Experience Report by Maryam Alihosseini

I am working  as research assistant and doing my PhD at the Department of Fluid System Dynamics at TU Berlin since February 2015. My PhD project deals with simulation and experimental investigations of sediment transport in sewer systems.

A PhD student from the Aalborg University, Anna Jensen, suggested me the simulation tool EDEM during her research stay at our department. After some months working with the software, I decided to visit Anna in Aalborg to work with her on some problems regarding the software. I visited the Department of Energy Technology in Aalborg University from March 16th 2017 to March 27th 2017. Anna helped me a lot to get to know Aalborg during my stay there. I got a desk in her office together with two other PhD students. They were very kind to me and I felt like home and welcomed. Her supervisor helped me as well, which I really appreciate.

Anna and me in Skagen

During my stay, I have learned many things from Anna and her colleagues that will be useful for the rest of my PhD work.

I booked my flight by KLM from Berlin to Aalborg through Amsterdam. It took me about four hours to get Aalborg. On airbnb.com, I booked a fully furnished apartment for my whole stay. However, because of some problems in the apartment such as a weak internet connection, cigarette smoke etc., I changed my mind, and booked a hotel room in the Aalborg Hotel for the last five nights of my stay. I would recommend the hotel for short stays, since it is in a good part of the city, near the sea, between the city centre and the university. There is also a big sport facility in front of the hotel, which is free of charge for hotel guests. You could do some sports in your free time! You can take the bus number 12 or 2 to the university and back. The bus number 12 can you take also to the airport and from the airport.

Aalborg is compared to Berlin a small city but lovely and nice.

I would like to thank the Nordic Water Network for giving me the chance to go to Aalborg and for the financial support. The contact between universities and students from different countries is an important aspect in my academic career.