Home. Wow. I remember waking up
on May 29 in a sort of shock. “Am I really about to go to Spain for six weeks?”
I kept asking myself as my parents drove me to the airport. Now here I am
getting ready to text my dad to remind him to pick me up from the airport. So this is our last week in Europe. We've given our final presentations and said goodbye to all of our new friends and
mentors from the University. I remember chatting with Brandon at the end of our
first week, during one of our many balcony sessions. “Dude we just finished our
first week in Spain” I said as we both just looked around in awe at our new
city. I remember also jokingly telling him “Before you know it, it’ll be the
end of week three… the halfway point.” Well, we’ve surely passed that halfway
point.
I’m very grateful to have been
able to participate in this research experience. I feel that my time in Europe
was a valuable learning experience, professionally and personally. As far as
civil engineering is concerned, I feel that I was exposed to an excellent lab environment;
and I feel as if that experience will help me have a brighter outlook during my
last year of college. I look forward to taking my two lab courses this coming
semester, because I can now approach the course with a different perspective. Professionally
speaking, I feel as if this program has made me aware of the possibilities attainable when having an engineering degree. I feel as if I have been shown and taught
many tools during this time, which I can use to further develop who I am.
The subway/tram system. That’s
another thing I definitely learned this summer. During our first week, I was lost.
I had little clue how to interpret all the subway maps and times and all of
that. But after spending several weeks with the subway or tram being my only
transportation, I feel a little more competent when it comes to getting around foreign
locations. I think overall, being thrown into a foreign environment for six
weeks will definitely help you mature as a person.
Inside the lab, I feel as if our
few-years of undergraduate studies were enough to perform the tasks required of
us. Obviously there was some educational barrier between PhD researchers versus
some silly undergraduate lab interns, but I feel as if our mentors were very
patient and helpful guys. They would spend a lot of their time getting us
caught up on what was going on and then basically just let us participate on
their experiments. The work in the lab was super enjoyable and it feels really
good to have had the opportunity to participate on my mentor’s work.
It is currently a little weird
being home, to be honest. I have this sense of “what now?” I guess I am finally
experiencing cultural shock. But I’m not going to lie, it feels nice to be able
to brew up mad amounts of coffee again in my kitchen while I annoy my dog. I
loved my time in Spain and I had a great time with my new lab intern pals. I am
excited to see them at UTA, as we grin at each other cuz of our great time in
Spain.
Anyways I have to like unpack
luggage and retune all my instruments and stuff. Peace.
