Mice and dating.

You will all have to forgive me for writing so rarely, but my blog entries now depend on how much time and energy I have after work. Yes! I officially have a work schedule!

At the moment, I am busy with the training, and working on a memory experiment for mice. It’s quite tedious because you need to repetitively observe them, take note, and run numerous trials every day, but it really is quite fascinating. The baby mice for my future drug experiments arrived today and I’m super excited to get started. Because there are so few in this generation, I will only be able to observe them, but it should be really interesting! Anyways, experiments, and tons of reading have been occupying my time. Things are slowly starting to pile up. Luckily, the people here really help each other out and nobody is left hanging.

On a completely different note, I wanted to share a few thoughts I had the past few weeks as I have been able to travel back and forth between Germany and Switzerland via trains. Firstly, the atmosphere here is different. Unless you are in a huge hub like Frankfurt, people in general are pretty laid back and mellow. Not only in their personality, but also with their views on life, like relationships. Maybe it’s because European countries are so small but relationships here are taken so seriously. And I mean that in a good way. Casual dating exists here too, but it’s rare, in my opinion. People that I know in relationships are really in love. And people really care about relationships. It’s an important part of their lives here. Personally, I felt that back in Canada, work, school and family/friends were top priority, in general. But I’ve noticed that most of my German friends here feel that their boyfriend/girlfriend are just AS important. And friends ask their friends how their relationships are going because it’s important for them that they are going well too. If it isn’t, they talk to each other to figure out a way to fix it, just like you would for university course selections, a deadline for a presentation, etc.

Just this past Sunday, I was on the train and I am going to unofficially say that Sunday night in Germany is a sad night for all the people in long distance relationships. At every stop, there were couples hugging and kissing each other goodbye for the week. I have never seen so many long distance couples part from each other in a group at the same time! It was so interesting to see and I truly felt like I could relate. And maybe I’m just being a romantic, but it made me really happy to see these people caring and loving someone so much at the train station. I should have been sad because they were leaving each other for the week, but it didn’t! Just picture a whole platform of men and women waving goodbye to their significant others, anticipating the next week until they can see each other. And until then, technology has to suffice.

Of course long distance is not ideal, but that is the situation for them. And this is how they are working through it. I admire that. It gives me strength and hope.

If any of you are struggling, I only hope that you do whatever makes you happy. Life’s too short.

Love you all,

Erin.

A Fest in Oktober. And Göttingen.

I have finally experienced Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany and it is DEFINITELY an experience. I wish I could have spent more time there but I was only able to drop by in Munich for a few days to visit some friends on my way to Göttingen.

Firstly, I'd like to say that it is crowded. And it is huge! There are 7 million people who attend Oktoberfest in exactly 16 days. Luckily we went at night and it was raining so it was a lot less crowded. But Oktoberfest starts at 9am until 11pm. It's a full day of beer, pretzels, sausages, potatoes, not to mention amazing carnival rides and beer halls. I swear, I don't think I blinked once. I'm not even a huge beer fan but once you're there, it's all you can see.

And now, I'd like to also share a bit of the news on my status in Göttingen. I arrived about two weeks ago and I've been doing an internship trial session until now at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany. It was a time for me to get to know the people who work here, as well as become familiar with some of the experiments and tasks that would be involved in my project if I were to stay here. It was a lot to get used to, especially with the mice. The lab is cool because they cross molecular biology with clinical research and behavioural studies in mice. I've never seen such an integration in a lab before! Just last week, I learned how to surgically remove the brain from a mouse, and remove some of the sections for mRNA analysis! I thought it was super cool... although I won't be doing too much of the surgical work. Instead, I would be doing more behavioural experiments, which brings me to my main point: I have accepted the internship position here until the end of May! I have been assigned a project which involves studying mice behaviour, focusing on a drug tolerance and addiction. It's going to be a lot of work. I can see that in the solid group of the MPI team here, but I am motivated and eager to learn. But to be honest, it still hasn't hit me properly and it will probably take some time. I will most likely not be able to make it home for Christmas but would love to stay in contact with you all!

Thank you all for being so supportive throughout this whole process, especially this summer. It was a lot of work and preparation but in the end, it all worked out, even when it was really out of my hands. I have faith...

I hope that this update finds you all well, and keep checking back for more posts! :)

erin.