Random thoughts are racing in my extremely sleep-deprived mind right now. I guess I am just overwhelmed with a plethora of emotions. This is just one of them.
ENGG1100 is finally over. To be honest, I have rather mixed feelings about that. It was just the first engineering course of my four-year degree and I already feel like giving up, and starting to question myself why I chose engineering in the first place.
My project team consists of two international students (Me, and another guy whom so happened is from Malaysia as well) and four fresh high school grad domestic students. I still can't get over the fact that they are all just 17 or 18. Anyways, this team is not the best make-up, I would say. My group leader is super outspoken and overly optimistic about things. Sometimes it's a good thing 'cause it keeps the team spirit up, sometimes, it just hinders progress. We have stubborn teammates, as well as some who are take action too quickly before thinking it through. Teamwork isn't great, but it wasn't too bad. Things get done on time most of the time, like as in, exactly on the dot with no allowance at all. I think the greatest problem between the team and I (and probably the other Malaysian guy) is that the domestic students spend a lot of time talking about drinking, high school days and stuff. I mean, it's all new knowledge, but sometimes it's just too hard to relate. Or maybe I just sort of gave up trying after a while.
It was a rough ride for our team. After making the decision to get flower pots as the vessel for our system, there basically was no turning back for us. So for the rest of the weeks, no matter how badly the system failed, we pretty much still had to try our best saving it, by sealing it with silicone close to a million times. When silicone failed, duct tape was the solution, which ended up not working. In the end, we gave clay putty a try. Anyways, after all the trouble, we still did not manage to get a perfectly sealed system. It always is that one tiny hole that appears when all hopes are high, it was just so disheartening.
After the first testing day, we found out that our system not only did not reduce bacteria but instead increased it. There was also zero nitrogen removal. We knew we had to do some modifications, so we just randomly introduced pine mulch into the system without having an actual research on it. At that point, I was too tired to care already.
So, demo day is today. Our system leaked again. The initial flow rate was so low that we couldn't collect any treated water in our collection bucket at all. The treated water was still turbid. The system did not treat bacteria to the required standard. The pH of the water increased significantly. In short, the system went wrong in every possible way. We did not do great, but at least we passed. The best feeling was when we dumped our prototype into the bin and everything just shattered in front of us. That would have been the part I enjoyed the most thus far.
The final report was also an issue. Everybody in the team seems to feel like we pretty much have everything done till the very last week, when we realized that we are far from getting it completed. It was also quite disappointing that I've posted my final design in the group for so long but nobody cared to look at it till the very last minute. However, to be frank, after I saw all the hard work done by my group mates, I kinda felt bad 'cause I did not even contribute 5% of the total number of pages of the report. I know I can justify that sketching is pretty time-consuming and extremely exhausting. But I reckon all the other parts are equally complicated, 'cause if anybody were to ask me anything about the calculations, I would have no clue at all about what's going on. Again, my teammates think that we've done a great job. But after me proofreading the report, there were just so many loopholes and contradictions everywhere.The final results will tell, but I really have no expectations on it.
ENGG1100 is undoubtedly a challenging course. It really exposed me to many aspects of being an engineer. I've met new people and learned to work with new people. On a random side note, the best part is that my project leader Shaun, a Taiwanese who pretty much lived his entire life in Australia knows my hometown in Malaysia! In fact, he has even stayed there for three weeks, and we had a good chat about his trip to Malaysia LOL. Such a nice guy he is.
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