CERN Summer Student Programme

Sitting in the desk, in building 892 in the Prevessin site of
CERN,
and as he is left quite alone now, he is thinking of all the stuff that happened this Summer.

He is one of the few students left now from the
CERN Summer Student Programme*.


The CERN Summer Student Programme is an endeavor that gathers young students from the member states of CERN and beyond to spend their Summer working in the environment of CERN.


Of course, working is not the only thing to it. The main point of the programme is the interaction of who may be tommorrow's leading scientists in a multicultural scientific environment.


The students have lectures on various Physics subjects, visit the experiment sites of CERN and learn about the experiments running or to be launched, work on a specific project according to their inclinations, but most of all have fun.

But this here is not about the scientific value of the Programme nor about the impact it has on the students involving their career.

It is about how this Programme affected him as a person and what he experienced during his stay at CERN.

♦ The CERN campus

When you are at CERN, and especially in the Summer, you have the feeling that it is one big camping site for scientists. You can see some of the world's leading scientists, even Nobel laureates, sitting in the cafeteria wearing short trousers and enjoying the sun.

But you also have the feeling the CERN is like a giant human beehive. The new accelerator ring for LHC is being assembled, the new experiments are on their way and even some experiments are still going on, keeping everyone really busy.

Wherever you are, you can feel a constant buzz of human activity. People assembling gargantuan machinery, keyboards being stroked by uncountable fingers, neurons humming in their endless intellectual activity...

When he first showed up at CERN he felt charmed. Everything seemed to be covered by
gold-dust. Now he is just feeling more alive than ever...

♦ The Summies*

They have come from countries around the world, they are the future scientists and they are crazy!

The best aspect of the Programme, is that it manages to bring together a large number (156 in the year 2003) of students from around the world.

As a Summy you get to meet different cultures than your own, see different habits and even hear about different problems than the ones you might have encountered so far.You are surrounded by a large number of people at your age who have come to have a good time and they drag you along. This is what the Summer Student
Programme is all about.

In his stay here he became friends with people from Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and many more countries. He even became
close friends with a wonderful guy from New Zealand*! That is what he has been doing here! That is why as he will be going home in about three weeks, he will not feel sad. He will feel more rich than from when he came here.

♦ Switzerland

They told him that CERN was built here because it is somewhat the geographical center of Europe, because the country has a long tradition as being neutral and
some other excuses... But if ever you will pass by here, you will immediately understand why. So did he: because it is maybe one of the most beautiful countries in Europe!

Switzerland is a very picturesque country surrounded and sown with high snow-covered mountains. It is a great place for hiking, mountaineering and mountain-biking. All that he did with his fellow Summies and the places he saw where of unimaginable beauty.

Running up the Jura peeks with a clear view of the Geneva Lake, hiking the Mountain of Hell and be welcomed by the friendly marmots,waking up at 6 in the morning to catch the first rays of the sun in

Salanfe by the lake up in the mountain while he could hear the cracking of the glacier nearby...
How could one ever forget about these?

And the Swiss cities are there to add to the overall beauty. Geneva, Bern, Lausanne, Basel, Lucerne, Interlaken ... All of them very old but also modern.

His personal favorite Bern, is not coincidentally the capital of Switzerland. It is one of the most beautiful cities he has seen so far in his life. No wonder why Einstein thought up his theory of Relativity here.

All the above are just a small taste of what a student should expect if he is to join the CERN Summer Student Programme and be a Summy. CERN is doing a great job
organizing this Programme and it's success can be seen in the smiles, the long-lasting international friendships and the memories the Summies carry back home
when they finish their stay at CERN.

That is what he is also planning to take back with him...