As a member of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) for Young Professionals, Nial Tilson, BS ME ’12 and MS ME ’13, lived in Germany for the past year. The CBYX is a year-long exchange program funded by the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag (Parliament) that sends 70 participants from the U.S. to Germany, and vice versa. Tilson started his journey late last July. As part of the program, he completed an intensive two-month language phase in Cologne, a four-month study phase at the Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg in Magdeburg, and a five-month internship in Hamburg for 8.2 Consulting AG, a renewable energy consulting firm specializing in offshore wind energy. Tilson reports that each phase of the program helped him learn and experience more than he imagined.
Outside of the program structure, he has played in the German National Championships for Ultimate Frisbee, met Patenabgeordneter Burkhard Lischka (‘godparents’ in the German Parliament, who are actively involved in participant selection on the German side), learned how to cook Rotkohl (a dish made of red cabbage), learned a great deal about the renewable energy industry and its growth in Germany, and traveled throughout Europe. While his post-CBYX plans are indefinite, he has returned to Germany in hopes of gaining employment and greater experience in the renewable/wind energy industries in Europe.
