadlopen

George Privon — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 04:24:32 +0000

Right now I’m supposed to be almost to the Frisian Islands getting ready to go wadlopen. As you might guess, I’m not there…

All of the summer students (as well as many of the members of ASTRON and JIVE) were planning to go wadlopen today. Wadlopen is walking to islands while the tide is going out. Basically there are mud flats between the mainland Europe and some offshore islands. As the tide goes out, you can actually walk to the islands! Sounds like fun!

We were supposed to be picked up at the guest house at 4:55. However, only one of two drivers showed up. Bobby and myself volunteered to wait for the second driver while everyone else went ahead to avoid being late. We waited around until 5:30, but the other driver never showed up.

Not being able to go is disappointing. It would’ve been a fun day out.

No related posts.

Cycling in Zwartewaterland

George Privon — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:11:32 +0000

I spent today working on my fitness and enjoying the countryside of the Netherlands! I left the guesthouse at 9:10 and started riding. 6 hours and 20 mins later (including time for sightseeing) I returned to the guest house, having covered about 90km. I took roughly this route.

My first stop was the town of Steenwijk. It’s a good sized town and seems very nicely laid out. Near the central church is a sizeable pedestrian zone. As it was Saturday, there was a large public market going on. I stopped into a photo store and replenished my stock of black and white film, as I’ve already shot 3 rolls in the last few weeks. The shopkeeper commented that he hadn’t sold any film in a while but I was the second person that day to buy film!

I continued on towards the town of Giethoorn, the “Venice of the North”. This small town is known for the canals on which most of the houses are located. There is only a single foot/bike path through town. The rest of the transportation is done using the canals. Visitors can rent boats to travel along, or walk down the foot path. There are lots of cafes and hotels there. I am looking forward to returning at some point and renting a boat to explore the canals.

After a quick stop for lunch, I continued on to St Jansklooster, a nicelittle town which seems to be dominated by the presence of a water management plant for the region. I believe it is also the former site of a Cloister (hence the name).

I started riding towards Zwartsluis and was delighted to see quite a few groups of people cycling around in the countryside on this beautiful Saturday. The groups ranged from parents with children through the elderly. It’s always nice to see people on bicycles. As I rode through Zwartsluis, I came across a sign promoting the “South Sea Route”, a 400km bicycle touring route in the area through which I was riding. Even though it’s quite flat, it would be fun to do as part of a larger bike touring trip!

After riding through Zwartsluis, I turned north and started heading home. I rode through Meppel, which seems to be a fairly large city, although I haven’t properly explored it yet. Just north of Meppel, I saw an old wooden lock for a new defunct canal. It has clearly been there for quite some time and was quite neat to see.

Then, after almost 5 and a half hours of riding (almost 6 and a half hours since I left), I arrived home to the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory.

To see more pictures from the ride: Cycling in Zwartewaterland on Flickr

Seeing the Milky Way Again

George Privon — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:33:34 +0000

After another episode of bridge, which extended late into the night, I got involved in a conversation about the future of radio astronomy. Currently there are multiple “pathfinder” telescopes being built in preparation for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), such as: LOFAR and the Mileura Wide-Field Array. As the “good old boys” of radio astronomy are not getting any younger, the astronomer leading the discussion (who’s been working in radio astronomy since the mid 1970s) noted there is a shortage of young people with the knowledge necessary to design and implement new radio instrumentation. I noticed this as well when I attended a meeting for the US SKA consortium… most of the insightful comments and suggestions came from the older crowd of radio astronomers. There was a lack of activity from the younger crowd (not a complete lack however).

It got me thinking about my future in astronomy. I have been mulling over getting involved in an instrumentation project during my PhD studies. One opportunity I might have is with ALMA as the operations center will be down the road from the Astronomy building at UVa. Getting in on the ground floor of an observatory and obtaining intimate knowledge with the workings of radio telescope would likely be a great advantage. Something I’ll have to keep considering….

After the interesting discussion, I cycled back to the guest house. Crossing the heath, I was treated to amazingly clear skies (for the Netherlands). This afforded an excellent view of the little dipper ahead of me and the milky way overhead. It was quite an awe-inspiring sight. It’s humbling to see the vastness of the galaxy and the Universe. But also very exciting to know that we can learn so much about it, and that I’m part of it.