Bachelor's Degree in Physics
2019. My bachelor's studies were coming to an end. With no more mandatory courses and the ability to choose all my modules myself, physics became enjoyable again. After conducting an internship on the Quantum Hall Effect, which I took with Jule, I was so fascinated by the experiment's results that I decided to write a bachelor's thesis about it. It was an experimental work in the field of solid-state physics. I had to conduct measurements at high magnetic fields and very cold temperatures.
Meanwhile, Jule embarked on the path of quantum optics, which involves cooling individual atoms using lasers and magnetic traps to pave the way for quantum computers. She had long surpassed me in studies and had already completed her bachelor's thesis by the time I started mine.
The Submission
August 2019. On the penultimate day of the bachelor's thesis, I had to hurry to finalize the literature references. I worked late into the night under great stress. However, for inexplicable reasons, I lost connection to the university VPN. It wasn't until I tried to access a paper and was suddenly confronted with a payment request for forty-nine euros that I realized this. These scientific papers, hidden behind an annoying paywall, drove me to despair in the late hours of the night. Nevertheless, around two o'clock in the morning, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. I hastily transferred my bachelor's thesis to a USB stick so that I could print it at the university's copy shop tomorrow before finally going to sleep.
A knock on my room door woke me up. With sleepy eyes, I saw Lauri at the door.
"Jule is trying to reach you urgently!"
"What, why? What time is it?" I mumbled tiredly as I reached for my phone under my bed.
"Oh, damn!" I immediately woke up when I saw the time. It was already 8:40 a.m. My bus, which I had to take to catch the train to Hannover, was already gone. It was no longer possible to submit the bachelor's thesis by ten o'clock, especially since I still had to print it.
I turned off airplane mode and saw the thousand messages and calls from Jule. I called her back.
"Jule, I overslept. You have to help me," I asked her, as an idea came to mind.
"I thought so. Send me your work, and I'll go to the university to print it," Jule read my thoughts already.
"And I'll order a taxi!"
I immediately ordered a taxi, hurriedly stuffed my laptop into my bag, half-heartedly brushed my teeth, slipped into a white shirt and black jeans, and even managed to eat a slice of toast before the taxi finally arrived. I rushed out of the house and collapsed onto the back seat of the taxi.
"Where to?" the taxi driver said as he watched me in the rearview mirror, pulling out my laptop to send my bachelor's thesis to Jule.
"To Hannover, directly to Leibniz University," I replied, opening the email program.
"That would be about ninety euros," the taxi driver said. It wasn't until I heard that that I realized I hadn't thought about whether I had enough cash for the ride. I quickly pulled out my wallet from my pocket and checked what was inside. There lay a whole hundred-euro bill - the money I had received from Galja a week ago to complete the bachelor's thesis.
"No problem, but please drive as fast as possible. I have to be there by quarter to ten," I requested the taxi driver.
Once I had sent the bachelor's thesis to Jule, I felt very relieved, closed the laptop, and leaned back. But shortly after, my phone rang. It was Jule.
"Sascha, the page numbers are missing in the file, you need to adjust it and send me the file again," she said on the phone, while my stress level reached a maximum. The page numbers were there yesterday. And I had no clue how to set the page number in LaTeX. We were almost in Hannover. I hurried. I probably looked like a busy businessman. My finger fumbled around the phone, and my eyes searched for an answer. When I found the solution to my problem and was thankfully able to fix it, I sent the work to Jule again. Throughout the entire journey, I was tense because I was afraid that something else might go wrong.
"Please drive directly to the entrance of the university," I instructed the taxi driver as we arrived at the university parking lot.
"Keep the change," I handed him the hundred euro bill and sprinted to the university's copy shop.
Jule had already printed out the bachelor's thesis. There were still ten minutes left. That was just enough time to jog to the Institute of Solid-State Physics. Upon arrival, Jule was waiting outside for me while I went to Professor Haug's office on the first floor. When I knocked on his door, I briefly glanced at the clock. It showed 9:59. I was on time.
As I left the building after submitting the thesis, I saw Jule sitting on a staircase, basking in the sunshine. In that moment, I forgot all the stress from before. A smile spread across my entire face as I breathed a sigh of relief and briefly pondered: There you are, my dearest, my savior. I never thought I would find you only when I stopped desperately searching for you.
"Come on, my love, let's go get some coffee," I said to Jule, reaching out my hand to her.
"Saschi, please start writing the master's thesis a bit earlier," she said.
"Don't worry, I've got eeeverything under control," I replied, grinning mischievously.
"You goofball," she responded to my irony with a smile, taking my hand before we went to Café Kopi together.
Now I'm a Physicist
September 6, 2019. I completed my bachelor's studies with a grade of 1.8 and needed twice as many semesters as the standard period of study prescribed. I was very glad that I took my time. Because if I had rushed through the studies as quickly as possible, there probably wouldn't have been any time left to build a passive income on the side. Instead, I would now be exchanging my time for money in some company.
Learnings from this phase of life:
- It's okay to exceed the standard period of study.
- I will never again write a thesis at the last minute. (Me from the future: Are you sure?)
