When Do We Get to Zap the Bacteria? - Denis Routkevitch

Hello! This past week and a half has gone by in a whir, and there’s a lot to write about. Hopefully the things I chose are somewhat interesting and representative of my time here.

So far, I really like working at IMEC. Everyone in my group is really nice and always eager to introduce themselves. We all sit together at lunch and I think the camaraderie is really nice. We’re all going bowling on Thursday (a rival group challenged us). My actual work is investigating the electrical properties of bacterial biofilms (a particularly nasty kind of infection that occurs on surfaces from sewers to medical devices) in order to detect and characterize as well as treat them. So far, it’s mainly just been growing and counting bacteria, but we should be getting into the real fun, i.e. zapping bacteria, soon.

Besides work, it’s been really fun starting to explore Belgium. Last weekend, we (the IRES interns) all went to Brussels for the day. There we saw some cool sites, like the Mannekin-Pis (peeing boy), Jeanneke Pis (no-longer-peeing girl), and Grand Place (pictured below). Unfortunately, we missed the peeing dog statue. I also had my first Belgian waffle there, which was unlike anything I was expecting. It tasted like a croissant in waffle form. Belgians say that you’re supposed to eat the waffle plain, but its strawberry season, I’m foreign, and strawberries are delicious.

Leuven itself is a great city. Everyone gets around by bike (there are even special stoplights for bikes). We all rented bikes after the first day of work from a nearby shop. Interns from previous years warned us about these bikes, and it was warranted. Three of us, including me, had problems with our bikes right away. Mine got a flat tire and I had to bike around for about a day on Leuven’s cobble streets before I could get it fixed. Luckily, they fixed it quickly and for free and now we can all ride anywhere we want with light hearts and ever-growing quads.

Well, that’s it for now! There are plenty of other anecdotes, but far too many to write down. Until next time, I’m off to eat some more strawberries.

Never have I seen something so red and delicious in person.

One quarter of Grand Place in Brussels, as depicted my horrendous panorama skills

This leafy wonderland is the view outside my window right now