Author: Alex West
When I first arrived in Italy, just over a month ago, every twenty or so minutes I would be struck with disbelief that this was my actual reality. While sitting at my desk in the lab, walking down an aisle of the grocery store, or brushing my teeth, it would suddenly occur to me that I was doing research on the other side of the world, working with brilliant and fascinating people on such interesting topics. As time went on and I grew more accustomed, these jolts of realization became less frequent, but every so often I will still be hit with a wave of amazement that I have been able to participate in this program.
In the lab, I have worked at growing crystals for both my and my colleagues’ projects. By varying the glassware shape, concentration, and volume through different trials, I have been able to achieve crystals up to a centimeter in length. These crystals are being studied by my colleagues for their behavior in shape changes between heating and cooling, as well as their charge carrier properties when acting as the semiconductor between the source and the drain in organic field-effect transistors.
When I am not at work in the lab, I have been studying Italian. While I arrived in Italy knowing only a handful of words, I have since become proficient in conjugations and verb tenses, cutting out my own flashcards and quizzing myself, running through vocabulary lists, and studying sentence structure. Additionally, I have been translating an Italian copy of Harry Potter, a book I know by heart, into English. Not only is it fun, but I am now able to roughly read nearly any Italian sentence I come across. Immersion in a lab where a majority of what I hear is in Italian has also been extremely helpful. I hope that by the end of the summer I will be fully conversational.
Over the last weekend, my roommate and I took a short trip to Ravenna to swim in the Adriatic Sea, a trip we planned less than two days before departing. The ease of the train system in Italy allows us to explore new cities frequently and spontaneously. We swam in warm water, soaked up the sun, and appreciated local seafood. On our return, we met another international student from Serbia. We bonded over our shared experiences of studying in a new country, and concluded our hour-long train ride by exchanging social media and planning to meet up again later in the summer.
Every part of this last month, from crystal synthesis in the lab, to the people I have met, to the places I have been, has been greater than I could have imagined. I have grown both as a scientist and as a person, and I am beyond excited to see what the rest of the summer will bring. 
