International opportunities – Summer exchanges

Lana

by Lana Abi Rached, MEng Electronic Engineering with Management, Department of Engineering

King’s offers a wide spectrum of international opportunities ranging from semesters abroad to professional internships. I personally participated in two Global Summer Experiences. The application process goes through the Global Experience office which is very helpful and resourceful. The online application is quite simple and consists of answering a couple of questions online about your motivations. Universities from all over the world – China, Korea, Sweden or USA to name a few – are participating in these exchanges. Both my summer exchanges were the clear highlights of my semesters at King’s.

In the summer of my first year, I spent a month in Rennin University (RUC) in Beijing where I got to explore this fascinating city and travel around China. King’s has been encouraging its students to visit Chinese universities and offers the opportunity of applying to a bursary of around £400 exclusive for students traveling to China. At RUC, we got paired with ‘buddies’, local students of the university, who were there to help us and answer any questions. My buddy was really sweet and gave me a taste of campus life through her eyes.

My following exchange was in Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico City. I learned Spanish intensively and really enjoyed practicing it on a daily basis with locals. In Mexico City no passo nada (nothing will happen), meaning that whatever you do, do not worry about the consequences, just enjoy it. Besides its chilled mind set, Mexico has amazing natural landscapes which are worth exploring.

All summer exchanges classes are not transferable to credits at KCL. However, this gives us more liberty in choosing subjects that are different than what we study on a daily basis. For instance, I am in engineering and took classes around the development of China or language classes. It is really interesting to see how different countries have different approaches to education, which enhances our own way of learning.

Everywhere I went, I met wonderful people who I still am in contact with, especially other students sharing the exchange experience. I have friends all over the world and met King’s students on exchanges that I would have never met otherwise. I would recommend to do as many exchanges as you can, it is really a fun and practical way to learn, travel and have fun. These exchanges are more about self-growth, exploration and trips than about academic learning or a rigid framework.

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