My internship abroad Luc Smulders Europe! Relatively close Easy - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

My internship abroad

Luc Smulders

Europe!

• Relatively close
• Easy to come back
• Friends and family can visit
• Easier with visa etcetera
• Europe is beautiful!

Scandinavia or Germany/Austria?

Germany or Austria!

• Learn German
• Close to the Alps
• Culture

Next steps…

• 1. Have a look at universities and companies.

Research themes? Location? Catalysis, Materials Science. Innsbruck, Munich, Berlin, Vienna.

• 2. Ask professors or other staff members for connections

Do they have other ideas too? Connections in Munich. Switzerland? ETH Zurich?

• 3. What do you want to learn?

Do you want to specialize? Do you want to learn something new? Something new!

Switzerland!

• 1. Several options in Munich, Zurich and Berlin
• 2. Read about research
• 3. Picked one group
• 4. Sent an e-mail with (assistant-) professor
• 5. YES!

Arranging and Organizing

• 1. Research application form

Work placement agreement (GSNS)

• 2. “We are not able to support you financially.” – first thing

Swiss professor said in his e-mail.

• 3. Secretary sent links about housing, finances etcetera

Ooh, it’s really expensive…

• 4. Swiss Mobility Programme!
• 5. Housing

Housing

“We don’t arrange housing for foreign students!” 1 month later… “You can sign up for housing for foreign students here.” Another month later… “Let us know before 15th of December 2017 whether you accept this place.”

Housing

> 50 min by public transport! Had to rent from Feb-Aug 2 weeks to look for other places was not enough So I accepted the place…

Summarized…

March 2017 Start looking around February 2018 Start of project January 2018 Train tickets booked December 2017 Housing arranged August/September 2017 Forms signed May 2017 Conversation with supervisor June 2017 Sent e-mail (8th) YES! (9th)

February 1st 2018, Los geht’s

Housing

Housing

Housing

~40 international students Shared kitchen, living room, study rooms, showers, laundry room, garden Own room: 23 m2, furnished, toilet and lavabo, balcony

Research

Nice building! Amazing facilities!

Research, Organometallic Fuel Cells

Research, Group and Culture

• Prof. Hansjörg Grützmacher

Daily supervisor: Esther Nice group members! Hierarchical Swiss German Warm lunch Knocking Apéro Group outings

City of Zurich

Pros: Beautiful lake, badi’s, museums, parks, festivities, great public transport, very international, nice restaurants… Cons: Expensive…

Finances NL vs CH

NL (€) CH (€) Rent (Monthly) 320 570 Lunch (Daily) 2 8 Public transport (Monthly, within the zones) 80 Fruits: Bananas (kg) Apples (kg) 1 1.70 2.70 4.50 1 beer (in a club) 3 5 But I also received… Swiss Mobility Programme: € 1840 (in total) Dutch Public Transport Compensation: € 90 (monthly)

Warning!!

Next slides contain many, many selfies!

Festivities, Parties, Drinks

ESN: international drinks, parties, pub crawl House parties Caliente Sechseläuten Friday beers …

Visits

City trips

Lugano Milano Luzern Lausanne Como Zermatt Strasbourg

• St. Gallen

And more… Flixbus Train (halbtax)

Hikes

Winter, Spring and Summer!

March 4th March 2nd

New friends!

Want to know more?

Just ask us! Patrick van Vliet (patrick.van.vliet@hotmail.com) Luc Smulders (lcjsmulders@gmail.com)