Exchange Timisoara, Rumänien – TM Vibrations

The exchange in Timisoara, in western Romania, took place from November 13th to 17th, 2016. After landing, we went straight to the hostel where all participants of the exchange were accommodated. Together with students from the Netherlands, Turkey and Romania, a first impression of the city was gained. After all participants, around 30 students and alumni from eight countries, had arrived by the evening, the first official day of the Exchange began the next morning.

The topic of the exchange "TM Vibrations" referred to the influence of earthquakes in the planning and construction of buildings. The excursions over the next six days led to a steelworks where sheet metal is cut to size and beams are manufactured, a construction site for the expansion of the local shopping center and to Oradea, a city near the Hungarian border in the Arad region. After a short tour of the city, including a visit to the old fortress and the well-renovated city center with its many Hungarian-style houses, we ended the day in the nearby thermal springs of Băile Felix, where we ended the day in the warm water. The exchange program also included a tour of the Timisoaras brewery (the oldest brewery in Romania), a guided tour of the city and a trip to a museum that showed the participants of the exchange the political history of the country.

The highlight of the exchange for the participants was certainly the competition on earthquake-proof construction. After
a lecture on earthquake-proof construction, the students were given the task of designing and constructing a building for an earthquake test in groups of four with the help of macaroni and marshmallows. The task was to construct a building that was as stable as possible on a specific base area and with a specified minimum height and limited materials. The winner of the competition was the group that not only built the most stable building, but also scored the most points for their design and low material consumption. The jury was made up of the head of the department and members of staff. The buildings were to be ready for the test in two hours. The properties of the materials provided quickly became apparent. The soft marshmallows and easily breakable macaroni required quick rethinking on the part of the students and good dexterity. After the time was up, the design of the buildings was evaluated. It quickly became apparent how differently the buildings were constructed. They then went to a test hall at the university, which has a shaking table for earthquake simulation. The buildings were tested one after the other until they failed and the winning group of the competition was determined.

Everyone spent the last evening together again before the first group had to leave for the airport at 5 o'clock in the morning. A wonderful week with many impressions and memories came to an end and everyone said goodbye and looked forward to seeing each other again at the next exchange of another LC.