Heidelberg - Day One

I didn't have any Internet connectivity this weekend while I was at the Heidelberg conference, so I am uploading all of the posts from the last few days a little late. I will upload them one at a time so things don't get overwhelming. Make sure and look at the publish date (above each entry) for a reference point as to what day I am writing about.
- John


Today was an unusually long one. I got up around 8 AM so I could catch the 10:30 AM train. I got to the train station at about 9:35 or so, and it was at this point in time that I realized that I had no idea where to go once I was in Heidelberg. With this lack of knowledge in hand, I decided to wait for the 11:30 train because I knew that there would be other RISE scholars headed out at that time. Two hours later, a group of six of us from Karlsruhe joined about twelve other English-speaking students all on their way to Heidelberg. Thankfully one person (of the eighteen or so) knew where to go once we got there.

The trip from Karlsruhe to Heidelberg was only about forty minutes or so and we walked the few blocks to the youth hostel we were staying in for the weekend. We ate a pretty good lunch there (free, which was nice) and then at about three all 349 RISE Scholars (US: 228; Canada: 76; United Kingdom: 45) were bussed to an old Heidelberg University building for the opening ceremonies. These were mostly speeches and greetings from industry leaders and politicians who helped made the program possible. The entire event was definitely designed to showcase the program and the scholars for the different embassy (US/UK/Canadian) and corporate personnel (German companies) and didn't really involve the scholars much.

But the room we sat in was pretty cool. It was a two-hundred year old room that was a gift from the city to the university (Don't worry to much about it, I haven't figured out how that works either). It was very lavishly designed both architecturally and through decoration. The entire place felt much more like a parliamentary procedural room, with two rows of benched-seats ringing the perimeter of the room, than a class room. I foolishly left my camera back at the hostel, so I am afraid to say that there are no photos of it, but let me assure you, it was cool.

It was also during this time that the founder of the RISE program gave his speeches. He was former professor turned bureaucrat, and a rather funny fellow who reminded me of a much younger version of a German professor I had (well, perhaps a slightly more 'in-tune with the world' younger version). One couldn't help but smile as he rambled on about this or that, constantly making jokes about how the German tax-payer went out of their way to provide such a nice room as the one we were in. A couple of the scholars also performed a couple musical pieces during the intermissions, and it was at this time that the professor commented that they at least had picked a profession that was beneficial to the current situation and that he, being a biologist, wasn't worth much at social gatherings. He then laughed at this observation for quite some time.

After that we had a light buffet dinner and then we split off into different panel discussions and presentations by different universities discussing their programs and answering any questions we had about studying in Germany. It turns out that there are tons of scholarship opportunities for all levels of students as well as research professionals. It also turns out that you are required to have conducted an undergraduate research thesis (or just be really awesome) to enter a Masters-level program in Germany. I asked a couple of the different university admissions councils what they recommend for students who aren't required to have a thesis to graduate with their BS. I was told that the best solution would be to get a US Masters with a research thesis and then apply to the German Masters program. Yeah, I'm still working on figuring that one out, too. Oh, but that wasn't nearly as bad as the poor woman who asked about getting in with a BA in Engineering. All the panelists (and most of the students) just stared at her until someone asked her why she would have that.

After the panel discussions most of the students took some time to walk through the old part of the city before heading back to the hostel. Heidelberg is a really scenic place, with an old-quarter clearly designed with the tourist in mind. A group of us found our way back by walking along the river Neckar that flows through the city, which only enhances the effect of the castle ruins just a short way up the hill behind the city.

So with that said, "Woot for bedtime!".