The first GraWIToN School in Pisa was an incredibly enriching experience. I not only got the chance to meet the whole team of GraWIToN students but also other students working in the field that joined the school. We really had a good time together and I will never forget the nice evenings that we had in the vibrant city of Pisa.

On the weekends we could explore more of the Italian culture and visit some amazing places in Tuscany. During daytime we had lectures on many different topics covering all of what is necessary to know in the field of gravitational wave physics. Some of these included the theoretical foundations of the description of gravitational waves and their sources, while others were teaching us the experimental techniques used by the detectors. The lectures were made even more valuable because they were given by experts working at various institutions in different countries.

An integral part of the experience was the hands-on activities which involved making simulations of optical instruments and programming microcontrollers to solve different tasks. In this way we got a more complete view on the physics behind our daily research. After all these experiences, I am really looking forward to the next lecture week in L´Aquila.

Besides the GraWIToN School, my PhD has become more intense in the last few months. Most of my time is currently spent in the lab on an experiment to suppress laser power fluctuations. This experiment uses a very sensitive sensor that can be easily disturbed by acoustic vibrations and therefore needs to be placed in a vacuum chamber. Setting up this experiment has been a nice challenge for me and I am having the opportunity to put in practice all the theoretical studies that I gained in the first few months of my PhD. There is still a lot to be done in this experiment and the next steps will be to align the sensor and set up the power stabilization.