Student Reports: Brian Shin, Barcelona, Spain, Summer 2015
“Ladies and Gentleman, we will be beginning the decent in about 10 minutes,” said the pilot as I groggily woke up with a sore neck and heavy eyelids.
Despite the lack of sleep and uncomfortable seating conditions, I was so incredibly excited to see Europe for my first time. I had decided to spend a month of my summer in Barcelona, Spain. The reason for my choice was because all throughout high school I studied Spanish and after seven years of classes, I had become fluent in Spanish. Ever since, I had always wanted to visit Spain because my teacher would always tell us amazing things about it, so I wanted to fulfill my dream of traveling to a foreign country and already be able to communicate with the locals!
The first week was basically me being awestruck by every single little thing. I had never been to Europe before, so everything was so new: the architecture, the people, the clothing, the language, the food, and every single other aspect of life. I was in culture shock and loving it. I’m an adventurer and love trying new things, and this one may have topped them all. The first week was very introductory with the program giving us tips on how to manage life in Spain, tours all through the city, as well as getting to meet everyone else in our program.
Unlike most other students who receive the Engineering Fellowship, I was in a Business and Liberal Arts program hosted by CEA because unfortunately, as a Chemical Engineer, there aren’t many programs that are available to us and still give us credit towards our core classes. Fortunately for me, I am also striving for a minor in Business Administration, so this program worked out perfectly for me by helping me receive some credits in that area. I was taking Marketing and Spanish classes, and with these being three hour credits each and only having a month, needless to say it was very intensive. It kept us quite busy, but I still had plenty of free time to explore on my own and see the city.
One of my favorite experiences was being able to see La Sagrada Familia designed by Antoni Gaudi. Luckily enough we were able to reserve a ticket online to be able to enter the basilica and see the amazing vision that man had. Being able to walk through and learn about the history and hardships the church had been through was incredible. The history reaches so far back because they had actually began construction in 1882, so even 100 years later they still haven’t finished! According to the tour, construction will be finished within 11 years, so it appears as if I have a reason to return to Barcelona relatively soon!
Something else I thoroughly enjoyed was being able to explore the city on my own without any of my roommates or anyone else in the program. It just feels different when you’re on your own because you pay much more attention to your surroundings when you have no one to distract you. For example, I began trying to go on a run around the city once or twice a week to give myself a better idea of where we were and what was around us. As I was aimlessly running I was actually talking to a runner asking for a good route to run, and he simply said, “Follow me.” Thankfully he led me to a beautiful location. I ran to a former palace known as Montjuic, which is now turned into a museum, and the view of Barcelona was breathtaking. It was awe-inspiring to look upon a city with so much history and culture that had so much more for me to learn.
As with every good thing, the program had to come to an abrupt end after only a short four weeks. I learned a lot about myself as well as Barcelona and the rich culture that it offers. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world because never would I have seen as much nor learned as much as I did. To any engineering student, I would HIGHLY recommend that you study abroad. Although it may be difficult to fit it into the rigorous course load that the engineering department has set for us, it is so incredibly worth it to be able to experience another country and put yourself out of your comfort zone. I loved every second of it and would do it again in a heartbeat.
I don’t know when I will be able to return to Barcelona but I plan on it someday, so I couldn’t say goodbye, but rather “hasta luego.”
