Heidelberg Conference

Last Thursday morning, Kevin and I arrived in at the Youth Hostel in Heidelberg for the DAAD RISE Conference not knowing what to expect at all. We were both wondering what it would be like to hang out in a group of 300 other science nerds.. and we were about to find out. Everyone was actually really cool. As soon as we arrived and put our stuff in our rooms, we met in the cafeteria to get our complementary buffet style lunch before heading off to the welcome ceremony and first day of speakers.  After being introduced to the DAAD RISE staff and being welcomed by an American, Canadian, and British ambassador, we were introduced to two past RISE students who continued their studies in Germany after having such a great internship experience and they shared some funny stories and some advice about getting accustomed to the German lifestyle. They were very funny because we all picked up on the same quirky German antics and find ourselves beginning to adopt them ourselves. After the talks, we were bussed out to the Schwetzinger Brauhaus where we were all served a delicious dinner (with a free small beer).  The dinner was fun because we had the opportunity to meet and talk to some new people and hear about how their internships were going. After eating and regrouping with my Munich friends, we decided to go into Altstadt (the old town) to go out. We ended up at a little dance club type place and had a really good night.

Friday morning we woke up early for breakfast, which was served between 7-8am, and then met in the lobby to go out for a company visit. Both Kevin and I were in the same group and we had a morning visit to EMBL (European Molecular Biology Labs) and spent the afternoon back on the Heidelberg Campus at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ). Once were were back on the University of Heidelberg campus, they showed us their new 7 Tesla MRI machine and let us play in the same room as it. Supposedly there are only 3 of these in the world and they are the most high-tech magnetic imaging systems to date that have been developed and are in use.  The magnetic field around this machine was so strong that absolutely no metal could be brought into the room. We were playing with a hairband with a tiny metal piece and when i accidentally let go of it, my reflexes tried to catch it from falling down, but it flew up and through the chamber. I didn't get too close because of the metal in my face, but I could feel the magnet pulling my face and creating pressure. That is when i left the room haha. But it was really cool. Kevin couldn't even go in the room past the warning line because of this inner ear prosthetics. It is scary how powerful this thing was. Even with thousands of pounds of steel (or some material) added to the walls to contain the magnetic field effects and a special floor, they said that the physics research buildings nearby were angry because they could still detect the magnetic alterations... oops. +1 for medical technology. After hearing all about the 7 Tesla MRI scanner, Kevin and I headed into the old town of Heidelberg again and had a nice dinner.

The group outside EMBL

7 Tesla MRI scanner at Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg

Saturday we checked out of the hostel and went to more meetings in the morning, followed by research presentations by 5 student interns in our field of study (Biology) who volunteered to talk about their projects. Then we headed to the old town for the afternoon to take a private tour arranged by DAAD RISE. I thought that the tour was great! We learned a lot about the history of the town and the stories behind some of the restaurants, shops, and breweries. Heidelberg is home a store that sells more varieties of absinthe than any other place in the world.

Kevin at the beginning of the tour

The famous Absinthe shop

View of the old bridge

Entrance into Altstadt (old town) from the old bridge

View of the Heidelberg Castle from the bridge

He looks excited.. it was a long day

View of the area near Marktplatz

Playing with toys...

Another interesting place we heard about was the called Heidelberg's Studentenkuesse ("student kiss"). Heidelberg's Studentenkuesse is the town's oldest confectionery store famous for its delicious homemade chocolates, which are now considered to be a traditional Heidelberg specialty. Back when the university days when dating was supervised by a chaperone, young men would purchase these "chocolate student kisses" for the girl they were seeing and present it to her as a gift. The tradition stuck for a long time and now has become very famous. The store has been passed down through for many generations and the family still produces hand made chocolates according to the original recipe from 1863. Of course I had to go in and Kevin and I bought chocolates to share!!! Gotta support those family owned confectionery businesses!

Heidelberg's Studentenkuesse confectionary store

Before heading back to Mannheim on Saturday night, Kevin and I had dinner at Brauhaus Vetter, a famous brewery on one of the main streets of Heidelberg. The food was fine, but the beer was absolutely delicious! It was probably some of the best wheat beer I have had in Germany so far! You can really taste a difference when it is fresh and has never been bottled.  Unfortunately, we didn't really take pictures, but I do have one picture I took of Kevin :).

View of the street with Brauhaus Vetter

 

Kevin enjoying his beer

And after all of this, we returned to my flat in Mannheim for the night and had the pleasure of skyping with the Jordans :).