Electrical and Computer Engineering Design Experience I

My EE 395A class, called Electrical and Computer Engineering Design Experience I is not as bad as it sounds. The entire class is centered around one microchip: the PIC 16F877 Microcontroller Unit (MCU). Sounds boring? It's not. This one chip, which is the size of a stick of gum, is so versatile that it can be used to command anything from a microwave oven to a traffic light to your alarm clock. During this quarter I am going to learn everything there is to know about this little chip. It may sound dumb to you, but I like it.

The professor of this class, Dr. Maarten Uijt de Haag, Ph.D, may sound like a square, but he is not. This Netherlander is not your average foreign prof. He highlights his classes by using colloquialisms like, "dude" "man" and "shitload". He is a really cool guy and he really seems to care about his students, as well as interact with them as friends.

I wonder if he is so cool because he comes from Europe. The Netherlands to be specific. Crystal wants me to see if he smokes weed. I am assuming he has been to Amsterdam. Whether he lights up or not, I want to go to Europe. Unlike most of my high school class, I have never been. I plan to leave soon after I graduate, and I hope to stay at least a month. All are invited to come with me and flee the oppressive dictatorship of Uncle Sam, even if only for a short time.