STOP #2 — HAMBURG

1. Before coming to Hamburg, I was expecting a major industrial city, but then I was struck by its beautiful architecture, canals, and charming neighborhoods. Our boat tour was a combination of both, and we got to see the industrial and historical parts of Hamburg. At first, we traveled around the Port of Hamburg and were able to see the cargo ships, wind turbines, and other industrial sites. The geographical location between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea makes the Port of Hamburg the leading foreign trade hub of Germany. However, next we toured around the canals and witnessed beautiful architecture built in the 19th century.
2. From our H&R refinery/Mabanaft visit, I learned that it will take 10–20 years to rely on hydrogen due to unprepared infrastructure. In fact, hydrogen batteries weigh the same, but are much bigger in size. Most hydrogen is currently produced from natural gas through steam reforming, which still releases greenhouse gases. Cleaner production methods like electrolysis are more expensive. Scaling up hydrogen production to meet potential demand for transportation and electricity generation would require massive investments in new production facilities.
3. My favorite moment during this portion of the trip was seeing my friend from Russia, who immigrated to Hamburg to continue her studies in medical school. I have not seen her since 2020, so catching up, talking about the differences in our lives in Germany, Russia, and the United States was very interesting.
4. I want to give a shout out to Professor Jason Wong because he is able to handle 19 students, educational content, over 17,000 steps a day, 5 hours of sleep a night, and still be fun and caring! Grateful for this trip to get to know him. I never expected that he would be more prepared for such a trip than a bunch of 20-year-olds.
5. Next time I come back to Hamburg, I would love to visit the Red Light District because we did not have much time to visit it this time due to the amount of actual educational content we covered. In fact, I have never visited one in Amsterdam as well, so I am intrigued to see what is happening there.

#Hamburg