My Last Week in Aachen, Germany

GRIP: Engineering Research in Aachen, Germany

Cover photo: The sunset over Lousberg, which was near my dorm for the summer.

After ten weeks at RWTH Aachen University, training in electron microscopy, and exploring Germany and many surrounding countries, the last week of the UROP International Program finally came. Suddenly, what felt like a summer that would stretch on forever, with so much time to explore, had a very finite end. One thing I’d never gotten around to seeing was the Aachen cathedral treasury. I decided to stop by after work and saw many relics and jewels, some dating back to the 8th century. I also visited the cathedral again to look at the beautiful mosaics on the ceilings, which were added in the 1880s as a restoration. Later that evening, I hiked with some of the interns over to the Lousberg Terrasse to watch the beautiful sunset over the fields, which is as late as 10 PM over the summer.

The next day, I had my last session with the transmission electron microscope. I spent weeks learning how to operate the instrument safely and trying to understand the optics behind how each lens works together to produce images of the samples I was analysing. In truth, I have still barely begun to understand electron microscopy and its applications, but I am amazed by the resolution of the tiny structures I can see. In the second half of the internship, I could operate the microscope by myself, and luckily managed not to break anything.

After my last day of data collection, it was time to finalize my poster presentation for the student symposium. It always seems like I need just one more week to “finish” my project, but the reality of research is that we are always looking to go deeper, and each new result can change our outlook on everything we’ve previously collected. One of the hardest parts for me is framing a reasonable conclusion while the information we have is incomplete, so I met with my supervisor to talk it over. For the poster session, I also needed to focus on telling the story of my work clearly and succinctly, with enough background for my audience’s existing knowledge.

The day of the symposium was bittersweet. We received our certificates for our internships and German courses. I can’t say I learned to speak German very well, but I can at least recognize numbers and find food sections in the grocery store. All of the interns had a chance to share their work, and I loved seeing the diverse research they conducted across the RWTH institutes in textiles, AI, sociology, medicine, and more. The next day, we had our official goodbye lunch, and after a last walk through the city, I packed my things and headed to the airport.

Spending this summer abroad was unexpected in every way. There were certainly challenges: many delayed trains, a series of heatwaves without air conditioning, and the thirteen floors I climbed to my room each time the elevator was broken. I’ll miss our intern trips around Germany, schnitzel and fries, and sunny ice cream afternoons. I am so grateful that I got to work with complex microscopy techniques at this point in my undergraduate career. Living in a place with such unique and ancient history as Aachen, bordering the Netherlands and Belgium, was easy to take for granted, but allowed me to see so many places I never thought I would. Auf Wiedersehen, Aachen. Until next time!