Exchange Program for HIPOBAT Researchers
Personal Insights - Patrick Gerlach, IMN
[…] the daily rhythm of Germany and France is a little bit shifted with the French being shifted towards later hours. Often our friends are in shock when we arrive at gatherings around 8 pm and we say that we had dinner already.“
When did you start to work at the Institut des Matériaux de Nantes Jean Rouxel (IMN) and where did you live and work/study before?
I started my Post-doc position in April 2022, after I finished my PhD in Applied Electrochemistry in the research group of Prof. Andrea Balducci at the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. I also did my Bachelor and Master studies in chemistry in the beautiful city of Jena.
What is your current research focus? (related to HIPOBAT but also overall)
My research focuses on high power energy storage devices. This includes the electrochemical investigation of electrode materials for batteries (Li, Na and others), supercapacitors, micro-capacitors and hybrid devices. In all of these applications, I take a special interest in the development of innovative electrolytes, which presents one of my key expertise. Therefore, I work with several types of electrolytes like aqueous, organic, ionic liquid, solvent-in-salt or all-solid-state electrolytes.
Tell me a bit about Nantes and the surrounding. How’s life in France compared to Germany? (work habits, leisure activities, cultural offers, etc.)
Nantes is a very beautiful city whose flair is strongly influenced by the former port industry, which is very visible in areas like the island of Nantes at the Loire. I also like the area around the river Erdre or the Butte Sainte Anne neighborhood. In my opinion, the city definitely is worth a visit. There are cultural events happening all around the year like one of my favorites: the jazz festival in summer time next to and on the Erdre river. A must-see is of course the elephant in the machine de l’île.
What I like even more are the surroundings of Nantes. The Bretagne is very close and within less than one hour, you are at the beach to relax. Personally, I really like the city of Clisson, only 30 min from Nantes, which has nearly a Mediterranean flair to me.
Comparing the life in France and Germany is interesting. On the hand, they are neighboring countries and share a common cultural background. Thus, there was nothing like a culture shock for me, when I came to France. On the other hand, I can definitely spot differences in daily life.
For example, in my perception the daily rhythm of Germany and France is a little bit shifted with the French being shifted towards later hours. Often our friends are in shock when we arrive at gatherings around 8 pm and we say that we had dinner already. A difference at work for me is the lunch break times which can last 1 – 2 h sometimes. I tried to adopt that. So far, I failed.
Another cliché I need to confirm is a difference in timing. When a meeting in Germany is set to 2 pm, this usually starts at 2 pm. In France this is more or less the time the colleagues start to gather in the meeting room. In the first weeks I had several meetings where I waited some minutes for the rest of the people to arrive. There you need to adapt.
For leisure activities after work, I can say that the French people, I met, are very social. As soon as you got to know some people, you can meet basically somebody every evening, if you want to.
Another highlight, I would like to mention is some of the French food. While I wouldn’t say that French cuisine is better than the German one (a fact, which is hard to sell to the French), something I really like are the French bakeries. When I arrived, I was thinking: Well, French baguettes will be the same is in good German bakeries. In the end, baguette is baguette, right? It’s not. Order a baguette tradition in a good French bakery and the difference is undeniable.
What was the reason to go abroad? Was there a specific motivation or did it just happen?
I had the idea to go abroad after my PhD for longtime already. However, I did not had a specific destination in mind. Then France more or less just happened to me. Towards the end of my PhD in 2020, we held a German-French summer school on high-power energy storage in Jena, which was organized by the laboratories of Prof. Andrea Balducci and Prof. Thierry Brousse. There, we had a very nice one-week long scientific exchange with many guest speakers from academia and industry. At the end of this summer school, Thierry highlighted that he is always open for exchange and collaborations. Therefore, not long after, I asked him for a possible postdoctoral position in his group and together we developed how to make that happen. Furthermore, this aligned nicely with the profession of my fiancé, since she is a teacher for German as second language as well as French. Thus, we decided to take this step in our careers together and we moved together to France.
Which challenge(s) did you encounter when moving to France and who/what helped you to navigate through it? (e.g., practicalities can be mentioned, bank account, insurance, registration, etc.)
To be honest, as a European, moving to France was rather easy. There is basically no paper work or documents to be prepared. Having a place to move to is another story of course. However, there I was also lucky. Since my fiancé already spoke very good French (unlike me), we were able to organize many things for our arrival in France from Germany. An example could be that we found our flat (in which we still live) online at Leboncoin (French Ebay). Although, we have had only a flat tour via Zoom as well as only got to know the landlady via phone and Zoom, we decided to take the apartment. I think without meeting in person and without having an on-sight visit, both sides of this agreement have been a bit skeptical in the beginning. However, this was overcome by existing contacts between the two countries. For example, I remember the landlady talking proudly about her son working in Munich at the time, while my fiancé was able to report her German-French exchange experience during school.
So ultimately, when we arrived in Nantes very late in the evening we had a very warm welcome by Thierry, who picked us up from the train station and our landlady, who waited for us in a very nice apartment.
Thus, while moving to Nantes was easy, getting settled and integrated into a system of another country definitely takes more time. Unfortunately, French bureaucracy is not well explained and takes long time (just like in Germany). My advice for this would be to go in person to the agencies with all possibly relevant documents and speak with the agents directly. Most of them are very friendly and try to help. Many of them have been excited that I am from Germany and they tried to speak in German to me, since many had it in school.
How long did it take you to get to used to the new environment and who supported you?
I would say the process is still not finished completely yet, but of course I get more accustomed day by day. A big obstacle in the beginning for me was the language. In my never-ending wisdom I learned six years of Latin instead of French in school. So, my ability to speak French was very limited, when I arrived. However, in this regard, I was supported from many directions. Thierry as well as the university allowed me to take very good French classes in a very good school, where I learned in small groups and with passionate teachers. This I liked a lot, however it was hard sometimes, since I did French classes for two years, two times a week, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm after work.
Furthermore, meeting French friends helped a lot to learn the actual modern spoken French. Often, we were speaking a mix of French and English which helped my brain somehow to create the connections most efficiently. Furthermore, my fiancé supported me a lot especially in the beginning. This made a huge difference and also made meeting people a lot easier, since when we were going out for dinner/ bar/ sport etc., often people recognized that we are speaking German and have been very curious to speak to us.
What did you get out of your relocation to France as a scientist and for your personal development?
As a Post-doc, of course you have other responsibilities than a PhD. What I like most about my position is that I am working on several projects at the same time. Of course, this can be challenging to organize, however it allowed me to diversify my electrochemical expertise as well as develop my project and group organization skills.
Regarding my personal development, as stereotypical as this sounds, my relocation to France allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. I don’t need to explain that in a foreign country you will encounter challenges which are not happening in your home country. Although this of course does not sound very appealing (it is not called without any reason: comfort zone) but it definitely builds your character over time. I did not even realize this by myself but after discussions with longtime friends, who told me I definitely developed.
What would you tell someone who is still undecided regarding a possible exchange to another country within a scientific exchange program?
I would say if you are interested in a scientific exchange program to another country apply for possible positions and see for the responses. If you have something positive but you are still undecided, ask maybe for a contract of one year. In the first six months you will probably get mostly used to the new environment, make some first contacts and become comfortable at work and private life. After six months, probably you start to dive deeper in the localities, be more confident at work (working in a new language, etc.) and most importantly make some new friends along the way. That does not happen directly after one week but takes time. So don’t stress yourself. If things don’t evolve as you hoped, don’t worry. 12 months pass really fast. After the one year you can decide, is it time to go back or do you want to stay and continue in your position or look for something new in your new home. Probably your opinion won’t be the same as the one you initially arrived with. For me for example, I decided with confidence that I will work 13 months in Nantes and then go back to Germany to start my career there. Anyway, I am writing this text right now after nearly three years living in France.
