Skyping and Typing | Daniel Rockwell

Here is an actual picture of some HNRS 2020 students Skyping Professor Bowles. No air conditioning and small tables won’t stop an aspiring group of engineers from learning!

Being able to FaceTime and watch Netflix are technologies that are undoubtedly taken for granted. I used to get upset when The Office wouldn’t load while eating at LSU’s 459. Now, I am grateful if a Google search fully executes on my fifth attempt. Although a lack of constant communication to the outside world is refreshing, I have become extremely aware of how dependent on it to complete tasks in my everyday life. What train do I need in order to get to a 4.7-star rated Thai place in the middle of Berlin without internet? The answer is… I have no idea.

After attending a truly eye-opening tour of Volkswagen, our whole group was able to catch up on some classwork on the hour and a half long train ride back from Wolfsburg to Berlin. When we got to the hostel, we attempted to be studious after an early morning and exhausting travel. Trying to keep my eyes open and write meaningful material to accurately depict our adventures was not an easy task by any means. For the past two days, all of us internet-dependent college students trying to check Instagram or Facebook for the latest updates was barred due to the spotty “godspot” internet connection. Almost every one of us oddly wondered why the hostel we were staying at owned a WiFi router that greeted us with a login screen for an Evangelical church group. Without questioning a thing, we all hopefully tried to login the internet. It was as if we were all fish out of water for a couple days that would do anything to just to get back to the pond.

As we headed to the study room on the 2nd story (really the 3rd story) of the hostel, we were greeted with a locked door. We decided to save the 140€ per hour for the room for a little after dinner dessert! Therefore, all 13 of the HNRS 2020 students gathered in the cafeteria of our hostel in hopes of connecting with virtual Professor Bowles. Now picture this: 13 college students studying engineering sitting around a cafeteria table in a German hostel huddled around a small iPad! As we all crossed our fingers in hope of some type of connection, the first Skype call to him failed. Brrring. Brrring. Brrring. As we expected, the second attempt failed as well. But everyone knows the third time is the charm. Suddenly, we hear a faint whisper from the speaker. It worked! The HNRS 2020 group was successfully able to connect with a human being across the whole world.

As I could barely expect Google to search what the Euro to USD ratio, you can imagine how poor the connection quality must have been. At some points, we aimlessly stared at a black screen while, at other times, we were able to see the outline of his face and chair behind him. Throughout the whole Skype session, it sounded as choppy as using a phone in a Faraday cage. By the end of our 45-minute deciphering session, we were all still able to have quality time together. Not only did we have progressive and successful education time, but it was as if we were sitting front row and smelling the fresh, crisp Baton Rouge air in the middle of Patrick F. Taylor Hall! As Professor Bowles says, “Poor internet connection is half the fun!”