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Summer in Berlin

Studying abroad is bound to be a life experience. It takes you out of your comfort zone, it challenges you and it teaches you to be more open. It also gives you the incredible opportunity get other points of view and explore another culture.

Every year, we welcome students from all corners of the world in London, but likewise many of our students also get the opportunity to go abroad.

Recently, 50 King’s students travelled to Berlin and explored German culture and history. It was an interactive, skills and knowledge-building programme, where they were intellectually stimulated and personally empowered. They were encouraged to think about their personal agency and the impact in their communities.

Here are some highlights of a memorable week.

 

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(Summer) Time of your life

Summer has started in London and the temperatures this week are reaching 29 degrees. The Undergraduate Summer School will start next week and everyone in our team is working hard to make sure that you will have an unforgettable experience at King’s. By now, you probably have mixed feelings; excitement, worry, enthusiasm and a lot of other emotions. Some of you are travelling alone, some are coming from far away and some are leaving your countries for the first time. But you are not alone, we can guarantee that most of your fellow students are feeling the same way and you will see that once you get here and meet them.

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from the academics of one of the top universities in the world, expand your knowledge in the subject area that you have chosen and experience the British education system. It is also a chance to explore London, meet people from other countries, get exposed to other cultures and get out of your comfort zone.

Studying abroad is a way to get inspired and to think about what you would like to do in the future. Most people who experienced studying or living abroad are likely to repeat the experience. It can have an impact on your future and certainly in your outlook on the world.

Remember that not everyone has this opportunity; to meet people from other backgrounds, cultures and countries, so make the most out of it!

Why not to take the first step to meet someone? If at any point you feel lonely, insecure or scared just get in touch with someone in our team and we will be here for you.

Now review your packing checklist, do some research about your subject and get ready to fly in to London.

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Pre-University fun times checklist

The countdown has started! In less than a month, you will be in London having an unforgettable life experience on the Pre-University Summer School. Having the chance to be taught by King’s College London academics is a fantastic opportunity, and you should make the most out of it. London has so much to offer that we recommend you to make a list of the main attractions that you want to see when you are not busy with classes and studies. And don’t worry, London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, South Bank and the West End (an area of Central and West London where the main theatres are concentrated) are just around the corner from our campuses.

To help you prepare for your social experience, we have 20 tickets available for the musical comedy, Aladdin. Based on the Disney movie, it has been running in the West End since 2011 to raving reviews.

The dates and times of the show are:

  • 16 July 2018 at 7.30pm – suitable for session one students (9 – 20 July)
  • 31 July 2018 at 7.30pm – suitable for session two students (23 July – 3 August)

For further information and to book tickets, please click here.

We are also arranging day trips to the picturesque city of Oxford on Saturday 14 July and Saturday 28 July. These are fully escorted and guided tours on a private luxury coach. The day includes a walking tour of the historic city centre and what is considered a favourite tradition amongst students – punting along the river. For further information and to book tickets, please click here.

There is also the new Arcade Garden at Bush House, which is part of the Strand Campus, with free creative wellbeing workshops, including watercolour painting, mindful movement, garden workshops, breathful chanting and fragrance making. It is a perfect place for you relax, study and have a break. For further information about the workshops, please click here.

Now is the time to start making your check-list and booking everything you need before arriving, so you don’t need worry about anything apart from your studies and experience. Please visit our website for more social activities.

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Undergraduate Social ‘n Sports

So, you have accepted your offer to join the King’s Undergraduate Summer School, and you now probably have an idea of what you are going to study, where you are going to live and how much your workload will be. This is the perfect moment to start thinking about how to spend your free time. You probably want to go sightseeing or attend a musical or have some fish and chips.

We have put together the below social activities that you can enjoy during the Undergraduate Summer School programme.

Oxford and Windsor Day Trip

Oxford is known for its beautiful canal, pedestrianised central business district and fascinating architecture. In Windsor, you can visit the largest and oldest inhabited castle in the world and the Queen’s favourite weekend home.

For further information and to book tickets, please visit the links below:

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Trips

To celebrate some of the greatest works of William Shakespeare we will be offering our students the opportunity to attend a performance at The Globe Theatre where Shakespeare’s plays are performed like they were in his time.

Session one students can attend a live performance of Hamlet (10 July 2018 at 7:30pm), and  Session two students can attend Othello (1 August 2018 at 7:30pm).

Harry Potter Studio Tour

Step across the threshold of the Great Hall, walk down Diagon Alley, visit Number 4 Privet Drive, board the night bus, and take a photo on Hagrid’s Motorbike.

For further information and to book tickets, please visit the links below:

  • Session one : 7 July 2018 – Tour 1 at 10:45am, or Tour 2 at 11:15am
  • Session two: 28 July 2018 – Tour 1 at 10:45am, or Tour 2 at 11:15am

Gym Membership and BeActive

King’s Sport and King’s Summer Programmes are delighted to be offering gym membership packages to summer students. Membership includes full access to the fitness equipment and access to a variety of group fitness classes such as yoga, pilates and spinning (booking required). Here is an example timetable. If you wish to purchase a gym membership, please do so via the e-store.

In addition to this, A BeActive programme is available to all students, which consists of:

  • Weekly Table Tennis sessions
  • Weekly GoodGym Run – a chance to work out and volunteer in the community at the same time
  • Bi-Weekly Rave Runs

We look forward to seeing you this summer and hope you are also excited to be joining us on the King’s Undergraduate Summer School!

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All you need to know about London

Public transport
Getting around London can seem really daunting at first, but don’t worry, you’ll soon get used to it. The first thing you should do when you get here, is purchase an Oyster card (unless you are a Pre-University Summer School residential student). This works on a pay-as-you-go basis, so all you need to do is top up at a machine (in a tube or train station) or online, when your balance is running low. Another way to pay for travel is to use a contactless card, which costs the same amount as using an Oyster. This means you have the added benefit of not having to worry about topping it up!

Both Oysters and Contactless cards are really simple to use on public transport. On the tube, trains and DLR, make sure you ‘touch in’ on the yellow reader at the start of your journey and ‘touch out’ at the end of your journey. If you’re taking the bus or the tram, you will only need to ‘touch in’ on the yellow reader once when you board. Also make sure you download a mobile app such ‘Citymapper’, as it is really useful for working out a route between two places.

Coffee and Culture
London is bursting with cool, quirky coffee shops and cafes, and some of the following parts of town are a great place to start: Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden, Pop Brixton, Brixton Village, Hoxton and Shoreditch. If you’re looking for other ways to spend your free time, head to Peckham, specifically Rye Lane for a unique and trendy part of London that is far off the beaten (and touristy) track! There’s also Richmond Park in South West London, a beautiful expanse of green space which is only 35 minutes from Waterloo on the train. The Southbank Centre, Somerset House and The Store Studios are all in walking distance of the Strand Campus and often have exhibitions and events on during the summer. 

Sight-seeing
Don’t forget about all of London’s famous sights. Just walking across Waterloo Bridge will give you an amazing panoramic view of some of them, but make sure you explore them properly. The London Eye, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard, London Bridge, The Tower of London and Tower Bridge are all close to two of King’s campuses – the Strand Campus and Guy’s Campus. Other unmissable sights in London include Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament, Hyde Park and Regent’s Park.

Download the King’s Mobile app if you are already enrolled on the Pre-University Summer School and the Undergraduate Summer School. This app will provide information about summer accommodation, social and sports activities, advice and tips on your stay in London, as well as FAQs. To download the app, click here.

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Before you arrive checklist

In a month’s time, some of you will be en route to one of the most exciting cities in the world – London! For some of you this might be the first time in the UK and for others you might have visited the city already before. Whether you are joining us for the Pre-University Summer School or the Undergraduate Summer School, we hope you find the below information useful.

After you enrol on the Pre-University Summer School or the Undergraduate Summer School, you can download the King’s mobile app. This app will provide you with information about summer accommodation, social and sports activities, advice and tips on your stay in London, as well as FAQs.

For those students arriving to London by plane, there are several different options that you can choose from to get to King’s. In this blog post we’ve provided you with details on how to travel into the city from the main London airports using trains, coaches and the underground.

Getting around London can be confusing at times. The Transport for London (TfL) network is huge and is comprised of the London Underground (colloquially known as the ‘Tube’), buses, trains, river transport, trams and even a cable car. We found this light-hearted, useful guide to using the London Underground, which you might find helpful.

Most Londoners get what is known as an Oyster card as this is cheaper than buying single tickets for every journey. You can use this by topping it up with money and paying for journeys individually or, if you’re travelling around London regularly (i.e. you’re using public transport most days) then you can buy a weekly, monthly or annual travelcard and upload it to your Oyster card.

Oyster cards work on most forms of London transport, though fares are higher for riverboat services and the Emirates cable car. They should also work on local train services within the London area. Many people cycle in London, and you can now hire what the locals call ‘Boris Bikes’ for a small fee. You need to be careful if you cycle in London that you take safety precautions and ensure that your bicycle is secure.

Classes for the summer school are either the morning or afternoon, leaving you with free evenings and weekends to take part in our exciting social and sports programme or explore the city on your own.

There is a whole host of things to see, do and eat whilst in London. Tune in to our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram each week for tips on where to get the best coffee in the city,  free places to visit in the city and where to grab a cheap eat around London.

For more pre-arrival information for the Pre-University Summer School click here, and for more pre-arrival information for the Undergraduate Summer School click here .

 

 

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Final Call for our Undergraduate Summer Programmes

The application deadline to the Undergraduate Summer School is fast approaching. This summer we are offering 30 different modules in subject areas such as health and science, mathematics and engineering, law, governance, business management, culture and ancient languages. These modules will either be running in session one (2 – 20 July 2018) or session two (23 July – 10 August 2018).

In addition to the Undergraduate Summer School, we also offer short courses during the summer in health, sciences and engineering. If you want to explore the fields of obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics as potential career choices, you can join our Summer School in Women’s Health and Child Health running from 23 July to 3 August 2018.

This year, we are launching a Summer School in Software Performance Engineering for current Computer Science students interested in understanding its concepts and ideas, and wanting to apply them in practice to their own software development efforts. It will run from 2 – 13 July 2018 and is taught by King’s academics and industry professionals.

All applications must be submitted online by 31 May 2018. If you have any enquiries, please contact us by email at summer@kcl.ac.uk or call us on +44 (0)20 78481533.

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All about the Law

Deciding what course to take at university is no easy task. That’s why studying a Pre-University Taster course in Law may help students with their decision-making process.

Most students will choose law because they are interested in pursuing a career in the legal profession. Law is a demanding course and training places for solicitors and barristers are highly competitive and limited. However, for those with the right aptitudes and motivation, the rewards of a legal career can be great, both in terms of salary levels and personal development. Unfortunately, getting into the legal profession is very challenging; so many students do need to consider other options.

Happily, not only will a law degree provide you with access to a variety of legal careers, it will also give you an excellent springboard into a wide range of other professions. More than half of all the graduate jobs do not require any particular degree and a good Law degree will allow you to present plenty of important skills to future employers.

Through your analysis of case studies and other work on this course, you will become highly skilled in researching and assimilating large amounts of information and complex data. These are important skills in a vast range of professions in commerce and industry. You will develop very strong oral and written communications skills, which are needed by all employers these days. You will learn to approach tasks in a clear, reasoned and logical way, and you will become an effective problem solver.

This course will run in from 6 – 9 August 2018. For more information, please check our website, or email us at summer@kcl.ac.uk.

 

 

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The Human Body

Anatomy and human physiology degrees are for those who are fascinated by the science of medicine. The Pre-University Summer School is offering a new course this year called the Human Body where you can learn about the structure of the body and how it functions.

You will gain an understanding of the cause, diagnosis and treatment of different diseases, and how they affect different parts of the body. You will also learn how these systems adapt to the different characteristics of hostile environments, such as temperature extremes, mountain altitudes, airplane cabins, space microgravity conditions, and future habitats on the Moon and Mars.

At the end of this course, you will walk away with excellent knowledge of how the body works, and relevant knowledge to support future study in the field of biomedical and life sciences.

The course will be running in both session one (9 – 20 July 2018) and session two (23 July – 3 August 2018). The application deadline is 15 May 2018, and early application is advised. For more information, please check our website.

When you enrolled on the Pre-University Summer School , you can download the King’s mobile app which provides information about summer accommodation, social and sports activities, advice and tips on your stay in London, as well as FAQs. This app will help you in your student journey and will allow you to have offline access to all pre-arrival information.

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Bringing Ancient Languages into a Modern Classroom

Who isn’t fascinated by the languages of the past? Whether you’re hoping to go on an Indiana-Jones-style adventure, read ancient sacred texts, learn from the past or simply hope to learn modern languages more easily, learning an ancient language such as Ancient Greek or Latin may be your answer.

The Undergraduate Summer School is offering modules in Ancient Languages, running in Session one (2 – 20 July 2018) and Session two (23 July – 10 August 2018).

Ancient Greek (Intensive Beginners)
This is a beginner-level intensive module that gives you the opportunity to translate basic English into Greek, and to read very simple texts in Greek. This course is ideal for students who are interested in the Hellenic world, and want to study for a Masters or Doctoral degree thus acquiring an essential skill for future research.

Latin (Intensive Beginners)
This beginner-level intensive module gives you a chance to translate basic English into Latin, and to read very simple texts in Latin. It is appropriate if you’re an undergraduate student who would not otherwise have the chance to learn Latin from scratch, a mature student and for anyone with an interest in the Roman world.

Ancient Greek (Intensive Intermediate)
This is an intensive module that will give you the opportunity to build on your very basic knowledge of Ancient Greek, and to read simple texts in Greek. It is ideal for undergraduate students who would not have the chance to improve their Greek.

Latin (Intensive Intermediate)
This intensive module gives you a chance to expand your knowledge of Latin, and to read simple texts in Latin. It is ideal if you intend to study for a Masters or Doctoral degree thus acquiring an essential skill for future research.

Bursaries are available for students from any university or background from the Department of Classics at King’s College London. Visit this webpage for more information. Applications to the Undergraduate Summer School close on 31 May 2018.