The Details

During an Erasmus semester in Norway, I met someone who was also student at TU Berlin and currently writing his Master thesis in Trondheim. He told me about the opportunity to spend another semester abroad, financed with a scholarship by the Nordic Water Network. I had a very interesting and exciting Erasmus semester. Therefore, I was looking on the website of the NWN for a possible thesis at a partner university.

In the beginning, I found it hard to find an appropriate topic, because my course of studies was slightly different to the offered topics. I studied geotechnology with specification in hydrogeology. But with the help of Markus Fischer I finally found an interesting thesis at the Cracow University of Technology. The supervisor of my thesis was Ph.D. Krzysztof Radzicki, scientific director of the Institute of Water Engineering and Water Management at Cracow University of Technology.

The organisation was quickly done. As the thesis was proposed by Ph.D. Radzicki, I only had to tell him when I would start to work in Cracow. The registration process in Cracow was also very smooth and quickly done. Due to the scholarship from the Nordic Water Network, I was able to rent a small but nice flat close to the city centre of Cracow. The cost of living in Poland are less than in Germany. Therefore I could afford a good standard of living in Cracow with the scholarship.

For the next participant, I would recommend to live in a shared flat, especially if you are writing a graduation work, because it is easier to get in touch with other people. However, Cracow is easy reachable from Berlin, so friends are able to visit you there. The city has also a very beautiful city centre and many historic buildings. If you haven`t been there yet, you definitely should go there someday.

I would like to thank the Nordic-Water Network for this opportunity and the support in the beginning and the end of my stay abroad. I think this is a perfect possibility to gain working experience abroad and also learn how other countries or organisations work scientifically.