A fantastic journey it was…. First day in the U.S. — I didn't expect to go through this amazing experience in two years. Clean roads, well-organised traffic, food habits and culture are few among the many things that caught my first sight in the U.S. I am a student of Florida Institute of Technology, which is a private school. It is a very neat campus, where every person starting from the professors to students to the janitors know each other. There was always a feeling of warmth inside the campus. Well-facilitated buildings with amenities like drinking water pumps at every level, dining services at regular distances and a whole lot of scope for extracurricular activities hold the key to studying at FIT. One thing that I personally like about the college premises is that the campus security is up to the mark.
As far as the quality of education is concerned, there are no complaints. Individual attention to students by professors is one noted feature of the school. The faculty members are very knowledgeable and extremely humble to help students with all their queries. I was teaching lab sessions to undergrads and I must say that the laboratory equipment is all modern and informative. Research labs also help students with their thesis and project work which get published in well reputed journals and conferences.
City life… Well, Florida, “the sunshine State,” is undoubtedly a beautiful place to live in. The city where I stayed, called Melbourne is an hour's drive from the famous NASA Kennedy Space Center. Adding to the beauty of the college campus, the famous Indialantic beach is just five miles away from the college.
The ride to the beach is spectacular wherein there is a long bridge which runs over the backwaters of the ocean. To adapt to the lifestyle in the U.S., I would say is not very frightening as many would think. In due course I got used to it. There are so many things that are different from the lifestyle of our country. Professors are called by their last name (with the prefix Dr., of course). There is no school/college bell ringing after every class. Students are not made to sit in the same classroom for all eight hours of the day. In fact, students are free to choose the subjects they wish to study.
As far as education is concerned, the school is very flexible and expects only two things from the student — be innovative and develop your skills as much as possible. Food habits are different from those in India; but as in every region, the Americans have their own specialties which are indeed delicious. Personally, I enjoyed each and every moment of my two years at FIT. As an “Outstanding Graduate Student Award” winner of the school, I can say proudly that FIT and USA have given me immense exposure and experience in these two years that will take me places.
Hari Priya Muralikrishnan,M.S. Electrical Engineering Student, Florida Institute of Technology, Florida, USA
Email: haripriya1510@gmail.com
