Natalie White ’08 spent the fall semester of 2006 studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. A management major, White studied abroad through the direct exchange program offered between the Lally School of Management & Technology at RPI and Escuela Superior de Administracion y Direccion De Empresas in Barcelona.
“I wanted to study abroad in Spain to improve my Spanish and live internationally for an extended period of time,” White explained. During the summer of 2006, prior to the beginning of the semester at ESADE, she worked as an au pair in Sagunto, a small Spanish city southwest of Barcelona. “The family I lived with didn’t speak any English and adopted me into their extended family like I had always known them,” White said. Her knowledge of Spanish improved drastically due to this complete immersion with the language.
In Barcelona, however, the international students spoke English and the natives spoke Catalá (though most natives also know Spanish). The Catalan language is unique to a stretch of land between Northeastern Spain and Southern France, and is representative of the unique Catalan culture. During the time that White lived in Sagunto and Barcelona, she learned about the distinct Catalan culture and how it differs from the traditional Spanish culture.
While attending classes in Barcelona, White rented a room in an apartment she found on a housing website. Her roommates were a motley crew—a Portuguese girl, a Catalan couple, and a man from Mallorca, one of Spain’s islands in the Mediterranean Sea. White found that her roommates were kind and enthusiastic about showing her around the neighborhood and the local market. “Going to the market and learning how to navigate it were really important experiences for me as far as integrating with the culture, as were learning the bus and metro systems,” White explained. “I learned what everyday life is really like for Barcelonan locals.”
White discovered that Catalans living in Barcelona do not particularly enjoy the large influxes of tourists, who do not respect the local culture. “I would recommend that any student studying in Barcelona make an honest attempt to understand the local culture, and live with Spaniards if possible,” White said. Though she said people in Spain were not particularly fond of American foreign policy, “They were still interested in understanding my views as an individual and learning about my culture.”
As for academics, White took classes on sustainability from a business perspective, leadership, and human relations, with a focus on motivation in the workplace. Her favorite class was one in which the students learned about the psychology behind why people behave the way they do in the workplace. White found that the international focus of the subject matter “reflected the growing importance of the international business environment.”
White recommends the ESADE program, and notes that the high quality of the professors was integral in enriching her experience. The opportunity to take classes with students from all over the world also enhanced her academic experience. She recommends that students interested in studying abroad in Barcelona should have knowledge of the Spanish language.
White spent a lot of her free time walking around Barcelona. She especially enjoyed when friends and family visited her and she could share the city with them. During long weekends, she made trips to Paris, Amsterdam, and Cadaques, and she also spent a week traveling around Italy, visiting the cities of Rome, Florence, and Venice. She recommends traveling in off-peak months, since it saves money and the bigger tourist attractions are slightly less crowded.
White found that studying abroad taught her the value of friends and family. She enjoyed the challenges and rewards associated with learning to adapt to a different culture. When asked what she wished she had known before leaving for Spain, but no one told her before she left, White said, “You’ll have different feelings about living abroad at different times, but stick it out, be proactive about meeting people, and do everything new that you can while you’re there.”
