Since the “end of the program”, I have still been continuing to work at the site for 4 more days, more than I anticipated. I knew I didn’t have to stay, but it felt right to do so. On Thursday night, I left for good, and since then I have been so busy with traveling  that I didn’t have time to reflect on the experience until now. 

Looking back at the project as a whole, it is quite amazing how much we were able to accomplish in 4 weeks. I believe that this would normally take around 4-6 months at the very least. It is also a very unique experience in that we are involved in both the design and construction of the project. In the real world, we would most likely be involved in one or the other. With such an opportunity, we are able to understand the implications of our design decisions on the construction phase of the project, something we would not be able to really understand otherwise. 

Another aspect of this project that made it very unique and allowed it to be successful is the variety of people involved in it. For this project, there are 4 main groups of people involved: the architecture students from Chalmers University, the structural engineering students from Chalmers University, the summer workers from Gothenburg, and lastly us, the engineering students from Rice University. Coming from very different backgrounds, each group provides their own skills and insights for this project. The architecture students helped a lot in the design of the appearance of the project. The also did the drawing necessary for the construction of the project. The structural engineering students as well as the majority of the rice students refined their design to make sure that it can be constructed and that it will be safe for children to use. Lastly, the local summer worker shone when we had to order/buy materials for the construction. Since most of us cannot speak fluent Swedish, we depended on them to get us the materials we need for the construction of the outdoor classroom. Without any one of the 4 groups, I believe that this project would not have been possible. 

The fact that there are 4 very different groups of people from very different backgrounds working together is something I feel like is quite amazing. It can sometimes feel like fate that we are here working together to achieve a common goal. But with some reflection, that is how most things work nowadays. We can no longer work in small groups and accomplish big things. We are very dependent on having large groups of people from different backgrounds and locations working together to achieve something great. The two things that prompt me to say this are the black hole images that require telescopes from all around the world, as well as scientists and engineers working together to provide us with the image we wanted. The second thing is CERN, which is a collaborative effort from many different institutions, let alone people. If this is the way things are done, this is a great opportunity to understand the intricacies of working in a diverse group.

Although there are hardships like I mentioned in the last post, overall, this project has been a positive experience. I am really glad I got to be a part of it.