Weekend trips offer breaks from research

Today's blog post comes from Rustin Golnabi,  a junior at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. 

It’s already been about three weeks since I’ve arrived in Belgium. I should have started writing blog posts sooner, but with all the excitement of the new environment, trips every weekend, and just getting settled overall, it’s taken a while to be able to put aside time to write about my experiences. Hopefully this will be the first and only time I have such a delay in writing this!

The first week I got here was hectic. From the airport, Eugene, Matt, and I had to figure out the technicalities on the first day, mostly without a bike (which I have learned by now is absolutely necessary!). Then I went in for orientation on Tuesday, and were to start work that afternoon and continue on Wednesday. It turned out (as our luck would have it) Thursday and Friday were holidays, so my supervisor, Pieter, told me to just hang out and read papers until the next week began. That week, we also met a couple more Americans, here by NSF funding, who were planning a trip to Amsterdam that weekend. So the four of us (Polly, Eugene, Matt and I) joined! It was rather expensive because of the last minute booking and heavily touristic nature of Amsterdam, but definitely a nice first trip!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was beautiful. It seemed the only methods of transportation were by bike or tram. That, combined with the canals running through the city, made for very few cars and gorgeous scenery. To be honest, I don’t think I met a single native Dutch person there (because of the huge number of tourists), which disappointed me, but nevertheless, I had a great time, and I’m glad I got to see the city.

The next week, my work began to take off at imec. I was assigned to become familiar with the waveguide setup and begin characterizing a set of devices. While I have a slight background in photonics research, I can’t say I know too much about the subject, so I spent a lot of time trying to understand the concepts and what it was I was actually doing. I felt like I was thrown into a completely unfamiliar realm, but the people here understood that and worked with me.

The rest of that week, I just became more familiar with imec and the environment, and explored Leuven a bit. The town is gorgeous. I can’t quite pinpoint what it is I love about it, whether it is the incredible architecture, charming streets, access to everything you may need, or just friendly environment.

Anyways, that weekend I decided to go to Prague, where I would meet up with my cousins who were also travelling that week.

Prague

Prague

Prague was incredible, and I had so much fun with my cousins. We visited all the key spots, like the clock tower, the Charles Bridge, and the Jewish Cemetery. I met some awesome people on the plane ride there, an American couple with a baby who were in Brussels for a year on a work exchange. We happened to run into each other a couple times in Prague itself, then even ended up sitting next to each other on the flight back! It was an amazing coincidence, but I was so happy it happened.

Later, they offered to drive me into Brussels that Monday to explore, and I did. That Monday was another Belgian holiday, so I got lost in Brussels for the day, met a really great Moroccan tea shop owner, a friendly Museum administrator who helped me decide on my activities for the day, and I finally got the best Belgian Waffle I’ve had. Speaking of which, I don’t think I’ve gone a day without eating either chocolate or waffles (or both), and I have absolutely no regrets about that. I mean, there is a reason for their notoriety in Belgium. :)

The week following my adventures in Prague (and Brussels), my supervisor Pieter was in California for a conference, so it was a bit difficult finding what to do to keep myself occupied. The head of our group was hardly in his office that week, so I continued to read, familiarize myself with another set of programs I was to be working with, and eventually begin to take measurements on a new set of devices. The week was largely uneventful, but it was some much-needed time to relax in my apartment.

Belgian Chocolate

Belgian Waffles

At the end of that week, I decided to visit Brussels on Saturday, and Brugge on Sunday. I stayed in a hostel in Brussels Saturday night, mostly to get a chance to meet more people, but also because of the low cost. I did the free walking tour of Brussels on Saturday, which taught me some more about what it was I was seeing and showed me some beautiful sights in Brussels. I really do love the city; it’s terribly underrated. 

I would recommend to anyone visiting the area to make a stop in Brussels. I also visited the Atomium that night, which was pretty cool! I knew not to expect too much, but I felt that I had to see it, especially since I had just finished a year of learning about unit cell structures like this one (body-centered cubic!). The inside was just a simple exhibit with a restaurant in the top “atom”. 

It was of course too expensive for me to eat at, so I went back into Brussels for dinner that night. The next day, I took a tour of Brugge. I met some amazing people on the tour and train ride there, who I’m excited to keep in touch with in the future. I think that honestly 90% of travelling to me is meeting new, interesting people, and for that this trip was the best so far. Brugge is a beautiful little town; it’s one of the most well-preserved cities of medieval times. It was worth a day trip, but that was probably enough to see it all.

Atomium

Brussels

After all this sightseeing, I don’t want to stop! This weekend, I’m going to Cologne, Germany, and next I think I’ll head to Antwerp and Ghent (two cities in Flanders).

I’ve been focusing a lot on the travelling I’ve done, but the reason I’m here is to learn at one of the premier research consortiums in the world. You can really tell why imec has the reputation it has once you get here. The cleanrooms are first class, and some of the most intense research happens within this building. The work environment is definitely pretty contrasting with that of the US, though.

Brugges

Rustin Golnabi

People tend to take full hour lunch breaks, come in whenever they want, and leave whenever they want, and just hang out and take coffee breaks in between as well. It makes for a really relaxed working environment, where you don’t at all feel stressed. Despite all this, however, the work is results-based, so everyone actually gets a lot done. Belgium is one of the most productive countries in the world, actually! It’s pretty cool to know that despite the lack of pressure put on the scientists, everyone is always busy and getting something done.

My work, specifically, hasn’t really taken off too much because the setup my group had planned for me to work on this summer wasn’t ready in time. In fact, it should probably be ready next week. For now, they have me characterizing some existing devices on a large wafer, not only to familiarize myself, but also to add to the results they are collecting from this set of “test” waveguides and resonators. I like the work, though it can be frustrating, and I find it interesting. It may not have been my ideal topic of research for this summer, but I can already tell that I am learning a lot, and from one of the best places in the world to learn!

Leuven

 All photos by Rustin Golnabi.

Levuen