How did your career benefit from the ERASMUS project?
It did very much, and in a way that was very surprising to me in the end -- it took me a few years to fully appreciate it.
Before my stay started I had little idea about what I would be actually doing. My host, Dr Julia de León, asked me to have a thorough look at how images from OSIRIS are processed and develop a simple pipeline. Even though I came from a meteor science group, I only understood spectroscopic observations in theory, as my prior experience was mostly in computer simulations and statistical data analyses. I had never worked with spectral data before, and definitely not with actual raw images from a spectrograph's detector. This was a completely new area of astronomy and also a new way of thinking for me.
However, more than three years later I applied to a job where processing data from a highly sophisticated instrument is the primary focus: as a pipeline developer and algorithm specialist for the METIS spectrograph, which will be installed on the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile. I had a flying start and had to spend very little time trying to understand the specifics of the instrument and what I was supposed to do. This certainly made me stand out compared to other candidates, and I was hired in the first round.
How did the ERASMUS program support your personal development?
Due to the pandemic and the restrictions associated with it, this did not go as well as I had hoped. I did not get to meet many new people, save for the one day I could spend at the institute, and most of the work had to be done remotely, with only weekly progress reports and discussions online. Still, it was much preferable to having to do the same at home.
What pleased me most was the fact that with so much time on my hands I could learn Spanish, which is probably the second most useful language to any astronomer. During my recent trip to Chile I was surprised to find out I was able to hold a meaningful conversation with the locals, without ever attending any "real" Spanish course.
Can you share some experience from your ERASMUS exchange?
Sadly enough, my stay started in March 2020 -- I spent exactly one day at the institute before the entire island of La Palma was put into lockdown along with rest of Europe. For the next seven weeks we were not allowed to go anywhere besides shopping for groceries. My work and social life was reduced to the apartment, with my host being locked down on Tenerife with her family, so all the work had to be consulted online. Still, I refused a government-organized repatriation flight home and decided to stay, which was a very good decision. We shared a huge and well-equipped apartment with only one other student, so personal space was not a concern. After the initial shock I grew accustomed to it, and appreciated that without distractions I could concentrate on everything very well. Even so, most of those forty-nine days were very monotonous are a blur now. The only distinct thing I remember is trying to observe the Lyrid meteor shower from the roof.
The second half was better, it was finally possible to travel and explore the island a little bit, while most of the regular tourists had already gone back to the mainland and new ones were not admitted. Although most of the restaurants and bars were still closed, it was well possible to walk and drive around the island, and even hike solo in the forests, which is not recommended in Slovakia. The only truly difficult thing was finding a flight home -- with contradicting restrictions across countries I almost ended up flying to Vienna via Budapest and Stockholm, and my tickets were cancelled multiple times.
Fortunately in the end the travel bans were lifted just in time and I overstayed only by six very nice weeks.
3.10.2023