After accepting the offer, I was summoned in May to a meeting in Cologne, at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC). There I met with the principal investigators of each project I was going to work on at Concordia. When I first walked into the room, the lack of sleep due to a delayed flight did not help alleviate the impression that this was almost too good to be real. What a childhood dream come true! I was surrounded by a scale model of the International Space Station (ISS), the crests and logos of each mission, the photos of all of the European astronauts, the neutral buoyancy facility (a gigantic pool which is used for practice for extra vehicular activities or spacewalks), and a life-sized reproduction of the Columbus module of the ISS! I quickly understood that I had the full support of all of the research teams as well as of my contacts at ESA. However, I was all the more curious to know what lay ahead!
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Astronauts/The_European_Astronaut_Centre
75 Degrees South 