Global E3
Daniel Okret, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Post #3: The Fall, Thanksgiving and finals
Hi y’all,
It is starting to get cold in Madison! And with the cold come the most beautiful season in the Midwest, the Fall! The trees slowly start changing colour until there is an astonishing mix of yellow, red and brown. This creates a fairy tail like scenario which is ideal to hike and be outside before the real cold arrives. One of the must do’s during this season is go to the zoo! There is an awesome zoo in Madison which has all kinds of interesting animals like tigers, lions and even polar bears. And the best part is, its free! So the zoo also became one of my favourite running routes.
During the month of November there is only one thing in everyone’s mind. That is how long until Thanksgiving. This is the holiday where the whole family gets together, eats as much turkey as possible and watches American Football. As I mentioned before, I have family living in Chicago so I spent Thanksgiving with them. There were two things that amazed me about this holiday. First of all is the amount of food there is. It is exactly as in the movies. The second one was the warmth and cosines everywhere. I found it very similar to the Christmas feeling in the Netherlands.
After Thanksgiving eve, which is always on a Thursday, some friends and I rented a nice apartment in the Loop (centre of Chicago) and spent the weekend there. The city is very lively and has beautiful architecture. It is amazing to just walk around and see what’s going on. On one of those walks we went into a musical theatre to see what was playing and ended up going to an incredible Sherlock Holmes show.
The weeks after Thanksgiving are really busy. I was trying to enjoy the last part of my stay as much as possible while finals were getting closer. So the balance between fun and studying was leaning more and more towards studying. However, that is the same for everyone else so it isn’t that bad.
That’s all for now folks!
Cheers
Daniel Okret, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Post #2: Life in Madison (go Badgers!)
Hi again,
Since I got in Madison I have been very busy! On the first weeks there are many introductory activities and events for the new students. This is a great opportunity to get to know what the university has to offer next to academics. I joined the Hoofers Sailing Club and became an instructor there. They have the biggest college fleet with over 100 hulls! The club organizes socials every Friday in an ideal setting to meet interesting people. Being an instructor is very fun and was an ideal student job due to its flexibility.
One of the activities that I enjoyed very much were camping trips. I went camping several times. There are many nice camping spots near Madison. The only downside is that they can only be reached by car. The most special camping trip I did was to Nicolet National Forrest, which is a four hour drive to the north. We stayed at a camping spot near Anvil Lake. During this trip we visited a small town festival in Phelps. This was one of the most American experiences I had so far!
Another fun thing that I got to be part of is Rush. This is the period where fraternities and sororities organize many nice activities to attract their new students. The activities vary from group studying with pizza to parties and from sport day’s to film night’s. It was like being in one of those American college movies!
Madison has a very good athletic program. As many of you may know, American Football is a very important part of college life in the US! Almost every university has its own team and are very proud of it. Wisconsin has the Badgers, which is an excellent team! I watched the first game on the TV, and did not understand why everyone was so excited about it. The game was kind of boring, with only 13 minutes of actual football during three and a half hours. The rest is mostly commercials and discussing scores of other games that did not interest me.
However, after watching a game at Camp Randall (their football stadium) I finally got it! The energy in the stadium is hard to describe, but even not being a football fan it is hard not to get intoxicated by it! When there is football going on, everyone is completely focused on and supporting the players. The marching band and cheerleaders provide the necessary entertainment while there is no actual football going on. So there is a constant flow of cheering, singing and dancing. I recommend going to as many games as possible!
Of course that even with such a busy agenda there still is serious studying going on. The courses here are not necessarily harder than at the TU Delft, but they have more compulsory parts. Most of the courses I attend have a weekly homework assignment that amounts from 15 to 25 percent of the final grade, and some courses even have participation counting for 10 percent. Therefore, it is important to stay on top of the studies and be sure to participate during lectures and office hours.
That’s all for now folks!
Cheers
Preparations and arrival, by Daniel Okret, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Hi everyone!
I am an Offshore and Dredging Engineering student at the Delft University of Technology. In addition to my regular studies I am participating in the Honours Programme Master. This fall I will be doing an exchange semester at the University of Wisconsin-Madison through the GlobalE3 programme. I chose this university because in addition to being well ranked, I believed it would provide me with the real American experience. The cheapest way to arrive in Madison is to fly to Chicago and take a bus from there to Madison (this safes you up to 500$!!). Because I had family in Chicago, this was even more ideal. After spending a long weekend in Chi Town my uncle drove me up to Madison. This was a very pleasant two-hour drive.
Before coming to the US I thoroughly researched the housing possibilities. The most common ones are living at dorms (which is really expensive) and living on apartments which are usually off campus. Because I was interested in the most American possible experience, I decided to live in a fraternity house. I really recommend this as I got to know many interesting people very quickly!
Upon arrival at the Frat all my housemates were very surprised with the amount of stuff I had with me. They were expecting many boxes and furniture, so one suitcase was a lot less than usual. My housemates were very welcoming and fun, and my roommate (it is very common to share a room in the US) was a cool American guy. They were all very interested in me and being the only foreigner at the house I got a lot of attention.
The first day my roommate and some housemates gave me a tour of the campus. It is huge and located on the beautiful lake Mendota! There are several supermarkets, museums, café’s, restaurants, sport centers, a football stadium with capacity for 80 thousand people, medical centers and much more. So there is almost no reason to leave the campus.
That’s all for now folks!
Cheers
Jenneke Bijpost – University of Maryland, Post #3 , Home Sweet Home
After a trip of over five months in America, I came back home. At 7:15 am, I arrived at Schiphol Airport. It was a strange feeling to be truly back. Fortunately, I have a lot of good memories to look back on.
The American Thanksgiving is at the end of November and a friend invited me over to celebrate this American holiday with her family. It was a completely new day of celebration for me and it was a wonderful thing to experience. We travelled to a city near New York to meet the whole family. Everyone in the family brought something to eat, for example; turkey or stuffing or mashed potatoes. There was so much food!
After Thanksgiving it was almost exam week so I had to study a lot. After a long weekend in New York in the beginning of December to see the big Christmas tree and the Brooklyn Bridge, I had to work very hard until the last day.
I even had two exams the last day before winter break. Fortunately they all went pretty well and I can be content with my grades. That evening I had to say goodbye to all my friends. Hopefully I will see some again, since they want to visit Europe or already live in Europe.
During winter break I went to Florida for a road trip. Starting from Orlando in the East, to the South in Miami, to Tampa in the West.In Tampa I stayed with a friend for a week and spent New Years’ Eve with her and her family. This was the first time I saw the ball drop in Times Square on television.
I am so grateful for last semester. I would recommend studying abroad to anyone who has the chance. You’ll learn, see and do so much in just several months!
Michele Facchinelli – Georgia Institute of Technology – Post 2
Hey everyone! It is time for me to write a second post. I have been in the US for almost three months already, and the experience is going great. I have met so many nice and interesting people from this country and many others, and can really say that I am very satisfied with my experience.
Classes
Classes at Georgia Tech work a bit differently. First of all, at least for the faculty of Physics, where I take all my courses, lectures have very little students. The most classmates I have are about 20 and the least is the incredibly low number of 3. This makes lectures more one-to-one and leaves more time for interaction with the professor.
Another big difference are the homework problems. For every class we are assigned a set of problems for the following week or for two weeks after. The homework is then graded by the TA’s and it will affect a certain percentage of our final grade. Sometimes the homework deadlines all match which makes things even harder (especially if you are not used to compulsory homework). Luckily, classes only last one hour and each day I have 3 hours of lessons. This leaves a lot of extra time after classes to study and I still end up having free time in the evening.
To be honest, I prefer this teaching method, rather than staying at the University for 8 consecutive hours, as sometimes happens at TU Delft.
Football
Football in the US is a very huge thing, especially in the South. So every week or so, there is a football game between the Georgia Tech team (Yellow Jackets) and some other University. Although I am not a fan of watching sports, I have had a lot of fun cheering and watching the games.
It’s really crazy how many people attend the Football games. The stadium is always packed with fans, both students/alumni and other people not really affiliated with the school, but that just enjoy watching the games.
Social Life
Even though classes have very little students (and it seems it would be easy to get to know one another), most students find their friends outside their Departments. Fraternities and other associations are extremely common in the US and that is where they make friends.
I met most of my friends at the Christian Campus Fellowship (or CCF), and with them I shared most of my experiences. Interestingly enough, that is the same place Julia van der Burgt (another student from TU Delft that went to Georgia Tech in 2013) spent a lot of time (and they actually still remember her).
CCF helped me integrate into the American society very well and right from the beginning. They organize a lot of amazing and fun activities. Just last weekend we went to Panama City Beach in Florida, where we enjoyed one last day at the beach with really nice weather. Also, they plan many events, like camping, parties (like the Halloween and pumpkin carving in the photos), trips to corn mazes and many more every week.
Anouk Slockers – University of Florida: Post 2 – Classes and Thanksgiving
Jenneke Bijpost – University of Maryland, Post # 2 , So much to do!
Hi everyone,
Now, I am already over half way through my time here. The time is going so fast here! I barely know where to start when telling about my experiences. So I’ll start with the educational part.
In the last couple of weeks I did 4 exams, submitted a project, whilst working on two others and at the same time I had weekly mandatory homework for three courses. The courses I am taking are not very hard but do require a lot of time and work. Every lecture is in a different building soI am very happy I made the decision to rent a bike in the beginning of the semester. Although some people look at you like you’re crazy, it saves me a lot of time. In general the teachers are very nice and approachable. This Saturday one teacher even invited me over to have dinner with her and some other students.
Even though I have a lot of homework, I still have time to undertake some non- school related activities. For example going to a sport events (soccer, basketball or football). Sports, in general, are very big in America and people are very much involved. Two weeks ago the alumni came back to the university for a weekend, called Homecoming. This might be one of the most American events I have experienced. Several activities were organized culminating in the football game. Before the football game almost everybody attended one or more so called ‘Tailgates’, a meet-up of a group of people with a lot of fried food and beer.
A month ago I had my first proper Halloween celebration. Everybody is dressed up, some even during the day and people are already preparing their outfits weeks before. I also had the possibility to visit Philadelphia and Washington DC. With a Civil Engineering Event I had the possibility to go on the roof of the Capital in Washington and got a tour about the construction work. This weekend I am planning to see the famous Air and Space museum in Washington.
Although I am doing a lot, there is still much to do before I leave. Thanksgiving is next week and a friend invited me over to celebrate with her and her family. The first weekend of December I will visit New York and her majestic Christmas Tree. A lot to look forward to!
Jenneke
Anouk Slockers, University of Florida, post 1 – Being a florida gator
Hi everyone,
My name is Anouk and I was given the opportunity to go abroad to the U.S. with the Global E3 program. After all the paperwork and arranging, which is a lot of work but definitely worth it, I got excepted to the University of Florida located in Gainesville. Now it’s the end of september and I have been here for around 6 weeks already, I’ll share my experiences so far with you in this post!
First of all being a student at UF (university of florida) is a really special thing, over here the school spirit is one of the most important things. Every students is a gator, gators referring to alligators which is also the school mascots. It’s not unusual to see people walking around totally dressed in orange and blue which are the school colors. All of this is definitely combined during football games in the swamp, a stadium which can hold over 90 000 people! To experience everything, me and some other exchange students bought season tickets, which means we will go to all 7 home games this fall. The Gators (football players) have been doing great so far with 4 wins out of 4 games, I can’t wait to see what happens this Saturday!
Next to this amazing experience a lot of stuff has happened in the past few weeks! I had been to the United States before so I knew something about some crazy habits most Americans have such as: taking the car everywhere (even from 1 part of the parking lot to the other part), setting the air conditioning to freezing mode while the weather is so nice outside and almost never cooking a home cooked meal.
One of the most amazing things is the amount of new people I have met from all over the world. Also all American students are really interested when you tell that you are from The Netherlands, even tough some of them don’t even know where that is exactly…
I would love to tell more but I have 2 exams this Thursday so I should continue studying now… (big difference with Delft: not only final exams but lots of homework and test during the semester) I will try to post a new post in about 2 weeks to tell you more about all my experiences, go Gators!
Anouk
Pieter-Bas Bentinck, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Post #1: Campus and Atlanta
Dear reader,
Since August 11th 2015, I have been calling Atlanta, in the state Georgia in the USA, my home. For the Fall semester, which lasts from mid-August until mid-December, I will be doing my minor at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). In 2013 I started my bachelor of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology and after a long process of applications I got accepted here through Global E3.
Atlanta is a huge city in the south of the United States and the Campus of Georgia Tech is right in the center of it. The downtown area, where the business center and some of the major sports arenas are located, is only a mile away and midtown, where they some nice bars and restaurants, is even closer. Nevertheless, walking isn’t very common, except for when you walk to classes on campus (although even there they have a bus network that runs quite regularly).
Other than that cars are the big thing here, partly because gas is really cheap. But even if you do not have a car, Ubers are sometimes even cheaper than public transport when you want to go around town.
However, even though cars are relatively cheap, it is not really necessary to leave campus a lot. This is because there is so much to do here. For example, when you study at Georgia Tech, you are automatically allowed access to the sports center, where you can do pretty much every type of sports you want. You can join the club teams or you can form a team yourself and join the intramural competition. This is a competition within the university that takes about half a semester, during which you play a game per week. You can choose between 4 sports and once it is done, a new phase with four different sports will start. For the first phase, we signed up for ultimate frisbee with a group of friends.
Another big thing at Georgia Tech is, just like many other US colleges, college football. Georgia Tech has a really good team and there is a lot of things going on whenever they have a game. During home games, which are about every other week, it is quite common to go ‘tailgating’ before the game. Tailgating officially means having a little party around the back of your car. People will bring beers and barbecues (and in extreme cases even complete tents with TV-screens etc.) before they take off to the game. Because you live so close to the stadium at Tech, bringing a car doesn’t make sense, but the rest comes down to the same. Once you get to the game eventually it is the typical American experience with cheerleaders, mascots and marching bands so even if you aren’t really into sports, it is a great experience.
That’s it for now. There is still a lot I haven’t told yet, but that will come in the next posts!
Cheers,
Pieter-Bas
Lieve – New York University, Post 1
Hi everyone!
I’m a third years student mechanical engineering at Delft University of technology and I’m spending the fall semester 2015 at NYU (New York University). I had the great oppurtunity to do a semester abroad in NYC by taking part in the GlobalE3 exchange program. I picked NYU as my first choice, because I’ve been to new york once and I LOVED the city and I definitely wanted to experience living in this city myself. Especially because Delft is a small city with a sort of ‘student campus community’ where everyone knows each other, it seemed really interesting to me to experience student life in a big city!
Exactly a month ago I left Schiphol airport to fly all the way to the big apple. The first couple of days I stayed in an airbnb in uptown manhattan, until I could move into my dorm. I’m spending my semester in an on-campus nyu dorm, called 2nd street. The dorm is located at the corner of 2nd street and bowery, which is in the lower east side. This is a wonderful, I would say the best, place to live in manhattan! It is a 2 minute walk to SOHO, a 5 minute walk to the campus and washington sqaure park, and is surrounded by adorable restaurants and cafés.
My arrival day at the dorm was kind of funny, because all students were bringing SO much stuff into their room, while I had only one big suitcase. My room is on the ninth floor and compared to the others, quite big. I share my room with my roommate Emily. Fortunately, she is from the U.S. so she brought a microwave (which didn’t fit into my suitcase…). I got really lucky with her being my roommate, because we are exactly the same kind of girls and we have become really good friends, spending a lot of time together!
My first day from the ‘NYU welcome week’ was impressive: people yelling and congratulating me with my acceptance at NYU when I entered the building. After picking up my NYU ID (you have to show this everywhere, usually 15 times a day, so you would be completely lost without it…), I went to the NYU bookstore. I expected a booksore, but it is actually more like an NYU fanshop. They sell literally everything, from sweaters to plates, with NYU on it! During the welcome week I noticed that the ‘free food events’ are very popular among nyu students, because food and grocery’s are incredibly expensive! Almost all grocery stores are more or less 3 times as expensive as in the Netherlands. My roommate taught me that there is only 1 grocery store in manhattan which is pretty cheap: Trader Joe’s. If you come there between 5 and 9, the line for the check-out will be outside the store 😉
After a couple of days exploring the city and the campus, my classes had begun. Although my major is mechanical engineering, I decided to take some completely different courses at NYU. I’m taking French, Psychology, Chemistry and Flight mechanics. I really like the variety among my classes! The first two are teached at the main campus, in very impressive buildings, all located around washington square park. On tuesdays and thursdays I have to go to the engineering campus, which is located in Brooklyn. Usually I take the subway to Brooklyn, but sometimes I walk (40 minutes) or bike there. People in the city walk everywhere, so my legs got really muscled! My French class is very small, only 14 students, and that is where I met 2 of my best friends. There is a remarkable difference between my classes here and at the TU Delft, I have LOTS of homework at NYU. So you have to keep up with everything, because you can earn a great deal of your final grade with quizzes, webassignments and midterm exams during the semester. The good news: if you do your homework it’s almost impossible to fail a class ;). I am lucky because I have no classes on Friday. I use my fridays to hang out with friends, explore the city, crash in central park or go to Coney Island beach. So far the weather has been incredible (average of 30 degrees celcius and lots of sun), so my visit to the wonderful coney island beach was great!!
Although living in NYC is extremely expensive (my room costs $2000 a month!!), the gym is free for NYU students, so I go there a lot, most of the times with Emily. Most of the NYU students are enrolled in a mealplan (americans never cook!), but Emily and I decided to take care of our own meals. We go to Trader Joe’s 2 times a week to buy lots of food and we cook and eat together almost everyday. During the weekends I go out with a group of girls to fancy nightclubs! You have to dress up completely and you have to be invited by a ‘promoter’ to be able to get in there. Being a girl in nyc is great, because you’ve got free entrance and drinks in all nightclubs! Going to those nightclubs was a real experience, completely different than going out in the Netherlands, but lots of fun!!
So far, this is a wonderful experience and I’m having a great time in the city. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the semester!
Lieve
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