Time seems to run faster in Houston together with the city’s pacey lifestyle which appears to be the norm of the city. Before I knew it, the unpopular Monday had resurfaced. We started off to work boarding a metro bus which has become our dearest escort to work, arriving at work to a new 9th flow work place of Rice 360 was exciting as it marked a new era for both us and the staff. We were given a new work spaces in a big room in which we are able to work and consult our supervisors as we are sharing the room with them and also with fellows who are working on some other projects. The second week had begun and we researched further on the project. Our supervisors had proposed that we dig deep into researching about the cyclonic separation system which is a viable filtration system that might work on an oxygen concentrator. After doing much research together with Bwanali we agreed to the stick with the proposed solution as it seem to be more efficient in removing dust and cost effective than the other options that we also had explored. We met with the project supervisors later in the week and presented to them the project plan that we came up with . The project supervisors, Grant Belton and Jack Wang, thoroughly scrutinizes our proposed plan and gave us a better insight on the best approach with which to tackle the project.
The second day of the week marked the highlight for the week as we traveled to The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) together with other international students at Rice University, thanks to Dr Leautaud for securing the tickets for us from the Office of International Students and Scholars. The trip was fantastic as we toured around NASA and got to see space ships and hear about how the teams of engineers, scientists and astronauts partner to make trips to the celestial world a possibility. We were opportuned to see the first space ship to ever land on the moon, the Saturn IV rocket.
As the week drew closer to its finish line, on Saturday Grant our project supervisor took us to Maker Faire, a function where there was a lot of exhibits from art to science to engineering. It was a thrill for me to an electric car for the first time and seeing many other unbelievable technologies and art that people are making. As the day fade away we started off to have dinner at a home of one Houston Malawian, Mr Yobe who had invited in the week. It was a great getting to meet with people from home and eating with them. They shared with us about how their experiences had been in the city over the years and also encouraged us to always be focused on the project that we are working on as they will eventually help not only us but our country as well. Houston is gradually becoming my Home!!