This trip has been the most amazing experience of my entire life, for a multitude of reasons. With respect to city planning, I have always been interested on what makes a square, street, and other places successful. This is partly because of my schoolwork in mechanical engineering, where I am interested in how machines work. While mechanical engineering works on making things work smoothly and efficiently, architecture and planning includes this and much more. Planning encompasses many dimensions to make a space successful, while mechanical engineering only focuses on making things work. With my focus in sustainable energy, this trip has also introduced me to better practices and how their infrastructure is incorporated. While I have learned a great amount about city planning and sustainable energy, I believe this trip has improved my physical health. The trip has improved my sleep schedule, exercise, and eating habits. Altogether, this trip has been eye-opening in so many ways.

In mechanical engineering, I have never been focused on how machines look. Taking on the visual dimension for the case studies, I have become aware how city planning makes public areas visually appealing to be more enjoyable, safer, and inviting. For example, Nyhavn has brightly colored continuous facades that create a lively environment and guide the eye down the street. I hope to use what I have learned while analyzing the visual dimension of different public spaces to help make my coding, 3D models, and designs visually pleasing. This type of critical analysis, and seeing how many different dimensions are brought together, is applicable to not only problem solving in my field of interest, but to any field.

I am also focused on sustainable energy, particularly solar panels and wind turbines. This trip has showed me how these types of sustainable energy are implemented in a myriad of ways, with Malmö being a great example. For the first time in my life, I saw residential turbines, which are not implemented in the United States. This form of wind turbines makes them more affordable for consumers without over supplying energy. Solar panels are on many residential roofs most of the cities we visited, including Copenhagen, Berlin, and especially Malmö. This is not the case for residential housing at a similar latitude in the United States. These European cities have thinner panels that are integrated into the buildings with greenery and modern architecture. Instead of sticking out like a sore thumb, I believe it is an engineer’s interest to improve the design of solar panels so they complement homes.

Lastly, this trip showed me how poor my physical health was. My sleep schedule used to be very poor, with no routine. My eating habits were subpar, mainly consisting of junk food. This trip forced me to have a healthy sleep schedule for the first time in ages. I realized how impactful a healthy sleep schedule can be. I was more energetic, social, focused, and got more out of my days than ever before. By visiting different cultures, I had the opportunity to have healthy foods and an eating routine. Most meals were not loaded with sugar, and a healthy breakfast accelerated my mornings. A sleep routine, healthier foods, and incorporating exercise while commuting made me feel less tired and made me lose weight.

This trip has opened my eyes to the cultures of three major European cities and how each implements sustainable energy. Analyzing spaces critically is a valuable tool to solve problems in any context. I plan on keeping a strict sleep routine and eating healthier foods to better my life.