Looking back: One last summer academy with the Studienstiftung

August 22, 2010 – September 4, 2010

The Mount Everest experience reminded me of climbing the Zugspitze about two months before I set off on the big trip. But to put this “Zugspitze” flashback into the full context of my trip, there’s first a flashback to the flashback:
During my PhD I held a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation). The doctoral forums and summer academies were especially valuable to me in every respect. With my last academic degree the funding automatically came to an end, and I had just one more chance to attend a summer academy. The only problem: it took place just a few weeks before the start of my big trip. I had neither a backpack nor any outdoor clothing – or, to put it another way: apart from a few odds and ends, all I had so far was a good pair of hiking boots and a new digital camera – everything else still had to be bought. If I really went to the summer academy, I’d have less than two weeks left for all the shopping. …
Oh well… You work more efficiently under time pressure anyway. Besides, it would be a chance to break in my hiking boots and get to know my new point-and-shoot. I decided not to pass up the opportunity and went to the summer academy – and I’m glad I did!

Besides me, another student from Bochum had signed up. Daniel and I drove his car towards southern Germany, picked up two more Studienstiftung scholars in Frankfurt, finally arrived in the evening in Rot an der Rot (near Lake Constance) and settled in at…

…the local monastery…

…with its monastery church, which is well worth a look…

…in our rooms in the adjoining St. Norbert youth house. My last two weeks with Studienstiftung scholars – this is going to be fun!

I opted for the working group “Are we becoming God? - The new world of synthetic biology”, led by Prof. Dr. Jörg Stülke and Dr. Ulf Gerth, and chose “Biodiesel from E. coli” as my presentation topic. Given my scientific background, this was a really lovely, discussion-packed way to round off my university education. And I can say with a clear conscience that the whole working group, including the two lecturers, was truly excellent! Besides the academic side, the social side plays a major role at a summer academy as well – a very major one, in fact.

So on the many hikes through the woods,…

…past lakes,…

…flowers,…

…animals,…

…along meadows…

…and fields…

…and back to the monastery, I had plenty of opportunity to meet nice people and, of course, to give my camera a thorough workout. ;)

The night hikes under the full moon, too,…

…past spooky cowsheds…

…and psychedelic-looking cows…

…showed what my digital camera could do. The picture above even won 1st place in the photo contest and thus made it onto the front page of the academy newspaper. :D And the competition, armed with professional SLRs, was not to be underestimated. Two more of my pictures were published on page 2 of the paper (the first two pictures in this post).

Of course I also had to test the underwater function. In the end, the monastery fountain certified that the housing was watertight,…

…so I could take my camera into the nearby pond without any problems. Its resistance to dust particles/dirt was confirmed as well, since I carry my digicam straight in my trouser pocket without any protective case. Whether it really survives being dropped from a height of 2 m without giving up the ghost – that I didn’t feel like testing… All in all, I was (and still am) extremely happy with my choice: a perfect travel camera.

Enough about the camera. On a geocaching tour I got to put my “navigation skills” to the test and see whether they were up to the trip.

Let’s put it this way: I handled the GPS built into my mobile phone pretty well, but on the trip I’m planning I think I’ll stick to good old maps and asking people who know the area… ;)

Besides all the outdoor activities, partying of course wasn’t neglected either. The picture shows the “party elevator”…
It was on an occasion much like this one that my Bochum companion Daniel and I finally hatched the Zugspitze idea.

Daniel: “Actually, we could climb the Zugspitze – it’s not far from here.” Me: “Yeah, why not, that way I could break in my hiking boots properly, too.”

… … … Of course we weren’t even remotely prepared for this harebrained idea. I took stock:
- New boots, not broken in yet (and sure footing is a must).
- No rain gear (the weather was miserable at the time).
- No warm clothes (it was still below freezing on the Zugspitze).
- Not even a backpack (you can see my suitcase in the third picture above…)
A perfectly unexpected and perfectly unprepared situation – this just had to go well. Besides, I’m still in safe old Germany here. A great opportunity to test the limits of my stamina and my talent for improvising, and to gain some experience ahead of the big trip.

Despite repeated appeals, though, it was anything but easy to recruit more comrades-in-arms for this glorious idea from among the more than 150 academy participants. Too dangerous, too cold, too inexperienced, too strenuous, too crazy. It seemed that we two representatives of our uni really were the only ones sold on climbing the Zugspitze. Incidentally, at previous summer academies too, some of my most eventful ideas came about with other people from Bochum – creativity and spontaneity, quite obviously hallmarks of my alma mater. ;) Almost at the last minute we managed to win over three more climbing enthusiasts. Ruth, Asar and Sven – natural scientists as well – already had climbing experience and had planned a different tour for the coming weekend, but in the end they got fired up about the Zugspitze challenge.

Perfect! Let the adventure “Zugspitze – climbing Germany’s highest mountain” begin, and may it give me plenty of experience for the trip ahead. :)

Further links:

1. Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes – A great institution
2. Rot an der Rot – Historic town in southern Germany
3. E. coli* *– Small bacterium, big impact
4. Geocaching – Modern treasure hunting
5. GPS – Satellite positioning
6. Ruhr University Bochum – My old university
7. Alma Mater – The mother who nourishes with knowledge