A BRIEF REPORT OF AN INTERNSHIP EMBARKED ON BY EMELIA DEDAA

GYIMAH TO GöTTINGEN, GERMANY UNDER AUSPICES OF THE

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE EXCHANGE OF STUDENT FOR

TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE GHANA FROM 1ST

JULY TO 31ST

AUGUST 2008

Under the auspices of IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for

Technical Experience), I, Emelia Dedaa Gyimah, had my practical training in the Georg August

University, Department of Crop Sciences, Gottingen- Germany within a period of two months,

that is from 1st July, 2008 to 31

st August 2008.

My practical training was based on my course of study, thus Theoretical and Applied Biology

(Biological Science). IAESTE has helped me immensely to understand the practical prospect of

some topics in my course, my unforgettable experience and many social as well as cultural

adventures.

At the Department of Crop Science the Head of Department was Dr. Joachim Schulze and I

worked under the supervision of Mr. Ricardo Cabeza Perez. I worked on the concentration of

Phosphorus in soils and plants in the laboratory. I was also involved in green house and field

work in connection with mineral nutrition of plants.

We had the field experiment in towns namely Sattenhausen, Gieboldenhausen and Lutterbeck.

Several procedures of plant growth in the green house, measurement of Sodium Chloride

concentration in a soil were also studied. I did study techniques in plants physiology thus,

Nitrogen fixation, Stem-cutting techniques, measurement of fresh and dry weights of plants and

also vegetative propagation of plants.

The machines, chemicals, materials and equipments available facilitated the ease of the

internship and have really given me the technical know-how and the basic rudiments as a

biologist having had the chance of using state of the art equipments like the spectrophotometer

which was used in the measurement of various elements such as phosphorus, Because of this

internship, I have gain the needed advantage and I am better placed in relation to some topics as

Hydroponicity, the activity of Nitrogen-fixing bacteria and the mechanism of fixation since the

practical experience has really made the explanations easier.

Apart from the educational and technical experience, social functions such as barbecues, tours

and seminars were organized for the international trainees. We visited major cities in Germany

like Hannover, Berlin, Hamburg and Northeim. IAESTE-Germany also organized a weekend-

long Burg-Party in Aachen of which they invited the trainees in all the cities in Germany who

had come from all over the world.

Students from different part of the world thus, Brazil, Turkey, Iran, Croatia, United Kingdom,

Spain, Greece, Finland, Sweden, Poland and so many others were present. We had a lot of fun

and above all we went to Holland on the last day of the party without a visa. That weekend was

the best in my life. A boat trip was organized in Northeim for all the trainees in Gottingen.

Talking about international exposure and mixing with a lot of people from different walks of life,

colour and race was something really interesting. I had the opportunity to mingle with them to

share ideas and their respective culture. For instance some values and practices that are

acceptable and highly esteemed in some countries are abhorred or ignored by others.

I will like to say that the experience gained from this internship with the help of IAESTE at

KNUST is worth talking about. The travelling, educational, social and cultural experiences as

well as the international exposure gotten will not only go a long way to reflect in my future

career but will also make me a more marketable a person as far as the job market is concerned.

Some of the things I learnt will be applied in my final year project which is in line with what I

learnt in Georg August University. I thank God for giving me this opportunity to travel and to

experience such training. I also thank IAESTE Ghana for creating this memorable opportunity

for me to be able to undertake such an internship.

To IAESTE at KNUST and the entire leadership, I will like to say KUDOS!!

These are some of the few pictures of events during my stay in Germany.

In the laboratory Hydroponicity experiment

At the institute (Gottingen) on the field in Sattenhausen

At the green house my supervisor, Ricardo and I

Stem-cutting experiment

At a barbecue in Gottingen Gideon Ebbah and Emelia in Berlin

At Berlin main train station Party time in Berlin

Emelia in Holland Emelia, Gokce (from Turkey) and Liane (from Brazil)

In Aachen with trainees from all over the world at the Burg-Party organized by IAESTE-

Germany