Serious Trip.

One awesome thing about WPI is the study abroad program. The program allows you to spend 7-8 weeks doing work in a foreign country. I did my IQP (social project) in Copenhagen and my MQP (mastery project) with TimBaird in London.

Both were amazing experiences with wild weekend trips to places like Belgium and Ireland.

I wish the working world provided such opportunities. Sure, I’ve done mini 2 week trips to China and South Bend Indiana… various week long trips to England and Atlanta, and I’ve probably spent a total of two-three months in Texas… but it’d be pretty awesome to take a seven or eight week trip somewhere. Long enough to get adapted and feel comfortable. Even if I had to report to work daily, it’d be fun (provided I didn’t have to work 12 hrs a day)

The only downside would be a severe vacation from Kung Fu, Class, and Climbing.

I wonder if my company does any work in Africa.

2 thoughts on “Serious Trip.

  • 2/27/2007 at 9:10 am
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    It’s true. I did my IQP in Iceland and MQP in London, and they were both two of the best times of my life. Not only did I have a lot of fun and get to travel with some of my best friends, but I learned a lot academically and about life in general. I highly recommend trips like this to anyone considering it.

    They just recently stopped doing it, but Nypro actually had a program like this to train managers. Over the course of a year and a half, you’d work at 3 different locations for 6 months each doing 3 different entry-level manager’s jobs. My cousin did this and work here in Clinton, then San Jose, and then Dublin. She had an awesome time and learned a lot. I was hoping that they’d still do it as I’m approaching the end of my MS degree and will have very little ties holding me in Clinton (aside from mortgage!), but alas, it is done. Oh well, maybe something else will come up in the near future.

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  • 2/27/2007 at 1:19 pm
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    Not that you necessarily want to work on your vacation, but if you want to do something in another country and your job does not provide such opportunities, there are a few places that offer ‘service vacations’ where you travel to other countries for a short time and do volunteer work. Of course, you won’t be getting paid, but you will do something interesting! Check it out:
    http://www.globeaware.com/
    http://www.i-to-i.com/

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