An Introduction to my Modules!

Content

While running around and exploring London every day is one of my favorite hobbies, I’m still here as a student (hence the “study” part of the program), and as such, I still have many assignments to do. As gruesome as the courseload may be, I love the classes (here referred to as “modules”) I’m taking. To meet University College London’s requirements, I’m taking four modules, two of which are in chemical engineering and the other two are from the math department and the anthropology department. Here’s a little bit about each of these modules:

The Cruciform Building is where I take my Physical Chemistry class. From an aerial view, all the different wings form a cruciform. It gets quite confusing once you’re inside!

Physical Chemistry: At the University of Massachusetts, this would be a chemical engineering class I take in my junior year, but in order for me to stay on track and be able to go abroad, I had to take it now instead. At first, I was a bit afraid since it’s such an advanced course, but I’ve actually been having a lot of fun with it! I’m a huge chemistry geek, so being able to get back into the groove of it this year was really fun for me. In the module, we apply different chemical properties to physical processes and complete calculations based on the same. It’s quite an important module for my major, so I’m definitely trying my best to understand everything thoroughly!

Computational Modeling & Analysis: This module is essentially a computer course. Everything I’ve learnt in chemical engineering till now has been solving different chemical processes based on what properties the chemicals have. In this course, we’re making a computer solve it instead, so I have to make a code that solves for all these properties. Although at UMass we use a different programming language, it’s been quite an advantage doing it here as well, for now I have experience in numerous software which would be really helpful for internships and job applications!

Mathematical Methods: As a part of my major requirements, I have to do a four-part sequence in calculus, and this class serves as the third one: Multivariate Calculus. This is one of the harder math courses I’ve taken till now, but doing it at UCL has made things a lot more interesting. Here, they teach you Python (the programming language) simultaneously so you know how to use Python and can solve some of these math problems through it. I’ve been doing a lot of computer-work since I’ve gotten here, and Python is one of those languages that almost everyone uses, so getting that experience while also taking this difficult course is like hitting two birds with one stone for me!

An aerial view of the Cruciform building. Courtesy of the UCL Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research website.

An Introduction to World Cinema: I’ve saved the best for last! I’d say this is my favorite module. This course serves as an arts general education requirement for me at UMass and I can petition for it to count as an Honors course since I’m taking it abroad. In this module, we watch two movies a week and then discuss them in class. We have to write a film review about any film we want (not restricted to the course) and then a critical essay on a topic related to films, which were loosely based on different social structures around the world during various time periods. Although my major is more logic-based, I’m a huge creative at heart, so being able to critically discuss all these movies with like-minded people has been so fun (and it doesn’t hurt that my homework has basically been watching movies!).

So that’s the spiel on my modules. I’m really happy with the choices I’ve made and as I near the end of the teaching term, I can’t wait to use the upcoming break to get back to exploring city. Watch out for more from me and my adventures in London soon!