Outcomes

Outcomes

First, I have learned how to cook a dish called “Patatas a lo Pobre”. During our first weekend in Spain, as I have already mentioned in previous blogs, Ana Barella taught Kavitha, Kelsey, and I a recipe called Patatas a lo Pobre. Ana explained that the dish translates to Poor Style Potatoes. The story behind the dish’s name is that in olden times, poor people could not afford anything other than potatoes. (Surprisingly, this is a story I have heard from my dad who grew up farming potatoes as well. This was a crazy similarity in cultural background). The first step in making this delicious recipe was the grocery shopping. Grocery shopping was much like it is in the U.S. except a few minor changes, like how the little machines that weigh your fruits print out a bar code on the spot. After picking out potatoes, garlic, and olive oil we found the deli counter.  Once at the deli counter, Ana had to talk us into ordering half a pound of specialty ham, or Jamon Serrano. Kelsey and I, both trying to ease our way into eating meat, were not too thrilled at the idea. In the end, we gave in to the local connoisseur! We ended up with a yummy twist to the original recipe with ham and eggs on top and it was amazing.

We also learned that big social dinners are a norm in Spain. Above is a photo of our group sharing a pot-luck dinner before leaving Spain.

   
 Next thing I learned while I was in Spain was how to use public transportation maps. It seems as though they would be user friendly since they are usually color coded and numerically organized. However, since I had no point of reference, never having lived in Valencia before, it was quite puzzling at some moments. Especially during those moments when I had exactly 30 seconds to get on the next train before it took off for its last journey. Those puzzling moments always happened at the most inopportune times. But after learning how to download maps offline and plan my trips ahead of time, I was able to master the skill of not being a clueless tourist!

            One more new lesson I learned while in Spain was fully technical. I learned how to analyze frequencies using the program MatLab. I had used this program before in other coursework but had never really mastered it. While I conducted my project at AIDICO, MatLab seemed to be an essential part of working there. In fact my mentor Jose Vi was shocked that I did not already have MatLab downloaded on my personal computer. He gave me a quick tutorial of how to find the FFT’s using a series of keyed in equations. The tutorial was seriously quick, so quick I was not able to catch anything that was going on. Jose Vi’s time was very limited during our stay, he was handling many jobs at once, so he could not stay and talk me through the process of analyzing the rest of the frequencies. However, I learned that all of the equations typed in are stored in the Command History. After printing that day’s entire command history, highlighting the important commands, and typing in what seemed to be gibberish, I came up with a semi-understandable report of my analysis. After showing it to my mentor, he said it made sense, so I suppose I am able to use MatLab now.

 Above is a photo taken by Toul in the NDT lab during a brief Mat-Lab tutorial from Jose Vi.

         

 My prior educational background is rich with works under pressure. The deadlines that always seemed to creep up on me for various reasons greatly prepared me for the real world. Deadlines in the real world consist less of asking for extensions (which to my defense I have never done) and more about working through lunch breaks, dinner breaks, sleep breaks or even sanity breaks and just getting the work done no matter what it takes. My prior educational background also gave me a little background on issues of civil infrastructure and the need to find effective ways of addressing them. Flooding, undrinkable water, earthquakes, and transportation are all real world issues that American engineers try to solve. However, I was not prepared enough to view those issues from a Spanish engineer’s perspective. Obviously I could never be unless I had completed an education and some experience in Spain. The optimism that my prior educational background instilled in me helped me keep a positive outlook to the project no matter what circumstances. Although I did not know absolutely anything about non-destructive testing, I knew that I could learn about it as soon as I could and then pass on the knowledge to other people. That was the most interesting experience.

            Understanding what was expected of me in such an unfamiliar environment was definitely a challenge. But with some perseverance from both sides, my mentor and I were able to understand each other. The evidence was in my final presentation of the IRES project. After giving the presentation, I realized I had learned much more than I ever expected, and that felt like a challenge overcome. 

Below is a photo taken of me on August 1st, right before the IRES Final Presentation at AIDICO. Although I was nervous in the beginning, I quickly realized I had been more than prepared for the presentation.

Social ID

When it comes to my preconceptions about living, working, or visiting Europe, I expected the unexpected. Better yet, my expectations were a wide range of Cinema glamorized miscoceptions. In reality, I had no point of comparison about traveling outside the Americas. The times I had traveled outside of the USA, the neighboring countries have treated me with immense hospitality, always excited to greet a foreigner. I guess in a way I expected the world to react that way in general. To my surprise, that is not always the case!
En el trabajo...

Even if I tried I wouldn't be able to explain what I expected from social behaviors but I can explain what I did not expect. I did not expect for "culture shock" to be a real thing. 

I am thankful that I was allowed to be immersed more or less in the way of life, or else my experience would be somewhat superficial. The primary source of immersment came from working for a company based in Spain and working according to their schedule. The shortened work schedule from our American 8-9 hours was a shorter version from 8am to 3pm. Also, two eating breaks are allowed, breakfasts and snack. Right away we felt the difference in work pace. Along with that was the method of communication. I was expecting direct supervision and training, but that was also different in a sense. It may be due to the different instruction methods of the professors themselves, but I would argue that even then, a difference in communication habits hindered my work flow. The usual dynamic between the student and the boss is a straightforward job assignment, some clarification questions, steady work and then a final product. That changed in Valencia. Instead of the usual clarification questions, I hesitated to ask. This was because I thought the issue was language barrier and I was willing to google every last word or phrase. Instead, I found myself with even more questions after translating.  

Thankfully, our mentor was able to overlook the miscommunications and guide us to an understanding. Thus, I learned a lot from Jose Vicente Fuente during our stay at AIDICO. The final day of presentations, he congratulated us and told us he was extremely proud of our learning process. Below is a picture of us after our final presentation standing next to the IRES poster with which we were able to convey some of the work we did...

Above: Mentor Jose Vicente Fuente and I next to IRES poster before presentation.

Con la familia...

We are also very blessed to have a program coordinator who tended to every need, Ana Barella. Ana is a staff member at AIDICO who was actively involved in accommodating us in Valencia. Not only is she a hard-worker, she's a mom, a daughter, and a friend. Hanging out with Ana allowed us to learn a little bit about the way of life as a woman in Valencia, Spain. I learned that Ana grew up in a Valencian family who works diligently and also dedicates much of their life to cultivating family traditions. Lunch and dinners are usually spent together with Ana's sons, Hugo and Jorge. In the summer this includes the "yaya y yayo", or as we call them in the US, Grama and Grampa.This is because the family owns a "campo" home on the outskirts of the surrounding countryside where they can spend their summers swimming, resting, and "taking the sun" as they say. The summer home allows for time to share experiences with eachother. Despite expecting and finding many differences, the similarities in family dynamics are extremely sweet. The bickering between Yayo and Yaya, between Yayo and Jorge, and even Ana contributing as a good mom would, is a bickering common to a close-knit family in any country!

Above: Ana's family on a Sunday evening dinner having Paella 

when we were given the privilege of accompanying them.

Although many interactions were very different from what "I thought it would be like", many interactions were the same. Family time is clearly a very important aspect of life in Spain, similar to the culture I come from. The interactions between siblings and parents reflect what I've been taught as a part of my cultural attitude. One day when we were out and about with Ana, I asked her why she seemed aloof, she answered that she missed her children more than she thought she would. I could immediately relate to that feeling. Being away from my family for more than a month has been a trying situation since I have been close to them my entire life. Family bonding is a main similarity in cultural attitudes.

Y demas!

Besides spending time at work and with Ana, we were pretty much on our own to discover Valencia and its habitants. I quickly learned that the principle "The customer is always right." is a cultural attitude of the United States and not necessarily of the entire world. Although I had not given much thought to it, I assumed that as a native Spanish speaker and clueless tourist I would be given the benefit of the doubt and some extra help during daily activities. That assumption was quickly dissolved after the first work day in Valencia. Asking simple questions is not so simple of an activity to me in Valencia. The difference in cultures arises everywhere. First of all, in the tone of voice. I wasn't as aware of the possibilities until we were in a bakery and the woman selling us bread asked my roommate why she was so dark? In the United States, the diversity that surrounds us makes that question completely out of place. But I realized that it was the woman's way of asking my roommate what ethnicity she came from. I am still unsure whether this is equally as disrespectful in Valencia, or if the woman was simply not aware of other cultures. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt since that is something I have been hoping people give me as I am sure my ways of asking questions may or may not sound rude depending on their perception. Based on these and other experiences, I have decided to listen before I speak and not jump to conclusions. I think this skill will serve me in future visits to different cultures. So as far as I am concerned, this learning experience has been one of the most enriching of all my life. I can't wait to continue having a young heart ready to learn the unknown and unexpected!

Above: Public entertainment at the Arc de Triumph in Barcelona where a toddler runs into the bubbles uncertain of the nature of the afore mentioned and screams with joy for this unprecedented encounter.