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By summerstudent Myrto Mangana> One cultural shock I experience every time I travel to other European countries is the lack of water in people’s everyday habits – and how it is replaced by other beverages. 9 out of 10 waters are sparkling, and usually quite expensive. But for me, water is everywhere. I spend half my day drinking it. So, to satisfy my thirst here in Berlin, I carry around a one-liter bottle that I refill from taps wherever I go. Still, I think we can all agree that tap water in some countries has a weird taste and it might not always be superRead More →

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By summerstudent Fernando Alonso Cordova Mariño > In recent years, science in my country, Peru, has begun to gain relevance. More and more young people are drawn to scientific careers, motivated by curiosity and a passion for continuing to learn. However, those of us who decide to take this path know it’s not easy. Limited infrastructure, funding, and recognition have been constant obstacles to growth. I remember a phrase a professor told us in the first years of university: “We have to learn to do science with sticks, ropes, and stones.” He wasn’t just referring to the lack of resources, but also to the creativityRead More →

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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.Read More →

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By summerstudent Beatriz Silveira Augusto > January 14th. That’s when I got the news: I was going to Berlin! Could there be a better way to start the year? I started planning everything in advance, since I would have about six months to prepare, in Brazil, the foundation for my experiments at the HZB. I thought I would be calm, ready, and organised when the time arrived. In theory, it was the perfect plan. In practice… not so much. Nothing worked at first I had to establish a protocol to express, purify, and crystallise a protein in order to run a fragment screening at HZB,Read More →

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By summerstudent Lluïsa Nieddu Vicent > 8:10 a.m. I arrive at Zehlendorf train station and suddenly hear the train approaching. I am almost on the stairs when a question pops into my mind: Should I run to catch this train or wait for the next one? I start running and when I reach the platform, I hear the sound of the doors closing. Aargh, missed it! But wait, the train was heading toward Oranienburg, and I needed to go to Wannsee… So in the end, I was lucky. That moment, full of uncertainty and instinct, reflected  the rhythm of my summer in Berlin. A rhythmRead More →

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By summerstudent Liam Collin > If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again. A motto instilled into me by my grandpa. Resilience is the key to success he said, as we sat by the fire and looked up to the stars at the family home in Solihull. A man small in stature with the biggest heart, he came from humble beginnings: growing up in poverty by the docks in Glasgow, he longed for a better life for himself and his family. During the day, he would work to provide for his mother and younger siblings. As the day turned to night, heRead More →

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By summerstudent Mariella Herrera > I remember that when I was little, it was a tradition to spend Christmas at my grandparents’ house. The Christmas tree was decorated with thousands of ornaments and hundreds of colored lights… or at least that’s what it seemed like when I was six. Presents were overflowing under the tree, and I was sure at least three of them were for me. As dinner time approached, my grandparents’ house filled with family, the aroma of the juicy turkey my grandmother had spent all day cooking, the tamales we all made (like any good Mexican family), and the buñuelos that wereRead More →

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By Ulrike Goldenblatt > It was certainly the highlight of an evening on October 8th when pianist Einav Yarden took her seat at the Steinway piano and carried everyone present away with her interpretation of Robert Schumann’s “Kreisleriana”, inspired by a narration of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Not only could the crowd of science talents and their leading administrators plunge into the emotions that this 8-part composition evokes, but her explanations gave rise to a deeper understanding of her performance.Read More →

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By summer student Nargis Kholmamatova > Remember the money that you spend to pay water bills: do you know where it goes? While it is different from country to country, the general distribution process should be the same. First, a portion of your money is spent to pretreat the river water to make it safe to drink for you. Second, it covers post-treatment of your wastewater to safely return it to the environment. Lastly, the rest of your bills are spent for the maintenance of all of the equipment that is used to keep the whole water treatment system running. The water itself, as aRead More →

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“The moment I stepped out of the lab, the sky above Berlin transformed. A sudden downpour ceased as swiftly as it had begun, leaving in its wake a vivid rainbow arching across the Berliner Himmel. It was my first unforgettable brush with the city’s “unberechenbar” weather—a local term for the unpredictable that I soon learned to embrace.” Having called two continents my home, I was now ready to immerse myself in the rhythm of a third. As summer unfolded, Berlin welcomed me—an eager research intern from distant shores, eager to dive into both the city’s vibrant culture and cutting-edge science.Read More →