School

WOW! I think this word alone just about sums it up. The building itself is amazing. Very old on the outside but very modern on the inside. It was renovated last year the floor we work on has got two class rooms, and cleaning room, a polishing room and a lathe room with a few electronic lathes and milling machines etc. There is a floor above us which I have not been on but I believe there is another workshop up there for the other various shorter courses they run throughout the year. Down stairs is our large boardroom where we do our theory, admin offices and a large lunch room that opens onto a very large deck that overlooks the lake with the Alps in the background. Have only had a very brief glimpse of the Alps at this stage due to the weather which seems to be quite murky but it is going to be fabulous come spring and summer!

Some of you may have already seen my pic with my fabulous lab coat. It’s the smallest size they have and I still need to roll up my sleeves. (Yeah laugh I know you are). The tutor has a microscope on his desk that shows what he is looking at on a TV screen in the corner of the classroom. It is fantastic when he is showing you what you’ve done right or wrong and the whole class gets to be in on it too. Really it is a fantastic teaching tool! The work benches are out of this world with us each having a complete set of tools of at our finger tips and air blower and suction that you will see (the black pipes sticking out at the back in the middle like bug antenae) and our own timing machine also. The benches are just beautiful and are so functional. I WANT one, however the benches are apparently worth more than the course itself each so at this stage it’s a little out my price league. However I do know some cabinet makers back home and mum has the job of making me a lab coat (she just doesn’t know it yet).

First exam coming up this Friday, AARGHHH!!! Had a practice test today which I will get the results of tomorrow so hopefully I will have nothing to worry about. You need a four out of six to pass. It is only four hours which I discovered today does not give me as much time as I thought it would. Waiting for the cleaning machine to give me back my watch was the longest 16 minutes of my life. I know to put it in at least twenty minutes sooner for Friday. The second cleaning machine is currently out of action and the machine only cleans three at a time so this means I’m going to have to try and jump in ahead of some others.

There are six students doing the course, two from Bulgaria, one from Libea, one from Sweden, one from OZ and me from NZ of course. It makes for a very interesting bunch but we are all getting along quite nicely. This is a pic of our lunch last Friday. We had to go into town to sign our student permits so stayed out for lunch. The two at the far end of the table are the tutors and Serag from Libea is taking the picture.