Max Nolte

Don’t think about it, just do it.

I spent my 4th year at the University of Washington. The University of Washington (UW) is a big public university in Seattle and supposedly has America’s most beautiful campus (on sunny days).

Being a rather ambitious student I first had trouble finding equivalent courses to what I would have to study in Edinburgh. UW students only need to declare their major in their third year and thus some of the 4th year physics courses seemed too simple for me and I did not want to waste any time on courses which were too easy. Thus I decided to take two first-year graduate (PhD) classes. The first year of physics graduate school in the US is extremely hard and students get inundated with homework. I managed to pass both classes and learned more than I have ever learned in any course, but I was wise enough to only take one graduate class the next quarter. There is a lot more continuous work during the term in American universities than in Britain and the homework counts more. This means more stress during the semester, but less stress in finals week. In my classes the finals were only worth between 20% and 40%; the homework accounted to as much as 45% of the grade.

It can be very difficult to get into certain courses (not for Physics though), since they fill up quickly or have major-specific restrictions. But there is a wide range of other courses offered and you have the unique chance to take classes you cannot take in Edinburgh. I attended a seminar on computational neuroscience and took a full class in this subject during my final quarter. And in the physics department it is possible to conduct undergraduate research (for credits) with some of the professors, which I can only recommend. I worked on the theoretical x-ray absorption of water.

I loved Seattle because it is a big city surrounded by some of the greatest outdoors the US has to offer. For an outdoor enthusiast the Pacific Northwest is a paradise. I brought my kayak all the way from Europe and on quiet days it took me only thirty minutes to drive from my house to the closest white-water river (that was the reason I applied to the UW in the first place). The highest mountain (Mt. Rainier, 14,411ft) is visible from campus on most days. There is plenty of skiing and hiking all year round (I met a guy who went skiing on Mt. Rainier in the middle of summer).

The best thing of my stay was my Christmas break: I bought a cheap car and went on a 4,400 miles road trip down south. I visited San Francisco, Yosemite, the Redwoods, Las Vegas, Tijuana, Los Angeles, Death Valley and many, many more places.

The university also had on offer many sports clubs and societies. Make sure you quickly learn American Football rules to support the UW Huskies (who play to more than 60,000 people at a home game). Seattle is very liberal and it is very cycle-friendly.

I can only recommend spending your year abroad at the University of Washington. If you have any doubt, listen to what a wise man once said: ‘Don’t think about it, just do it.’