Hello from Cranfield

Want to find out more about applying for the British Council Scholarships for Women in STEM? Click here 

Hey!

I’m Diana, and I am studying my MSc in Engineering and Management of Manufacturing. I am from Mexico City, the wonderful land of tacos! It’s been four months since I arrived at Cranfield, and so far, it’s been quite the journey.

If I’m honest in the first few days I was a bit overwhelmed because of the language, it was difficult to not speak in Spanish all the time! But I met people who were in the same situation as me, which helped me adapt faster than I anticipated, and that is precisely one of the things I like about Cranfield. There are people, from so many different cultures and backgrounds that you can learn a lot from just one conversation. Diversity is encouraged and this creates an open environment to be yourself.

One of the questions I get asked frequently when I tell people I’m from Mexico is “Why did you choose to study at Cranfield, and the UK, despite living near USA?”  It’s an odd one but I think I get their point. Choosing a university on the other side of the world is not an easy choice nor very common but you know what they say, “fortune favours the brave”. As it happens, I wanted to challenge myself by doing an MSc in a completely different culture and practice my English as well as acquire new life skills (meaning: to see If I could survive just by myself, no overprotecting family to come to the rescue and so far, I am alive and really happy! Haha). So basically, I started searching for “The best master’s in manufacturing in the UK” and Cranfield kept popping up, so I did a thoroughly researched the accomplishments, the lectures, I even started following their social media specially this blog that students write about their life at the university. So bottom line, I mainly applied because I felt it was the best choice for my future career. You cannot imagine how thrilled I was when I got accepted!!

On the other hand, after I got accepted to Cranfield, I also got selected to be one out of six British Council Women in STEM scholars, so it’s been exciting to be part of a program that helps women to become leaders in these fields. The other five ladies I am sharing this with, are from Jamaica, Colombia and Brazil and I have learnt so much from them. Their resilience and their eagerness to keep learning is motivating.

The classes had been challenging but rewarding. I met Mexican alumnus who gave me advice in how to balance my student vs personal life, they told me “Organise your times if you want to have good results”, so that is what I’ve been doing scheduling and prioritising assignments to have time for traveling around here. It is important to me to clear my mind after a hectic week of classes and assignments.

Trip to London

A walk to Woburn Abbey

I am looking forward the group projects and as I am huge fan of football I want to go to a match in Wembley, so I’ll keep you posted if am lucky enough to secure tickets! So, this has been a little bit about my journey in these four months, hopefully the next time I’ll write I can give more updates!

Want to find out more about applying for the British Council Scholarships for Women in STEM? Click here