This summer I partook in a summer research internship that was mostly paid for(â650/month) by the German's DAAD(Deutsche Austausch Akademisher Dienst, a.k.a. the German foreign exchange department). They select roughly 300 people each year to study and do research under German Ph.D. students at universities across the country.
The website is
http://www.daad.de/rise/en/index.html
As the website says,
"To apply for a RISE placement for summer 2009 you must:
* be currently enrolled at a university/college in the United States, Canada or the UK as a full-time student in the field of biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences or engineering (or a closely related field),
* be an undergraduate who will have completed at least 2 years of a degree program by the time of the placement (graduates and graduate students from US or Canada should refer to RISE pro),
* prove that you will be registered as an undergraduate at your university/college for the academic year 2008/2009 (i.e., that you will still have undergraduate status upon your return toyour home university)."
And since you may not know the language..
"German language skills are not required for most positions but would be helpful to manage everyday life outside of the laboratory. The working language will generally be English."
I survived the whole summer with moderate German skills, and some girls I knew in the program got by the whole summer without speaking any German. Some of the computer scientists I knew there were working on programs in virtual reality and a multitude of other topics. I got a chance to do some research in energy harvesting. It is an extremely fun time.