Das große Muschelschlachten

This week it got dirty ;-)

I had to finally put an end to my mussels. It was not only a sweaty (because first all the mussels had to be brought from their aquariums to the lab), but also a pretty smelly affair.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to take any of the shells home - the risk of being caught at the airport is too high :-( And then you have to explain to people that you are a scientist who only brings mussels from his experiment, not a tourist with a questionable souvenir.

They are much more beautiful when they are alive ;-)

Felix was busy in the field and lab this week - among other things, all the carbonate chemistry samples from the 24-hour trip had to be measured.

Fortunately, there weren't that many and he only had to endure sitting in the cold, deserted corner of the lab for two days.

We finally watched 'Rogue One', the new Star Wars movie, at the cinema. It was amusing that it's also about the desert planet Jedha - which according to the director is 'the Mecca of the Jedi' and dominated by impressive sandstone landscapes - does that ring a bell? ;-)

http://cinetropolis.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/star-wars-rogue-one-jedha-explosion.jpg

On Friday we were invited to brunch with other interns and doctoral students - there are currently a whole bunch of new people here - basically the 'next generation' taking over.

To finish off the weekend, I finally got back in the water! Snorkeling trip from the university! The last time was also way too long ago.. In the last two weeks, I couldn't go to the field because we always lacked the obligatory second woman. Due to the (let's just call it 'questionable') Saudi regulation here, there always have to be at least two women on board - that's why I can never go out alone with Felix and my supervisor.
That's why I was even more excited to finally be able to enjoy the underwater world of the Red Sea again.
Despite a longer apnea diving break, we did quite well - finally had my bottom timer with me and it showed a respectable 17.8m for both of us.

We don't have much opportunity for that anymore, after all, the last month has already started. We will spend the last few weeks intensively analyzing the data - after all, (in addition to the hopefully approved doctoral position) publishing a paper is a main goal of this research internship. But I think the chances are good - we have been very diligent and collected a lot of good data in recent weeks and months. To be honest, with the data from my project alone, I could easily write a second master's thesis! :)

Especially for this reason, it would be extremely great if things work out with a position here - then we would already have completed a good preliminary project for our future projects, tried things out and opened up new research questions.

You are welcome to keep your fingers crossed that the Adventure Orient continues :-)

Concrete information will probably only be available after our return. Since the doctoral studies here only start in the winter semester (in August), the university usually takes its time with the announcement. So there is another exciting and unfortunately somewhat uncertain future ahead of us.

Nevertheless, we are also looking forward to being home - so we will see each other again soon.

But there will certainly be one or the other blog entry before that.

Now for some heartfelt greetings, Felix and Susann