This summer, I had the opportunity to go to Germany to work in a research lab, with funding from the DAAD RISE Germany program (https://www.daad.de/rise/en/rise-germany/).
One day after my last final, I flew to Germany. It was pretty rough going from thermo, to moving out of my apartment in Albuquerque, driving to Cruces, then to Germany, but it was all worth it.
One day after my last final, I flew to Germany. It was pretty rough going from thermo, to moving out of my apartment in Albuquerque, driving to Cruces, then to Germany, but it was all worth it.
| First, I lived two weeks with a host family in Cologne learning the German language with other interns, which was so much fun. I remember stepping out of the central station, seeing the Cologne Cathedral for the very first time, and just being so amazed by its grandeur. I would see it almost every day as I went out with my friends, took walks by the river, and explored the area on my own. |  Cologne Cathedral |
Me, my flatmate (another intern), and my host family at breakfast
After my two weeks in Cologne, I moved to my internship location of Bochum, which is a smaller city in Germany near the Netherlands. I worked in Kristina Tschulik's group at the ZEMOS lab in Ruhr Universität and researched the topic of the electrochemistry of individual metallic nanoparticles. I conducted electrochemical experiments, analyzed the data I collected, prepared presentations- the normal lab stuff.
I was fortunate to work in a very diverse lab group, and had a wonderful female PI and female supervisor. I had a lot of opportunities to get to know them- every Monday we had group seminars where two people would update everyone on their project, every day we would all eat lunch together where I would get to socialize and learn about the other cultures, and we regularly had socials after work where we would drink and play Smash Ultimate. My lab group comprised of 20 total people, and I was literally the only undergrad amongst the sea of brilliant German and international PhD's.
I was fortunate to work in a very diverse lab group, and had a wonderful female PI and female supervisor. I had a lot of opportunities to get to know them- every Monday we had group seminars where two people would update everyone on their project, every day we would all eat lunch together where I would get to socialize and learn about the other cultures, and we regularly had socials after work where we would drink and play Smash Ultimate. My lab group comprised of 20 total people, and I was literally the only undergrad amongst the sea of brilliant German and international PhD's.
 | Check 'em out: https://nanoec.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/en/ <-- Me chillin with my double Faraday cage three-electrode microelectrode set up |
Aside from work, I traveled every single weekend. In total, I visited 10 different countries in addition to 14 cities around Germany. I even got to meet up with Isabella in Bavaria! It was a good reminder that the world is still a beautiful and diverse place. However, I was extremely exhausted at the end of the summer from the constant work and travel cycle, so more than anything in the world, I looked forward to just sleeping in.
 Frankfurt plaza  Isabella and I in Valhalla near Regensburg! |  Cinque Terre  Me and some interns at the DAAD conference in Heidelberg |
Overall, I had a wonderful cultural and academic adventure this summer, and if there's one important thing I got out of it, it's that there is still so much that I don't know. It was such a humbling experience to be around all these PhD's and hear all these high-level scientific discussions that I could barely understand, so I feel motivated to make the most out of this school year!
Interested in how I got to Germany and how you could too? Email me at roselee3@unm.edu
Interested in how I got to Germany and how you could too? Email me at roselee3@unm.edu
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