Birthdays Abroad

Celebrating birthdays while studying abroad sometimes means celebrating without family and friends for the first time.  Fortunately,  EIL students tend to form new bonds that can last a lifetime. They become like family! 

Fordham University Classroom

Profs. Berry and Dickerson present their morning lectures and afternoon laboratory sessions for ECE 301 and ME 331 in a reserved classroom at nearby Fordham University. The larger classroom has the amenities of tables (rather than small flip-over desk tops) and air conditioning.  Students can take their lunch break on the outside (top floor) terrace or in the common room on the ground floor at Fordham.

Bletchley Park and National Museum of Computing

On the afternoon of Tuesday, June 9, the EIL students along with Profs. Berry and Dickerson and Lewis Leming (IES Abroad London Customized Programs and Projects Manager) visited Bletchley Park (north of London). Bletchley Park (BP) is where Alan Turing and his colleagues in Hut 8 broke the (naval) Enigma code during World War II. The students witnessed demonstrations of working Enigma, Bombe, and Colossus machines. The Colossus was the world's first electric digital computer that was programmable. The Colossus computers were developed to help in the cryptanalysis of the Hitler's Lorenz cipher.  Between visiting Hut 8, the Bletchley Park Mansion, and the Turing archives in BP, there was time for an outdoor chess game near a playground.  The group photo this year was not taken in front of the Mansion due to scaffolding associated with repairs to the roof and exterior.

 

Greenwich

On Friday, June 5, the EIL students along with Profs. Berry and Dickerson took an Uber boat up the Thames River to Greenwich.  After arrival, the group took a short bus ride to the Thames Barrier, just north of the Greenwich Town Centre. Operated by the Environment Agency of the British government, the Thames Barrier is one of the largest movable flood barriers in the world.  Returning to Greenwich (via bus), the EIL students toured the Cutty Sark ship and the Royal Observatory, including a group photo across the Prime Meridian that separates the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In the Time and Longitude Gallery of the Flamsteed House at the Royal Observatory, students were able to see the four Harrison's sea clocks from the eighteenth century.  Harrison's H4 clock is considered the most important timekeeper ever made. It is the machine that helped solve the problem of keeping accurate time at sea and finally won Harrison huge rewards from the Board of Longitude and the British Government.  As is customary,  group photos were taken at the Prime Meridian (Longitude 0) and with Southeast London as the background.

 

Brunel Museum (Rotherhithe, London Borough of Southwark)

On Thursday afternoon (June 4), the EIL students joined Professor Berry for a visit to the Brunel Museum at Rotherhithe on the bank of the Thames River.  In the original shaft of the tunnel (under the Thames River) that Marc and Isambard (Kingdom) Brunel designed and built, our guide (Gill Howard) gave an excellent historical timeline for this great nineteenth century engineering feat including discussions of the personal toll its construction took on the laborers.  Completed in 1834, this was the world's first underwater tunnel.  Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his father, Marc Brunel, were considered by many to be the greatest engineers of Victorian England.

A Midnight's Summer Dream at the Globe Theatre

On Wednesday evening, June 3, the EIL students accompanied by Profs. Berry and Dickerson went to see a performance of  A Midnight Summer's Dream at the Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames River.  The magical forest ruled by Oberon was bubbling (literally) with the antics of Puck and his fairy friends.  A few photos after the performance are provided along with a group photo of all the EIL students on the bank of the Thames (with a view of St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance).

Tower Bridge

On Monday afternoon, June 1, the EIL students joined by Professors Berry and Dickerson, visited London's Tower Bridge.  This infamous bridge is a Grade I listed combined bascule, suspension, and, until 1960, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones and engineered by John Wolfe Barry with the help of Henry Marc Brunel.  The students experienced the two high-level walkways with breath-taking panoramic views of east and west London from 42 meters above the River Thames. They were also able to explore the Victorian engine rooms that once powered the mighty bridge lifts for over 80 years. This is a new venue for the Engineering in London program.