Bachelor Internships

1. Department of Structural biology (VU) 
2. IVM (‘instituut voor milieuvraagstukken’), the institute for environmental issues (VU)
3. Department of Clinical Chemistry (VUmc)
4. Department of Clinical Chemistry (VUmc) 2
5. Department of Systems Ecology (VU)
6. Metamedica (VUmc)
7. Department of Animal Ecology (VU)

Master Internships

1. Department of Plant Epigenetics & Development (UvA)
2. PWN (‘provinciaal waterschap Noord-Holland’), (directed via the VU)

 

Bachelor Internships

1.Bachelor Internship: Department of Structural biology (VU) 

Bachelor: Biomedical Sciences

 

How did you get this internship?

I spoke with someone at the social drinks and she had done her internship there 1 or 2 years earlier. It sounded interesting, so I sent them an email. 

 

Where there any other internships which made you doubt your choice? 

I was fairly early with looking for an internship, so I just waited for a response on my email and that worked out. Before that, I did look at the site of the VU at all kinds of departments, but it just didn’t sound very spectacular. When I was told about this person’s experiences with the internship at the social drinks, I was quite enthusiastic.

 

What did your internship entail; what did you do on an average day?

I had to make a lot of proteins, because structural biology is purely about protein structures (so no other bodily structures or something similar). You’re looking into how individual proteins or groups of proteins are truly interacting with each other. One important part to be able to do this, is making the proteins yourself, so that was a daily occupation for me and I spent a lot of time in the lab. After I made the proteins, I used them for all kinds of analyses.

 

Do you think you had a flexible internship?

I found it a very relaxed internship. There was a very relaxed atmosphere at that department. That year I was part of the board of Gyrinus natans, for which I also had to do some important stuff here and there. I made the supervisor aware of this in advance, and it was no problem. I was always present at the department, but whenever I had to do something for the board, then it was okay to do that during the waiting steps of my experiments.

 

If you for example did not have to be in the lab, because you were writing your thesis or doing analyses, did you have the freedom to do this wherever? 

Definitely. A few times I worked on my thesis from home, but because it was mostly lab work and not computer work, I was more bound to the lab and it was just as easy to do my computer work there. However, if I wanted to do it anywhere else, it would have been no problem. 

 

During your internship, did you feel like you were actually busy with your interests or did you perhaps find new interests through this internship?

Well, I did the minor Biomolecular Science and I pursued the molecular side, because I found it very interesting. There was also a Master which was focussed on this section, so I used this internship to find out if this Master would be something for me. The internship confirmed eventually what I already thought, so that was very nice.

 

Were there any downsides to your internship or something you wish had gone differently?

No, actually not. I found this department to be perfect for my first internship. The work pressure was not too high, in contrast to what you hear quite often from other internship experiences. If you start your first internship and don’t know what to expect, it can be quite difficult. So in my situation this was not the case at all. The only drawback that I can think of is that the department was in the middle of moving. Because of this, I was not able to be in the lab for one and a half months, so that was a bummer. This is of course an exceptional situation and thus not relevant for people who are looking for an internship right now.

 

Was there a highlight in your internship?

Yes, I found the supervision very nice. I think it is important for your (first) internship that you are actively guided by your supervisor. This can also happen too much, of course. You always have to be able to think for yourself, but I’ve heard real stories of people who saw their supervisor only once a week and because of that didn’t really know what they where doing. I, on the other hand, saw my supervisor every day or at least got some guidance from other people in the lab, so this was not applicable to me.

 

What was challenging about your internship?

Writing your thesis is of course always hard, especially your first thesis, because I found it to be very different from what I was used to. Actually, everything that’s involved in writing your thesis, was challenging to me. For example, writing the results section for your thesis is very different from what you used to do for a smaller practical. Also, literature research can be quite hard, especially when doing molecular research, because you do realize that your knowledge about this is fairly limited.

2. Bachelor internship: IVM (‘instituut voor milieuvraagstukken’), the institute for environmental issues (VU)

Bachelor: Biology

What exactly did you do during this internship?

I joined a project concerning the Haringvliet (river between Zuid-Holland and Zeeland). They opened some sluices there to create a new brackish water zone. They did this in order to develop new mating areas for fish and new natural habitats. I specifically researched the influence of brackish water on the surrounding agriculture and subsequently looked into possibilities for saline agriculture. 

 

What did the average day at your internship look like?

I worked a lot on the computer and sometimes joined meetings with all the involved parties, such as the Staatsbosbeheer (the Dutch governmental organization of forestry and management of nature reserves), the Vogelbescherming (the Dutch organization for bird protection), recreational fishers, the waterschap (water board) and farmer organizations. During these meetings, the different parties involved would debate. At first, I did not contribute to these debates at all, but along the way, I understood more and more why certain interests existed due to the new knowledge that I obtained during the internship. Still, I could not contribute much, because I was just a bachelor’s student, but it was exciting to witness the debates and really understand what they were talking about. 

 

How did you find this internship?

I did a minor in Sustainability and thanks to this minor I ended up at the IVM. The course coordinator had some very interesting subjects, so when I looked through these, this particular internship came up. It sounded like a nice internship, because it enabled me to look at this project from a biological perspective, which formed a nice application of my bachelor. I was, after all, looking for an internship with applied Biology and a somewhat advisory role, so this was a great opportunity. 

 

Did you feel like the internship was flexible?

Definitely, but sometimes maybe a little bit too much. Sometimes, I didn’t even know anymore which subjects would actually still be meaningful to the biological aspect of the internship, which, of course, I could not lose sight of. The internship obviously had to measure up to certain standards and requirements and had to cover Biology sufficiently. However, they made the internship so flexible for me, that it got very hard for me to determine the framework on my own and let everything that I wanted/could do fit into this framework. For that matter, I sometimes felt like the guidance from the IVM towards the biology-side of the internship was lacking a bit.

 

How did you like the working environment?

The working environment was fine. I was in an office with about eight workplaces, where other people who also had a temporary job, such as PHD students, sat. I was given a lot of freedom to work where I wanted, so I was not bound to this workplace at all: I was also allowed to work from home or elsewhere at the VU. I really liked that, because it allowed me to organize my own time well.

 

Was there something about your internship that you didn’t like or would like to see differently?

Hmmm. So maybe I sometimes felt that I was not getting enough guidance in biology. That was a pity, but on the other hand, this is not the “usual biology internship”, so it is probably true that you have less guidance on this side.

 

Did the internship meet your expectations?

Yes and no. For example, at first I thought that I would encounter some other, less biological areas during this internship. On the other hand, I did not know in advance how many parties would actually be involved in a project like this and how such a large-scale project actually works. That was very educational for me.

 

What was the pinnacle of your internship?

One time I attended a design session, where all parties got together again to go through all the alternatives and vote for them. I thought that was very interesting, because I really got in contact with people from the working field, who actually implement the knowledge within their field. I thought that was really cool to see, because I still want to go in that direction now. During this internship I may not have been able to actually do this, but through the internship I have seen that this possibility exists for a later career and in which directions you can grow.

 

What did you find most challenging about your internship?

The work required a lot of independence. They let me swim (somewhat consciously) a lot and that is challenging, because you really have to keep pressure on yourself to deliver something. I think I have also learned from this that you have to continue to stimulate yourself, even if you do not get any “stimulations” from the outside, because otherwise your result will naturally decrease.

 

3. Bachelor Internship: Department of Clinical Chemistry (VUmc)

Bachelor: Biomedical Sciences

How did you get this internship?

I started a bit late with searching for an internship, but eventually, I ended up here because of a friend of mine who did her internship at this department before.

 

How did an average day look like?

Usually, you started early, about 7/8 AM. In the first few weeks, I had to read a lot to gain knowledge on the subject. Later, I started working in the lad, but relatively little because most of the time I was busy with analyzing results. 

The research question came from the department and you worked in a small group. Later, when I had more knowledge on the subject, there was more space for my own input.

 

How was your work environment?

There was a great atmosphere and we worked in small groups. Everyone was very helpful.

 

Was it a flexible place to do your internship?

Yes, but generally they prefer that you started early. It was fine if you started at 9 instead of at 7 for one time if you had, for example, an appointment or something else. 

Furthermore, I had enough time to do my thesis work and therefore I was ready before the deadline, which was really nice.

 

Was the internship as you expected?

I did not really know what to expect, because I only had a brief interview before in which not really explained what was expected of me. So the first weeks were a bit hard for me because I had to figure things out by myself. It was about a very specific subject so I really had to gain knowledge about this. When I gained this knowledge it went a lot better. 

 

Was there anything you hoped too went differently?

Personally, I prefer more guidelines, especially in the beginning. I, for example, had no idea that by reading they meant a few weeks of reading, although this was really needed to understand the subject. I basically had to figure it out myself, so I think it would be nice if they had given me some guidelines for this.

 

What did you find most challenging in this internship?

Understanding the subject was quite challenging since there was little literature available.

 

What did you like most about your internship?

That at the end I fully understood the subject and that was something to be proud of  myself.

4. Bachelor Internship: Department of Clinical Chemistry (VUmc) 

Bachelor: Biomedical Sciences

How did you get this internship?

I wanted an internship at the VUmc, so I searched for one on the internet. So I found a site, where I found a mail address. I then emailed my interest, my CV, expectations of the internship etc. I quickly received a response to my email and could come for an interview and that’s how I got this internship. But I think it is extraordinary that you can get an internship so quickly.

 

What were your interests and what were you looking for in your internship? Did you find these things in your internship?

My areas of interest were: pregnancy diseases, genetic research/genetics. All of this was incorporated in my internship.

 

How did an average day look like?

Overall, you spend the most time in the lab and analyzing the results, still, it was mostly a self-employed internship. You first needed to do your literature research, of which you would build your research.

 

How was your work environment?

I worked in a small research group with one professor and four technicians. I had my own place with my own lab instrument. The people were all very friendly and helpful. If I had any questions, the technicians helped me with these questions. If I had bigger results, I went to see the professor.

 

Was it a flexible place to do your internship?

Yes, it was very flexible. They preferred that you started early, around 8 o’clock, because the technicians were also present then so you could ask any questions. They were also very flexible for example if you had another appointment, then you could just work shorter and another day longer.

 

Did you have a lot of free space in this internship?

Many things had already been established, so there was also a protocol, but you had to find out how to work with it by yourself.

 

Was the internship as you expected?

I did not know what to expect. As a result, I was a bit struggling in the beginning, but I was well supported herein. The first few weeks were mainly reading and understanding but it was good because you got really encouraged to think for yourself. 

 

Was there anything you hoped too went differently?

Personally, I prefer a larger research group, this small group is a bit extraordinary I think. I was the only student but I think it would be quite fun if there was for example another student or a PhD student. This was the case for the last 1,5 months, and i thought this was really fun.

 

What did you find most challenging in this internship?

I had to figure things out by myself, even if something went wrong. The technicians were helpful but I had to figure it out myself and they did not just say what went wrong.

 

What did you like most about your internship?

The most challenging thing was immediately also the most fun part since I really did not understand the research in the beginning. But because I understood everything in the end this was just extra fun and also something to be proud of. It is much more complicated as you compare for example with a lab practical during biomedical sciences.

5. Bachelor Intership: Systems Ecology (VU)

Bachelor: Biology

What did an average internship day look like?

There were two types of days. One type was the writing working days. During these days I read literature and wrote text for my internship report. The other type of days weres the practical days. During these days I took measurements starting at 10 am. I mainly took measurements of tree bark. For example, I measured the pH of the bark. To do this I first had to grind the bark. Furthermore, I measured the strength of the bark with a machine and measured the water-holding capacity by saturating the bark with water and mark the time it took for the bark to dry. Finally I also took the bark from the trunk and collected and identified all animals found inside the logs.

 

How did you find this internship?

I already had had several lectures by Hans Cornelissen. During fieldwork with him, he showed us his tree cemetery (where I conducted my research) and said that he was still looking for Bachelor students. Once it was time for me to find an internship, I emailed him about this project.

 

Could you contribute a lot to your own internship?

Yes, I had a lot of free space. The test design was already made, but for the rest I was allowed to decide for myself what I wanted to measure and which data I wanted to use exactly for the analysis and of course I could design my own research question.

 

What were your interests and what were you looking for in your internship? Did you find this in your internship?

I was mainly interested in the interaction between animal species under the bark and in the bark itself. Why were these animals here and not, for example, one tree to the left. I also wanted to know whether I would like this type of research. I didn’t like the practical work that much, but it was a fun internship to do.

 

Was it a flexible internship?

The support was fairly flexible, every so often we discussed what we were working on. Writing days were very flexible and practical days were less flexible since we worked together with other people?

 

How was your working environment?

My working environment was very nice. I worked with people I already knew so it was nice not to have to work alone all the time.

 

Were there things you hoped would be different?

I hoped that the data I collected would be a bit simpler. The analysis eventually became quite complex.

 

What background do you have?

With this internship I finished my bachelor Biology.

 

What did you find the most challenging about this internship?

Identifying the animal species.

 

What did you like the most about your internship?

To get the animal species out of the tree trunks. To be able to do this I had to split the tree trunks up with a hammer and a chisel.

6. Bachelor Internship: Metamedica (VUmc)

Bachelor: Gezondheid en Leven (Minor Health Sciences)

Where did you do your internship?

I did my internship at MetaMedica (a department of the VUmc), which is concerned with making care more inclusive by conducting research into ethnicity and age, among other things. My project was focused on LGBT.

 

How did you find this internship?

I attended a minor with many guest lecturers and I emailed interesting lecturers asking for an internship. Finally someone answered saying that she was not present enough in the Netherlands to accompany me but she found a colleague who could help me with my internship. This colleague turned out to be my workgroup teacher!

 

What did an average internship day look like?

At my department there were flex desks so some days were busier than others. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I was at the department itself and the other days I could work from home or the University Library. This was nice, since I could organize my time by myself but sometimes I found it difficult to motivate myself since I did not have to be at the office.
I did interviews, which I developed by myself from start to finish. In the beginning I read a lot of background information and wrote my introduction. With this as a basis, I could draw up the questions for the interviews. I also had to establish contacts with organizations and professionals to recruit contacts for the interviews. In the second month my interviews were really conducted and I traveled all over the country to interview my contacts. I also needed to transcribe those (which I did by working out 10 minutes and then taking a 15-minute break). The last month I needed to compare all the interviews. I analyzed the answers and then wrote my thesis in two weeks. (Unfortunately, I missed the city trip because of this).

 

Could you contribute a lot to your own internship?

There was a lot free space. My subject was fixed but I could develop my own interview guide which gave me plenty of scope in my own research. Every Friday, there was an hour with the supervisor during which I could discuss my research with the other interns. Since I did everything on my own from start to finish it really felt like my own research which was really nice. Going through the whole process was very educational.

 

Were there thing you hoped would be different?

Acquiring respondents with a sensitive subject and with a small target group was more difficult than I anticipated. For the research I had a minimum of 8 respondents and I ended up with 7 real trans women.

 

Was the internship as you expected?

It was more fun and I had more freedom than I expected. My internship was something I was dreading but since I was well guided and did everything in small steps, it was over before I knew it.

 

What background do you have?

With this internship I finished my Health and Life sciences bachelor.

 

What did the internship focus on?

I interviewed transgender women. I asked them about their experiences with primary sexual health care. Half of my respondents were quite old (over 50 plus) and were just starting transition so they did not have any experience with primary sexual health care. This was quite difficult since I focused on what this group finds important when they go to the doctor for any problems they have (since they need to get used to another body and need STD tests).

 

Did you have doubts with choosing between different internships?

Frankly, I was quite happy with finding an internship. I also had an offer for an internship at STD AIDS Netherlands but I found this internship to be quite vague. Here at the VU my daily supervisor was also my first assessor which is less hassle (at an external address the supervisor must have completed a PhD). I also chose this internship because I liked it more!

 

What did you find most challenging about this internship?

I found it quite difficult to learn how to interview and how to analyze these interviews. You also really need to work independently which was also a challenge for me.

7.  Bachelor Internship: Department of Animal Ecology (VU)

Bachelor: Biology

How did you find this internship?

Joris Koene was my teacher and he was a great speaker about behavior. Because of this I approached him for an internship on behavioral Biology. His colleague at the moment did research on behavioral biology, but unfortunately, he was unable to hire a Bachelor student for an internship. Joris then told me that he still had an internship project about light pollution open, which I accepted.

 

What did an average internship day look like?

There were many different types of days, I will mention a few. First I spent days reading literature and writing my introduction. After this, I measured light intensities in the evenings and later in my research in the basement of the VU. Since my experiment involved snails, I let them acclimatize for a week and a half. Then I started scanning 9 to 5 egg packages of the snails for several days. After this, I scanned the hatched eggs. After this practical part, I converted the scans into measurable numbers (by counting and measuring the size of the eggs) via my laptop. In the last few days, I was busy with making my presentation and writing my report.

 

Could you contribute a lot to your own internship?

Joris made me think a lot at first about my internship. His only restrictions were that it had to fit within the subject of light pollution and it had to be possible with the animals and materials available at the VU. Ultimately, I chose the influence of light pollution on the reproduction of snails.

 

What were your interests and what were you looking for in your internship? Did you find this in your internship?

I was mainly interested in behavioral biology and was thus looking for internships containing this subject. Since there were no internships with this topic, I chose something else. Now I have learned how the environment can influence the physical characteristics of an animal such as its size.

 

Was it a flexible internship?

The internship was pretty flexible. Once I finished the practical part, I could even work from home on my report since I had to travel for quite a long time.

 

How was your working environment?

The student room where students could read their literature and work on their report was quite busy. Also, I spent a lot of time in the basement of the VU for my experiment. This wasn’t the most pleasant working place but of course you can’t choose everything.

 

Were there things you hoped would be different?

I expected 80 snails would be a good amount but in retrospects, this might have been too much work and I probably should have taken a slightly smaller group.

 

Was the internship as you expected?

I expected it to be a bit stricter, but for the rest I knew what to expect.

 

What background do you have?

I finished my bachelor Biology with this internship.

 

What did the internship focus on?

The internship focused on the influence of nocturnal artificial light on the reproduction of the great pond snail. I investigated whether this light had an effect on the size of the eggs, the number of eggs and how many eggs hatched and how long it took for them to hatch. One of my conclusions was that the eggs hatch faster in low light.

 

What did you find the most challenging about this internship?

To manage my time during the day. I also found it challenging to put everything in one scientific presentation and to display the results nicely.

 

What did you like the most about your internship?

I loved to perform my own research and obtain my own results. This internship is something that I have done by myself and therefore I can tell a lot about it.

 

Master Internships

1.Master Internship: Department of Plant Epigenetics & Development (UVA)

 

What did the internship focus on?

I did research on plants. Plants function as an easy model for embryos and are ethically more responsible, so it was actually developmental biology as in embryology. I researched certain mutations in plants. We went to flower growers and picked out the abnormal-looking flowers to take with us. Based on the mutations we then found in these plants, we investigated how these mutations really worked. This way, we tried to answer the question of how a certain mutation could lead to a certain phenotype.

 

What did an average internship day look like?

I really did a lot of hardcore DNA work. Since my bachelor internship was mainly focused on proteins, I wanted to find another molecular topic (in this case DNA). This meant that I spent a lot of time in the lab and that I mainly had to perform PCR. At a certain point it became annoying when my PCR failed again. Later, microscopy was added so we could see where certain genes were expressed. By looking at where they came to expression, we were able to reconnect that and, thus, learn more about the system.

 

How did you find this internship?

During my master I followed a course coordinated by the group leader of the research project. I found the lectures very interesting, so I asked him if he had any internships.

 

Was it a flexible internship?

Yes, it was quite flexible. During the internship I was chairman of the Alcoholaat, so I had to be at the VU every Wednesday at 4 pm while I worked at the Science Park. This meant that I had to leave my internship every Wednesday afternoon around 3 pm to be on time and prepare myself for our meetings. My supervisor didn’t find this problematic at all. I think it is important to consult your supervisor before starting your internship and tell him/her that you may have to leave earlier on certain days. Usually, they find this fine. Sometimes my supervisor forgot that I had to leave earlier on Wednesdays, but if I reminded him in the morning it was always fine.

 

How was the working atmosphere in the department?

The working atmosphere was really nice. It is really interesting (and I definitely recommend) to do your internship in different places. I do not just mean in different departments, but really at another university. This way you learn how internships can be put together. For my master internship I noticed that the approach was more professional: there were weekly meetings where all the groups doing research on plants, came together. One person then did a presentation in front of the whole group. For my bachelor internship, it was not done this way. So you can notice that the approach at different institutions can be very different.

 

Did this internship meet your expectations?

Yes, definitely. This research group originally gave lessons at the VU and they also gave practicals before moving to the UVA. As I already said, during my master I already had a course from the group leader, so based on that, I already had representative expectations regarding their research.

 

Were there things you hoped would be different?

The completion of my internship took longer than expected. This was because it is always quite difficult to complete an investigation. After all, you can always do an extra experiment, since your research is never finished. My supervisor often said: “but if we only just add this to the research …”, but when you were finished with doing that, my supervisor would say: “okay, but what if we only do this last thing!”. This way it was all of a sudden two months later and that was when I tied the knot and said: “Now it is finished, I have to write my report”. I did not mind losing a bit of my holidays, but it was a pity that it eventually took 3 months before my report was finally checked.

 

What was the pinnacle of this internship?

I found it real fun to work with plants. There was a great greenhouse and every now and then I had to go there to literally pick flowers. This was a nice way of working.

 

Were you not afraid that your internship would occasionally lean too much towards biology since you were working with plants?

A little bit, but more in the way that I constantly thought: “These are plants, who cares …”. That thought never really disappeared but it was not t annoying working with plants since the research still remained really interesting. Now, whenever I see plants outside, I think of what I have learned, so that is nice. Still, during my internship, if someone asked me what kind of internship I was doing and why I chose this internship, I never really had an answer. Afterwards I think that it was a good idea to do such a completely different internship, simply because it also feels like I have really broadened my view.

2. Master internship: PWN (‘provinciaal waterschap Noord-Holland’), directed via the VU

Master: Ecology and Evolution (VU)

What exactly did you do during your internship?

PWN regulates the water supply of almost all of North Holland. At PWN I researched the amount of carbon in the soil of 3 different vegetated areas in the dunes: areas with conifers, deciduous trees and open dune areas. I compared these with each other. I also included a distinction between low-lime and rich dunes and different depths and age zones. In terms of research, this was quite challenging, because it had many different factors and you had to look in all directions. I also did some statistics that made me struggle, but that made it very educational and interesting.

 

Compared to your bachelor internship, this seems to be much more focused on real biology, did you like it or did you miss the other direction you had during your bachelor internship?

Well, even though I did a lot more lab work/practical work during this internship, I actually got a much more advisory role here than I had during my bachelor internship. During my bachelor internship I did research on the fish and maybe I could say something about it, but that was it. During this master internship, however, I eventually got an important result, with which I could give actual feedback to PWN. I discovered that deciduous trees are better at storing carbon than conifers and that both, therefore, contain more carbon in the ground than open dune areas. The actors involved could actually get to work with this finding. This is in contrast to the result of my role during my bachelor internship.

 

What did you think of the guidance during this internship?

It was nice that my supervisor was very accessible, when around (sometimes he was abroad). Conversations were much easier, because the supervisor simply let me know what he liked and did not like about my proposals, so I was guided in the right direction.

 

What did an average internship day look like for you?

I spent much more time in the lab. In the beginning the main focus was my proposal, which meant a lot of literature research. Then I started the method, so I went out a lot to get samples from the dunes. Then I spent about 2 months in the lab for the analysis of the samples. Finally, I had to write and calculate a lot on the computer again, mainly for the results and discussion sections. All in all, I would say that the distribution consists of 70% computer work and 30% field and lab work.

 

How was the working environment?

I was here in the System Ecology department and this was similar to the working environment during my bachelor internship: it was a space where students and other people were temporarily situated. Again, it was mostly up to you to decide for yourself whether you wanted to work there or rather somewhere else. If you were at the department, however, it was easier to quickly ask a few things. For example, the lab technician could then immediately explain what was going on. Therefore, I preferred to work mainly in the department. Of course I was also in the lab and outside in the field for a certain period of time, so that was a completely different working environment.

 

Was there a negative side/point to this internship?

Not really, except that I hoped I would have finished the internship a little earlier. My internship supervisor was abroad at the beginning of my internship, which meant that contact was somewhat difficult. As a result, everything was a little delayed, however that is partly due to myself.

 

How did you get this internship?

I had written to several consultancy agencies and comparable actors, but all failed. I continued to search for all kinds of bodies that did / published studies related to applied biology and / or ecology, including PWN. In the end I wrote to Hans Cornelissen that I had seen a certain study, which was a literature study, but that I really wanted to do something with it. He said it could be turned into a full-fledged internship, so I emailed PWN about it. Thus, it all came about.

 

What did you like the most about this internship?

I really enjoyed going out into the field and taking all the different samples. In addition, it was fun to be able to talk about it with people who really know a lot about it.

 

Did you find your internship flexible?

As I said earlier about the working environment, the internship was very flexible, but this also applied to what I wanted to research. For example, if I had wanted to take a measurement every week, I could have (if approved, of course). So, there were enough options for the interpretation. When I went for walks through the areas with the supervisors, we actually talked on the spot about what exactly you could investigate in the specific areas. Eventually, I figured that there is so much to research, that you could do a PHD on it!