The internship itself involves a trend to equip for example trash compactors with telecommunications capabilities, in the example to call the garbage collectors automatically when it is time to empty container X. To measure the performance of the gsm antenna manufacturers sometimes use a reverberation chamber: A lab resembling a huge microwave to quickly radiate RF waves to an antenna from all angles of incidence, analogues to your food being warmed in all spots. I help develop a method to measure the performance of big devices with the reverb chamber.

At the moment of this writing NIST is closed because the government cannot agree on their appropriations for fiscal year 2014. Closed again that is, you might have seen on the news how Boulder has been severely flooded, my room included. But then Boulder also lies at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Add to that a two-morning course priced at 150$ to get a motorcycle license and you will understand I have no trouble entertaining myself! At night both Boulder and Denver are lovely cities to go out in having numerous restaurants and microbreweries. Americans around here are easily approachable and well mannered, even to foreigners, which had me cancel party invites after just one week because NIST expected my presence too at times.

To add to the Americans experience I have travelled the country to see Yellowstone and Grand Tetton National parks. Bears, moose, herds of bison, elk, deer, volcanic areas and cowboys, all seen through the windows of the car. Also on the list are a rodeo, New York City, Indians baseball game, medical bill (my god, the paperwork…), getting pulled over by the county sheriff, supermarket with a horse carriage parking lot including hay for ‘the Amish’ and more burgers than I would like to admit. America in general and Boulder specifically are awesome and I can recommend going to anyone who dares dealing with the amount of paperwork involved!How are things in Boulder, Colorado?