Friday, from 7 to midnight, the RWTH put on an event known as the night of science. Presentations, shows, experiments and displays took place all over the central campus. I went with my fellow CMU student. The first show we wanted to see was called 10 Minutes - Go! It was put on by students of British and American literature and consisted of 6 one-act plays. It started off...oddly. The first performance was a monologue from a woman who was either very disturbed by her own sexiness or was Medusa, the Gorgon. Either way, my friend and I exchanged confused looks afterwards. The other plays we understood a bit better. Our favorite involved Mojo Man, the man with the irresistible mojo. Will he use it for good or evil?
After the plays, we walked around the display areas. Engineers without Borders had a display as well as a "stamping contest." They had a bucket of sand and a long wooden rod meant to simulate the setup used in a country I did not catch the name of to grind up banana leaves for use as bio-fuel. The challenge was to see how many times you could pound the stick into the sand in 1 minute. I gave it a try and my goodness was it tough! My arms and shoulders were already complaining after fifteen seconds. While I did not break any records with my score, I did not disgrace the family name.
One of the experiment rooms that we visited had a demo that particularly caught my attention: the fire tornado. The person running the demo poured some acetone into a dish on a turntable and then set the acetone on fire. When he spun the turntable, not much happened. Then, he put a tall wire cage around the flame. When he spun the table a second time, the flames spiraled into an ever growing vortex. The demonstrator then explained what causes the phenomenon. If you'd like to know the explanation, click this link. For a bit less science and a bit more fire, watch this video.
After checking out a couple other booths, we headed over to the main building where the university's big band put on a concert. Waiting for the concert to start, my friend noticed someone sitting just across the row. He looked...familiar. It turned out, he was a German student who had participated in the CMU exchange last year. We chatted and exchanged numbers in case we needed any help dealing with Aachen and the RWTH. Then, the music started.
The band really knew what they were doing. They were tight and together without loosing the all important swing. The vocalist that joined them had a voice that was half sass and half soul. My only complaint is that the pickup on her microphone was turned down, making her difficult to hear. However, all in all, it was a good way to end the evening.
p.s. I know this isn't exactly a tourist trap, but I've labeled it as such because the event is annual and open to the public. If you're in Aachen in early November, it's worth looking into.
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