Semester in Potsdam

Pff, what is time moving fast. I'm only now writing a blog post about Potsdam, but the semester already ended in Februar!

Neues Palais

Potsdam is the capital city of the German state Brandenburg and is located next to Berlin. A funny fact: Berlin is located in Brandenburg but doesn't belong to Brandenburg since 1920. So, Berlin is like a small island lying in another territory (also known as an enclave).

Potsdam is a huge cultural and historical city, and the city was very popular with the Prussian kings. There are many castles and palaces to visit, and there is a very large and beautiful park (Sancoussi Park) where you can see many things. Wilhelmina of Prussia, the wife of the first king of the Netherlands, Willem I of Oranje-Nassau, was born in Potsdam.

Park Sancoussi

Chinese house in the park

Dutch mill in the park

Nice place near the mill

Brandenburger Tor in Potsdam

In the background, Sancoussi Castle

Orangerieschloss in park Sansoucci

The Prussians ensured that the city became a bit international. Potsdam has a Dutch quarter (Holländisches Viertel) with houses that were built for Dutch migrants (by architect Jan Bouman). Nowadays, you will mainly find boutiques and restaurants. Personally, I think that the houses are not very much like the well-known Dutch houses, but they are somewhat similar. In the Dutch quarter, there is also a Dutch café named Poffertjes and Pannekoeken (a pancake café). Every year in December, Sinterklaas is celebrated (a Dutch children fest) in which Dutch people are dressed as Sinterklaas and Pete. Craftsmen from the Netherlands are also invited to present old crafts, for example, the old way of making so-called Dutch kniepertjes (kind of waffles that are originated from the region where I was born). Very nice!

Holländisches Viertel

Sinterklaas

As I mentioned before, there are many palaces in Potsdam and the New Palace or Neues Palais is one of the well-known palaces. It is a very large and beautiful palace and you can get a tour inside the palace. The king often organized parties inside the palace. That's why the palace also has a ballroom which is entirely made out of marble. The ballroom has already been reinforced a few times because of the danger of collapse because the ballroom is not on the ground floor and marble is very heavy.

Grottensaal Neues Palais

Marble room in Neues Palais

Right next to the Neues Palais, you can find the main campus of the University of Potsdam. The university is therefore also located inside a few historic buildings. I think the most iconic building is the Communs, an annex of the Neues Palais.

Communs; University of Potsdam

Presentation at eemagine

My lessons were not on campus Neues Palais but on a different campus, named Golm. I usually went by train to Golm, which took about 4 minutes. I took the following courses: Neurolinguistics (about language in the brain and aphasia, an acquired language disorder), First Language Acquisition (methods for investigating language acquisition in children and theories), Second Language Acquisition (theories about how people acquire a second language), and statistics. We had these lessons with people from other studies. Other lectures and excursions were also organized for our EMCL + group. We went to Eemagine, a company where they develop software for medical applications (such as EEG). We also had a three-day lecture series at the P.A.N. rehabilitation center in Berlin. We were taught by a neurologist Prof. Stephan Bamborschke about the brain after stroke, infection, or head trauma. We also got a tour of the center which I found very impressive. They really try to make the center a comfortable and pleasant environment for the people who are rehabilitating. There is, for example, a sleeping room for relaxing and also workplaces where patients learn to, for example, work with wood or sew. Patients with brain damage can sometimes no longer use an arm and often there are other problems that are not visible, such as concentration problems, that they have to learn to live/work with. 

During our semester in Potsdam, we also had a few guest lectures by Prof. David Copland on the neurobiology of language. He told about Parkinson's disease and Aphasia. Super interesting!

P.A.N. Rehabilitation center

Presentation of Prof. Dr. Stephan Bamborschke

Sistine Madonna by Raphael

I also went to Dresden at the end of this semester. Dresden is famous because of its history. The city was almost completely bombed in 1945, but most buildings have already been renovated! In the old city center, for example, you can find the Frauenkirche, which also had to be rebuilt. If you look closely, you will see that the church is not only made out of old stones but there are also a lot of newer (lighter) stones. I also went to the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, where the famous painting of Raphael, Sistine Madonna, is on display.

Rebuilt Frauenkirche Dresden

The Zwinger Dresden

Meanwhile, it already became March and I already left Germany. Even better, I flew to Moscow last Sunday for the last 5 or 6 months of my studies. I am doing my internship and thesis at the Center for Language and Brain under the supervision of Prof. dr. Olga Dragoy. I also did an internship at this lab two years ago. I am very happy to be back and I look forward to the coming months! In a few weeks, I hope to tell you more about my stay in Moscow and living in a dormitory, where you share a room with someone. So .... stay tuned :)

And finally, some photos of Berlin:

Reichstag Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie

Holocaust Monument

Where the Berlin wall stood

Brandenburger Tor in Berlin

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EliseJisca

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Nothing tops Groningen

Academy Building University of Groningen

My semester in Groningen already ended a while ago. I will take you back to March: the moment when we moved to the Netherlands. We started our semester in Groningen with an introduction week. In this week we got to know our teachers, we went to the island Schiermonnikoog, we visited the market of Groningen, and we had a tour in the university's Academy Building where heard its history, and we had a guided tour in the Aa church in Groningen.

Ice on Schiermonnikoog

The island Schiermonnikoog

The following week, my first lectures started: Language Testing during Awake Brain Surgery (LTABS), aphasia (a course on aphasia, neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and dementia, and certain speech problems), and a course on language development disorders (such as dyslexia). For two courses, we had to set up a small experiment and test people. It doesn't sound difficult, but designing and preparing an experiment takes a lot of time. First, you have to come up with a topic, think which test you can use best, invent items for this test, and design the experiment. For LTABS, I designed an experiment to test inhibition. Inhibition means the suppression of certain responses. This test consisted of unfinished sentences. Participants were instructed to finish the sentence with one word, which either 1) came to their mind first, or 2) had nothing to do with the sentence (the second assignment is inhibition = the suppression of the response that is best for the sentence fits). An example of a sentence is: "The captain left the sinking ... 1) ship vs. 2) tree ". Despite the great stress due to the workload of these courses, I am very happy with the end result!

In the second block, we got the subjects: Serious Gaming and Neuroimaging & Language. During the course Serious Gaming, we learned how to develop an idea for a game or app for a clinical population, such as for people with a language disorder. The course was new this year and it was very innovative. We had many interesting guest lectures on various topics, such as 'design thinking', 'marketing strategies', 'virtual reality', and much more.

During the last 3 weeks of the semester in August, we had a course called "academic writing". The course was not only about learning to write academic papers, but also about choosing your supervisors, creating a habit to write a something every day, and for example, choosing a good topic for your thesis.

German "rodeln" with my sister

Of course I have not only been busy studying. Halfway through the semester I started running. How wonderful it is to run your energy out and clear your head. I also participated in an Alpha course (link). We ate together every Wednesday evening and then talked about certain topics related to faith. I also joined an international church in Groningen: Vineyard. I met a lot of nice and sweet people, and made good friends. I will miss you all a lot in Germany!

I also went on a holiday in Germany with the best sister ever. We went camping in the mountains and it was just like the old days! After camping, we were camp leaders at a summer camp with children from 6-10 years old. It was very tiring, but it was so much fun! It's very interesting how young children can hold a mirror in front of you (as a figure of speech), where you find yourself. I certainly have learned a lot that week...and kids are so much fun! We even did some theater in which we did yodeling together with our group on a song of the sound of music hahaha.

St. Basil's Cathedral

The semester flew by and before I knew it, my summer holiday started. I also had to leave my house in Groningen. I have traveled a lot this month (September). I visited Valeriya in Moscow for a week. She had created a whole program for me (I'm very grateful for this great friend!) and we had a wonderful time. I've visited Moscow 1.5 years ago in Winter, and it was great to experience Moscow in summer as well. And no, Russia is not scary at all. I would definitely recommend you to visit it once!

After Russia, I went to Venice (Italy) for a conference. Valeriya and I presented our research on a poster together. Tomorrow, I will be moving to Germany again! But I'll write more about Venice and my moving next time, so keep tuned!

Sunny Venice

Hmmm, interesting!

Poster presentation at the conference

Arrivederci, до свидания, see you, auf wiedersehen, tot ziens!

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EliseJisca

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Moika Suomi ~ English

Hi everybody!

It has been a while since I posted something, and in the meantime a lot has happened. I went to a conference, we did nice things in Finland, and finally moved to Groningen for the next semester (which is already almost over).

Walking on the frozen lake of Joensuu

Church in Bressanone

In January, I flew to Italy together with Valeriya (my friend from Russia) for the annual European Workshop in Cognitive Neuropsychology (EWCN). We flew from Helsinki to Verona, where we spent one night. We walked around in Verona and afterwards we went out for dinner with a few locals. This was lots of fun! And what is Italian a beautiful language. We ate pasta and tiramisu, and drank a cocktail in a famous bar. In this bar, they have as a rule that you can not talk very loudly. A funny concept, but the time we were there, everyone was talking pretty loud. The next day, we took the train to Bressanone-Brixen, where the conference took place. Valeriya and I slept during the week of the conference in Cusanus Akademie, an old monastery that is now used as a hotel. Ideal, because the conference took place in the same building. On the Sunday evening we arrived, the social event of the conference took place. During this event you can eat and drink and meet people at the same time. It was very pleasant and a good way to network (which always comes in handy in the future). The conference started with various lectures on Monday. There were lectures on memory, language and the brain, and much more. In addition to the lectures we went skiing in Plose, we visited a lovely village and went with the ski lift to Alpe di Siusi. At the conference, PhD students (=a degree awarded to people who have done advanced research into a particular subject; also seen as one of the first steps in a research career) were present, who had morning lectures in addition to the conference (also called "winter school"). At the end of the week, Valeriya and I followed two classes of this winter school and it was very interesting!

Alpine

Verona

After the conference we went back to Verona where we had dinner together with friends from Valeriya. The next day, we flew back to Joensuu for our last few weeks there!

Party

In the last weeks I have been busy finishing the courses in Finland. There was also time for fun. We went twice to an ice hockey game. I really like the fact that they can move very smoothly over the ice! The game was sometimes a bit aggressive (They stay men after all haha), like pushing each other to the side, but it also made it fun to watch. In addition to ice hockey, I've been swimming for the last time at Polar Bears. I already wrote about the Polar Bears earlier. At the last two days in Joensuu, two parties were organized, which were both very nice! In addition to our social life, we had to clean the entire house, unfortunately. The whole apartment had to be cleaned from front to back, and every corner and hole we had to check. Even the walls had to be wiped! It seemed liked this kind of great spring cleaning people sometimes do.

The day after the big cleaning, my roommates and I handed in our keys. I traveled to Helsinki by train that day, where I stayed one night. The next day my flight left for the Netherlands in early morning. It's still a crazy idea to leave Finland after 6 months and live in the Netherlands again. But I was really looking forward to it and I've been in the Netherlands for a few months now. I still look back to Finland with great memories!

Forest in Joensuu

In my next blog post I will tell you more about my period in Groningen!

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EliseJisca

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Jump in time ~ about Helsinki, Lapland, and Christmas holiday

It is already 2018 and therefore much need for an update from Finland. Since Saturday, I have been back in Joensuu to finish the last two months of studying. Good news: I have already found a place in Groningen for the next semester :)
Lately a lot has happened and I have done a lot. We went to Helsinki with the whole EMCL group, and after that I traveled to Lapland with a group. It was a really nice time!

Helsinki
Let me start with our trip to the lab of the University of Helsinki. On Thursday morning 6:18, the train left with 23 EMCL students to Helsinki. The trip was organized from the study and they had set up a nice program for us. After 4.5 hours on the train, we arrived in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. We walked to the university where drinks and cookies were waiting for us. We first received an introduction about the lab and what we would do that day and the next day.

After lunch we got two demonstrations: one about the use of electro encephalography (EEG). With EEG you can visualize the brain activity by measuring brain waves. The test subject gets a cap over his head and then gel is injected into the holes, so that the conduction with the electrodes is good. We were allowed to help with the gel and it was very interesting to learn more about the use of EEG!

The second demonstration was about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. With this device, the brain can be stimulated by means of a large coil on the head and a magnetic pulse. The finger of the test subject moved because of this magnetic pulse. We could even hold the coil ourselves!
After the demonstrations and a short break we got to see a few presentations. These presentations were about research done by people in the lab. In the evening we went for dinner at Woolshed, an Australian restaurant in Helsinki. Very tasty! After a long but interesting day we went to our hostel, where we slept in a hostel with 8 people.

The next day we traveled by metro to the Aalto Neuroimaging center. Here we got three different demos. Our group started with the MRI. This is a machine that can visualize the structures of the brain. A man told us something about the use and technique of the MRI and then we were allowed to see the device. Then we went to a lab where they do eye tracking studies (a device that follows the eye movements), and other studies. They had, among other things, a heat camera and a device where you can measure skin reactions to cold and heat. After this lab, we went to the MEG (magnetic encephalography) lab for the final demonstration. With a MEG, brain activity is measured by measuring electric fields that created by the brain itself. Because the MEG has to measure these small magnetic fields, it must be very strong. But because of that strength, it also measures the magnetic fields from the outside. For example, if the metro passes by, you can sometimes see this back in the MEG output. That's why the MEG is placed in a room with special thick walls that stop the magnetic fields from outside as much as possible.


Finally, we all had lunch at the university. Then we had free time to stroll through Helsinki, who at that time was decorated with all the beautiful Christmas lights!

Lapland
With the end of the Helsinki trip our vacation started! The first week of the holiday also started well: a trip of 8 days to Lapland! We have rented two cars and drove to the far north with the seven of us, to Saariselka. It took a whole day to get there, but it was wonderful to see how the landscape became more snowy. In Saariselka, we had rented a cabin, but it didn't have running water or a shower, and we had an outside toilet! The real experience haha. And for those who wonder: yes we showered, in the sauna by scooping water out of a bucket :) There was a small river outside our cabin where we took the water for washing, drinking, and also for the shower. Our outdoor toilet was consisted a wooden board with a hole in it (with a real toilet seat made of polystyrene haha).

When we arrived it was -26 degrees, so very cold. We also were not able to heat the sauna the first day, so we showered with a temperature of -20 degrees. The water that came on the ground froze immediately !

We have done a lot in Lapland. We sat in a husky sled and were even allowed to drive it ourselves. We also went to Rovaniemi, to the Santa Claus village. Furthermore, we did cross-country skiing and we drove to Norway where we had a swim in the Arctic Ocean! And of course we did a lot of sliding in the snow! You can guess that the days flew by. Unfortunately, we have not seen the Northern Lights, since it is steeds was too cloudy. A good reason to travel to the north again in the future! The chance is also present that we can see the Northern Lights in Joensuu.
Here are a few pictures of the beautiful landscape and Lapland is really a must (especially in winter)!

Ice bar in Rovaniemi

Santa Claus Village

Reindeer sleigh

Noorwegen :)

Arctische Oceaan

The day after we returned from Lapland, I traveled to the Netherlands for the rest of my Christmas holiday. I was very happy to see my family and friends again! The days flew by and I can not wait to live in Groningen from March!

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EliseJisca

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