On July 12th, the WHU study tour flew to New York to attend a 4-week summer session in Columbia University. The study tour consisted of 11 WHU students from the Economics and Management School, the School of Urban Design, the College of Chinese Language and Literature, the School of History and the School of Geodesy and Geomatics.
Hot balloon festival
Columbia University, from which President Obama, the current president of the US, graduated, is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City. The university's official name is nowadays Columbia University in the City of New York. It is the oldest institution of higher education in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States. The summer session at Columbia University was held by the American Language Program (ALP) aiming at helping students improve grammatical accuracy, pronunciation, fluency, listening and reading comprehension, and writing ability. According to an online language skill test, students were assigned to different classes leveled from 1 to 10 so that they could get the most suitable education. There were about 15 students in each class, led by two teachers. All students attending the WHU study tour were able to make friends with their worldwide peers from countries and region such as Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The students were motivated to work in small groups and solve problems as a team, increasing their chances for intercultural communication and developing their independent thinking. Students also had to check their coursework daily on Columbia University's official website, to finish assignments and prepare for the next day's class. Homework was not easy and most of the time was required from students to search a multitude of references. At the end of the session, ALP certificate every qualified student and held a farewell party on the campus lawn to celebrate their graduation.
Field trip to the Metropolitan Museum
Lying on the campus lawn
The last class in Columbia University
It was an amazing month for WHU's students who signed up for the summer session. In our spare time, we had a lot of things to explore and experience in New York City. The metropolitan museum, the Broadway show, the skyline seen by night from the top of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty were landmarks our students had dreamt of before this journey. Besides, we went to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C to visit the four world top universities: Harvard, Yale, MIT and Princeton, to review the revolutionary history of America and to touch the political center of the US.
The campus of MIT
Statue of Liberty
This summer session broadened the WHU students' horizon, introducing us to a most western culture. Not only did we experience the American-style education, but also understood this world better. Surely the trip will be an unforgettable memory in our lives.
