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Internships are a great opportunity to apply what you learn in the classroom to life in the 鈥渞eal world.鈥澨鼿ere,听History, Law, and Society听补苍诲听听double major Alayna Amrein tells us all about her听summer听internship at the University of Konstanz limnology lab in Germany.听She learned the protocol necessary to conduct laboratory experiments, and discovered a passion for science and developed a renewed respect for the scientific method along the way.听

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Tell us a little bit about your background?听

I am from Oregon, USA, but I did a foreign exchange when I was 16 where I lived in Le Mans, France for a year with French host families. That was the first time I had ever left the US!听
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Which company/organization are you currently interning with?听

The Limnology Lab at the听University of Konstanz.听

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Where is your internship taking place?听

Konstanz, Germany听

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What is your job title?听听听

Research Intern听
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What types of responsibilities and/or tasks do you have in your internship? What's a typical day for you like?听

The internship involved听raising hundreds of lineages of Daphnia (a type of zooplankton) from eggs to adulthood in order to set up a听five-year experiment.听 I was also responsible for data collection听(on the daphnia), setting up the microcosm for the experiment, and听sterilizing the lab/equipment/project space听补苍诲听autoclaving.听听

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What are the biggest challenges and successes you鈥檝e experienced during your internship?听

I had听zero听background in science a part from the few required lab courses that I had taken in high school and Uni. I didn't even know what听ethanol was or what it was used for (it鈥檚 used to disinfect surfaces听补苍诲听equipment)!听I had to learn how to navigate the lab (and the formality of a lab) for the first time in my life, but it was so worth it.听听

An additional struggle I faced was the language barrier. All of our lab-mates spoke German or were German natives, and听every once in a while听we ran into a communication issue because we couldn't fully express a thought. It all worked out, but it was just a little bump in the road!听

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What language(s) are you speaking/using in your internship?听听

English听

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Tells us about your future goals/aspirations. Is this internship relevant? Do you think it will help you along the way?听听

This internship was 100% the foundation of me re-envisioning my professional future. I did not realize听how much I enjoyed the sciences and this internship brought out this passion in me. But more importantly, it reminded me that I am someone who likes to understand how things function and in order to understand how things function (especially since I would like to go into sustainable agriculture), it is essential to understand things from a scientific perspective.听听

This internship also taught me how to diligently collect data and take notes. We had to keep track of hundreds, even thousands of daphnia and their different lineages. It required a ton of organizational skills.