another post

My dear diary, ...
Well it almost feels like an electronical diary. The last few nights I sat down at my computer and typed what came to my mind - at least kind of, I wanted to give you an impression about the things that happened the last few months I have spent in Canada and the US. Don't worry, I am aware that this is not a real diary so you can keep on reading, I won't reveal any secrets that you might not want to know and I try not to bother you too much with some weird feelings and dark thoughts of mine.

When I came back to Kingston in late September I just had a few more days before a plane took me back to Europe. This time I basically used to finish my thesis, pack my stuff and to say good bye to a few people. Especially the people from the DES lab, i.e., Sarah (and Ben), Lenko and Christian, and of course Karen my supervisor became really close friends to me. The day before my flight left we had our last DES Meeting and they even made a cake for me and had a present. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them, but my road made a turn again and brought me back to Germany. I remember a poem we had to learn some day in school. It is called "The road not traveled" by Robert Frost and goes something like this:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
but sorry, I could not travel both ...

Anyway, the next day, or lets say two days later, I stepped on German ground. I stayed at my parents' place for about a week and had my defense of my thesis. As soon as I was done with that I traveled to Zurich, Switzerland, to search for a place to live. That was not as easy as expected or lets say it was much harder than expected. However, after almost becoming desperate I fond a place (right on top of a sex shop...) and in November I moved to Zurich to do an intership at a company named Hocoma. On Hocoma's webpage it says:

Hocoma is the leader in robotic rehabilitation therapy for neurological movement disorders. We are a globally active medical technology company based near Zurich, Switzerland. We develop innovative therapy solutions working closely with leading clinics and research centers. Our products are applied successfully in renowned clinics and research institutes worldwide in the field of rehabilitation medicine.

The company and the people working there are great. During my intership I am working in the research and development department as a software engineer. My main tasks is to help with control issues of the Lokomat a gait orthosis that automates locomotion therapy on a treadmill and improves the efficiency of treatmill training. The work is really fun and I learned a lot since my first day at Hocoma.

More about that and maybe even some pictures from Zurich in the next post.
Good Night!