Robert Dinwiddie
President Edinburgh IAESTE local committee
Iam in my final year of attaining my degree in Biology specialising in Plant Science, which last year wasn't too obvious a choice when deciding what direction to specialise in. When the offer of going abroad with IAESTE on a plant related topic it became a deciding factor, so I have IAESTE to thank for my potential choise of career!
I went to Goettingen (an hour south of Hannover) in Germany on my IAESTE placement last summer to work on Nitrogen regulation in pea plants at the Agricultural department of the University there. I had never been to Germany before, so living there for 2 months I started to appreciate some of the German culture. This is something IAESTE can really offer, not only exchange of skilled minds but also exchanging cultural values.
While there I also had a great time with the 5 other IAESTE trainees that were there and as the local committee in Goettingen consisted of one guy, trips were never organised so we had to make them ourselves. We managed to make an AISEC meeting in Bamberg and made a weekend trip to Amsterdam. All in all it was a great summer!
