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Institution
Medizinische Fakultät Carl-Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden
Host Institution
Host Institutions:
Norris-Cotton-Cancer-Center,
Dartmouth Medical School
Research Mentors: Thomas Schwaab, MD; Marc Ernstoff, MD
E-Mail: benitawolf@gmx.de
see Abstract
After my flight to Boston in August 2007, I took the Dartmouth Coach from Boston’s Logan Airport to Hanover, New Hampshire. I had not slept for over 40 hours and immediately fell asleep. Waking up, I found myself in the middle of nowhere. It was dark, no lights outside, barely cars on the interstate. All I saw were woods, mountains and the stars. After another hour, that I spent trying to find some signs of civilization and wondering where I was going, the bus finally arrived in the so called "Upper Valley". And although Dartmouth is such a remote place, I had one of the best years in my life, and this includes the time in the lab as well as private life.
I lived near Mascoma Lake in a tiny but cute apartment that I rented from one of my lab co-workers, The whole family gave me a very warm welcome. Living in the middle of the woods, directly at the lakeside, gave me the impression of instant holiday. After organizing a car, I finally got started in the lab, where I first continued the work of my BMEP predecessor, Adrian Schwarzer and started my own projects later on.
The lab is very well equipped and I got great support from everyone whenever I needed it. What impressed me most was how people interacted with each other. They are creating a friendly, positive and constructive atmosphere. Doors were always open and I did not feel this strong hierarchy that I often felt back in Germany.
Since I spent long hours in the lab, it was not easy to socialize properly. I joined a Gospel Choir and a Book Club, and also found friends among the numerous PhD students, who worked on my floor. At the beginning, I struggled sometimes with, what I thought is the American superficial affability. As I learned later, it can be seen as a kind of survival strategy in a country that unites multiple nationalities. Communicating on the least common denominator prevents people from getting too deep into any subjects that could cause arguments or offend anybody’s sensibilities.
I learned more about science and life in this year, than I would ever have expected before, and I would not want to miss this experience.
There were no big difficulties at all. Make sure you start organizing the DS-2019 early enough. I had great support from Dartmouth International Office and Thomas Schwaab, and it all went smoothly. I am afraid, that the greatest difficulty might actually be to get used to German circumstances again.
During my first week in Dartmouth, I received an e-mail from an administrative sender saying: "Code Red; bomb threatening; a bomb was found on floor 5, everybody has to leave the building immediately; evacuation." It did not surprise me at all, since Hillary Clinton was about to visit the hospital during the next days. By that time, I was not used to the American bias to all kinds of alarms (fire alarm, bomb alarm, etc.). I ran from my office to the lab and told everybody, that we had to leave. The others were not connected to the hospital mail distributor and would therefore not receive this kind of mail. So, everybody went home. At home, I mailed my friend Christina, who was surprisingly still in the hospital. She laughed herself to death... because I had not seen the 4 little words in the e-mail saying: "This is a drill."
- Great resource for lab procedures, background knowledge, etc.:
- www.biochemweb.org/
- www.genome.ad.jp/kegg/kegg2.html, for path-way analysis
- Car insurance: State Farm insurance offered me a very good deal.
- AAA membership could come in handy sometimes.
- TracFone: cheap handy that has reception almost everywhere, at least in New England
- Places to go in New England: Acadia National Park (www.nps.gov/acad), White Mountains (www.visitwhitemountains.com)
- I am more than happy to help with more detailed information, just e-mail me.
