DAAD-WISE Internship Experience Report

20th

October, 2011

Sambit Das 4th Year Mechanical Engineering (M.Tech Dual 5Y), Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India

Internship at:

MPA-IfW, Technische Universität Darmstadt

Reflecting upon my summer internship in Germany under the WISE scholarship, I have to admit

it has marked an indelible impression on me both in professional and personal spheres. Those

months were like leaving in a dream. The months prior to my first visit abroad were full of

anxiousness and excitement. The visa process was smooth thanks to help from DAAD. I just

knew that after the internship I would never be the same person.

After landing in Frankfurt after a pretty rough flight, I was in awe. Of course the first thing that hit

me was the temperature which was nine degrees compared to thirty-five back home. My initial

days were spent trying to figure out how to manage day to day commuting, groceries, cooking,

opening a bank account and off course just looking around in this beautiful country. Luckily for

me I had rented a flat in the same town where Mrs. Pyttel resides. My mentor Prof. Brita Pyttel

helped me out a lot by lending me a spare bicycle of her. Erzhausen, the town where I lived was

midway between urban areas of Frankfurt and Darmstadt. In contrast, Erzhausen was a very

peaceful town surrounded by fields and forests. It also has a small lake nearby. Because of its

closeness to Frankfurt Airport at any instant the sky will be streaked by at least ten to fifteen

trails of passenger planes. Darmstadt in contrast to other cities like Berlin in eastern Germany

has a large multi-ethnic student community which creates an excellent atmosphere for inter-

cultural exchange. Darmstadt has a number of world class institutions and R&D facilities of

major companies are also based here. It is rightly called the science city of Germany. I quickly

made some good friends in Erzhausen and also at my workplace. Germans typically are a bit

formal and shy initially but once they take you in, they really make good friends. Language was

a minor hurdle as most of the youngsters of my age are well conversant in English though the

same cannot be said for senior Germans. Another interesting facet of German cultural life is

their love for pets; unusually even cats are quite popular as pets. Germans have nearly

speckles civic manners neglecting the some once in a while droppings by their pets and the

occasional smashed bear bottle, the remains of some wanton weekend revelry.

But the most distinguishing quality that has made Germany the world technological leader in

most fields is clearly evident at the work place. Sheer punctuality, diligence and long work hours

mark their life during the weekdays. The laboratory facilities at State Materials Testing Institute

Darmstadt (MPA) and the Department and Institute for Materials Science (IfW), the place where

I worked are a class apart to I have experienced before that. The Engineering research ideology

in Germany is more application oriented and more stress is given to rigorous testing and

experimentation while giving adequate importance to theoretical research. During my internship

I was exposed to state of art fatigue testing facilities at very high frequencies and multiaxial

failure testing facilities. The overall experience has spurred me to pursue higher studies in Solid

mechanics.

If someone asks me to summarize this summer, all I could do is just give a few tags. They

would be – work with cutting edge technology; exposure to advanced research environment;

weekend trips with friends to beautiful locations in Europe; travelling in German high speed

trains; relishing on delicious Turkish Doner kebaps; enjoying commuting in Darmstadt’s super-

advanced public transport; cooking my own dinner and appreciating my culinary skills

whatsoever; partying hard on weekends with friends Hans and Jessica; cycling around beautiful

localities of Erzhausen and Darmstadt.

Pictures speak better than words. To sum up my experiences I want to share these lovely

memories.