Engineering Innovation in my now favourite city, Berlin

In July of this year, I participated in a Global Short Program in Berlin, Germany, where I studied the subject of engineering innovation. My favourite parts of the experience included practicing the material I had been learning in my core degree in a new international context, exploring a new city, and forming friendships I still hold today.

In my course, I was tasked with solving a problem in a team of individuals who do not have a background in transdisciplinary innovation. Due to this, I found myself in a leadership role that gave me confidence in the learnings I had obtained from my core degrees in Sydney. I not only enjoyed my learning experience but also felt inspired to pursue more international career options as I could see the value they hold in new contexts.

Berlin is now my favourite city in the world. I loved watching people, trying food, drinking, smoking cigarettes, visiting markets, and everything else I had the pleasure of trying. Without the Global Short Program, I likely would not have spent as much time in the city. The structure of daily classes helped me hold a reasonable routine and opportunities to make friends to explore with outside of class time.

And lastly, I enjoyed making friends with people I would otherwise have never met. In my course alone, there were people from at least 5 countries. If you include nationalities from other courses, that number would likely rise above 10. This kind of international exposure popped into my cultural bubble and exposed me to new worldviews. For example, most of the European people I encountered spoke at least 3 languages in comparison to my 1. Communicating with a small language barrier helped me develop interesting relationships while creating some very funny moments among new friends. I look forward to seeing them again in the future.

My Global Short Program taught me to try things especially when the outcome is uncertain because you never know what may come out of it. If you have the opportunity to do a Global Short Program, I couldn’t recommend it more.

Henry Pierce
Transdisciplinary Innovation School
Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
Global Short Program Travel Scholarship recipient