Looking back on the almost three years of training that are now behind us, we, Maike and Berit, would like to tell you a bit about our experiences.

We are: Maike, 22, from the Harz region and Berit, 24, from the North Sea coast.

We started our training as chemical laboratory assistants at Clausthal University of Technology in late summer 2017. On our very first day at work, we were warmly welcomed by our colleagues and fellow trainees, shown around the premises and integrated into the community.

In the first few days and weeks, we were gradually introduced to the basics of chemistry. Thanks to the active support of our fellow trainees, we always felt that we were in good hands and quickly got a good overview.

As soon as we had learned the basics, we embarked on a great journey through the world of chemistry. We stopped off at various institutes at the TU:

• At the Institute of Organic Chemistry, we learned how to synthesize various preparations
• At the Institute of Polymer Materials and Plastics Technology, we were shown how diverse the world of plastics is
• At the Clausthal Environmental Technology Research Center we saw experiments on a larger scale for the first time and learned how to take a sample from a hot rotary tube
• At the Institute of Electrochemistry, we heard about ionic liquids for the first time and were allowed to take a look through a scanning electron microscope

But that's not the end of our journey, there are still a few more stops waiting for us. We would like to add that we always felt that we were in good hands at all the institutes and never lost contact with our "home institute" and our fellow students. We were able to take a lot with us on our journey, but not just in terms of chemistry. We developed as young women, were accepted into the TU family and will always remain a part of it even after our training.