Students of the Psychico College High School "Science in Europe" Club, accompanied by their teachers Ms. M. Vlachou and Ms. D. Kontostavlaki, travelled to Germany on April 23-26, 2024. Our main destination was the city of Heidelberg, known as the city of science, arts, and literature.

During our stay there, we toured this beautiful city with its picturesque landscape, its castle and the Philosopher's Way. In Heidelberg Castle we visited the German Pharmacy Museum, which unfolds the history of pharmacy and medicine from the Middle Ages to the present day. The equipment for mixing and distillation, pharmaceutical preparations as well as the surgical instruments used in the past helped us to mentally travel and follow the progress of these two sciences.

Our main destinations in Heidelberg were the University of Heidelberg as well as the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). The University of Heidelberg is the oldest university in Germany and one of the most renowned in Europe, attracting students and researchers from all over the world. We met with Dr. Koutsodendris with whom the students had the opportunity to discuss both his research and their own future academic choices. We also visited the laboratories in the Department of Earth Sciences, where students had the opportunity to "become" researchers for a while.

Our visit to the EMBL was an unforgettable experience, as it is one of the world's leading research institutions and Europe's flagship in the field of health sciences. It operates in six different locations in the wider European area and its main laboratory is located in Heidelberg. There, we met with Dr. Koumoutsis and toured two laboratories, the Genomics Core facility and the Microbial Automation and Culturomics facility. In these labs, students were introduced to prominent researchers as well as to innovative techniques, components, and applications of these to contemporary research issues. Our visit to the EMBL concluded with an educational program at the EMBL Imaging center and a tour of its interactive exhibition.

Finally, we could not miss the opportunity to visit the European Parliament in Strasbourg. During our stay in the Parliament we attended part of a parliamentary session, as well as an interactive presentation on the functioning, aims, and activities of the European Parliament. Our visit there concluded with a short tour of the city center of Strasbourg.

Students of the “Science in Europe” Club: Valletta F. - B1, Yiourga D. - B1, Kritikos F. - A4, Loukopoulos E. - A5, Matzavinos N. - A7, Marmaridis P. - A7, Papanastasopoulou A. - A5, Papanikolaou-Maniadakis O. - A6, Patmanidi A. - B5, Pachnioti E. - A6, Polimenakou A. - A6, Tsilika A. - A8.

Responsible teachers: Vlachou M. & Kontostavlaki D.