Summer in the USA

My placement at the Research and Innovation Centre in Dearborn started in June 2019. That means I was able to escape the Australian winter which turned out to be great. Dearborn is a suburb of Detroit, Michigan and it is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. So, before I left, I was a bit worried. How will it be? Will I be in trouble? How do I get around in a city with the worst public transport? I arrived at DTW (Detroit Wayne County Airport) on a Monday morning and my first working day would be on Wednesday. For the first week I hired a car and thought I will figure everything out on the fly. I picked up my first car. A Ford Fusion (here it would be a Ford Mondeo). Obviously, a Ford. What else would it be? I drove to my Hotel in Dearborn and two things were different. I had to drive on the opposite side of the road, and I realised how bad the roads were. Also, there was no summer on my first day. After checking in the hotel I had a quick nap and then I started to explore the neighbourhood driving around in my car. I still regret it a bit. Exploring not so pretty neighbourhoods during a not so good day makes everything look a little bad. My first impression was that’s going to be a long three months. On my second day, leaving the hotel parking lot, someone reversed into my Ford Fusion. I just want to let you know, no one got injured and everything got solved eventually. I then drove with my damaged car to Detroit downtown. And I couldn’t believe how little people were on the streets. But the city has beautiful buildings. Finally, my placement started, and the weather got better too.

I started working under the supervision of Patrick, Glen, and Patricia. I had my own office which was pretty nice. Which intern has its own office? I worked on numerous projects, including carbon fibre composites and artificial intelligence for material development. I got lucky that it was summer and a lot of summer interns from all over the US were at the RIC as well and everybody was looking for new friends. Although we were all working in different departments, we always met for our lunch break. And all of them stayed for about three months. Different events were organised for us. The best one was Donut Wednesday. That’s when all intern met to eat donuts.

Then there were all the everyday life issues. I didn’t set up a bank account. So I just kept transferring money from Australia on my German credit card with which I payed in USD. That worked fine for three months. But you definitely need an American phone number. So I got an American SIM card. It was pretty simple to get but the mobile plans are pretty expensive there.

After one week I had to return my Ford Fusion but I also decided to keep renting a car because, believe it or not, you need a car. It is impossible to go anywhere without one. I picked up my second car and on the way to the hotel a light on dashboard illuminated and I returned it straight away. This time I received a Ford Fusion Hybrid Titanium. This was my third car. I really liked the car. I blew air through the leather seats to cool my back. That was awesome. Eventually I also sorted out my accommodation issues. It turned out to be a very lucky choice. A friend of a friend just moved to Detroit as well and offered me to stay at his apartment in Detroit downtown. That gave me the chance to get to know Detroit a lot more. And I started to like the city. The whole summer there were events going on the city. They showed movies on Campus Martius every Saturday, there was a beach bar, then a Jazz festival was on, Independence Day fireworks and lots of sports.

I took the chance to explore the country as much as possible. I have a friend in San Francisco, family in Chicago and Green Bay and the Niagara Falls and Toronto are also just around the corner. So my weekends were always busy. Flying and driving around the nation attending sports events such as NFL pre-season games at Ford Field with the GOAT Tom Brady, watching baseball at Oracle Park in San Francisco, college football in Ann Arbor at “The Big House” with over 110000 people, or getting a stadium tour of Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Enjoying the heat in Las Vegas during a pool party at the, the misty water of Niagara Falls and looked down from one of the tallest buildings in the world in Toronto. Driving over the legendary 8-Mile road, playing Fowling with the Interns, going to the shooting range and shoot a .44 Magnum, driving around Grosse Ile or eating dinner with family in the Windy City. I also visited the Henry Ford museum and his house in Dearborn.

Eventually I wanted another car for my last few weeks in the US. This time I got a brand-new Dodge Charger. All the luxury was gone compared to the Ford but the fun factor increased.

Although I only was in the United states for 3 months I saw and experienced a lot of things. Detroit turned out to be a lot better place than I thought at my first day driving around through the streets. But I also got really lucky to meet family, colleagues, friends and new friends who made this trip unforgettable. Just everyone who spend time with me during this fantastic summer. Not everything was easy. The with the visa process and accommodation were a bit tricky but looking back, everything was absolutely worth it. And during the week I was also working and I learnt a lot thanks to the openness and willingness of the people of the RIC who were really helpful and patient in teaching things. Thank you to everyone who made this trip great and helped me to organise everything.