Vi er nu alle 4 i USA – Camilla, Ditte, Hjalte og jeg tog afsted torsdag den 22. juli. Efter ca. 12 timers rejse fra Kastrup landede vi i JFK i New York. Det umiddelbare indtryk af USA var ikke meget forskelligt fra Danmark – lufthavne ligner lidt hinanden. Den største umiddelbare forskel var at JFK er en del større end Kastrup, men da vi havde mellemlandet i Heathrow virkede det ikke så voldsomt. En længere tur i subway senere var vi i et meget regnfyldt Harlem, hvor vi checkede ind på vores hostel: Jazz on the villa – udmærket (og billigt) hostel, der ligger 5 minutters gang fra subwayen.
Harlem virkede som en stille og rolig bydel, og det føltes helt sikkert at bevæge sig rundt – men det hjalp nok også at vi gik en flok. Det var først på andendagen det gik op for mig hvor stor New York egentlig er. Vi gik fra hostellet, hele vejen igennem Central Park og da vi kom ud på sydsiden var det som om byen rejste sig foran os – virkelig et imponerende syn. Selvfølgelig så vi hvad man skal se i New York, men jeg synes at det vildeste ved byen er, at der er så mange mennesker, at de er så venlige og at der altid sker noget – vi rendte ind i live-musik af den ene eller den anden art utallige gange på diverse offentlige steder.
Vi var i New York indtil søndag den 2. august, hvor vi tog bussen til Washington, DC. Her så vi alt det der er absolut nødvendigt at se på en dag (det hvide hus, capitol, the mall, washington-monumentet, world war II memorial). Anden dag gik med at dase lidt ved hotellets pool og shoppe lidt.
Lige nu sidder vi i flyet fra Washington, DC til Los Angeles. Flyvningen fra øst- og til vestkysten tager ca. 5:30 timer, og vi flyver med Alaska Airlines – der er intet mad inkluderet i prisen, og vi skulle betale $15 for at checke vores bagage ind. Men indtil nu forløber alt glat (hvis vi ser bort fra en smule turbulens).
Posted in Caltech, Me | August 6th, 2009 |
During the fantastic summer here in Denmark, there is a lot of funny things to do. So I thought that I would take the chance to reward myself with a visit to the US Embassy here in Copenhagen. I did so in order to get my visas for my Caltech exchange during the autumn. At the embassy, I learned that there are some interesting ways to make wait in line for much longer than seems needed. Getting the visa consist of doing a couple of things:
- Make a visa appointment, and pay for the interview (you must pay twice if you want two visas)
- Fill out the correct forms (DS-156, DS-157, DS-158 and DS-2019 in my case)
- Make sure that you have some other documentation for things that the visa-department wants to know
- If you are a student, you probably also need to pay the SEVIS fee, which is $180
Finally, you must go to the embassy at the appointment-time with all of this documentation. And wait. The queuing system in the Danish embassy was non-existent (meaning that people tried to figure out when it was their turn) – because of this, I was quite happy that I had made the earliest appointment available. This meant that it only took me around one and a half hours to get the visa approval – the people arriving when I left must have waited for 3-4 hours.
Anyway, it was quite easy to get approved – I guess I benefit from being a citizen of the EU :)
Posted in Caltech, Me | June 30th, 2009 |
Der er meget arbejde i at komme på udveksling et semester på et andet universitet. Det skal absolut ikke være nogen hemmelighed. Jeg har endnu ikke forladt landet, men jeg har udfyldt nær-uendelige mængder papirer som myndighederne og de involverede universiteter skal bruge for at dokumentere og få godkendt mit ophold.
Jeg har været så heldig at få en udvekslingsplads på California Institute of Technology (Caltech) her til efteråret – det vil være mit 7. semester af min uddannelse jeg tager der, og med opholdet vil jeg afslutte min bachelorgrad (som jeg altså har forlænget et enkelt semester). I og med at det er et ikke-europæisk universitet er der selvfølgelig væsentlig mere papirarbejde i det end hvis jeg bare skulle på udveksling inden for EU.
Et hurtigt overblik over hvad jeg indtil nu har rørt ved tæller:
- Få udtalelser fra forelæsere
- Ansøgning til udvekslingsophold ved DTU
- Ansøgning til optagelse på Caltech, inkluderer foreløbig kursusliste
- Forhåndsmeritgodkendelse til DTU
- Udfyldelse af optagelsespapirer til Caltech, inklusiv visumoplysninger
- Bevis på at jeg har råd til udveksling til Caltech
- TOEFL engelsktest
- Endelig kursusliste til Caltech
Jeg har endnu ikke været til møde omkring visum på den Amerikanske ambassade, til det skal jeg også lige udfylde en 2-3 formularer. Udover de åbenlyse papirsager der skal ordnes universiteterne og myndighederne imellem er der også andet at bruge tid på når man skal på udveksling. En af de mere åbenlyse er legatsøgning, som tager væsentlig mere tid end man lige tror. Typisk tager det et par timer alt i alt at ansøge til hvert legat, selvfølgelig afhængig af kravene til ansøgningen. Selvfølgelig skal der også ordnes bagateller som forsikring, SU og der skal styr på boligsituationen (både i USA og herhjemme).
Der er, alt i alt, rimelig meget arbejde i det. Men man gør det jo kun hvis man virkelig har lyst til at tage på udveksling. Hvorfor skulle man ellers investere temmelig mange timer – og penge – i det? Jeg synes at vejledningen fra DTUs side af har været i top, den største udfordring ved at tage afsted er umiddelbart de relativt komplicerede visum-regler i USA.
Min største fortrydelse er egentlig, at jeg kun skal afsted et enkelt trimester – fra september og til december. I takt med at jeg kommer tættere på at skulle rejse glæder jeg mig også mere og mere, og nu synes 5 måneder (inklusiv en lang rejse før selve udvekslingen) pludselig ikke af lang tid.
Posted in Caltech, Education, Me | June 14th, 2009 |
In respect for my tradition to disappear from the blogosphere once in a while, I have limited posting to exactly 0 during the last month or so. I am proud of myself.
Anyway, I would like to go abroad to universities in Singapore (NUS, NTU), London (UCL) or Troy, New York (RPI) during my master’s degree studies which I expected to begin next September. I would like to go abroad in my 2nd semester of the master – spring of 2010. To be allowed to go abroad, DTU requires me to have completed 20 ECTS points of my master (which is a little less than a full semester).
The thing is, though, that I have not taken the ECTS points that I need to finish my bachelor’s degree in July (as it was otherwise expected). And due to a rule I just found out about today, I am unable to start my master before my bachelor degree is fully completed. I am not even able to take any ECTS points other than what I need to complete my bachelor in the fall next year, if I continue on this track.
All of this leaves me with a choice:
- I sharpen up, and do whatever is necessary to complete my bachelor’s degree in July. This will probably include working (a lot) less, making me more stressed and possibly obtaining worse results in courses than I had expected. The upside to this is that I will be able to go abroad in the spring of 2010.
- I slack an equal amount to what I have done this semester. This means that my bachelor’s degree will be completed in the fall of 2009. I will have more or less the same amount of time to work, and I will be able to concentrate quite a lot on my bachelor’s project. I will not be able to go abroad in the spring of 2010. However, I may be able to complete my bachelor with ECTS points obtained at another university (allowing me to spend the fall of 2009 abroad – this will not make it impossible for me to also go abroad during my master’s degree studies).
What to do? I am quite split about what to do – both choices leave me with downsides, and both also has advantages to them. Any advice?
Posted in Education, Me | October 21st, 2008 |
Subject is something I cannot recommend enough. When on Interrail in July, we went to Berlin in the end of our journey. Having tried a segway in Prague, we decided to find out if we could take a segway city tour in Berlin. We were lucky.
We found a tour arranged by Fat Tire Bike Tours – Berlin, starting at Alexanderplatz in the center of Berlin. The tour was a little expensive at 70€, but as it ended up lasting more than four and a half hours, it was very good value. People were quite interested in the machines as we drove around the city, and a lot of people also photographed us. Actually, we were even filmed for the German TV station RBB. The guide – who was also the owner of the company – was great, and since we were only three people doing the tour with him, it was actually a private tour.
It was one of my favorite parts of our trip, and I can highly recommend it for anyone wanting to ride a segway and see Berlin. People wanting more information can use this direct link to the tour page.
Posted in Me | August 11th, 2008 |