Posts by Julia van der Burgt
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!
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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