Our interdisciplinary experience as part of the GUMELAB tandem program was more than just gaining new academic knowledge.  The opportunity to discover new cultural sides, to experience local customs and to get to know the special features of the cities and their inhabitants led to a fascinating adventure.

Together we visited different museums in both countries. This enabled us to acquire a deeper knowledge of the country's history and culture and to exchange our thoughts and perspectives about it.  Experiences like these have brought us closer together within our tandem exchange.

Already knowing someone in the country we were travelling to proved to be beneficial in many ways. Grouping in tandems contributed to enriching our research by supporting each other.  It also strengthened the feeling of trust and security in the new country and made it easier to deal with possible language barriers or the culturally unknown.

During our visit to the other country, we also had the opportunity to participate in academic activities, such as attending courses or lectures at the host university. In addition, we have always received excellent support in our work from a great team of mentors and have been accompanied throughout our investigations.

In summary, we can say that the GUMELAB project has allowed us to surpass ourselves both on a professional and personal level.  We were given the opportunity to combine a research stay with getting to know a new city and new people. With confidence we were able to face challenges that came with it, thanks to the excellent support of the GUMELAB team. We therefore not only learned a lot for our projects, but also for our personal development. We would definitely recommend this experience to anyone who likes investigative or personal challenges and is eager to step out of their comfort zone to be able to find new valuable connections and perspectives.