Modern Cloud Project with Java at TU Berlin

Hi! My name is Erica and I’m in my final year of Electrical Engineering. In July 2023, I had the opportunity to travel to Berlin, Germany to attend a two-week program at Technische Universität Berlin.

I touched down in the Netherlands two weeks before my program start date and took the long route to Berlin. Second time overseas in my life (if you count New Zealand) and I decided to do most of it solo! Armed with 6 months of Duolingo German knowledge, I found myself having to put my problem-solving skills to work ASAP, trying to figure out public transport, SIM cards, and how to say sorry in every language. It was an amazing experience and so much walking! I don’t think my feet have forgiven me yet.

Clog making in Zaanse Schans (Netherlands), John Lennon Wall (Prague), Prague Castle

Meandering my way on a train through Brussels (Belgium) to get to Reims (France) and then hopping over to Prague (Czech Republic), I finally find myself on a train to Berlin.

Checking into my accommodation, organised by the university, I met my roommate – an astrophysics student at the University of California, Berkley who was such a pleasure to share a room with and get to know over the next two weeks.

Orientation at TU Berlin was a short 10-minute walk from our accommodation and taking the campus tour, we found out that our classroom was even closer! Two buildings down from our front door – score!

The university organised a cultural program for all students to enjoy. We got to visit the Humboldt Forum and its Berlin Global Exhibition, the Jewish Museum (so enlightening, unique, and massive!), a day trip to Potsdam and a tour of The Bundestag (German Federal Parliament).

Our class was a small group of 12 students, and we became quick friends – going out for dinner, visiting the East Side Gallery at the Berlin Wall, eating heaps of yummy food at night markets, and drinking lots of coffee and bubble tea together.

Empanadas at the Night Markets, Bundestag Tour, Jewish Museum Interactive Exhibit

The class was challenging and I overestimated how much I knew about Java. Nevertheless, our teacher took us on a journey through user stories, front-end and back-end development, and deployment to the cloud, ending up with a working web application!

I was teamed up with two ladies: a computer science student from Singapore and a Chinese teacher from Taiwan. Another two people it was an absolute pleasure to get to know over our time together. We created the Weather Calendar, a calendar that overlaid weather details on a calendar, so you can plan events with the weather in mind. Although it might sound simple, it stretched the limits of each of our knowledge.

We all had a different amount of prerequisite knowledge, but we all walked away from the course with the sense that we’d gained so many insights and skills in software engineering. I was especially touched in our wrap-up session as we reflected on our experiences and our teacher urged us to keep in mind that cramming to produce good work is great but looking after our health and wellbeing is more important.

We said our farewells and parted ways, but I don’t think it will be goodbye.

Erica Howell
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Diploma in Professional Engineering Practice
Modern Cloud-Project with Java Program at Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
Global Short Programs Travel Scholarship recipient