Aaron Skewes

EUROTECH NEWSLETTER FALL 2003

What I did on my Summer Vacation by Aaron Skewes

The Eurotech program provides many unique opportunities to its students. One of these is the chance to do a coop in Germany. This summer I had the opportunity to do practical training at the Fraunhofer Institut Produktionstechnik und Automatisierung (Fraunhofer IPA) in Stuttgart, Germany. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is the leading organization among institutes of applied research in Europe. At present, the organization maintains 56 research establishments at locations throughout Germany with subsidiaries in the USA and Asia. While at Fraunhofer IPA, I contributed to three different projects. All were interdisciplinary and helped to develop my engineering skills. The practical training in Germany is very well structured. For German students, it is a requirement in the degree process and involves professional level work. This gives Eurotech students an important advantage as we are guaranteed a placement in a company that will utilize us as engineers and not copy and coffee makers.

To compliment my Praktikum at Fraunhofer IPA, I chose to enroll in the Internationale Sommersprachkurse offered by the University of Stuttgart which was paid for through a grant I received from the Baden-Württemberg exchange office. This is a four-week intensive German language course for international students. The summer language course combines traditional classroom training with activities and excursions to provide broad exposure to the German language and culture.

One of the best features of this language course was the other students. I met people from all over the world and I had a lot of fun with my classmates on the many trips we took. While in Stuttgart, I lived in the student housing at the University of Stuttgart. Unlike at UConn, the dormitories are inexpensive and provide kitchen facilities. All the rooms are “singles” and quite adequate in size. I recommend this option, as you will meet many people at the dorms and it will be impossible not to improve your spoken German.