SSP 2018!

"Keep your mind open to opportunities. They are closer than you think."

After a whirlwind of a trip to Adelaide, I went back to India to finish my undergraduate studies. During the last few days of classes and presentations, Dr. Omar Hatamleh, the Director of the International Space University's Space Studies Program 2018 got in touch with me and asked if I would like to be a part of the SSP-18 as a teaching associate for the Space Applications department. After working out a few details, I immediately agreed! (Obviously)

Very soon, the ISU logistics coordinator reached out to me and before I knew it everything was ready for my trip to The Netherlands, the host country of the program. I was super excited the few weeks leading to my departure.

So, the SSP-18 was hosted by three institutions in The Netherlands - TU Delft (The main institution), University of Leiden and ESA-ESTEC! (OMG, I know!)

Check out my first travel vlog! - I filmed this while travelling from Chennai (where I am from in India) to Delft.

All the staff reached TU Delft a week ahead of the start date to be able to settle down, prepare for the arrival of the participants and help with the Space English Access Course. As I saw the program calendar filled up with activities and sessions starting as early as 7 am and ending at 10 pm, I knew I was back at the most intense program. (This time even more so, as we had to prepare and make sure everything went on smoothly)

But, this time I was determined to document my experiences and made a series of YouTube videos with the title "Life of an ISU TA". Check that out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMxI3z9mpAY&list=PLi5LHr0vUuEL1j6Pd0fpBJ7EsUOt4Qfpq

As you can see, I had a blast at SSP-18! The 3 months I spent in the Netherlands were honestly magical. I felt I was living the life of a character in a story book.

A typical day for me in the first few weeks of SSP-18 started around 8 am. I get to campus around 9 am and work towards organizing things for my department activities. I presented to the entire class of participants and staff about my department and the activities we had in store for them. As a teaching associate, I also help out with the classes and workshops that were being conducted. I had a chance to ride my bike a lot to visit places for the departmental activities when I was not helping out with the classes. Work usually gets over around 5 pm. As staff members, we also help out during the social events that are conducted in the evenings that go until 10 pm or later. These few weeks helped me bond well with the participants and other staff.

At that point, I didn't know what was waiting for me, lol! The next phase of the program was the departmental phase.

This phase lasted for three weeks and this three weeks was the hardest I have worked in my entire life so far. Some days during this period began at 4 am for me, as I was in-charge of all the logistics for our trips. The busses usually leave around 5 am, which means I needed to get ready, make sure we have everything we needed and also make sure all the participants that were supposed to attend this activity are on the bus before that. We usually go to some other city or country for the day (if only you can see me smiling as I type this, bragging much, lol). This was okay and this was fun, but, we usually return back around 9 or 10 pm. You would think this is not that late, but I would need to organize things for the next day after that and then go to bed to only wake up early again. It was honestly a very tiring part of the program.

Though I was tired most of the times and worked super hard for the departmental activities, it was the best part of the program for me. I enjoyed it and it was very satisfying when others also enjoyed the fruits of the labor. I travelled to some new countries and met some really amazing people. I learnt so much about space applications and the industry.

My favorite activity was geocaching at the Hague - Geocaching is a type of high tech treasure hunting. To organize this, we roamed the streets of the Hague twice. Once to set the locations for the cache and the second time a day before the activity to leave gifts. Another fun activity we did was hiking at the mudflats in Texel Island, northern part of the Netherlands. We also visited several satellite and earth observation sites where we interacted with CEOs and other brilliant minds and learnt about their products and work.

The last day of the departmental activity ended with the entire department going on a pancake cruise on the river in Rotterdam. This was quite sad as we witnessed all the participants group hugging and singing. The participants were also super kind to get me and the Chair of the department parting gifts. <3

During the course of SSP-18, I had the chance to meet and interview NASA astronaut - Dr. Jeff Hoffman, who's lecture course I attended on edX during my undergrad first year (literally spoke to the person who introduced me to Space many years ago on the internet). I also met ESA astronauts - Paolo Nespoli and Andre Kuipers, visited the European Space Agency, the International Peace Palace, attended a lecture and shared the stage with some amazing people at the same hall where Dr. Albert Einstein gave his lectures in the University of Leiden.

My friend and the SSP18 photographer, Shripathy Hadigal, took a mesmerizing long exposure picture of the ISS (International Space Station) zipping across the sky, with the Delft cathedral which is the exact same size as the Atlas rocket in the background and with me in the foreground (was completely unplanned and one of my favorite pictures ever). I also attended my first ever Caribbean festival in Rotterdam (also impromptu) with my Spacey best friend, Kavindi De Silva. I can't write about all my memories from SSP-18 (this blog would never end), but these are my favorites!

And all this in only 3 months. ISU's Space Summers are the best! Can't wait for the opportunities and experiences waiting for me in the future! Remember, always keep your mind open for them!

#SizzlingSummerOfSpace #SSP18 #ISU #Space #indiangirlabroad