Posted in 2013
Julia van der Burgt, Georgia Tech, Post #2 End of Semester
Time flies by here in the US: classes are over, passed my final exams and now it’s already nearly Christmas! I’ve had a great time at GaTech and I have experienced many aspects of American life. In my previous post I already wrote a bit about life at GaTech and the classes I’m taking. Because of the education system here with quite a lot mandatory homework assignments, mid-term exams and in-class quizzes most of your grade is already determined before the final exams. It also forces you to keep up with the material covered in class, so all together finals where not a very big deal.
Of course I went abroad to learn more than the Nano-materials program I followed. I’ve taken each opportunity to see other aspects of life in the US, also outside of student life on campus. Most of my experiences and American friends I’ve found at the Christian Campus Fellowship (CCF). This student organization has all kind of activities and is a perfect place to find good friends that feel like your family when you are far away from home. With this organization I’ve done all kinds of volunteering work during which I’ve met many different people. I’ve eaten breakfast with the homeless, I’ve played with children in disadvantaged districts, helped with tornado relieve all the way in Moore, Oklahoma and during the Christmas break I go to Puebla in Mexico to build a well to provide drinking water.
CCF is also the place where I made most of my friends. We’ve been on a fun trip to Panama City Beach: swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, building sand castles, playing games and just having lots of fun.
After the final exams I had to leave my apartment, so now I’m visiting my friends and stay at their place. I just came back from a week in Knoxville where I visited the Smokey Mountains and Americas largest underground lake.
For Christmas I’ve been invited at another friends place, I’m ready for my first real American Christmas!
Jenneke Evers, University of Maryland, post #2
Life as an exchange student means experiencing living in another culture, speaking a different language, learning in a different style, but mostly meeting wonderful people from all around the world. In our first week at the university (which seems like such a long time ago already), all the international students were able to join activities to get to know each other and the university. We went to a baseball game in Washington DC where the Washington Nats were playing against the New York Mets. Our university is connected to the metro-network of the capital, so it’s easy to go to DC to have dinner, go out or go sightseeing. Together with my best friends (Fid from Istanbul, Mili from Buenos Aires and Irene from Valencia), we visit the city a lot. Washington DC is the capital of the United States and has a lot of government buildings and memorials. The city is different from other cities, because it does not have a skyline. The Washington Monument is officially the highest building in the city and no other building can be higher than the monument (169 m, not that high!).
Besides all the fun stuff, the main reason that I am here is of course to study. I am signed up for five courses, of which 3 in the transport engineering and 2 in international business and cultures. The style of teaching is much more school-like and personal, compared to my university. Classes of 30-40 people, homeworks and weekly quizzes are the standard. All the courses last the whole semester, so I just finished some midterms and in the last week, I have my finals. Time flies!
Bye, Jen
Jenneke Evers, University of Maryland, post #1
Hello lovely readers,
I was asked to write a little story about life as an exchange student. Let’s introduce myself first; I am Jenneke Evers, a 20-year old bachelor student at Delft University of Technology. My major is Technology, Policy and Management with a specialization in Transport Engineering. Normally I live in Delft, but for this semester I decided to follow my dream and move to the United States of America!
I arrived at the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park in August this year. College Park is a small city in the south of Maryland near the Washington D.C. area. When I first arrived at the campus of the university, I was overwhelmed by the size and the charm of the campus, it is like the movies! The whole campus is centered around the McKeldin Mall, which is a green area with university buildings on the sides and the McKeldin Library at the end. The campus hosts around 9,500 students who live in residence halls and apartments and has its own swimming pool, recreation centres, theatre, shops, sportfields and football-stadium with a capacity of 54,000!
In our first week, we went to a football game between UMD and Florida, which was great, including all the cheerleaders, marching band, fireworks and the national anthem! To be honest, I did not know the rules of American football, but living on campus, you learn them fast enough.
The colours of the UMD are red, gold and black, and to be a true Maryland student, you need to have at least several Maryland shirts, sweaters and shorts. So, immediately after the arrival of me and my roomie Fidan (from Istanbul), my american roommate showed us around campus and took us shopping to buy a Maryland-shirt and shorts.
In the next post, I will tell you all about my international friends and the first week of lectures.
Adios, ciao, tschuss, bye, see you later! Jen
Julia van der Burgt, Georgia Tech, Post #1 Introduction
This semester I study at Georgia Institute of Technology (GaTech) in Atlanta, US. I wanted to do a minor in Material Science and the Global E3 program gave me the chance to go to GaTech and follow the Nano-material certificate program.
I’ve been studying here for already three months, in which I have seen and learned a lot and had many great experiences. I’m taking courses about nanomaterials, nanoscale devices, quantum mechanics and some general materials science. It’s a good coherent program and although I had expected my courses to be quite challenging, since I’m taking 3rd and 4th year materials science courses as an AE student, it hasn’t been too difficult so far.
The campus of GaTech is very nice. I have classes in many different buildings, which have all good facilities. Because most students live on-campus, whole student life takes place on the campus, and there is always something going on: music, activities, games, which makes it very lively. Sports facilities are great: I’m a swimmer, so the Olympic pool of ’96 is one of the best things I’ve found here and I made a lot of friends in the swim club.
GaTech is not really a place to go if you play music: I started playing in the Symphony Orchestra, but I quitted after a couple of weeks because I didn’t like it. I decided that I rather spend my time outside, because I think the weather in Atlanta in the fall is perfect!
I live off-campus, and I could bike to school in shorts every day till the end of October. Although Atlanta is not a very bike-friendly city, I can bike around a lot. This is great, it gives me a lot of freedom, because the public transport here is very bad. Most Americans (of course) use their car, but biking works very well!
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