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Institution
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn
Host
Institution
National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
E-Mail:
schatlo@yahoo.de
see Abstract
Bethesda (the area around the National Institutes of Health) and Washington, DC are notoriously expensive areas compared to most German cities. However, the National Institutes of Health are full of foreign researchers who have good connections to the local international community, so finding a small room in the range of $500 is definitely possible.
Life is great if you can muster the time. Starting from great bookshops where you can drink coffee and indulge in the most recent magazines over a wide variety of sports clubs, this area offers all you need. Many students come to the NIH during summertime, so this is the time to socialize ;-). However, I am amazed at how quickly you stick with people with similar backgrounds, e.g. Germans. This is a phenomenon I couldn't help but notice at many places where different cultures come together. People often prefer to hang out in environments they find familiar.
After a heart melting reception at work, I was soon expected to change my student work attitude to a yield-oriented business manner and work hours. Research is taken very seriously. In this serious atmosphere, however, you will soon discover that you can make use of a wide network of people who can cooperate on projects from different disciplines. I was in constant contact with a pharmacologist, pathologist, photographer, medical imaging facility etc. for my project. It was amazing to see how many extremely proficient people can interact to pursue the same goal.
One of the biggest problems is to find decent shopping opportunities since Walmart, Aldi and Co. are too far away if you don't have a car handy. I can only recommend that everybody take advantage of the government benefits, such as transportation refunding, free software and courses, since you are not allowed to receive imbursement as a foreign student. As for transportation, the area around Washington DC probably has one of the more advanced transportation systems in the states, so you are not necessarily depending on a car to get around.
One day when I was working in the lab, Katelyn called on the phone. Kate was the name of one of my former co-workers. So, we talked about this and that, and finally, after about 20 minutes, I asked her how her Christmas cruise was and if she had finally settled her family problems, which I knew bothered her for quite a while. She answered vaguely and I noticed she wasn't quite at ease, so I dropped the subject. Then I asked her where she worked now, and she replied, "Same place as last year," and then I became suspicious. It turned out I didn't know that girl AT ALL and she just wanted to talk to her boyfriend from the lab next door. This was one clear message to me: Small talk can be maintained for dangerously long time-spans. Scary…
