Field report Nora Runke Summerschool (MCD)

3 ½ weeks at an American university, getting to know campus life, receiving a scholarship from the renowned Fulbright Commission, experiencing the American lifestyle? It all sounded very tempting, so we applied to the Fulbright Commission for the Summer Institute in the USA for students at universities of applied sciences. The programme offers two main topics:

• The Urban Turnaround: The Transition from Smokestacks to Sustainable Industries at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania and
• Communicating Across Disciplines: New Approaches for Applied Sciences at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Once we had been accepted, everything went very quickly: as soon as we had passed the written examinations, we had to pack our bags and set off on our journey. We spent the flight to Washington DC together - from there we went our separate ways:

Both programmes consist of around 20 UAS students from a wide variety of degree programmes, who come from all over Germany.

After the flight, the participants of the W&J programme took the bus to Washington, PA. When we finally arrived, we moved into our new home for the next 3 weeks: a fraternity house directly on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College. This allowed us to experience the "real American student experience" even better.

We used the first few days to settle in a little. We quickly fell in love with our three American "buddies", who lived with us in the fraternity house, gave us advice and support and even drove us to Walmart for a midnight snack. We also spent almost every free minute together after the courses and at the weekend.

Our courses started on the first Monday. On the whole, the first week was about the history of the city of Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania region. In the second week, we talked about the current situation in relation to the past failed coal industry. The third week was all about shaping the future of the area. In the course of this, we were able to use our design and IT as well as marketing and communication skills. Above all, we were able to find the interdisciplinary structure of the MCD degree programme here again. By working together with the other students, we came up with interesting results and discussede.g.about "fracking", the American education system, patriotism, politics and, at the end of the course, designed a re-innovation concept for Washington, PA. Here we were able to apply a lot of what we had learnt in the MCD course in practice.

In the evenings and at weekends, there were always lots of great leisure activities on the programme: from bowling, attending a football game, barbecues and tea tasting to evenings together on the veranda of our house. The last few days in the state capital were a real highlight and rounded off our stay perfectly.

While the campus of W&J College is rather small and private, the huge campus of Virginia Tech is reminiscent of a high school musical: huge sports facilities for football, baseball, soccer etc., wide green spaces and student residences everywhere convey this impression. The dining hall (Mensa) was also correspondingly large and it felt like there was no food that wasn't available here. From Mexican nachos and Thai rice to Italian pizza and vegan dishes. It's not for nothing that the dining hall (Mensa) at this college is one of the best in America.

In addition to the delicious food, we also had lessons, of course. Communication and theatre were on the agenda. Here, too, the content we had learnt during our MCD studies helped. Not only once did we have to go out of our comfort zone and act according to the motto "Steppin' out of your Comfort Zone". We Fulbrighters were prepared for the big showdown at the end of our stay: a TedTalk. Each individual was allowed to give a three-minute talk about a matter close to their heart, which was also uploaded to the college's YouTube channel after approval.

Of course, we also used every free minute to explore the surrounding area. Many activities, such as hiking, mountain biking or climbing in the high ropes course, took place in the beautiful nature of Western Virginia. Visits to the Cultural Communication Center or the Smithfi eld Plantation were also on the programme. The crowning degree was our rewritten song "Party at Virginia Tech", which we sang to our mentors on the last evening. These fantastic 3.5 weeks came to an end with a smile and a tear in our eye.

We were able to experience so much and the experiences we made have shaped our intercultural understanding. Above all, we really enjoyed the constant support and excellent organisation, which made us feel at home. The summer school enabled us to broaden our horizons and take a lot away with us for our personal lives. The experience of being surrounded every day by people who were actually strangers also shaped our sense of group dynamics, but also turned strangers into friends.

All in all, it was a great and eventful time and we can only recommend anyone to apply for a stay abroad, be it in the USA or elsewhere.

Pennsylvania and Virginia may not be the most popular destinations in the USA, but that's why it was particularly interesting to get to know the country from a less touristy side. Summer schools in particular give you the opportunity to gain a lot of impressions and experiences and make friends in a short space of time - you don't often get a chance like this.

Text by Nora Runkel