Berkeley University and ALS

Laying on my warm bed, nice and cosy, I am wondering what we did yesterday. After everyone was done showering, eating breakfast and preparing for the trip, Esther kicked everyone out because we needed to be on time. Just outside the hostel, Ludo, Jeremy and I gave a small talk about the institutes we were about to visit. I don't remember much of the car ride from our hostel to Berkeley because I was asleep, but once there we walked over the campus towards the Fleming and Leone group. While walking to there, we noticed how green the campus of the University was. It could have been right out of a Bob Ross episode, and we even noticed a happy little squirrel. Once we arrived we met prof. Fleming himself and some of his graduates. They gave a short presentation about what they do over there, looking at photosynthesis and using a technique called "quantum quenching". An important application of their study is to improve the biomass of plants.

After that we met some of the graduates and they showed us what they did and we could ask questions. Once we were done we were going to visit the SETI department. We arrived a bit late, but our supervisor didn't mind. He showed us how and at what frequencies they were measuring extraterrestrial radiation.
All the talks went on a bit too long, so by the time we were done we only had 10 minutes to get ourselves lunch before the bus drove away. So hurrying to the nearest lunch shop I got the tastiest grilled cheese/bacon burger I have ever known. To get to the ALS we had to get a bit away from the Berkeley campus, since it is in the hills. A special bus drove us to the institute, where we were guided through the synchrotron. The storage ring was absolutely massive, with a diameter of 200 m. Today was a maintenance day, so the synchrotron was turned off, but this gave us the opportunity to look up close. Normally the radiation emitted would kill you, so it was quite special to look so close.

By the time we were done, we were all completely exhausted. We saw so much that day, that everyone was happy to be at the hostel, especially since we have to be ready at 7.15 the next day. I'm not really known as being a morning person, so I am happy to get some sleep. We still had to get some food though, so we went out to find an affordable restaurant. Turns out most of the restaurants around here minus fastfood is super expensive if you don't know where to look, so we were smart enough to ask were to eat to the hostel manager. We eventually ended up at a Mexican restaurant were we ate till our heart's content. To show our gratitude, we gave the waitress a tip of 17 pennies (keep in mind that we already had to pay taxes and mandatory tips). After that we went to the hostel and went to sleep.

Yesterday, all my sleep seemed so far away, but now it's looking like its here to stay.

Tom