Welcome to my Study Abroad Blog!

Hi there, I'm Gary Wilks. I am an aerospace engineering major at U of M, and I'll be going into my junior year in the Fall 2010 semester.

This summer, I'll be on the GEA Summer Aerospace Program in France. It's a program developed by 3 schools ISAE, ENAC, and ENSMA. The majority of my program will be spent studying with ISAE in Toulouse, France, but there will be instructors from all three of the schools plus visits to the other campuses. The program consists of 5 technical modules, trips to cultural and technical sites, and a French class. Upon graduating from the program, I can transfer this program back to U of M as a 6-credit upper-level aerospace technical elective.



I'll be leaving on June 1st, arriving in Toulouse on the 2nd, and our program orientation is on the 4th. We'll cover about one technical module a week and our technical visits are mixed in usually during the weekends. There will also be free weekends for me to travel, and I am still planning which places I'll be visiting. Hopefully, I'll get to go to Barcelona, Spain and Paris, France.



I'm very excited to be heading back to Europe, but a little nervous to be traveling by myself for the first time. The last time I was in Europe, it was a 10 day program right after the end of my junior year in high school traveling from Barcelona, Spain thru Southern France and ending in Rome, Italy. I went with 4 kids from my high school accompanied by two chaperones. Thinking about that trip just makes me hungry for gelato!

Well I leave in about a week and a half, and I still have to make a list of all the things I need to pack. I'll make another post probably the day before I leave or the day I leave.

See ya later!

Gary