Global Engagement Report by Alejandra Magana Gamero

Global Engagement Report by Alejandra Magana Gamero

IES Barcelona - Liberal Arts and Business, Fall 2016

Introduction:

The most memorable part of my study abroad experience was living with a host family. Though my host family was only made up one person, my host Ana, I still loved it. From the moment I arrived in Barcelona Ana welcomed me into her home with open arms and made me feel extremely comfortable. Ana always made sure I was enjoying my stay and was doing okay with regards to homesickness. This allowed me to have an easy transition to living in Barcelona. Furthermore, Ana has encouraged me to always keep in touch her and even stay with her in the future when I visit Barcelona. Ultimately living in a homestay allowed me to create a life-long friendship with a Barcelona native that I will remember forever.

Housing:

- There are three housing options: homestay, student apartment or residence hall.

- The homestays provide 14 meals per week, the residence hall provides 15-21 meals per week, and the student apartment provides none. You are assigned a room at random and do not know if you will be sharing a room until you arrive. When choosing the homestay and apartment options you are guaranteed to be placed with other IES students however in the dorms you might get placed with other international students.

- Most students in my program chose the homestay option and liked it the most. First of all this is the cheapest option. Second it is always nice to wake up to breakfast and come home to dinner after a long day at school. Furthermore the homestay option gives us as international students the opportunity to access Spanish culture more easily. Lastly, you create life lasting bonds that you will never forget.

Finances:

IES’s website contains a lot of information regarding costs for this program.

It is not too expensive compared with the Bay Area. The price for food, clothing, and entertainment is similar to that of the United States. Just as you can find a cheap meal for 5 euros you can also find a fancy restaurant that is about 15-20 euros. You can either bring money from home or use ATM’s to take money out every so often. However, depending on what bank you use the exchange fees and withdrawal fees may vary.

Academics:
Academic success in Barcelona is similar to being a student at Santa Clara. As long you stay on top of your assignments and follow what is expected from you, then you will be successful. Sometimes professors here are not as clear as SCU professors with as to what is expected, but if you ask questions they are more than willing to answer. What is different about IES- Barcelona is that I am not taking classes at an actual university in Barcelona. However, it is possible for students to take courses at local universities. My classes are at the International Education for Students (IES) abroad center, with other students coming from the United States. The only class that is mandatory while here is a Spanish course. Prior to coming to Barcelona, students are required to take a placement test to determine what level of Spanish they will be placed in. Attendance and participation is definitely emphasized more than tests and knowledge. A lot of the classes are very discussion based and do not assign a lot of homework. However, in class students are expected to participate and be engaged. Students are only allowed to have 3 unexcused absences, and anything after that must be justified with medical/family reasons, or emergencies. The grading system operates on the same A-F scale as SCU. It is clear and easy to understand.

Student Life:

The IES Center is close to the city center, Plaza Catalunya where there is a lot to do (shopping, eating, tours, etc). The center itself is in a 5 story building where IES takes up the middle 3 floors. Each floor is equipped with study areas, quiet zones, and the 2nd and 3rd floor have computers for students to use. During the school day there is usually a chill study vibe, since most students are trying to get their work done.

Plaza Catalunya

The environment here is a lot more mellow than SCU. While at SCU it seems as though everyone in the library is in the zone, here there is a lot more chatting and laughing while doing work. Yes it is a serious environment, but here people seem to be more relaxed. I think a big part of that has to do with that fact that students are abroad so they are not as stressed about being at their home universities.

The only food at the IES center is in the vending machines which only provides small snacks, and coffee. Other than that any food can be bought outside the center. The second and third floor both have computers, enough to accommodate about 25 students. Using one is never as issue as most students have a laptop with them, therefore do not need one.

The only clubs that I am aware of are the running club and the glee club. I am not involved in any clubs at the IES center therefore I am not too familiar with how clubs work, but you can talk with Center Staff if you are interested.

There is a running club that goes on jogs once a week around Barcelona. Every Tuesday, there is pick up soccer at 10pm close to the IES center. Other students also go to the gym or run on their own time.

There are 7 libraries accessible to us all throughout Barcelona. The location of your homestay or apartment will determine which one is closest.

Social Life:
All of the people that I became closest with are Santa Clara students, however I was not as close with them before coming to Barcelona. I met these people by connecting with them either in person or through facebook before coming abroad. Having a network of friends before coming here made the adjustment a lot easier.

Hanging out with Fellow Broncos

If you are not a fluent Spanish speaker it can be difficult to get to know locals. However, my best advice for making friends with the locals would be to be open to strangers starting conversations with you, whether that be on the metro, the bus, at restaurants, etc. Spanish people are very friendly and are genuinely interested to know why you wanted to come to Barcelona. Something that is very particular about Barcelona is their collectivistic culture and their time schedule. Collectivistic means that they value being there for each other and do a lot of activities together, such as always having dinner together. Furthermore, they tend to operate on very loose schedules, meaning they can be 15 minutes late to something and that is normal. Also in Barcelona there is a large number of people that take pride in being Catalan and want independence from Barcelona, therefore every so often there is festivals that you should become knowledgeable about.

Thought it looks quite complicated the Barcelona metro is easy to use!

Throughout the program IES has “Discover” activities, which are field trips to some of the most popular places such as Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia. There are also weekend long trips to places like Madrid, Costa Brava, or Tarragona.

Parc Guell visit with fellow Broncos

Engagement:

A typical day in the life of a student studying abroad through the IES program went something like this. Monday through Thursday I would wake up to breakfast prepared by my host mom Ana. Unlike an American breakfast which includes bacon, eggs, potatoes, and more, my typical Spanish breakfast only consisted of toast with jelly, coffee and my choice of fruit. At first this was difficult to adjust to, as I was used to having much bigger breakfasts, but eventually I learned to like it. I then took the bus to school where I stayed until about 5pm everyday. I had to provide lunch for myself, but later I would come home to a warm dinner. Sitting at the table with my roommate and host mom for dinner provided me with the opportunity to bond with them both. Meals were great conversation starters because often, our host mom fed us dishes that we had never tried before. My host mom Ana was always very curious to see our reactions and would giggle if we said we did not really like something. Furthermore, since I am a fluent Spanish speaker, I was able to immediately connect with Ana on a personal level. We became comfortable enough with each other, that she would sometimes even ask me to help her translate stuff to English to help her business grow. Having Ana as a host mom and as a resource was extremely beneficial because it allowed my transition to a foreign country to be much smoother. Ana was great! She was welcoming, friendly, talkative, and always helped us with whatever we needed.

A particular benefit of the IES - Liberal Arts and Business Program is that it offers plenty of opportunities ranging from intensive language classes, internships, studying with locals, and engaging in the local community. The Spanish course I took while abroad was creative writing. This course made students engage in critical thinking by reading dense Spanish literature. It allowed me to expand my vocabulary and taught me to write grammatically correct. I personally did not participate in an internship. However, there is the opportunity to intern in almost any field you may be interested in. Furthermore, aside from the courses taught at the IES center, there are also courses taught at 4 different local universities that you have the opportunity to choose from when enrolling for classes. Lastly, some classes incorporate a community engagement component, as did my human development course. I had the opportunity to teach English to a local elementary and it was one of the most fulfilling experiences. Seeing the smiles on the kids faces when they finally grasped a concept is something I will never forget! Overall the IES - Liberal Arts and Business Program offers a lot of opportunities for personal growth and development

Religion:
I did not get to have much interaction with the religious aspect of Spain as my host mom is not religious at all but I did have the opportunity to visit some of Barcelona’s most popular cathedrals which are predominantly catholic. Even if you do not identify with the religion you are still allowed to enter all the churches and cathedrals. Overall, I think most of the churches and cathedrals have become more of tourist sites then actual sites of prayer.

As mentioned previously I did not have much interaction with people of different religions, however my professor did mention to me that there is some anti-sentiment against Muslims. In my experience I never witnessed any discrimination but I do believe it does exist just as it may exist anywhere else. That said, as in other major cities, you should be able to find a place of worship in any denomination (there are mosques in Barcelona). IES student affairs staff would probably be able to direct you to the appropriate person or place.

Race/Ethnicity
When I arrived in Barcelona I was a bit surprised to see how diverse it was. I definitely expected it to be less diverse. Walking around Barcelona I feel extremely comfortable to say that I am Mexican-American and people to tend to even ask more questions when I tell them where I am from. However, when I got to IES, I was shocked to see that I was one of very few minorities in my study abroad program. Luckily, I was able to find a group of friends that I could identify with and feel comfortable around. If I did not have this group of people though then I think I would have had a terrible time adjusting to this different life style. However, I will say that everyone’s experience is different.

Since we did not get to interact with many locals at a large scale it was difficult to take note of power and privilege in terms of race and ethnicity in the host country. However what I did notice was that there was some anti-immigrant sentiment against Egyptians and some Syrian refugees. Many are called derogatorily “gypsies”, and also, refugees walk around the streets of Barcelona asking for money and often receive dirty looks or bad comments. This is somewhat similar to California and the US in the sense that homeless people ask for money too but here there was a lot of younger kids, refugees, that locals looked down on.

During my time abroad my understanding of race and ethnicity did not shift very much as I was already very aware of what these terms mean to me. As an ethnic studies major, I am aware of the difference between race and ethnicity and used that to my advantage to understand the different people that I was meeting from all over the world.

My most helpful resource in navigating race & ethnicity in Barcelona was my host mom. She explained to me the demographics of Barcelona and encouraged me to check out all areas and talk to people from all neighborhoods.

Gender & Sexuality:
Gender roles did not seem as obvious in Barcelona. At the IES center, my university, the staff was diverse and I saw both males and females in all roles. When walking around the city I often saw a lot of males picking up their children from school, or both parents, unlike the common misconception that mothers should be the stay-at-home/ nurturing mothers. Also, in Barcelona riding mopeds, like motorcycles, is very popular among all people, including women, which may be less expected in the US. Lastly, I felt that people were comfortable to enough to express their gender identity in public regardless of what they identified as.

The only issue that remained the same is one that I also face in the United States. As a woman, I sometimes face cat calling, or have to worry about not walking by myself at night. Sadly, this is something that as woman, I need to worry about almost anywhere I go. Other than that gender and sexual orientation were not big issues for me in Barcelona.

For students whose gender or sexual orientation differs from the host community’s demographic, I would say Barcelona is a very welcoming place where people are free to express themselves and be who they want to be. Do not let fear keep you from having one of the best experiences of your life.