So it's 6:50 am, I've been up since 5:20, and right now I'm on a train to Switzerland to see the sights of Zurich. Knights of Cydonia is playing loudly enough to wake the dead and caffeine is being fed to me through an intravenous drip. Well ok, it's not, but it should be! Patent on the horizon I think ... The strange thing about this blog is it's currently the end of week 7 (now week 8 when I'm posting it) but I'm going to tell you of my week 6 exploits just to keep things interesting! Hopefully it will make a refreshing change to the general deflated feeling of reading 20 blogs about going home.

My work throughout the week was probably the most challenging I've encountered so far, as I had to analyse the new system I designed and built - both the hardware and software components - to figure out how to improve it further (as you can tell, R&D is all about the constant improvement!). More solutions were found to fix imperfections that were encountered but, because I was running out of time to finish the project, I couldn't run the system thoroughly for every test and then crunch the numbers to find the answer. I had to take a breath, step back, and really look at my work - running through each idea I had in my head before deciding on which ones to prioritise. It's meant I've had to "think outside the box" (as that very cliché business speak goes) and also manage my time and efforts more effectively.

Extracurricular activities this week were exciting, fascinating, thrilling and exhausting all rolled into one! Not satisfied with a simple 2 v 2 game of badminton on Wednesday this led to a 2 v 1, where I pretty much collapsed after defending a doubles court alone for 2 hours! Thursday ended with an evening at the Kletterpark in nearby Friedrichsdorf which is a massive outdoor climbing centre all up in the trees - pretty much like a 'Go Ape' back home. With 11 different courses to choose from, a top height of 70 feet, and a 130 meter zip wire I felt like a mix between Peter Pan and Tarzan as I swung between tress or jumped off platforms. Yeah ... don't worry Mum, I wore a harness, and the broken arm will sort itself!

The weekend meant magic train ticket time again, and I was off to Berlin! A good mate of mine had come over to see some of Germany for the weekend so the 2 of us explored as much of the city as time allowed. Within 15 minutes of arriving on Friday night we were gazing in awe at the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Tor, both of which were lit up beautifully in the darkness and still thronged with tourists! As well as touring the Reichstag ourselves the next day, we also went up the Berlin TV Tower for a fantastic view of the whole city, saw Checkpoint Charlie and read the stories of escapes (both failed and successful) over the wall between East and West Berlin, and visited the German History Museum. Between all of this it was just great to walk around the city centre and enjoy the festivals, street performers and atmosphere! Nothing I can say will do justice to describe how rich Berlin is in culture, history and character - all I can say is experience it for yourself!

Glad to hear everyone has had a blast on their placements, and I'm looking forward to all the stories!

Thanks for reading again folks! Next instalment shouldn't be too long in arriving; otherwise the title is going to start with "So I'm in Gatwick Airport...."

Iain