As a business student and not a language student the Erasmus experience was not an obvious path for my third year. However a change of scenery and culture and the thought of the Mediterranean Sea on my doorstep lured me into the decision. I wanted to embrace the warm laidback lifestyle of Barcelona and taste all it had to offer me. Not being a language student, and knowing only basic Spanish (somewhere in the depths of my memory) didn’t bother me much. After all I was there to immerse myself in the culture and language and see how it felt to be truly European. And with any luck and a bit of effort my plan would succeed. Until I realised that the national language was in fact Catalan and not Spanish! Unfazed by this and determined to stick to my choice of country, I booked a language course, found a room in a house (which promised to have diverse and international inhabitants), packed my shorts and flip flops and boarded the plane.

At the Universitat Pompeu Fabra I was able to choose from a wide range of courses in English and Spanish, and although I had done a brief language course and lived in an entirely Spanish speaking house I was not quite able to keep up in the Spanish spoken lectures. So I proceeded to choose a mixture of international, Marketing, Economics and Management modules in English.

The structure and teaching methods of the modules were similar to what I had been doing at Newcastle, however the classes were smaller and a lot more personal. We had weekly group tasks and research projects, with the findings presented in seminars. The group work really helped to develop my language skills as I mainly worked in Spanish speaking groups and was often sought for translation help. Most importantly I got to see business, in theory and practice through another culture.

My study period helped me develop and prepare for my final year back at Newcastle. I feel I have improved my research skills, public speaking, and matured my views on business by looking at it through another culture. The Spanish speaking took a few months to really grasp, however with lots of help from newly acquired and global friends, frantic hand gestures and strained facial expressions I survived. I also benefited a lot from the number of people who spent various amounts of time as flat mates. I had a room in a large six person flat, which I had found through my language course. Throughout the year we must have had fifteen or so other people stay, from Italy, France, Finland, Turkey, Holland, Hungary and Venezuela. The good thing is I made lots of friends and now have a sofa or even a bed to stay on in quite a few countries, which I definitely intend to visit.

There was another big side to Barcelona for me that used my skills from university.  As an aspiring DJ I played in weekly club nights and a number of street festivals that seemed to spring up around town and the surrounding areas. In summer an idea turned into reality with another business minded enthusiast and a mixed team of Catalan, Spanish, French, Columbian American and English. In July we created ‘Relevantbcn’, an Urban Music and Arts magazine in English and Spanish. I spent most of my free time in the second half of the year designing the magazine, writing and translating articles, walking around town delivering magazines and talking to potential advertisers, in Spanish. This pushed me to get to grips with the language and understand the  culture even more and I learnt a lot of valuable lessons.

I had good times and bad times;  I learnt a lot about myself and what I can do. I learnt another language and another culture. I made a lot of friends and I don’t regret any of it. I will certainly be returning to the sun and fun after my final exams to develop and grow Relevantbcn.

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