Elevator Speech:
Germany was an amazing experience. Learning how to navigate the airport, bus, and train systems was tricky at first, but by the end of the trip, I got the hang of it. The two classes I took while in Germany were both great in their own way. The engineering class taught me a lot about physics, specifically the statics and dynamics of matter. The German class taught me some German, but also a good deal about German customs and their culture. The classmates I went with on this trip weren’t really my friends at first, but by the end of the trip, most of them became great friends. Because we all took the same classes, we all had the same homework and tests, so when helping each other out, our friendships grew I feel. Hope College also accompanied Calvin on this trip, except their students were taking a different engineering class, one about circuits and electronics. Although Calvin and Hope have been rivals in athletics, we were pretty nice to each other throughout the trip, and I made a few new Hope friends. We visited a lot of cool places during our trip, but my favorite was when we all visited the Köln Cathedral. The church is so large and the sculptures on the outside were so intricate. We were all amazed on how it was built without using any modern technology. Even though I really enjoyed my time in Europe, by the end of the 6-week stay, I was ready and excited to come home and start my college semester with my friends from last year. I definitely would recommend other engineering students to go on this trip if possible because it gets you out of America and provides cool chances to see new things, meet new people, and live in a totally new environment.