Tag: Study Abroad

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Scuba Diving, Swing Dancing, and Mechanical Engineering: An Interview with Dr. Erik Bardy

Stereotypically on our beloved campus, it seems that the engineers just live in the Hoyt Engineering building and do homework all day. However, you could just as easily find them on the roof of the Hall of Arts and Letters, in secret tunnels underneath the Student Union, or even exploring the streets of Paris, France. There are so many opportunities for our engineers to experience tours of the engineering systems that operate our campus, as well as travel abroad with our France program. Dr. Erik Bardy serves as a tremendous resource to our students by presenting them with multiple opportunities within the diverse discipline of engineering.

Originally from Poughkeepsie, NY, Dr. Bardy studied his undergrad and Ph.D. in Buffalo, NY, but traveled abroad to France for his Master’s degree.  Bardy found Grove City College through some friends and faculty, and became interested in the possibility of a program where engineers could travel abroad. Bardy explained, “A very small percentage of mechanical engineers get to study abroad…developing international skills in cultural competence and being able to function, operate, and work in a culture where people think differently about how things should be done is important.”

Engineering is a very broad degree and there is so much that an engineering student can consider in specializing their career path. Bardy discussed, “My biased opinion is that [engineering] spans a lot. Your education will not be specialized on one area, you will be trained in a broad spectrum. There are a lot of different things you can do and you have to find your interests within that.” Within engineering, there are classes about alternative energy systems, Biomechanics, HVAC and Aerospace where students can study focuses for potential career paths. The great thing about the engineering program at Grove City College is that students stick together. Bardy said, “Very rarely will you get a non-major in an engineering class. Sometimes physics majors, but usually all engineers.”

The European Study Center is a program designed for mechanical and electrical engineers to have the opportunity to take core classes from Grove City College with Grove City students for a semester in Nantes, France. This program works with the French school ONIRIS, where our students take one course with French students to enhance their intercultural skills. Being fully bilingual and having family history in France, Dr. Bardy has traveled with students to France many times with intersession courses, and plans to take on the ONIRIS program within the next few years.

The importance of communication within engineering is something Dr. Bardy implements through his classes. “Classically you learn how to write technically – abstracts, product descriptions, presentations – and you start learning about your audience,” Bardy explains. Every senior mechanical engineer works with a team on a senior design project for their final semesters with the goal of creating and explaining things to people who do and don’t have technical backgrounds. This is great hands-on experience aside from an internship where students can get a feel for what working in the industry actually looks like.

Now you might be wondering where the scuba diving and swing dancing steps in to all of this – Dr. Bardy does have a life outside of engineering and enjoys these unique hobbies. Bardy became interested in scuba diving through his Ph.D. dissertation where he created a wetsuit designed for military use.  He also enjoys swing dancing with his wife, and can frequently be seen speaking French in the cafeteria to his younger daughter who will most likely become bilingual as well. Despite the stereotypes that may surround busy engineering students, our engineers have plenty of opportunities to use their creative skills all over the world – and sometimes they do leave Hoyt.

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Oh, the Humanities!

Dr. Thompson Writing

Grove City College is a liberal arts school therefore there are certain academic requirements that must be met before graduation. At this school, that means a humanities core requirements for every student in every major. However, I have come to realize the value of the whole-person education offered here.

The humanities core requirements stretches across almost every area of academia. Course requirements include natural sciences, social sciences, physical education, foreign languages, and biblical & historical studies. Each category is chosen to target a specific zone of education.

Dr. Jewell, a former College president, remarked at every graduation ceremony that he knew he was shaking hands with a “well-educated person.”

Whether a student in the Calderwood (Liberal Arts) School or Hopeman (STEM) School, every student is expected to fulfill these requirements. Some might read this and have cause for concern because of a general anxiety for anything outside of a general comfort zone, but I have found that there are a considerable number of benefits to this system:

Mix of Majors in Each Class

Sometimes, the only chance I would have as an Entrepreneurship major to have class with an Engineering major is in my humanities classes. As I continue to progress in my classes, I noticed they become focused on major-specific classes. That limits the variety of students I would get to interact with in a classroom setting. However, there is so much value to be had from collaborating with people who think in different ways. I enjoy the opportunity to work with people of all academic backgrounds in these classes. Plus, I like having an in for starting a conversation with someone–this gives everyone a common ground throughout campus.

Helpful when Studying Abroad

In the spring of my sophomore year, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. It was a dream trip for me. The culture that I experienced blew my mind. However, what made that cultural exposure so much more valuable was the Civilization & the Arts class I had taken the semester prior. In that class, I learned how to analyze and appreciate artwork of all genres. Later on, when I was in Italy I visited some of the most prestigious museums and got to apply those concepts that I learned. It was so satisfying knowing how to interpret that art. I went abroad and felt prepared to walk into any museum and not feel like a fool.

Well-Rounded Education

Overall, the classes that I will take at this school will become a reflection of who I am after graduation. The opportunity to expose myself to so many different types of classes is an extremely valuable trait as I enter the workforce. As a current student, I can without a doubt vouch for the benefit of a humanities core.

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Parisian Museums: Beyond the Louvre and the Orsay

When I studied abroad in Paris last semester, I made a long list of things I wanted to do, parks I wanted to see and museums I wanted to visit. By the end of the semester, I marked off every single box on my forty-plus item list except for one! I am so glad that I held myself accountable to discovering what my city had to offer – including many things that people often miss when they spend a very short time in Paris.

I love museums, and a large part of my to-do list consisted of smaller museums around the city, where a lot of tourists do not visit. My experiences with these less visited museums were amazing; not only were they smaller and less overwhelming, but they weren’t filled with people. Here are my top choices:

6. Musée Rodin. 

MuseeRodin

This museum is as much of a museum as it is a beautiful garden. Inside the building are found many of Auguste Rodin’s most famous pieces, including the the Thinker, while outside is a garden designed to display some of his larger works. I spent a gorgeous spring morning writing in my journal on one of the benches.

5. Musée Cognacq-Jay 

Cognacq-Jay

This museum was formerly the home of a rich family with an extensive art collection. Along the walls in many of the rooms are works of art in the rococo style, in which the artists use many pastel colors and portray the sitter with a half smile.

4. Musée Gustave Moreau 

Gustave Moreau

Moreau was an artist living in Paris in the 19th century. The second floor is Moreau’s apartment, while his studio is located on the third and fourth levels. Over one hundred of his works are displayed through this museum and include the portrayals of mythological figures. I think that the staircase is beautiful!

3. Musée Nissim de Camando 

Nissim de Camondo

This museum was one of my favorites. The Camondo family reigned as wealthy bankers and this museum gives an adequate representation and preservation of how the family lived at the turn of the 20th century. The mansion was built in 1911 and donated to become a museum in 1935. Coming here reminded me of watching Downton Abbey, only a French version. Who knew mansions this grand can be found right in the middle of the city?

2.  Musée de l’Orangerie 

Orangerie

While the Orangerie is more well known than the museums previously mentioned, there are still many people who have not heard of it. This museum, located on the north bank of the Seine across from the Musee d’Orsay, is home to two oval rooms of Monet’s waterlily panels. My first time here, I spent two hours in these two rooms alone! Monet painted these panels towards the end of his life in the 1920s and donated them to the French government so that the public could enjoy them. I did.

1.Musée Marmottan-Monet

Marmottan Monet

This museum is my favorite because Claude Monet’s biggest collection of paintings are located here, and so very few people know about it, so there were very few tourists the both times that I went.  This museum also hosted a temporary exhibition called “The Art and the Child,” which traced how French artists have portrayed children through the centuries. There were many magnificent pieces that were brought in from private collections and other museums all over the world. In addition to this special exhibit, the entire downstairs showcases over forty of Monet’s works, from Parisian scenes to larger works of his waterlily series. I exhausted myself trying to take in every single one of his unbelievable works.

On a quick side note: Most visitors are unaware that students who study abroad in France for over three months are required to have a visa. This temporary student visa gives the individual temporary “citizenship” of the European Union. At almost every tourist place or museum in France, the EU allows citizens under the age of 26 free admission to nearly all of the museums located in Paris. I can think of two museums in all of Paris that I paid to get into.

The next time you are in Paris, consider seeing one or two of these instead of the customary Louvre or Orsay. Not only will you get to experience a charming and smaller museum, you will get to explore a new part of the city where maybe you wouldn’t have gone before. I loved studying in Paris because living in this city made it so easy to find things to do and places to visit.

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French: All Day Every Day

Last spring, I had the opportunity to study abroad for four months in France.

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Grove City has a wonderful study center in Nantes, but I chose to go through an outside study abroad program rather than directly through the College. There are many different options for studying abroad that aren’t only through Grove City; they require a bit of an application process the semester before, but my program provider had wonderful people working there who were able to help me through every step of the process.

Another helpful event that the College puts on each spring and fall is a study abroad fair that brings in a number of different program representatives, which was a great opportunity for me in being able to talk to the people who work for these programs.

After much consideration of what I was looking for in my experience, I determined that my three main objectives were to learn French, to live in a somewhat large city, and to get out of my comfort zone by going on my own without anyone I knew.

After doing a lot of research, I decided to study in Paris at L’Institut Catholique (Catholic Institute). All of my classes would be in French, I would have the opportunity to live with a host family, and I would be able to live in and explore the city of lights!

I visited Paris for the first time three years ago on a trip I took with my brother and sister through several European countries and I remember being a bit skeptical before I arrived there. I reasoned that since everyone raves about Paris, could it really be that wonderful? Spoiler: I loved it. I loved the Eiffel Tower and how it towered over the city, I loved the quaint streets, the quiet cafes, and the stunning architecture of the buildings and bridges.

When I decided to return to Paris to study there, I was beyond excited, but I had no idea just what an amazing experience I would have. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

To set the scene, I lived with my host mom in a huge apartment complex in the 19th arrondissment, which is in  the northeastern part of the city. My University was in the 6th, which is in central Paris, just south of the river. My daily commute (when I say daily, I only had class Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays) was 35 minutes by the Metro, which was one of my favorite parts of the day. I loved the idea that if I minded my own business and didn’t open my mouth, I could be French!

As I mentioned, all of my classes were in French and were each three hours long at a time, usually from 9:00 am-12:00 pm, or 2:00-5:00 pm. My grammar and writing class met three times per week while my Discovering Paris and Parisian Cinema each met once. I studied with international students and made friends from all over the world including Japan, India, Chile, Colombia, and Taiwan. Class was a neat experience because much of the time the only thing we had in common with our fellow students was our (albeit somewhat limited, especially at the beginning) French ability, so we were forced to use it in order to communicate.

There was something so freeing about being anonymous in a city as majestic and beautiful as Paris; I could walk down the street and take everything in without anyone noticing me. My program provided me with a Navigo Pass, which gave me access to the Metro and bus systems in the entire ile-de-France, which extends quite a bit out of the city. The possibilities were endless; I could go see all the museums, parks, stroll along the river, anything I wanted.

Living in Paris made me more aware of the world around me. I loved the way in which Parisians approach life: they are on time to work, but think nothing of enjoying a cafe crème for a few hours in the afternoon with a friend. I loved watching all of the people on the street and trying to guess their destination and learning how to wander the different neighborhoods and streets without a destination.

In coming posts, I am going to explain more of the different aspects of my life abroad and some of the things I learned, but suffice it to say that it was the best decision I’ve made so far in my life. I will be writing about some of my favorite museums, my favorite places to visit, and several of my different experiences outside of France. Come along with me to relive my dream of a semester!