I can't believe I have already been working at the Fraunhofer Institut for a "week"! The quotes are necessary because today is Fronleichnam, or Corpus Christi, which means that everything is closed today and most things are closed tomorrow, including the Institut - therefore this work week was only 3 days. And now I feel like I was cheating by saying I made it through a week, because 3 days does not sound like much. But it was!
I was asked to be at the Institut at 10am on Monday - I thought this meant that I could sleep in a bit, but I was so nervous about missing the Saarbahn or the train that I ended up getting out of bed just before 7. WAAY too early, but I wanted to be safe. Still, I actually did miss both the S-Bahn AND my train, but I had picked early enough ones that catching the next one would still allow me to arrive in Sankt Ingbert with plenty of time. PLENTY. When I stepped off the train, it was about 9:15 which left me with about 45 minutes to complete the Google-estimated 7 minute walk to the Institut. But the second I stepped outside the Bahnhof, I got nervous. I had no map of Sankt Ingbert, and no memory of the name of the street that I was looking for. I remembered the approximate direction I needed to go, so I just picked the first street I saw that went the right way. After (duh) 7 minutes of walking, a hedge faded away to reveal....Fraunhofer IBMT! PHEW. I looked at my watch: 9:25. Now what?? I figured I'd explore and maybe find a coffee shop or something. I walked. And walked. And walked. Nothing. No people. No open stores or anything. Sankt Ingbert was dead, and all I could find was a high school and a post man. Oh well, time killed successfully. 
I walked back to the Institut and buzzed my boss' secretary, asking her to open the door. Instead, she came downstairs and got me, which was a relief because I had no idea where I was going to go once I got inside. She sat me down with the big boss, who gave me an introduction to the Institut, the department (Biohybrid Systems), and the past and present projects. Then he gave me a tour of all the floors (there are 4) and introduced me to way too many people. Finally he plopped me down at an empty desk, gave me a laptop, and said to read about past projects, follow people around and learn about their projects so that I could choose one to work on. Danke schön? My desk is in a room with 3 researchers working on Ph.D projects. Little shy Heather said hallo to all 3, sat down, and read silently for half an hour. AWKWARD. At this point, I realized I was being stupid and it was time to get this party started - I broke the silence, asking if any of them would be working in the lab that afternoon, and if it would be ok if I joined them. Two said yes!
The next day and a half was spent following people around and observing them in the lab, as well as trying to hack my way through a growing pile of research papers that everyone was asking me to read about everything. It was very overwhelming since there were so many people and so many topics and so many names to remember! But everyone was so nice to me, especially since my German is, apparently, not very good. At lunch breaks, my coworkers talk to each other, and I can barely understand what they are talking about. Sometimes I catch a bit and jump in briefly, but usually I just listen. Unfortunately some of my coworkers have already slotted me in as another English speaker, but luckily many of them either speak entirely in German or switch back and forth depending on the topic, and that is really helpful. My German can't improve if I don't use it!
Yesterday was the most exciting day by far. In the morning, I got to work with one of the cell biologists, and she taught me about cell culture. She showed me how to passage cells, and then she handed me a sheet (in German) with instructions, and said, "You're turn!" CRAP already?? My hands were shaking, and I didn't understand a lot of the instructions, but she would rephrase them until I did understand. I did my first Zellpassage! Now I have my own culture of cells to practice with.
That afternoon I had another project to learn about - this time it was cytotoxicity and nanoparticles. And this is where my first project will begin on Monday! After spending the afternoon learning about various types of nanoparticles and the equipment used to study their effects, I agreed to run a series of tests that will last 18 days, and will hopefully show us whether or not nanoparticles affect genomic structure. Cool eh? And it looks as though the tests will allow me to get a LOT of practice for my Zellpassage.
The excitement and chaos that was my first 3 days at the Institut meant one thing - I was POOPED! Having the day off today was like a dream come true. I slept in until the late morning, and then realized that everything in this part of Germany would be closed today. So I hopped on the Saarbahn that stops right outside my apartment door, and decided to ride it to the end of the line. Guess what? The end of the line is in FRANCE! After 4,90 EUR and 30 minutes, I found myself in a small town called Sarreguemines in the land of baguettes with one problem...I hadn't spoken a word of French in over 6 years! I went up to the ticket person at the train station, intending to ask if they had a map. Instead, I said, "Bonjour! Können Sie mir bitte helfen?" Wait, which language am I supposed to be speaking again? He stared at me blankly. I followed up by asking if he spoke German (obviously not!) or English, and not surprisingly, he replied, "Non." Oh well.
I wasn't too worried about getting lost. La Gare was gigantic, and I figured it would be easy to find, so I just started wandering. Eventually I saw signs pointing to the Tourism Office, so I went there and asked for a map (which I had been thinking about, and actually remembered how to say in French). They gave me two maps, but both were useless - they showed the area surrounding Sarreguemines, but nothing that was actually IN Sarreguemines. However, I did find signs around town with tour maps, showing the historically relevant places. I learned a bit about the town's history of porcelain manufacturing, which explained the porcelain sculptures and creations found every couple of blocks. However, it was one of the more dull tours that I have taken, because many of the stops were at various streets simply because some famous person had walked down them. I did enjoy some of the stops, such as St. Nicolas' Church, La Place Goethe (a small square built in honour of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), and the Palais de Justice which even under construction was quite impressive. 
Sarreguemines is a lively little town, and although I found myself overwhelmed by the number of smokers, I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself back there before the summer is over. It was very cute, with lots of shopping, and an art festival at the end of the month that I would like to see!
Now back in Germany, I find myself with more days until I have to go back to work. It is supposed to rain on Sunday, so that will be the day that I get through all those articles, but tomorrow and Saturday will be for exploring! I think I will stay in Saarbrücken tomorrow, since I know there is a lot to see here and I haven't had the chance to see anything yet. As for Saturday, maybe I will take the train to Trier, the oldest city in Germany?
We will see!
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