Blake Meyer knew from the get-go as a freshman that she wanted to study abroad during her BS/MS degree programme at Drexel, and she also knew it wasn’t going to be an easy thing to achieve. ‘These two things are extremely conflicting, as the former requires strict planning and sticking to the study plan, and the latter requires quite a bit of flexibility in the study plan and the leniency to leave the US for several months.’
But she was determined to make it work and so back in 2022 she started looking for possible programmes. A Spanish-speaking country could have been an option, as she had taken several years of Spanish at school, but instead she found herself being drawn to Germany. ‘Some of my family originally came from Germany (albeit over 100 years ago), so I was interested in seeing where my ancestors came from. Also, as an engineering major, I wanted to see some of the famous ‘German engineering’ up close and personal.’
Drexel University is well-known for its co-op programmes during which students study and work in alternating semesters, so, it wasn’t surprising that the UAS7 study and internship programme with its consortium of German universities of applied sciences caught her eye. ‘I discovered that this type of university is focused on practical applications. And seeing the programme would give me the opportunity to do both a study semester and a co-op (internship) abroad, I was hooked.’
Blake’s German wasn’t advanced enough to take engineering classes in German, so she took engineering classes in English from the information engineering programme. ‘While the courses did not exactly align with my biomedical engineering degree, they taught me tools that will help me in the future, all of which I would not have received otherwise.’
“Software Construction 1” introduced her to a new coding language, C, while “Electrical Engineering 2” followed on from her studies at Drexel. Both went towards her Drexel degree as STEM electives. In “Scientific and Project Work” she learned about LEAN and how project management differs between the US and Germany. The most fun class was “Learning and Study Methods 2” – a one-week blocked class in project management and a student competition rolled into one. ‘We were put into mixed international and German student teams with the task of making a basketball-playing robot and half-court using LEGO Spike kits. We then competed against each other. It was a blast, and my team ended up winning the tournament!’
