Moving, isn’t it?

Prepare for the most moving thing you’ve heard today…

I’ve moved!

Instead of Aachen, the city of kings long gone by, I now live in Bonn, the city of rulers not-so-long gone by. For our international customers: The city of Bonn (300.000 inhabitants) was the capital of West Germany 1949-1999. Chosen for its location far away from the border to the Warsaw pact, it still enjoys the many benefits of that time. The cultural life is that of a much larger city, the suburbs are clean and wealthy and infrastructure is excellent. There is even a subway (albeit not where I live).

The reason I moved was work, as might be guessed. I’d finished my diploma in Aachen and was looking to continue my education by acquiring a PhD. However, it so happens that the physics in Aachen are not so reputable. The engineers are, however, but an engineering PhD would not help me in acquiring a physics tenure later on if I wanted to. So I re-oriented, looking across the republic for PhD positions with interesting topics and capable (as well as well-financed) institutes. My ultimate choice fell on professor Meschede of the Institute of Applied Physics in Bonn. He and his merry band deal with single-atom manipulation for the sake of enabling quantum computing. They are friendly, hard-working and well-regarded. In fact, a recent publication managed to upstage (in a friendly way) the competing group at Harvard, who could not offer the same degree of sensor acuity. I consider that proof that I chose well.

It certainly is a change for me, as well. I’ve slid through university mostly on ability (I’m intelligent, curious and good at combining things I heard about in various places). Now, however, that is no longer enough, and I find myself working 40-45 hour weeks. This is mostly to prove myself to my new colleagues. Also, since we work in a team on one experiment, not doing your work impedes your colleagues. Of course, this is a great disservice which I seek to avoid. I am confident, however, that I can maintain motivation to work so long and that I will be able to do right by my co-workers. They seem like the bunch to repay favors, too.

Apart from work, I’ve been trying to get some social network up again. This is starting out slowly, so far (it always is in a new city). I’ve contacted the local Mensa chapter and found it to be much more entertaining than the Aacheners. These people have more humour and are quite lively actually. They are also 10-30 years older than I am, but so what. I’m also looking for a choir, but investigations on which one to pick are still ongoing. Also, the summer holidays are not over yet, so most choirs are not even in session. Lastly, I’m trying to get evening courses in french. I promised myself I’d work harder on my languages (german and english are excellent, but I want one more).

Lastly, I’ve been taking care of my home. I live in a 35 m^2 room with separate bath that is well-kept and tastefully decorated. That has been some work, especially finding the right kind of light (bright, isotropic, energy-saving and aesthetically pleasing). I am convinced that it hasn’t been for nothing, though. Compared to my old room in Aachen, this one certainly leaves a much better impression.

Okay, this is it so far. I’ll try to post more in a couple of days. But you know me, so there might be a hiatus at some point