Back to normality

So it has been a little over 6 months since the Spain IRES trip has ended and I can’t help but continuously reminisce of all the great times I had for those short 6 weeks. Coming back to normality was not really all that difficult as I began adjusting to the same old routine of driving everywhere I go, speaking English to everyone, and enjoying free water when I go out to eat. This experience really opened up my eyes to a lot of things and it definitely allowed me to be more confident that I picked the correct major. Since I have already written about my incredible time and the things that I earned while being in that beautiful country (you can read my "Conclusion" blog post for that), I want to update my readers on what I have done since then.

For starters, I returned to school in August to take on my last undergraduate semester at UTA. This was by far my toughest semester and I was taking 15 credit hours which included senior design and 3 other design courses. It is safe to say that I did not have much free time as I tried to balance school plus work plus friends and family. Senior design was definitely the toughest class I had as my team was tasked to redesign a road in southwest Arlington that included three roundabouts and a whole new drainage and paving plan. Having very limited experience in civil engineering software programs, it made it that much more difficult to be able to complete certain tasks. With this being said, I believe that the IRES program helped prepare me for senior design when it came to the presentation aspect. Having to present by yourself for 20 minutes over a topic you learned in 6 weeks was pretty tough, so when it came to senior design it made it seem easy. A semester’s worth of work that only involved a 5 minutes presentation on my part was done with no problem. So after completing one of the toughest semesters of college thus far, I was rewarded on December 17^th with this:

Oh and some of my friends also joined me!

After graduation my family and I all went to Mexico to celebrate my accomplishment. I have not been there in over 4 years so it was really nice to see family and hang out with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We explored a bunch of little towns, celebrated the holidays, went hiking, and ate a lot of good food so I have to say it was a perfect graduation present.

Soon after returning to the United States, it was time to start prepping for grad school. Yup, that’s right; I am going back to school to receive my masters. UTA has a program called the Fastrack program that allows students to get dual credit for certain courses and have it count towards both the undergraduate and graduate degree. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into that program and took two grad level classes my last undergraduate semester. So with that being said, I was able to get a good jump when it came to acquiring my Master’s degree. The degree I am seeking will be in Structural Analysis and Applied Mechanics and I have the IRES program to thank for helping me be confident in that decision I was making. I am hoping to graduate as soon as I can (December 2017 or May 2018) that way I can begin working and building up my experience to eventually become a P.E. and contribute to helping structure to become safer and more environmentally friendly.

To sum everything all up, the IRES trip is the greatest experience I have ever had in my life. I have made great new friends, learned a marvelous new culture, and learned a global perspective in engineering that I will never forget. I will be eternally grateful for this experience as it definitely will have an impact on who I am in the future. I will check back in with you guys in about 6 months again.

Till next time,

Eric 

Conclusion

So this will be my final blog about my trip to Spain (sad, yes I know). Here is where I wrap up all the things I encountered, lessons I’ve learned, and adventures I have had. This study abroad experience has been nothing but remarkable and I don’t know if I could have envisioned it going any better. Six weeks is a significant amount of time, but it has gone by so so fast and soon I’ll be back in the States and leaving this experience to be just a memory. So without further ado, here are some of the things that I have learned: 

Self-navigate 

Being thrown into a foreign country halfway across the world was a little intimidating. You’re entering unfamiliar territory with unfamiliar people, culture, and customs. We were supposed to have one of our professors, Dr. Yazdani, come and guide us for the first week or so to help us get on our feet but due to unforeseen circumstances, he was not able to come. This meant that from day 1 we had very limited guidance and everything that we did was on our own. And I honestly ended up loving that. We had a lot of moments of self-discovery and every mistake we made we were able to learn from and make the correct decision from there on out. We explored and asked questions over how to get to certain locations or how to use the transportation system and it became very beneficial for us as we began acclimating faster. Taking self-directed trips to other cities and learning how to move around and continuously explore new places and create new experiences became something I have never had to do but it made the trip that much more memorable. This taught be that even when presented with a new problem that doesn’t have many answers, that I now have the ability to slowly analyze and dissect little by little until the picture becomes clear. I also learned that making mistakes is okay and often is what ends up leading you to an answer you never thought of before.

Embrace something brand new

The whole point of study abroad is to provide you with a learning experience that extends far beyond the classroom. It is about becoming culturally conscious of the world and realizing that other cultures exist very different from yours and accepting them is the best thing that you can do. You don’t go to other country to visit; you go to another country to live it. What I mean is that if you travel somewhere else and spend all of your time fighting to keep doing what you’re used to doing, then you’re wasting your time. The point of the experience is to get out of your comfort zone and live life how they do of where you’re visiting. This was something we all did and it allowed us to engulf ourselves is what the Spanish life is all about. From eating the foods that they eat and at the traditional time they eat it, to using their verbiage and mannerisms it became very fun to learn how other people live. This allows me to appreciate other cultures a lot more learn that all cultures are beautiful. Being in the United States, it is a melting pot of hundreds of different cultures and now going through this experience I have gained a brand new respect and appreciation towards it.

Learn to live with others

A total of six of us went on this trip. Despite sharing classes and recognizing certain faces, I didn’t really know the people that I was going with. This means that I was going to have to create new relationships with the other five people and share this experience with. This was especially the case with the two other guys who I would ultimately end up rooming with, Omar and Jose. I have never had a true roommate that was a complete stranger and didn’t know what it would be like as now I would have two. It would be a tough situation if we didn’t get along so I knew that we all had to make an effort to be cordial with one another. This, however, was not the case and we were able to live so comfortably together. It’s crazy how good of a relationship you can create with a person over a six week period as you begin learning more about them than some of the other friends you have had for years. I learned that with the right attitude and the right teamwork, having these relationships work is very easy. I can apply this for the future when it comes to working on a project and being able to have the ability to rely on others and utilize each other to get the job done.

There were certain aspects of my educational background that made my research a little bit easier, but there were aspects of it that also made it very challenging. It was challenging because my subject had to do with fire and thermal engineering and I had never taken a thermal engineering class before. This meant that I had to teach myself very basic concepts and learn certain theories before I could even dive in to the actual research. And then with it being all in Spanish, I began reading Spanish terms that I didn’t even know existed in English! Became a little frustrating at times but at the end of the day, really allowed me to learn a lot about my subject. On the positive side, because I have assisted in prior research before, for me it became easier to read a long research document and extract the relevant information I needed for my project. Having taken those upper level engineering courses, I was able to understand my mentor as he would explain concepts that required a certain level of engineering knowledge.

With performing this research, we were all assigned a mentor that would help and guide us to where we needed to be. For me, I had the pleasure of being with Antonio Hospitaler. He was a tremendous help for me as he explained concepts and tried to break them down in order for me to understand. Not only that, but he also provided us with a lot of pointers and recommendations for our stay. He was able to answer questions and give us lessons over the Spanish history. My professor’s expectations for me were to learn and understand the material presented but to also enjoy my time here. That really surprised me because I thought it was going to be a very serious environment and that we were going to be required to spend hours in the lab working over the project. But he created a very relaxed environment and would pop by every so often to check on our progress as well as provide advice. I had a very positive relationship with my mentor and he taught me a lot. 

So now in a week we will all be traveling back to the United States and resuming our lives as they once were. This experience will have a lasting impact on me as I learned more than I can imagine. I don't think it will be hard at all to get back to the way of life that I was once use to, but it definitely has allowed me to see another side and embrace that we are all a little different. Spain is a beautiful country and I will come back again to visit one day. There's no way I can only let this be a one time experience.

Eric Chavez

Social Identity

Coming into the trip, I think we all instinctively had an opinion of what we thought Spain would be like or how we thought we would fit in to the culture. This, of course, is only a preconceived notion and can’t be accurate until we experience the real thing. Personally speaking, I didn’t have a great deal of expectations when I traveled to Spain. I didn’t do much research about the country prior and sort of just dove into the experience. I’m not sure if this helped me or hurt me, but having no real ideas of what to expect only left everything to be a surprise which I have enjoyed thoroughly thus far.

I guess the only real things I knew I was getting myself into was the language and the relaxed attitude. I mean it didn’t take research to figure out that the official language in Spain was Spanish. I think that definitely contributed to my lack of research because I already felt at ease knowing that I can communicate with everyone so if I didn’t know something, I could just simply ask. The relaxed attitude part was just a little bit of a guess for me. Any country that incorporates a nap in the work schedule seems like a place where things can’t be too chaotic, right?

So we are in Valencia Spain. This is the third largest city in Spain but it is a city I didn’t know much about. The two bigger cities I’m sure you can guess which is Barcelona and Madrid. Both of these cities are well known around the world and most of the depictions of Spain can be derived from these two cities. But Valencia was a different story. I didn’t even know where Valencia was until like two weeks prior to the trip. I looked it up one day and saw that it was close to the beach and I just thought, “Cool!” and proceeded to enjoy my last two weeks in the United States before leaving.

 These are all the thoughts I had prior to the trip (which weren’t very profound, I know) so it was quite to my pleasure of how everything turned out to be. The reality of Valencia Spain is that it offers a multitude of facets to enjoy and discover. For those history junkies it offers a look into the 16^th and 17^th century with beautiful architecture and amazing pieces or arts in the museums. There is plenty of history in this city and listening to all the stories of each building really astonishes you about how much an area can change over a couple hundred years. It also offers a very modern side of Valencia which is the City of Arts and Sciences. Here is where the millennials really enjoy as they get to witness modern technology and architecture across an area loaded with science museums and a lively night life. And if neither of those call your attention, may I remind you that you are on the coast! The beautiful Malvarosa beach is right there for you to soak up the sun and play some volleyball or take a dip in the ocean. This mix along with the variety of foods make it difficult for someone not to find something they really enjoy in the city.

Not only do the sights attract me, but it is also the people. I have enjoyed being around such friendly people that simply look like they always want to have a good time. We recently befriended a local and he’s been inviting us to different sites to hang out with him and his friends and it just adds to the reputation of Spain. He took us to watch one of the Euro Cup games at a local bar and that was such a blast. It was Italy versus Germany and we went to an Italian bar so everyone was rooting for Italy. The environment was so contagious that for a couple hours, I became an Italian. I was screaming and hugging random Italian strangers when something good happened. And apart from the locals, the professors at the school make work very enjoyable with their attitudes. They are always so nice and suggesting new places for us to go and helping us with any questions that we may have. They sometimes pop in and just randomly begin talking to us and asking us what we have planned for the weekend.

All of these experiences and situations have done nothing but enhance my Study Abroad experience. It has been four weeks for us now and I am definitely starting to miss home, but all of these positive characteristics make the stay easier to deal with and allow us to still enjoy the Spanish life every single day. If you just go with the right attitude and the desire to meet new people and experience new things, your trip becomes something you can keep with you and reminisce for the rest of your life.

See you all next week,

Eric Chavez

My career because of Valencia

This study abroad experience has been eye opening as I have been able to learn about a brand new culture and meet brand new people. Apart from the social aspect of the knowledge I've gained, there is also a lot that I have learned about myself and the career path I want to undertake.

How this experience exposed me to new knowledge, skills, and competencies

"Fire Research"

Obviously there is a lot to learn when working on the research projects here in Spain. One of the competencies I have gained has been over my specific topic of research; fire. I don't want to say too many specifics because this is still on going research and I don't know how much information I am allowed to share, but there is no doubt that I am becoming more aware of a subject that few know about. There hasn't been much research over this topic, so being that I will be studying it for six weeks, it'll allow me to become more familiar with it and take some of the lessons I learned with me to the states. This is a good transition to my next point which is gaining the ability to understand a big problem and break it up into little steps. An entire research project cannot be completed in six weeks. It is absolutely impossible. Most of these projects have been going on for years and have been spear headed be renowned researchers and engineers. Because of this, our jobs as students isn't to finish the research or conduct all the experiments, it is more so to understand what's going on. The professors have introduced us to the big picture idea and what the end goal will be and our job is to be able to understand the objective. We then get told of a small portion which is what we as the students will be taking on. Being able to understand the big picture is important, but also understanding the little subsequent pieces that are needed to make the big picture a reality is also key. I know can say that I understand more the breakdown of research projects because I have been exposed to and explained to process to.


How do I plan on using this experience with current educational goals upon return

Collaboration

Learning all these traits and skills mean nothing if you plan on keeping them to yourself. Have of the battle is learning how to apply them to your everyday study and endeavors when you return back to the United States. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is the act of collaboration. This has been a international experience where we are taking across the world to learn what other countries are studying and discovering. Quickly you learn that most of these topics are a collaboration of various locations and institutions. No one can do everything by themselves. We learned that most of the European Union assist each other in projects and offers to collaborate based on their area of expertise. This is something I am glad I understand more and will be able to use in the future. Another thing I plan to take back with me is the ability to help out others. The mentors (at least for me) have been extremely friendly and helpful with anything and everything. They understand that you might not know what's going on and they explain things slowly to you. This allows me to remember what it felt like not understanding and once it's my turn to teach someone else, I will have that same patience and understanding.


How will this experience impact my decisions for future career objectives

Researching where we are

This experience has done nothing but enhance my desire to pursue graduate studies. One of the reasons I really wanted this experience was to be exposed to the research to see if it was something that I wanted to continue in the future and based on what I have encountered so far, it is. The ability to discover something that no one else has seen is very cool to me. Being able to look back at something and think" I created that," or "I developed that idea," is a feeling that can't be matched. So for now, I am excited to tackle my last semester of undergraduate studies and hopefully begin a new one for my graduate adventures.



Until next week,

Eric Chavez

The Valencian Way

We have been in Valencia Spain for about two weeks now and all I can say is that this city is absolutely amazing. This was going to be my first time going overseas and experiencing a brand new culture with different customs, so I was pretty nervous. Not knowing what to expect I was entering it what seemed like a completely different world. Here are just of the few things that I have noticed about Spain.


Language:

The official language in Spain is Spanish. Crazy, right? This has been able to be a very easy transition for my because luckily, I speak Spanish. Coming from Mexico, my parents were able to teach me Spanish and although I am no expert at it, I speak it fluently enough be able to talk to everyone. I think this advantage has allowed me to adapt to the culture much better because I can already communicate with the locals. One thing, however, is that Spanish from Mexico and Spanish from Spain can sometime be a little different. Certain words used in Mexico don't exist in Spain and vice versa. This get a little tricky whenever they are speaking a million words per minute at me and throw in a word that I have never heard before. I remember one particular case, we were all in the mall in search for some blankets to cover ourselves up at night and I approached a security guard and asked him where I can find some blankets. I used the word "cobija" which in Mexico means blanket. That word, however, does not exist in Spain. He gave me this funny look as I tried to explain what I was talking about. Felt like I was playing a game as I was trying to make him guess what I was looking for. Another big thing about Valencia that I had no idea about is that they have their own language. Similar to Barcelona where they speak Catalan, the people of Valencia speak "Valenciano." Catalan and Valenciano are very similar and are very different from Spanish or "Castellano." This was a huge shock for me because I can't understand that language as it is used frequently throughout the school. Most signs around the school are in Valenciano which makes navigating not as easy as I thought it would be.


Communication:

So as mentioned already, I speak Spanish. In fact, out of the 6 of us on the trip, all 3 guys speak Spanish, while all 3 girls don't. This becomes a little bit of an obstacle because the three guys serve as the permanent tutors for the girls. Though I've considered charging them for my services (just kidding) it becomes very necessary for us to be around anytime the girls are needing something or need to ask a question. We don't mind doing it at all, and truth be told, I would rather be a translator than to not be able to speak the language and have to have everything translated for me. I mentioned that while I do know Spanish, I'm am not an expert. This comes into play especially with technical terms. Because my parents taught me everything in Spanish, they only taught me conversational Spanish or terms and words they used throughout everyday life. Somehow the subject of "flexural capacity of a steel beam," never came up when I was a kid. Because of this, I struggle with understand all the engineering terms whenever they speak to me and sometimes they don't know the translation so it becomes a little of a challenge. And also deciphering technical terms and translating them to English for the girls becomes twice as hard for me. Lastly, the way the Spanish people talk is different. The Spanish accent involves talking with what sounds like a lisp. They will rarely pronounce their "S's" and their "Z's" they way we pronounce them. Theirs sounds more like the "th" sound. For example the sentence "Me llamo Eric Chavez y estoy estudiando en Valencia," will sound like "Me llamo Eric Chaveth y ethtoy ethtudiando en Valenthia." Also without a doubt in my mind, the most used word in Spain is the word "Vale." It translates to "Okay" or "Good" whenever you agree or understand something, but the Spanish use this word pretty much every sentence. Anyone from bank tellers, professors, news anchors, kids, or whoever, this word is a must in Spain. Vale?

Sights

The sights that Spain has to offer are all breathe takingly beautiful. There is so much to see and so much history to learn that I don't even think six weeks is enough to get it all. What is particularly cool about Valencia is the diversity it offers. Valencia has a historical district where it contains cathedrals, statues, and old Gothic architecture. This area is full of history and has been around for hundreds of years. Then you cross the river and the city becomes modern as you enter the arts and science district. Here features state of the art technology and modern architecture from the 21st century. And if that weren't enough, you still have the beautiful Malvarosa beach just two miles from our apartments. There is just no ending to the things to see in Valencia. And rather then talk a lot about this section, I figured I would just display a bunch of my favorite pictures from Valencia and Madrid.

People:

One thing was very clear that I noticed from the people, everybody was so nice. I didn't really know what to expect when I arrived in Spain. Didn't know if they would be friendly to outsiders or if they would look at us weird as if we didn't belong. Turns out that everyone is so friendly to another. You can't walk past a person without them saying hi or "buenos dias" to you. Our neighbors in our apartment complex always talk to us when we cross paths. This positive energy is very contagious and soon we all started saying hi to all those around us. We also were told to watch out for pick-pocketing and for the overall dangers that can occur. But truthfully it is very safe in Valencia. Never once did I feel in danger or even think something bad would happen. We even leave windows open during the day without worry that someone might try and break in. It simply doesn't happen. And then lastly, one thing in particular I noticed in the University, is that all the students are very close to one another. We are here during their final exams, so I expected seeing students frantically cramming for an exam or fumbling through their fifth cup of coffee of the day. That wasn't the case at all. The students were always together joking and looking stress free as ever. You rarely see a student sitting by themselves during lunch time, they are always together which is a really nice change.

Way of Life

There is one obvious thing I realized from the Spanish; these people DO NOT SLEEP. Seriously, every night is a party in Valencia. We stayed out one night until 3am hanging out and talking and on our way back home we expected to see the streets empty and that wasn't the case. People are out and about at 3 in the morning as if it were 10pm. Even little kids stay up really late. In most places in the United States, places close at 2 in the morning and everyone goes home, in Spain, some places don't open until that time. Clearly, we haven't been able to adjust to the way of life as we are seen struggling throughout the day to stay awake.

     

Not even I am safe....

Another part of the Spanish life is to live a very relaxed one. Being around professors and students during high stress times, they all seem to take it very easy. No one looks like they're running to get anywhere, they always patiently stroll from one place to the other. This creates such a positive environment in my opinion which explains why everyone is so nice to each other. Another big part of the Spanish lifestyle is the lunch. It typically happens from 2-4pm. Yes, 2-4pm, they get two hours for a lunch break. In the United States it is very common to take lunch in your desk as you work, or in even some cases skip it entirely. Not the case at all here in Spain. Everybody uses this time to relax and enjoy each others company. Work is not discussed during these hours, it is simply a time for good food and good company.


How is this culture different

There are many differences when it comes to culture when you compare it to the United States. As I have mentioned previously, the biggest is the value for personal relationships. There is a reason you don't see people eating lunch by themselves and that's because they enjoys eachother's company so much. Even the relationship with the professors and the students is really fun. All the students from what I have experienced call their professors by their first name and professors treat them very well. Constantly joking with one another and having lunch together is something you don't always see in the United States. This also happens to be what I like most about this culture.

Also another big difference is the attention the Spanish pay towards saving energy and preserving the environment. Their recycling system is the best example. In the United States, we essentially have two options to throw something away; trash or recycle. In Spain, they have 3 separate been that are placed together where you throw away paper in one, plastic in another, and organic material in the last. They also have a specific trash can for glass and then another one for regular trash. They also never have paper towels in the bathroom, it is always the automatic fans. And most of their lights are motion censored along with their computers that shut off entirely after certain amount of non-activity. Lastly is all the smoking. It seems like its hard to go anywhere without seeing smoke and cigarettes in people's hands. And don't think this only applies for the grown ups, teenagers are smoking everywhere too. It just becomes something people grow up doing where they have their coffee and cigarette for dessert everyday.


Cultural Challenges

As far as cultural challenges go, there are quite a few. First of all, their hours of operations for stores. I mentioned the 2-4pm lunch break time. Well this means everyone is having lunch at this time so most places close. So make sure you don't need anything major during this time of the day. The only thing open of course is restaurants. But after 4pm, most restaurants close for a period of time. They don't open back until around 8pm when dinner time starts. So if you were busy and tried to have a late lunch around 4:30 pm or so, good luck. And speaking of food, a big adjustment has been the portions of foods served at the restaurant. I find myself never getting full over what I am getting served. I'm use to stuffing my face until I can't anymore and then regretting the decision later when I am in the United States so this has been a big adjustment for me. ALSO, there is no spicy food in Spain. I am Mexican and I love spicy so this kills me! I literally had to go to the central market to find some hot sauce because I couldn't handle it anymore.

                               



Next is the commuting. I have never used public transportation systems in my life before so learning how to use that form rather than a car was challenging. I don't know how many times we nervously got on a metro hoping that it lead us to the right direction. But we are slowly getting better at it!

Lastly, the biggest cultural challenge has been...being tall. Seriously, Spain was constructed for short people. News flash Spain, TALL PEOPLE EXIST. I don't understand why I have to constantly duck and watch my head wherever I go. They have the two NBA stars Pau and Marc Gasol who are both around 7ft tall and they still don't realize that maybe they should have higher stair cases! I understand that I am a little taller than average (6'3") but there is no way this is acceptable:

Overall

Overall, this experience thus far has been incredible. We have been able to slowly adjust to the life style and fall in love with all this program has to offer. I have enjoyed my time thoroughly and everyday I learn new things. The sights I've seen, things I have learned, and the people I have met have all contributed to this experience and I am very thankful for it. I still have 4 more weeks here and looking forward to every single day of it.

Until next time,

Eric Chavez