Would you care for German or American Pickles?

I just got back from the Aula or “Great Hall” of Goettingen University where their orchestra played Mahler’s first symphony and Beethoven’s fifth... and it was simply magical! I felt shivers down my spine during Mahler’s symphony and loved the playful nature of his composition.On our way back, we were stopped by a man dressed in Middle Eastern robes and a group of friends in bright yellow shirts. It took me a split second to realize that it was a bachelor’s party... and they were trying to sell us small bottles of alcohol and world cup gear to raise money (it’s some kind of tradition). They also entertained us by trying to convince me and my American suitemate that German pickles are better than American ones. Haha. We then headed to a Chinese restaurant in town for dinner and I realized that out of the 7 people at the table, every single one of us was from a different country!

That’s my lab in a nutshell. Even though we have many Germans in my lab, it’s the international atmosphere that makes everything more interesting. This past week was been really busy and challenging because I’m having to learn a hundred new things at once, while keeping up with a crazy meeting and seminar schedule. But thankfully, I’ve loved every minute of it! I didn't realize how big this place really is before I got here. We have our own little campus with different departments and buildings in it (we also have a major part of the German version of NASA here, AHHH!). Within the Complex Fluids Department there are several smaller lab groups and mine is Matthias Schroeter’s Statistical Mechanics of Granular Physics group. The lab groups in the department are not separated according to specialization, so everyone's sort of jumbled up together and that makes us a large interdisciplinary group of 30 scientists. Not only am I having to learn new physics, I’m having to learn many new names. Thankfully I’ve had some practice moving to new places and learning new names while growing up!

And Goettingen is a picture perfect German town. I LOVE it. It's got everything that you could ask for and I'm connecting really well with the people, culture and history of Goettingen. The picture below is of St. Nikolai's Church, which is in the city center and about 5 mins away from MPI. Don't be fooled by the columns... they don't really get smaller at the top but have a really clever geometric patter painted on them! The picture below is evidence of Goettingen's love for bikes. You just HAVE to own one here. FYI, I'm getting one soon because I hate feeling like a second-class, bike-less citizen.


The next pictures are of the town hall and a random cute street (because I love them).
Well, let’s move on to some real science now! Nobody's ever done my experiment in a lab before, so we're having to build the apparatus from scratch in our machine shop and with a whole team of experts. It's nothing like what I've ever experienced before and I'm just overwhelmed by how much work it takes to get an experiment of this magnitude set up. And Matthias (my PI here) pointed out that my experiment here is going to be MUCH bigger than what I do at Emory, and it's almost bigger by a factor of 1000! This experiment will be rather challenging because we're the first ones to attempt it in a lab and it's going to take a lot of work to actually bring theory to life. In its most basic explanation, and I pray that no physicist ever sees this, my experiment is going to be a glass box filled with tiny balls and we’re going to shake the whole thing like crazy. I found out yesterday from my grad student that MPI is very protective of their research until we have publishable data and does not like to have information floating around online. I think I am going to check with my PI before I post any more details about my experiment on the blog, hence the oversimplified explanation. I guess this whole experience is about learning new things about research in different countries... and I’m learning so much already! My mentor grad student Max is a great teacher and I know I’m going to have a wonderful time here this summer. The lab organized a BBQ on Tuesday to welcome me to the group and I had a great time and felt very much at home.
Other interesting lab stuff I learnt this week: if it says c.t. (cum tempore) next to the time for a meeting, you're allowed to be 15 minutes late but if it says s.t. (sine tempore) you are required to be on time, especially if you would like to avoid people giving you nasty looks. Also, don’t EVER clap after a talk or presentation... just tap on the table! I also discovered that there is such a thing as 3D printing (and yes, my lab does have such a printer). You basically print plastic objects using a printer. And another cool thing to do here is put 3D pictures on your posters so you can look at them with 3D glasses! I’m going to see if I can do for a poster in the future.
If you couldn’t tell already, I’m having a blast here! And yes, I’ve also had the chance to look around the town, go out with my lab folks and eat amazing doener kebabs. YUMMMMM. I’m going to buy a cheap bike so I can ride around in the surrounding hills next weekend. And of course, WORLD CUP fever has taken over Germany! Let’s see how things turn out for Deutschland. Until next time, tschuessi!

p.s. these world cup cakes, muffins, cookies, and all other pastry type things are EVERYWHERE. I might just die.