My EESTEC journey sent me next to a place both ancient and modern. Aachen is one of Germany’s most historic cities. The medieval emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, even Charlemagne, reigned from there. Today, Aachen is home to one of Germany’s biggest and finest electrical engineering universities and a small, hearty and fun EESTEC LC whose members will warmly welcome you, should you ever visit (highly recommended).
This April, Aachen organised their Aixtec 4.0 workshop. With the cooperation of Huawei and their university, the workshop participants were educated on 5G technology, smart power electronics, energy-efficient neural networks and cloud infrastructure used in the Internet of Things to ensure safety and compatibility. The workshop participants also got to travel to Düsseldorf, visit the European headquarters of Huawei and try their authentic Chinese food in their cantine (I highly recommend the seaweed salad).
After learning, travelling and/or touring the city during the day, LC Aachen offered fun night activities in the evening.
On the first evening, we all gathered for the international night, one of the most international international nights ever. All participants and OC members introduced the best sweets, drinks and food from their respective cultures. We enjoyed Swiss chocolate, Greek olives, Egyptian couscous, Turkish and Polish sweets, Slovenian Borovnička, Italian sausage and German liquor.
The next night, the Aixtec team underwent a “German baptism”. To earn their beer bachelor’s degree everyone had to take a drink at every one of LC Aachen’s favourite bars and some shots of “Pfeffi”, an actually delicious and cheap mint liquor from Germany which proved perfect for EESTECers and was subsequently exported to Switzerland by your traveller and LC connoisseur.
On the last evening, LC Aachen organised the delicious logistical nightmare called running dinner. Basically, 3 groups went 3 times to 3 LC Aachen members to have one course of a 3-course meal. The food was prepared by the host and a group member. I myself prepared for my EESTEC friends according to them the best burger south of the north pole. The running dinner was lots of fun and everyone overate on tons of amazing food. Who knew that EESTECers make the best cooks?
Sadly the one-week workshop had to come to an end on Friday. The goodbye was heartbreaking. Everyone made new friends and we all promised to meet soon again, maybe at the congress. I myself made many lasting memories and hopefully lasting friendships. I recommend everyone also take the opportunity to join an EESTEC workshop when the opportunity arises.
