The course in Fontainebleau was a great experience which provided helpful technical support for my work on the variation of spatial distributions of fish and increased my repertoire of methods. In particular, I am now able to deal with a huge amount of trawl survey station data, analyse the structure in their spatial and temporal variability, and derive maps from sample datapoints. In addition, I also see how useful it can be for other hot topics such as plastics in the ocean or impacts of oil rigs, especially during a time when environmental issues receive increasing public attention. During the course, I was also able to socialize and meet a variety of interesting, smart, and friendly scientists from all over the world. Courses such as the one in Fontainebleau are like the cherry on a scientist’s cake. It is about working together, which is more important in science than in every other business, and it is about long nights in a Scottish pub in the heart of France with German beer, English gin, and Chilean jokes. Karl-Michael Werner University of Bergen student and participant in the 2014 ICES training course on geostatistics