Jan
4
Clueless in Barcelona
Could this really be possible?
Today over at Desde este lado del mar, a blog about immigration in Spain, there’s a curious post about the rude awakening facing some graduate students from Latin America who come to Barcelona to study. The blog cites the case of María Elena from Colombia who was accepted to a university in Barcelona for a masters program. At no point along the way did she find out that knowing Catalan would be important to her studies until she started her classes. She says she knew that Catalan existed but that she had no idea (!) that speaking it “was important” in Barcelona. No one at the Spanish embassy, she says, informed her of this and the university entrance exam she took for the masters program was in Spanish.
Unable to keep up with the program due to the fact that some of her classes were conducted in Catalan, Maria Elena dropped out and returned to Colombia disappointed, broke and without a degree. She blames everyone (the Spanish embassy in Bogota, the university in Barcelona, etc.), everyone, that is but herself. Curious really. Actually, it’s probably a good thing this young woman didn’t get her degree since she lacks maturity and commonsense.
Are you thinking of studying overseas? Do your homework first. That means going beyond random searches on Google and Yahoo and daydreaming about the local bar scene while flipping through enticing Lonely Planet or Rough Guide travel books. Go online and read the local papers every day for a few weeks. See which issues are recurring in the local media. Tap into your social or professional network on Facebook or LinkedIn and find people who have actually been to the place you are considering. Talk to at least three or four people, preferably people who have all studied in the program within the past couple of years so that they have a fresh and relevant perspective. Better yet, talk to people still in the program or recent graduates. If they had to do it over again, what would they do differently? What things do they know now that they wish they had known at the outset? Ask them tough questions. Don’t hold back. And if you’ve got any doubts, get in touch with the university’s office for international students.
Bottomline, it’s your study-abroad experience, therefore it’s your responsibility to educate yourself on what you’re getting into. Don’t be like María Elena.
La culpa sin duda alguna no hay que achacarsela a la pobre María Elena por no “haber hecho sus deberes” sino al mismísimo gobierno de España por hacer dejación de sus funciones al permitir que el idioma común de todos los españoles esté siendo vetado vejatoriamente en la enseñanza en una región de su país, y aunque esta pandilla de xenófobos lingüisticos se ampare en que tienen las transferencias de educación traspasadas este gobierno, o el siguiente, debería promulgar una ley donde ponga límites a la sinrazón a la que hemos llegado.
Hola Luis,
Gracias por comentar. Es una lastima que los idiomas se hayan convertido en un campo de batalla. Tienes razón pero en cuanto a la pobre María Elena, sigo creyendo que cuando se trata de la vida profesional, no se debe correr riesgos sin información. Toda la información que a esta chica le faltaba estaba disponible por varios fuentes. Hay que espabilarse y ser responsable por si mismo.
Hello!
I absolutely agree with you on the point that if one wishes to study abroad, she must do a lot more research beyond her google search.
I, too, left home to study in faraway London on my own. Learning baking in one of the unknown bakery schools unlike those in NY. But I’ve done enough to survive in London on my own for 3 years. Though most of the time I was so broke as I did not expect the standard of living in London to be that astronomical.
Do your homework before you step out of your country. Don’t just listen to hearsay.
Good luck with anyone who wishes to do the same!
Have a great 2008!
Hi Sherxr,
Thanks for dropping by and for your comment. P.S. I love the slogan of your blog: “A dream will always be a dream if you don’t realize it.” Excellent advice!
They tell you in Lonely Planet that they speak Catalan in Barcelona!
I hope this masters program wasn’t in “world travel.”
Qué lástima.
[...] the fact that he didn’t learn much Spanish during his stay in Barcelona. Then there was that other case I blogged about last month, involving a grad student from [...]