By summerstudent Gia Van Tran >
Hop on the RE train at 7h12. I take out my pen and notebook to write down what I did yesterday and stupid mistakes to avoid. Then, I note down my daily tasks and some papers that would be nice to read when I was not in experiment time. That should take me at most 5 minutes to finish, so I still have around 50 minutes of commuting time.
Moving on, I start brainstorming ideas and structures for essays for my grad school application at the end of the year. Just some general questions: what are my motivations in the field? Because diving into these topics makes me feel excited and happy, and I like that feeling! This thought always bumps up when I think about it, but for sure, it’s not a good one for a formal application. Hmm, tricky! And then, what is my future plan? That’s better! I like planning stuff, and it’s more direct to write down. Nice, at least I have something on the paper. Progress. Next school, next questions, thinking and writing. Finally, the train arrives at Osktreuz, switches to S-Bahn, and continues thinking for another 10 mins until reaching Adlershof. Go to the office, make a nice coffee and prepare to start a new day!
Nice plan, however…
What a nice commuting plan I had before moving to Berlin! However, the updated journey is much less productive. Hop on the train a bit earlier, at 6h54. But it is so crowded that I usually end up sandwiched between people half the time. Super sleepy, just waiting for the coffee in my office. And since my brain refuses to work, my plan for grad school essays goes out the window. Instead, I plug in my earphones, discover some musics, and look around aimlessly until I arrive at Adlershof. What an unproductive way to spend two hours of my day. It was so frustrating when everything didn’t go as planned. But Gracie Abrams’ songs are so good, I can’t believe I just discovered her after coming to Berlin. Should I go to her concert next year, hmm?
Chilling with good music on a busy train, letting the whole city pass by, really brings me back to some good old times when I was still in Vietnam two years ago. Back then, I did my high school in a city different from my family’s place, so usually on the weekend, I would hop on a bus that took around an hour to get home. Now, it is also an hour to go from one place to another, but it has become a daily thing. I used to feel very down for that one-hour bus ride, but now, an hour to BESSY doesn’t feel that bad (unless “D” in “DB” become “Delay” sometimes). I wonder what changed. On that bus, I also did nothing, just plugged in some music and enjoyed whatever happened outside the window. It was a kind of weekend ritual for me then. It took more than two years for that refreshing feeling to return, this time in Berlin. Four weeks have passed and now, the commuting time seems more enjoyable, as two years ago. Given that I usually spend a bit extra time in BESSY, this mental break is surprisingly refreshing. It’s a time to turn off my brain, reset my thoughts, prepare myself for the day or unwind after a long day at work.
While my initial plan for a productive commute in Berlin fell apart, I found a silver lining in the unexpected calm and enjoyment of my daily train rides. What began as a frustrating experience has blossomed a cherished routine, evoking fond memories of leasurely weekend bus rides back in Vietnam. It’s a reminder that sometimes, even when plans go awful, we can always find comfort and joy in the simplest moments. For sure, I will really miss these wasted moments when my time in Berlin draws to a close. But for now, I need to leave the train and enjoy a new day in BESSY!
On the author: Gia Van Tran comes from Bien Hoa city in Vietnam and spends July and August in Berlin in the International Summer Student Programme 2024 at HZB. He works in the commissioning of a new spectrometer AXSYS TES at the beamline UE52_SGM at BESSY II.