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skills, enthusiasm and positive attitude to learn new stuff, always someone will enjoy working with you! Thanks!
Thousands km far from Bremen, some of my best PhD memories were together with great people I met in both _scientific expeditions_ to Dominica and Iceland. Thanks to all members of both trips: Thanks Seacat, Danke Andrea, Charly, Thomas and Jan, Takk Eyjó, Paulinne, Viggo, Anna and Haukur. Particularly I would like to say Danke Stefan for your excellent advices in Dominica and afterwards every time you visited Bremen “Gonzalo, whenever you feel you´re talking normal that means you´re talking fast”, or by mail always sharing some awesome football discussions in the p.d.! הדות Saar for your 150 teeth smile joining Dominica moonshine and Bremen cloudy weather afterwards. ขอบคุณ Ann for your “leally” hilarious sense of humor in Iceland expedition and later; you are as cool as Bangkok real name in Thai is! Keep being brave with your PhD my friend!
Coming back to Bremen, only few meters far from my office, I´ve been a lucky guy working together with the _Organic Geochemistry group_ in MARUM-University of Bremen:
Danke Kai for your priceless support during my thesis committees. Your ability to listen my scientific stories and immediately give me the best possible advice was extraordinary and very helpful for this thesis.
Danke Marcus, because every time I made a question to you and you replied 3 more questions to me, I was confused but at the same time I was forcing myself to think harder. This helped me not only to continue working but also to understand what I was doing.
Danke Julius and Flo, the Flolius team! Since the very beginning I felt a great connection with you two and whenever I did not find your smiles around, MARUM was a worst place to be.
Thanks for your support, ability to listen and fantastic sense of humor!
ध यवाद Rishi, Danke Evert, Martin, Frauke and Thomas, you were fantastic colleagues to laugh and disconnect at lunch time talking about football, life, weather or food!
Danke Jan, Kevin, Felix, Nadine, Travis, Marshall, Jenny, Gerard, Birgit, Verena, Heidi, Eoghan, Silvia, Susanne, Brandi, Matthias or Niro. After chatting with you in labs or corridors, lipids were more fun! ㅰㅰㅰ my Chinese friends Shuchai, Sitan, Weichao, Rong, Xiaolei. I had a cool connection with all of you. Especiallyㅰㅰmy great friend Guangchao, a very good person and fantastic company in lab late evenings in front of smelly fume hoods!
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Finally, the Spanish office, one of my favorite places to be during the last three years, deserves a special acknowledgment here. Inside the cave of Xavi and Lars I ran away from stress and homesickness. My most sincere thankfulness goes to my two friends there:
Moltes Gràcies Xavi, my Master of Gases. The most organized guy I´ve ever met in a lab and a brilliant help fighting with isotopes and taxes offices! Thanks for the tons of fun we had outside the lab during fondues, raclettes, coffees, paintballs and playing as “Salo” with my friend Miquel!
GRACIAS+Danke+Takk to Lars, my personal Cholo Simeone. The Pau Gasol of my PhD championship. You deserve a full chapter of acknowledgments in this thesis: “Chapter 10 – Acknowledgments to Lars”. Summarizing, thanks for your unconditional support as a friend and as a mentor, your priceless lessons about how to do the things well in Science and in life (the Lethani!) and the thousand coffees simply chatting about football or comunio! Your exemplary attitude doing research taught me how essential is to believe in hard work and self-potential, instead of showing off and comparing myself to others. If Science is fair and guys who give funding are not 100% silly, Prof. Wörmer must be written in a door soon. Hopefully in Spain and I can join you! Infinite THANKS!
50 km far from Bremen, I´ve been blessed by the possibility of working with the ICBM-MPI _Marine Geochemistry group_ in Oldenburg, and receiving the extraordinary supervision from Thorsten and Jutta:
Danke Thorsten for being a perfect teacher, keeping your office door always open to my stupid questions that you answered with gigatons of patience and attention! I love the way you explain the things and your contagious optimism. Since the very beginning you were the one who encouraged me to believe that I was going to have 2 DOM papers out of my PhD, and looks like you were right! Thanks!
Danke Jutta for your continuous and brilliant supervision. Since you explained me how to arrive by public transport there, until the last awesome correction to the DOS manuscript wearing your “reviewer glasses”. I appreciate very much that you had always a plan for me, including me as part of your group in seminars, test talks for conferences or beach-volley tournaments!
Danke Thomas and Anika, my personal Iron Man and Sulfur Lady, respectively. Your inputs improved this thesis and I personally enjoyed a lot working with you, so cool an easy-going!
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Danke Katrin for all the interesting things you taught me about horses and spectrometry at the same time, your cool sense of humor and your great guidance in FT! Everybody who knows me would agree that you deserve an award for dealing simultaneously with me and a 15T magnet! Danke Hanne, Helena, Maren S, Nadine, Marcus, Ina, Matze and Andrea, Thanks Aron and Gracias Mari Carmen for adopting me in your offices and containers and having great talks and good laughs to compensate the terrible mensa food from Oldenburg University! Danke Maren Z, you rock a lot! I keep a great memory of how cool was working together with Papua samples and all the funny talks we had in Granada or in your cute container! Danke Micha and Obrigado Jomar my dear friends from Copa Cabana. Thanks for your hospitality and fantastic jokes which definitely deserve a trip to Oldenburg!
Muchísimas Gracias Betty and Pamela for your warm, sweet and cool Latin character. Every time we laughed loudly during a coffee break or in one of our trips back to Bremen by
“Mexican-camión” or train, you made me feel at home!
Thanks Jeff, my Carcassonne-Bohnens master. There are probably very few people in this World who can talk in perfect British accent about difficult iron-complexation reactions and 2 min later tell in amazing Spanish with strong accent from Granada: “ocho, pues tócate el…”
You can´t be cooler! Thanks A LOT!
Last but not least, the _family and friends_. Without you, this thesis would be only random letters when I desperately crash my head against the keyboard. Something like:
“fdjklktmjphfdwpwhdlkuqhdlkjspipijpoqs”.
Grasias Yure (+ Lentejita!!!) and Miguel “McGyver-de-Valsequillo” as well as Danke Tony “Águila Blanca” for being my adoptive Canarian-German family in Bremen. Your friendship, support and tortillas of 8 kg were unbeatable. Gracias Mentxu and Yoli, and Grazie Ari, because “lo que diga la rubia” was the best team ever on Thursday Lagerhaus quiz, and at the same time the perfect way to disconnect from this thesis. If a part of my smile will always belong to Bremen is thanks to all of you guys!
Gracias to my friends from the distance who ever asked me “How is whatever you´re doing in Germany going?” I had all of you here, just next to me. Especially Gracias Andrés “cafesito”
and Blanco for sharing our PhD complains together, Gracias Perdy “por-los-suelos” for insisting me in enjoying the stars of the less-contaminated sky from Bremen (as compared to Madrid), Pablo “Werder Betis”, Dani “No-vayas-a-Navarra” as well as Pepe and Carmen for your visits to remind me that Bremen city center definitely deserves a day or two of tourism!
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Gracias my young sister Ana for your sense of humor “Caraculístico”, the supply of good series and hosting us in Amsterdam surrounded by Erasmus (still young for it!) or coming around to Bremen and force me to watch Frozen and sightseeing in flea markets!
Gracias my older sister Julia and Pablo for always asking nicely about this thesis, giving me very good advices! Especially THANKS for awarding me with the biggest present a sister can give, a much cooler degree than the “Dr” one: Uncle Gon or Tío Coco, as Claudio calls me!
Gracias Mama and Papa, this thesis is the final consequence of your education to me. My Dad taught me to love Science and do with passion whatever I decide to do with my professional life. My Mum taught me that having empathy and effort in trying to be a good guy must be a daily-life objective, much more important than research articles! Enjoy both of you this thesis because is the fruit of your 30-years labor.
Finally GRACIAS Nur, my love and best friend. Thanks for the countless times you heard me complaining about work and helped me to disconnect travelling, laughing or dancing like
“Cuerpo-Flan”. Your help, support, advices and ability to understand me, even when I do not understand myself, have been essential for this thesis. I could not have done it without you, boba. Thanks for being my carbon, the building block of my life.
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