Join Me On My Spanish Adventure…Vamanos!

Hola amigos! I am sure many of you really love traveling and going on vacation to different places.  My name is Megan Farrell and I am a sophomore in chemical engineering, and I, like many of you, have a passion for traveling which sparked my interest in studying abroad.  I was at the point in my freshman year where I was fairly sure I was not getting an internship (it is totally possible though; try your best to get one!) and did not want to spend my summer just working at Boston Market like I had done the previous summer.  One day while studying for finals first semester, I decided to take a study break and just googled study abroad programs that Penn State offered, just to get an idea of what was available and this is where my whole journey began.

When first doing this search I was under the impression that my only options for studying abroad were full semester or the whole summer and I truly was not sure if I was ready to be away from my family in a foreign country for the entire summer when I had just practically spent the whole school year away from home.  To my surprise, I discovered these two-week study abroad programs offered through the College of Engineering and luckily I had not missed the deadline yet for this. (Full semesters abroad require you to apply almost a full year in advance).  The options were France, Spain, or Singapore and I had always been very interested in traveling to Spain and spoke a little Spanish.  When I found these programs, the short “study break” which I just thought of as indulging in a mere fantasy of mine, soon became a potential reality.  It really hit me right there in the library that I could do this if I really wanted to.  Yes, the program was very expensive, and yes I had to fill out an application and get a letter of recommendation, but this was an experience that I just knew I had to at least attempt to do.  So, I applied and got my letter of recommendation.  Then I had to break the news to my parents; I say it this way because of the costs that were associated with the trip.  I told them and they said they would see what they could do to pay for this program but in the mean time I applied for as many grants and scholarships I could possibly find because I knew without those I may not be able to go.

After playing the waiting game which seemed like it took absolutely forever, I received an email (which I opened at 12:01 the day it was sent out) only read the worst words possible when opening a letter of this sort: Your application had been denied.  There was no “we regret to inform you…” it went straight to the point and I was honestly devastated.  I had put so much time and hard work into every part of that application and it felt like it had now been all for nothing.  I decided to email the person in charge of the program and very politely asked why my application had been denied so that I would know what to improve on for further applications (ALWAYS DO THIS!!!).  About two weeks later, at the point where I had practically forgotten about the whole program, I received an email saying there had been a mistake and my application was actually in fact accepted.  I literally called my mom crying I was so excited and it would of never came to their attention that the mistake had been made if I had not emailed them about it so ALWAYS send an email even just to know what to improve on whenever you do not receive something you apply for! 

Finally all of the craziness of applying for the program and getting accepted was over and then came dealing with the cost.  Since I had found out that I had been accepted so late, I literally had two days to make a decision on whether or not I could go.  Fortunately, my scholarship and grant search paid off and I received a travel grant from the College of Engineering, which greatly helped my family and I pay for the trip.

Now, where to start with the trip itself.  I met several times with the other students in the program and we decided to travel a week before by ourselves.  Literally the farthest I have ever traveled by myself is camping an hour outside of Pittsburgh, so to travel around a completely different country with people I hardly knew was a little adventurous for me.  We flew into Madrid and stayed there for two nights and then took a train to Barcelona for four nights.  This week was by far one of the best weeks of my life.  It was so completely out of my comfort zone and like nothing I had ever experienced before.  Here we are, nine practically strangers living together (sounds like Real World) and traveling around Europe. 

First stop: Madrid!  We stayed in an apartment in Madrid, which was very nice until the

housekeeper arrived at 11:00 am (when everyone except me was still asleep) and proceeded to yell at me in Spanish, which I barely spoke at all, about how check was an hour ago.  Needless to say that was an interesting morning.  While in Madrid, we went to a Flamenco show, which was a traditional Spanish dance performance and we also went to a bullfight.  I am not exactly sure what I thought occurred during the bullfight but what I did not realize was that they matador actually kills the bull.  The look on my face when the first bull straightened its legs and just fell over was literally priceless. 

 

Moving onto Barcelona! We stayed in a hostel in Barcelona, which was a little frightening to me at first (if you have ever seen any of the Hostel movies you understand my fear).  The hostel turned out to be very clean and safe and the workers were able to tell us about the best places to eat and the attractions we needed to see.  We toured the Sagrada Familia and the Placa de Gaudi, both designed by Gaudi, swam in the Mediterranean, and explored the Olympic grounds.  The food, shopping, and overall energy of Barcelona were unbelievable, and Barcelona was probably my favorite place in Spain.

Last Stop: San Sebastian!  Finally arriving in San Sebastian, we took a taxi to our hotel/hostel/dorm room (we still are not really sure what exactly it was).  This is where the real work started.  So I’ll tell you a little about what the actual program entailed.  It was basically a three credit, two week, engineering design course taught at Tecnun which is the engineering/technology school in the University of Navarra.  In addition to working with students that attended Tecnun, we were also paired with University of Michigan

students (we were in Spain and Michigan still SUCKS!).  Our design task was to create a surfboard accessory and for those of you who do not know, San Sebastian is located in the Basque region on the coast of the Bay of Bisque.  It is known mainly for food and surfing, so this task was suited for the area of study.  We worked in teams and went through the design process and were even able to 3D print a prototype of our design, which was really new and cool for me.  One of our homework assignments was actually to go to the beach and observe the surfers (best homework ever right?!).  The program also had planned lunches and excursions as well.  We had the opportunity to go surfing as part of our customer needs assessment and even got to tour the Guggenheim, where Yoko Ono was the featured artist; if you know her work at all it is needless to say very…interesting (I discovered modern art is not really my thing).  I was able to try all the tradition food from paella, a rice and seafood dish, to all different kinds of pintxos and tapas, small appetizers.  The one other thing I did discover throughout my time in Spain is that everything, and I mean everything, is ham.  Out motto was: even the egg is ham.

All of the amazing experiences I had and the unforgettable sights I saw were truly unbelievable but the people I met really made the trip extra special.  I was placed in a

group of people that I would not normally hang out with at school and we all became such good friends.  Yes, we had some small fights, but truly who doesn’t when they are traveling?  These are friends that I hope to keep in touch with for a very long time and are people that have helped me grow so much as a person.  Being dropped in a foreign country with no clue where to go or what to do really makes you grow up fast and teaches you some major responsibility, and as a group we worked together to overcome the obstacles we faced.  I truly met some unbelievable people that made me want to set my goals higher and really reach my true potential.

So now that you have listened to me babble on about how amazing Spain is, (sorry I am an engineer not a writer) I just want you to take one thing from this: if you want to do something, figure out how and just do it (also, sorry for the Nike reference).  Yes it was scary and seemed far-fetched for some time, but if you really want to do something I promise you, with some hard work you can truly do anything you set your mind to.  So find your passion and stop at nothing to achieve everything you set out to do in life.

Adios amigos!        

Megan Farrell is a sophomore in Chemical Engineering, and she is a Rover for WEPO '14!