Gillian attended the Summer School Marktoberdorf 2014 with the theme Dependable Software Systems Engineering. Here is her story.
Pre-departure
Before you leave there are a few things that can make your trip and travel a bit easier.
It is a good idea to do some online research about the area, places to see, and general history and culture of the city or town. Visiting a place and knowing something about the history and context makes the whole experience much more enjoyable.
It is also helpful if you have time to learn a few words of the language of the country you will be visiting. In my experience, people on the trains didn’t speak much English, which can be a bit difficult if you’re not quite sure where you need to go.
I also wish I had downloaded offline maps and translations for the area like some of the other summer school participants. We didn’t often have internet access, so it can be very easy to get lost, especially if you can’t find someone who can speak English to help. Having maps printed out with important locations marked helps a lot, since it’s much easier to point out where you need to go and have someone indicate directions than to try to understand spoken directions in a foreign language.
It helps to pack as light as possible, since there will be lots of travelling, getting on and off trains, airports, etc., and the last thing you want is to be struggling with your luggage while trying to figure out the directions. It helps to have a luggage that maneuvers easily.
Make sure you take the correct type of power plugs for cellphones and laptops, and it also helps to take a usb charging cable for your phone, since you are more likely to be able to find a usb port for charging than a power socket. I even had one on the plane.
I am lucky to have an international passport, but the exchanges office did send me all the documentation that I would have needed to apply for a visa.
It is also worth shopping around for different travel options. Since I was going to Europe, there are many different routes to the destination, and it’s worth checking all possible combinations, such as flying through different airports or taking a train part of the way, as it can work out cheaper.
Experience at Summer School
The best thing about the summer school itself was the exposure to new people and ideas from many different countries, universities, and research topics. The summer school ran over two weeks, which provided plenty of time to talk in detail with everyone else about their own research and interests, and learn about different cultures.
The participants came from over thirty different countries, so it was really an opportunity to learn about many different parts of the world.
The invited lecturers are different every year, so the topics presented vary as well. We were lucky enough to have lecturers come from nine different universities, some from other parts of Europe, and some from the US. They all were really well recognised in their field, and some of them were the authors of well known textbooks.
All the participants and lecturers stayed at a boarding school in the area, so that everyone was together, and ate every meal together, which made it much easier to chat with all hundred students and the twelve lecturers. The school also tried to serve authentic food from the region and planned excursions in such a way that one would also learn something about the area.
Since all the participants were studying in the same field, I learnt a lot just from chatting to them about their own research and projects going on at their universities. The lecturers also tried to discuss each student’s own research topic with them, and offer their advice. The lectures that were presented were on the lecturer’s own research, so they were all experts on their topics, and, at the end of the day, we were given an hour of formal discussion with them to ask questions. The topics aren’t things that are presented in courses in my department at Stellenbosch, so it really afforded me the opportunity to learn things that I otherwise might not have.
The days were structured such that we would have about four lectures before lunch, a two-hour lunch break, more lectures, and then another two-hour break before dinner. The exchange office also organised free access for us to the local swimming pool where we could go during our breaks. We were given one day off and a couple of options of places to visit. The most famous place in the area is the Neuschwanstein Castle, so the largest group of us headed there for the day. On another day, we spent part of the day on an excursion to the Fellhorn mountain, which is on the border between Austria and Germany. They organised a cable car trip to the top of the mountain and we were able to walk along the top of the mountain with Austria on one side and Germany on the other. Afterwards they organised a big buffet for us at the ski station on the mountain.
Return
Driving home from the airport I really appreciated how beautiful our town is, even compared to what I had seen in Germany. I came back with a lot of new ideas for my own research, a broader knowledge of the field, and a whole book full of people I could contact for discussion.
I also realised that while my department is a lot smaller than those of the students in the other countries I had spoken to, this is also a good thing as we receive a lot of individual attention.
I also learned from the other students that they try to attend a summer or winter school program every year, which made me realise that there are so many opportunities out there that we can take advantage of.
In all, I consider the summer school to be a tremendously rewarding experience, not only personally, but also socially and academically, and would encourage anyone who is interested or able to go.
I definitely plan to travel more in the future, whether this means doing a longer exchange, an internship, or attending more short courses remains to be seen.