The Engineering in London program has been one of the most exhilarating months of my entire life. The program offers much more than just circuits and thermodynamics in the classroom; it provides immersive learning through many historic excursions, where you will get to piece together and see in action all the things you are learning about. The program does have its challenges, as it is six credit hours in four weeks, but your knowledge and understanding of both subjects will exceed what you imagined. It will be the time of a lifetime, as you meet many lifelong friends, create new memories, and see what you are working towards after college.
London is a massive city in itself; you will have the opportunity to see all of its key landmarks as well as many lesser-known ones. There are many excursions on the trip, including the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, the Thames Barrier, Bletchley Park, the Brunel Museum, and the Royal Observatory. It’s hard to pick a favorite since they are all very interesting, but Bletchley Park was at the top for me. Despite it being a family home with small buildings off to the side, it housed an amazing piece of engineering that saved many lives. During the tour, we saw both the Colossus and the Bombe machines used to crack the Enigma machines, which the Germans used to send war messages between their groups. Both pieces at Bletchley Park use advanced engineering to crack the secret messages sent with changing codes each day. This ended up saving many lives and became a very important part of World War II.
Along with all the excursions, you also get the opportunity to travel on your own during the time you are there. There is a free three-day weekend during the program, which some of the other people in the program and I used to travel to Edinburgh, Scotland. Much like London, the city is beautiful, but not quite as big. The city is surrounded by mountains and the North Sea and is a great place to travel if you want to get away from big city life. While we were there, we hiked up to Arthur’s Seat and Calton Hill. We also saw the royal yacht, walked out to Cramond Island, and visited Holyrood Palace as well. Edinburgh was an amazing city to visit and ended up being one of my favorite parts of the entire trip.
Studying abroad has given me a new perspective on engineering and has allowed me to learn so much more about thermodynamics and circuits than I would have in a normal classroom. It has also immersed me in European culture and atmosphere, allowing me to grow as a person. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to go on this trip and would recommend it to anyone thinking about studying abroad.
