By summerstudent Alex Giron > After studying Physics for many years, I feel tired. I hope I’m not the only one, but it’s really exhausting. Sometimes it’s just solving exams but not always understanding the importance of what I am learning, or seeing it far removed from real life. That was how I felt before coming here.
I realized that I was lacking motivation. I really missed the feeling of my early days as a physics student, when I fell in love whit it. But, luckily, I always try to be optimistic, so I decided to find experiences that could make me feel motivated again.
I have travelled to many countries already, but this summer school is my first experience in Europe. Since I’m a travel enthusiast, I wanted to do tourism as much as I could in my free time. But this time was different from other trips: I wasn’t interested in the most popular attractions anymore, but in science. So, I tried to find natural science museums or physic facilities where I could witness some amazing experiments.
Nevertheless, from the first day I realized that it’s not the place but the people. I never had to “find something.” Just being surrounded by my colleagues from the summer program, who understand and enjoy the same things as I do, even the small things, is something I can’t find in a museum. And then, the daily life of my supervisor and all other workers of my lab creates a really encouraging and motivating environment, which helped me see how much they love what they do.
Fortunately, that was just the beginning. We toured the HZB campuses, where I saw machines that I had studied but never had the opportunity to see in person. For example, the Transmission Electron Microscope, in which its instrument scientist not only explained its operation but also inspired me with his passion for the work. And of course, seeing BESSY from the inside for the first time was unbelievable. I never imagined I would be so close to such a huge accelerator. I even had the chance to be part of some measurements on the High Kinetic Energy Photoelectron Spectrometer (HIKE) beamline (although just observing and learning).
All of this was the dose I needed to enjoy science again. But the experiences didn’t end there. This week we went to Potsdam to visit the first Michelson interferometer. It was really fascinating. I didn’t even know it was there. To witness the beginning of such an important milestone in physics right before my eyes was incredible. We also visited the Großer Refraktor, a huge telescope inside a dome, which reminded me about my passion for astronomy as well.
Finally, I want to share a funny moment with my friends. We were walking through Sanssouci Park and wanted to take a picture of all eight of us.
One friend said: “Let’s take a symmetric picture of us.”
I smiled and replied, “Symmetric no, but supersymmetric.”
We all laughed because we understood the silly, nerdy joke. We struggled to be as symmetrical as possible, but in the end, we managed to do it, and posed completely serious.
These days have been some of the most exciting and scientifically enriching experiences I’ve ever had, and I will always be grateful for this opportunity.
About the author: Alex Marcelo Giron Rojas, from Peru, is doing his master’s in Physics. He is working with perovskites in the HySPRINT Photovoltaics Lab, at HZB, in the ISSP 2025.