Today was my first day of work. It’s kind of funny to think that I had another first day of work, although this one was quite a bit different in a lot of ways. I met Anders first thing in the morning about a mile from our apartment. Anders is one of two guys from Leif Hansen (www.leifhansen.dk), the company I’m working for, who is helping Amber and I get settled. The other guy who has been quite helpful is Morteza. Both are younger engineers here, who have joined Leif Hansen in the past six months or so, as Leif Hansen continues to grow in a similar manner as Thornton Tomasetti (www.thorntontomasetti.com). Anders and I went to the train station together to get my monthly pass and then headed to work.
After we arrived at the office, Morteza and Anders took me around the office and introduced me to all the people in the Konstruktion (Building Structural) department. The department, which is on the first floor of a three-story building, is about the same size as the Kansas City office I came from (35-40 people). Besides the Konstruktion department, there are several other groups, all related to the building design/construction industry housed in this building and an adjacent building, bringing the total number well over 200. In addition, there are other smaller offices around Denmark. I spent much of the day starting to look through and learn the Danish building codes. Luckily, they have one copy that has already been translated to English. It’s also nice that nearly every one here in Denmark is fluent in English. While we definitely plan on learning the language it’s always nice to be able to communicate.
I’ll have to post more about my work space, the canteen, and game rooms later but I couldn’t leave out one highlight of my day. Much to my surprise, they’re going to give me a Gore-Tex North Face jacket with the company’s logo on it. I tried one on today and they’re sending it out to get embroidered; I should have it back in a few weeks. This was a very gracious gift and will be a nice souvenir of my time here.
Today’s entry wouldn’t be complete without giving a little explanation of why I’m here. I’m the fourth representative from Thornton Tomasetti to be a part of a half-year exchange between these two companies. Past participants are Lee Ishida of Chicago, Chris Kahanek of Los Angeles, and Ken Maschke of Chicago. These three have been a great help as Amber I prepared for departure. Chris and Ken both kept great blogs (http://ckindk.blogspot.com/ and http://www.kenindk.com/ respectively) while they were here, something Amber and I hope to repeat. I think Chris’s blog entry from a year ago sums up the program best: "Not so long ago certain decision makers of Thornton Tomasetti (TT) and Leif Hansen (LHAS) decided that the two structural engineering firms would mutually benefit from partnering on projects: TT will gain exposure in the European market and LHAS can tap into TT's large project experience. This partnership has spawned an exchange program where young engineers are traded for six month at a time." That basically says it all. So chapter four of this story stars Amber and I. As a result here we are, ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment