Participating in a summer school abroad
By Krishi, from Glasgow, studying Chemistry
This blog is about my experience at a summer school I attended on behalf of the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, held at the South China University of Technology situated in the beautiful city of Guangzhou in China.
SCUT Global Engineering Summer School 2024
I had departed on 10 July and had returned on 5 August. I would have stayed longer to travel around the country but my brother was having his wedding in August and I had a feeling that it was kind of important for me to attend so I came back early. Now … where to begin?
Baiyun Mountain, Guangzhou
This opportunity had been brought to me via email by one of my lecturers (a reminder to keep an eye on your emails if you are interested in things like this and other opportunities!) It was a brilliant way to expand my skills in communication, problem-solving, and teamwork. It was also a great way to spend my summer travelling! Thanks to this project, I was able to travel all around Hong Kong and a range of cities in China, which I will briefly go through but let’s start this off at the start of my journey …
10 to 14 July – Hong Kong
This project was held between 14 and 27 July, but I am a massive fan of travelling so, I flew out on the 10 July to the incredible city of Hong Kong, to explore around before taking a high-speed train to the city of Guangzhou, where the project was held. Hong Kong was one of the highlights of my trip, especially with the Tian Tan Buddha which I had gotten to using a Crystal Cable Car (fully made of glass).
Tian Tan Buddha, Hong Kong
The city itself had so much to offer and I am annoyed that I wasn’t able to stay for longer! Definitely a place that I will soon go back to.
14 to 27 July – SCUT Summer School, Guangzhou
Upon arriving in the City of Guangzhou and at the International Campus of SCUT (which was HUGE), I was given a tour by some of the local students who were just about to leave for the summer and given an itinerary for the summer school which included lectures (both academic and cultural.) It also included a range of industrial class trips to some large companies that would show us around their main headquarters and give us an insight into where our degrees could take us. This was also a great way to explore China’s exceptional architecture!
Tencent HQ, Shenzen
The best thing about the summer school was meeting everyone who came from different places around the world and making new friends. This project also connected me with people in my year from Edinburgh who I oddly hadn’t met before. Making new friends and meeting new people is a trait I enjoy having and enables me to connect with people from all around the world!
The lectures were based on the following subjects: Biomaterials, Emergent soft matter, Chemical biology, Molecular magnetism and Metal catalysis.
Lecture on Metal Catalysis, SCUT
Each course had its own assignment, but we only had to choose one to complete with some being less tedious than others. Hence, being the academic weapons we are, we completed multiple. The cultural courses were incredible. We had been taught things like cloisonne, kung-fu and some Chinese Songs.
The lectures also gave an insight into some of the things that I would go on to be taught at the university and was a good way to prepare me for my scary third year as a chemist while also spending time doing what I love most … conversing with people and travelling!
27 July to 4 August – Travelling around China
This was by far the best week of my summer and the week I had been looking forward to the most!
The plan was to slowly make our way towards Beijing in the North of China while travelling through various cities and towns using China’s brilliant railway system. The places we visited are listed below along with some photos:
Canton Tower, Guangzhou and Yangshuo Railway Station
While on our journey, we mostly resided in hostels and also managed to spend one of our nights on an 11-hour sleeper train from Xi’an to Beijing!
The Great Wall of China, Beijing; Reed Flute Caves, Guilin; and Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, Xi’an
Having the opportunity to travel the world and study chemistry is something I never even imagined I would do. To simultaneously do what I love most and be able to show it off on my CV is what drives me to partake in more opportunities like this and is something I would highly recommend. But for now, that’s it from me.
Thanks for reading this. I hope you’ve enjoyed me rambling on for this long, I appreciate you making it this far!
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