Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. – Neale Donald Walsch
It’s hard to believe it’s been an entire month since I left Prince Edward Island, Canada for Reutlingen, Germany and yet here I am at the beginning of my third full week as an intern at Bosch Sensortec. My classmate, roommate and workmate, Jeremy has done a great job in his weekly recaps of our adventures so far so I’ll refer you to them until I get myself into a rhythm with these entries. For the most part everything in his posts (except for the running and rock climbing) goes for me as well. For this post I’ll highlight the two places I’ve been spending most of my time since arriving in Germany: Reutlingen and Bosch Sensortec.
Quick (Wikipedia) Facts: Reutlingen
- Also known as Das Tor zur Schwäbischen Alb (Translation: The gate of Swabain Jura/Swabian Alps)
- State: Baden-Württemberg
- Population: 114,310 (2015)
- Location of Spreuerhofstraße, the world’s narrowest street
About four weeks ago, after 32 hours of travel, we finally arrived in Reutlingen. To our delight we’re living in the middle of the city with everything you could ever want/need at most a 10 minute walk away. People have been amazingly helpful and despite not speaking a lick of German upon arrival I managed to get everything squared away (registration with the city, opening a German bank account, grocery shopping etc…) with relative ease in about a weeks time.
The area we live in reminds me a lot of Victoria Row in Charlottetown, PEI during the summer when the street becomes a pedestrians mall just on a bigger scale. The best part for me at the moment is by far the Tuesday/Saturday farmers’ market in the town square with fresh produce, breads, meats and cheeses from local vendors. After having no idea what to expect Reutlingen has exceeded my wildest dreams. It’s quaint but extremely modern and teeming with history everywhere you look. It even has an American football team and seeing one of their games is already on the todo list.
Quick Facts: Bosch Sensortec GmbH
- Subsidiary of Bosch GmbH
- Specializes in MEMS (microelectrochemical systems) technology
- 3 out of 4 smartphones worldwide use Bosch Sensortec sensors
- Three types of water (still, medium and heavy carbonation) come out of their kitchenette taps
I’m not sure if many people can claim they tried to cross a picket line on their first day of work but thanks to a 24-hr strike in front of the Bosch’s head office I am one of them. Needless to say, we did not get our IDs made until the following day but since then everything has been relatively smooth sailing.
One of the major reasons I wanted to do this internship (besides the amazing travel possibilities) was to experience the difference between working in academia and industry. On my last work term I was doing research within my department at my home university. There are definitely a lot of perks, like all-you-can-drink fancy coffee from 5000€ automated coffee machines and a hefty research budget but also a lot of rules, regulations and red tape. Much of this month has been getting my accounts and privileges set up, receiving hardware and reading papers. One of the highlights has been the number of students working for this company. From interns, to part time students, those completing pre-masters to PhD candidates there are always young people around.
So that’s it for me for now. Thanks for taking the time to read my first post. I will do my best to update this blog once every week or so depending on what exciting things I get up to, when I feel compelled to share more highlights from the past month or write down my thoughts on all manner of tech related topics!
Cheers,
Patti