• Student
  • 25/10/2019

And how are things in Atlanta?

There I am, all by myself. The honking traffic speeds by and all surrounding me the skyscrapers tower over the bustle of the city. In one hand I’m holding my suitcase, in the other my phone with Google Maps looking for my apartment. I just arrived in Atlanta in the United States where I’m going to do an internship for three months at the local university. At that moment I don’t realize that Atlanta will essentially top all my expectations.

by
file photo Daan Rutten

During my Bachelor thesis I worked together with Debankur Mukherjee, at the time a PhD at TU/e. Since the beginning of this year he is working for Georgia Tech in Atlanta and he invited me to do a short research internship for my Master’s. The past few months I have worked on load balancing in data centers such as the ones of Google or Facebook.

The rings of the Olympic games of Atlanta in 1996. Photo | Private archive Daan Rutten

Although the atmosphere in the department is similar, you still notice you are in the States. For example, it's not ASML organizing a free lunch, but Mastercard or Amazon. It also surprised me how dedicated most students are. Often enough I have heard a friend telling me he is spending his Saturday night working on his deep learning algorithm to increase his score by a few percent.

On the other hand, you have ‘the Greek houses’, the home of the sororities and fraternities. When I’m walking home at the end of the day, there are parties all surrounding me including beach volleyball or pool. Personally I was removed from a frat-party after being there for twenty minutes. A blond, Dutch guy was apparently too much competition for the ‘brother’ of Tau Kappa Omega.

Visiting one of the scariest haunted houses in the States. Photo | Archive Daan Rutten

Beside the student life, I have also experienced American culture. For example, I have visited the enormous baseball stadium to watch a game of the Braves. It turns out baseball is not the most interesting sport to watch, but with the mascots, songs and firework during the breaks they still manage to entertain the audience.

Currently with Halloween incoming there are all kinds of events in the theme. This past week we decided to visit one of the scariest haunted houses in the States. And scary it was. My heart almost broke out of my ribcage in the twenty minutes inside with mechanical dolls of nine feet approaching you and people dropping down in your neck from the ceiling.

One of the mascots of Georgia Tech: Buzz. Photo | Private archive Daan Rutten

I feel bad for having to go back to the Netherlands again soon. The United States is a unique country with incredible opportunities, and I am grateful that I have been able to experience a part of it.

At the main photo you see Daan in the baseball stadium. He's the second person from the right.

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