Archive for the ‘Germany’ Category

Wieland Award for Sustainable Technology 2010

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Almost one year after submitting my Master’s Thesis about the “Simulation-based analysis of Masdar City’s Personal Rapid Transit System” I’ve received an email from my professor in Germany saying that I’ve won the Wieland Award for Sustainable Technology 2009/2010.

Sustainability in technology and economy is becoming increasingly important for German companies. The Wieland Werke AG is a specialist in copper and copper alloys based in Ulm, Germany. For the second time since 2008 they have given this award to the University of Applied Sciences Ulm for theses that enhance sustainable development in ecology, economy and/or the society. In my thesis I was dealing with the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) network of Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Masdar City has been planned as a carbon-neutral, car-free science city. It’s energy demand will be met entirely by renewable sources. Public transport will be based on a PRT network with electrically powered and automated-guided vehicles taking passengers non-stop to their chosen destination. My simulation study analysed various demand models and optimized energy and fleet management to satisfy predefined service levels.

I had only a short notice of 48 hours that the ceremony will take place in Germany and I quickly took one day leave and booked my flight ticket from Dubai to Frankfurt and found a small nice hotel apartment in Ulm next to my university. The ceremony itself was rather quiet as it was during the final exam week of this semester. Dipl.-Ing. Ulrich Altstetter, who is the head of the central service department for plants, technology and logistics bestowed the award on behalf of Wieland AG. The cheque of 10,000 AED (2000 EUR)  is the highest cash prize to be awarded for student research at the University of Applied Sciences Ulm. My supervising professor Steffen Wettengl also received a cheque in recognition of his performance and to foster further scientific activities at his institute.

I really enjoyed to meet my professors and the president as well as the head of the graduate school as I was a very active student/employee and used to discuss and share my ideas with them. There were also many business men and alumni present and Mr. Marcus Fehling from Siemens gave a presentation about the future of the smart grid and e-cars which was very interesting for me as it was closely related to my thesis. In the evening we all had dinner together and I could catch up on the latest news and developments at my university.

In July the weather is wonderful sunny and warm and I enjoyed the lush green in the parks. In the evenings I met with my friends, enjoyed nice cool German beer outside the bars next to Danube river. We had a barbecue at my friend’s place and watched the soccer worldcup (Germany vs. Urugay). I had three relaxing days back in Ulm and the chance to visit my dad as well for lunch before taking my flight back from Munich to Dubai.

Posted in Germany, Masters | Comments Off

3 Weeks Holidays in Germany

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

After all these stressful weeks in Abu Dhabi completing my thesis, it was time for me to fly back to Germany for graduation and to visit my family. In the end of September I first went to Cottbus to stay a week with my mom. I also took the opportunity to attend the ASIM 2009 – the 20th symposium for simulation techniques hosted this year by the Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus. It was interesting, but I did not attend most of the social events as I preferred to spend time with my family and old friends from school.

When Nayan arrived in Berlin a few days later, we visited our friends Jan and Ailton to dance some Zouk. Later we met with my dear friend Tim Pritlove from the Chaos Computer Club sipping some cocktails at the solarbar overlooking Berlin at night. Then we relaxed one more day with my family in Cottbus celebrating Silva’s birthday in the garden eating delicious self-made cake and grilling PORK sausages :-)

At the beginning of October we stopped by in Dresden for two days visiting my childhood friend Maja, who is studying there. Nayan and me did some sight seeing in the historic city center of Dresden, which was badly bombed during the 2nd world war and is now almost completely reconstructed. Saxony has a rich cultural tradition, beautiful churches (Frauenkirche), castles (Residenzschloss) and exhibitions display the finest arts and jewellery collected by the kings.

Then we took the train to Meiningen and visited my grandma for 2 days and Nayan went flying in a small aircraft again.

Next stop on our tour through Germany was Ulm, where Felix my former flat mate was so kind to give us shelter. On the same day in the evening I had to present my master’s thesis at the university. We had arranged the Aula and about 50-60 people came: students, professors and people from the industry. Unfortunately we had some difficulties with the sound for the videos first, but it could be fixed. Overall it was a success, but I was so busy answering questions, that I could not even say hi to all my friends that attended. Some of us took the chance for a gettogether in Ulm’s nice bars and went out drinking beer and discussing how everyone made it through the past 6 months.

The last few days we enjoyed quietly, went for walks, did some shopping and danced Salsa. Before flying back to Dubai, we met my daddy in Augsburg. I had a great time and these three weeks passed by too quickly…

Posted in Germany, Personal | No Comments »

Short Holidays in Germany

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Actually I was planning 1 week holiday in England and visit some friends I know from South Africa, but unfortunately I did not get the Etihad ticket price that was promoted to us through Masdar. I was very upset because the offer was only valid two weeks and whenever I tried to call, nobody picked up. They offered me an affordable ticket to Frankfurt instead, so I decided to visit my grandma as she just lost her beloved husband in the beginning of this year. Nayan flew Emirates and I took Etihad, so I just arrived a little earlier than him.

We first went to see my grandma in Meiningen (Thuringia) she makes the most delicious food in the world. Next morning we went to the Dolmar mountain for a nature walk and saw small aircrafts flying from the nearby airfield. We went there to ask if they will take Nayan for a flight in a ultralight aircraft. He enjoyed this adventure so much.

Next day we drove towards north-east and stopped by my grandpas place in Torgau. Though the weather was miserable and rainy, we went through the historic city center, visited the castle and learned a lot about the history, as this is the place where the Russian and American army met and prevailed over the Germans at the Second World War.

Then we drove further to the north east to visit my mom and brother in Cottbus. We were more lucky with the weather and went for a great bicycling tour, did some paddling in the Spreewald, had a barbecue with friends and enjoyed some timeless moments helping my brother in his garden.

On the way back to Thuringia we stopped in the historic city of Weimar. Its cultural heritage includes the Weimar Classicism of Goethe and Schiller, the Bauhaus as well as the Weimar Republic.
In 1937, the Nazis constructed the Buchenwald concentration camp, only eight kilometers from Weimar’s city center. The slogan Jedem das Seine (literally “to each his own”, but figuratively “everyone gets what he deserves”) was placed over the camp’s main entrance gate. Between July 1938 and April 1945, some 240,000 people were incarcerated in Buchenwald by the Nazi regime. The Buchenwald concentration camp provided slave labour for local industry and is now converted into a memorial site.

One last night at my grannys place and then these short holidays were already over and we took the train to Frankfurt. I took Etihad back to Abu Dhabi, I really liked the power plugs for laptop at every Economy seat, so I could work a bit.

Posted in Culture, Germany | No Comments »