Isadora Luiza Bozza Galvão

Despite sometimes looking like aliens on a new planet, Summer Students are quite ordinary people. Before coming here, I am sure we were all questioning ourselves if we would make friends, if we would manage to do our project and even to figure out the basics of living alone. Some of us are cooking for the first time, while others could be taking part in a baking  competition. Some are super outgoing, while others are shy. Some are mathematicians, while others are from an engineering background. This is all to say that we end up finding a group and bonding together, even being completely different from each other. After all, we all had insecurities before coming, but we did it and we are doing well.

Those that see the Summer Students from the outside might think we are just a bunch of young people going on hikes every weekend and to the beach every day after work. We are much more than that, we unite as science enthusiasts, from different countries and cultures, trying to find our way of doing our best while being far from home, in a new environment and with new people. That is why we are aliens on a new planet, learning how to live in an exciting new place, where we cannot wait to explore everything (including tunnels). 

We travel around, swim in the lake, make lunch and do laundry.  We talk about physics, computing, and politics. We also talk about memes, YouTube videos and series. Everything together and at the same time. 

Christine Zeh

Hello everyone! I'm Christine from Austria and I'm a summer student in the CMS Data Acquisition group. I am studying mathematics and will be starting my final year of my Master's degree this autumn.

I decided to apply to CERN to gain insight into the research work being conducted at the largest particle physics research center and to learn new things about physics. Coming from a strictly theoretical background, it was fascinating to hear in the lectures how higher mathematics is used to develop theories that could explain phenomena beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. I am also learning a lot of new things through my project, where I am upgrading a service for accessing and storing data for CMS data acquisition to leverage the latest technologies. This allows me to extend my knowledge in software engineering and architecture in a large scale project.

But it is not only during working hours that I learn a lot. With so many like-minded students around, we always have interesting topics to discuss. For example, did you know that near a Supernova you can die from Neutrino radiation? I didn't, because I really didn't know much about particle physics before I came here. But of course we don't always talk about physics. ;)
When do you have these conversations, you might ask? I have found a super nice group of people and we go on a lot of trips together or just chill on the private beach of the United Nations, where CERN employees have access, after work. We always joke that this summer feels like an enriching school trip: widening our horizon in terms of physics, mathematics, computing (and so many more fields) and we're also meeting new people and gaining valuable experience along the way. It is absolutely the best way to spend the summer.

Regardless of whether you’re into particle physics, mathematics, data science or any other technical field, you're likely to find a place here that's just right for you, and you'll be made to feel very welcome!
 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in CMS blogs are personal views of the author and do not necessarily represent official views of the CMS collaboration.