I used my study grant to spend a month working in Germany and Switzerland, first doing homestays in central Germany before working in a German-speaking preschool in Switzerland.
During my two homestays, I first stayed in a mid-sized town and next worked on a rural farm. I spent the second half of my time living with a Swiss family in Zürich, where I worked as a teacher in a preschool and was able to observe differences between Swiss and German culture, as well as between Swiss and American culture.
Throughout my experience, I communicated primarily in German and significantly improved my language skills while learning about life in both Germany and Switzerland!
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From January 13 to March 21, 2014 I worked as a research intern at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. My work involved setting up a laser system for Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for use on testing the consistency of Lithium-Ion Battery material, as well as creating the battery materials in question by using a specialized procedure developed at KIT.
Grüß Gott!