What are the best educational trips for first-year physics students in Europe?

[fcoulomb]

Hi everyone, do you know a trip/educational trip to do in summer for a 1st year undergraduate student in Physics (in Europe)?
I've heard about CERN summer students' school, but I think it' s alittoe bit too advanced for my knowledge of the subject.

 

[fresh_42]

As so often, it depends. Historical sites would be Pisa, Cambridge, Greenwich, Königsberg, Torun and many more. In Munich they have an interesting technique museum "Deutsches Museum" where many physical and technical installations can be found: from a giant Foucault pendulum to a model of a coal mine etc etc. The Canary Islands themselves are a giant geophysics lab and there is also a big observatory on Tenerife. Perhaps you can even visit VIRGO in Italy. I've even been in the training module of the MIR, which has been shown in an amusement park. So make your choice: places to experience physics, places where history took place, or places to watch.

 

[jtbell]

Königsberg

I think Mr. Putin would prefer that you call it Kaliningrad.

Is it even possible to visit there easily as a normal tourist, given that it's the home of a major Russian naval base? When I was in high school c. 1970, I read an article in Stern magazine titled "Das Verbotene Land", written by a (West) German journalist who managed to slip into then-Soviet Kaliningrad via a car trip with friends from Lithuania. If the authorities had caught him, he would have been in big trouble.

 

[fresh_42]

I think Mr. Putin would prefer that you call it Kaliningrad.

I actually wanted to. But as I usually don't know the English names of cities, I looked it up on Wikipedia and found:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Königsberg

I don't think it is a problem today. At least tv teams are regularly there, so I'd wonder if this wasn't the case for tourists.

I have forgotten to mention Chernobyl, for all who like it creepy