Between classes, under the watchful eye of the TUD mascot. Thank you to Lyka Ada Rhodes for the photo.
Author: Grace Li | Major: Chemical Engineerng and German | Semester: Winter 2023-2024
“There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing” is a proverb in Germany, where I’m spending the academic year of 2023 to 2024. Darmstadt has plenty of rainy days inlate fall and winter, but it’s not a problem as long as I pull on boots and a rain jacket before cutting through the muddy woods to the lecture hall.
I am studying at the Technische Universität Darmstadt as part of the University of Arkansas’ International Engineering Program. At home, I belong to the Department of Chemical Engineering, but TUD doesn’t have one. Instead, I’m taking the leap into environmental engineering. It’s been a challenge keeping up with new subject matter and listening to lectures in German, but this is a chance to pick up new skills that otherwise wouldn’t be part of my degree path.
Outside of class, I’m taking advantage of the excellent public transportation, both local and national. Although Germans often complain about the inadequacies of Deutsche Bahn, it is leagues ahead of American rail. Without stepping foot in a car, I travelled from my front door to the entrance gates of an arena 170 miles away for a weeknight concert and made it back to campus in time for class the next day.
The Gilman Scholarship Program awarded me the wonderful opportunity to travel to Brussels over Thanksgiving. In Brussels, I met students from across Europe to learn about the mechanics of the European Union. At night, I admired the architecture of the city square as it was lit for Christmas. The Cathédrale Saints-Michel-et-Gudule is another lovely instance of Gothic architecture, and I got the chance to blink in disbelief at the intricate stained glass. I brought back pounds of Belgian chocolate on the train, and I also tried razor clams for the first time; Fayetteville and Darmstadt are both rather far from the ocean for fresh seafood.
Adapting to the European style of university classes is a challenge. In many courses, there is no homework or quizzes. The grade rests on your performance on one cumulative exam at the end of the semester. It’s a huge amount of pressure for someone used to the American style of classes, but it has forced me to become more proactive in my study habits. Despite the pressure, one class has stood out in particular. My atmospheric science lecture is an interesting overview of the different factors affecting our atmosphere and climate, both historically and in the modern day. It is taught in German, which means plenty of vocabulary flash cards (“radiative forcing” is a new piece of vocabulary for me in both English and German), but the process has been immensely satisfying.This class has been so engrossing that upon my return home in Fayetteville, I will be packing up once again to start an atmospheric science research program in Virginia.
I never expected that this one class, which I originally took because Darmstadt doesn’t teach chemical engineering, would be so influential on my long-term interests. Study abroad has taught me that although some circumstances are less than ideal, my preparation for those circumstances can change the outcome significantly–metaphorically speaking, there is no such thing as bad weather.