Early Wednesday morning, I arrived in Frankfurt full of anticipation for the summer ahead that even a “random check” from the airport police couldn’t curb. After jumping on an ICE train to Düsseldorf and checking into my apartment, I immediately went to Heinrich-Heine University, my new workplace for the next ten weeks. Although I came towards the end of the workday, I was able to reunite with my fellow labmates whom I had previously met last year, as well as some new faces. I also got a chance to tour the newly-furnished laboratory space, which includes a phonetics recording booth! Unfortunately, after that it was clear that the jet lag was catching up to me, so I headed back home to sleep. Luckily for my, Thursday was a holiday, so I was able to sleep the whole day away, which left me full of energy for Friday.

As Friday was my first real day, I still had a bit of adjustment to do, so I was shown around more of the building as well as introduced to some of the procedures. The main item on my agenda however, was my meeting with my thesis supervisor, Dr. Kevin Tang. We discussed the current status of my thesis research, along with further steps and the publications to which we plan to submit our papers.

After a fruitful meeting and quick selfie for the blog, I was off to Aachen to see the friends I had made during my semester exchange with RWTH Aachen last spring. While there,Not only was I able to see my friends, but I visited all the familiar landmarks I used to frequent while living there (including the Aachener Rathaus below). We even had time to go visit Aachen’s Kletterwald (literally “climbing forest”), where I ziplined and tackled obstacle courses high among the trees. The day ended with a dorm grill party on the balcony, before I headed back to Düsseldorf to begin my first full week at work.