It has now been almost nine months since I started my position as a technical trainee, and Elkem has already given me the chance to see an incredibly wide range of academic challenges, people and Norwegian nature. As I am writing this blog post looking down on a four-lane highway (E18) from an office in Elkem’s headquarter in Oslo, the contrast to my first trainee location could not be much bigger. My first rotation was spent at Elkem Bjølvefossen, located in Ålvik, a village of less than 600 people situated in the inner part of the Hardangerfjord. It is time to look back at some of the experience I gained from there.

## MUSIC: SOUND OF EDVARD GRIEG’S “MORNING MOOD” ##
Robots are amazing creatures. These beautiful beings with long gracious arms, brains made from copper wire and circuit boards, and hearts of cold hard steel. There are few things as mesmerizing as watching a robot buzz around as it carefully but determined picks up and places hundreds of pieces of silicon.