Embracing my Independence Abroad: My Engineering Internship in Barcelona

Jack Hervey is a 4th year transfer student at the University of California, Davis. He is double majoring in aerospace and mechanical engineering and is on the airframe subteam for the Aggie Rocketry and Propulsion Lab, a club that aims to build UC Davis’s first liquid fuel rocket. His work has mainly focused on the design and manufacturing of aerospace structures for both rockets and drones. He greatly enjoys traveling, having traveled across the U.S. and Spain, and learning about the history of the places he visits. Additionally, he loves learning about the food from each place and how to make it.

Visiting a foreign country can be both an exciting and daunting experience. There are so many unknowns and differences, yet so many new opportunities as well. This was how I felt when I applied to intern in Barcelona. I had traveled around Spain the year before with a friend, and absolutely loved the food, landscape, and culture of the country, so when I saw there was an opportunity to intern in Barcelona this summer, I had little hesitation to sign up. Being an aerospace and mechanical engineering student, I was ecstatic to learn I had been placed with a drone company called Rohu Innovations, a startup that is working on developing the next VTOL fixed wing drone.

However, the reality of the situation began to hit. I realized I had no idea what to expect working in an internship, let alone an international one. Soon after starting my internship, I found I had much more freedom than I did at home, both inside and outside the workplace. At first this might sound like a good thing, but it came with many unexpected challenges. Here are the challenges I faced with this newfound freedom, and how I used it to my advantage.

A Daunting New World

The first day of my internship, my team and I were given 3 challenges relating to a prototype drone. We were told to divide them amongst ourselves and let our supervisor know if we had any questions. That was it. That was all the guidance we got. Just a few sentences about each challenge and we were expected to come up with a solution. This was far cry from the tasks and projects I was given at school in the U.S., which were supplemented with checklists and guidelines of all the requirements I had to meet. With this new project, I almost didn’t know where to begin. Should I look at other drones? Should I come up with my own ideas? The possibilities seemed endless. I missed the structured system of my projects at school, because at least then I had some idea of what to do.

This freedom also translated to my living situation outside of my internship. Besides the scheduled activities my program had to offer, I found myself unsure how to spend my evenings after work. Sometimes I would just make dinner in the apartment and not go out, simply because I had too many things to choose from and had no one forcing me to choose. I often felt guilty for not going out, and that I was wasting my time with this amazing opportunity.

The Upside

Once I began to feel more comfortable with my environment, I began to see the upsides to having freedom with my projects and my free time. As the weeks passed, I began to learn how to research topics for my projects and used the information I found to create my own designs in computer aided design software such as Solidworks.

I began to enjoy the freedom I had been given by my supervisor, and while I still asked him questions for guidance from time to time, it was nice to finally have a project that I felt I came up with myself. In school, the projects I worked on typically had one specific result that everyone tended to come up with.

There was little room for creativity or one’s own input, and this often left that muscle of my brain unexercised. However, with the ability to come up with my own ideas and use them in my project, it left me feeling much more prepared for future jobs where I will not have as many guidelines and instructions as I did in school.

As my confidence grew within the workplace, it began to grow outside of it as well. I found myself saying yes to more excursions with my newfound friends, as well as creating excursions of my own. If I ever found myself not having something to do and wishing I did, I would simply just look up things to do in Barcelona and pick one at random.

I even did some solo day trips on the weekends as well. I would research surrounding towns, pick one I found interesting, book a train ticket, and just go. Sometimes I would have activities planned, such as the Dali Museum in Figueres, but other times I would just wander around and explore what the city had to offer.

After wandering the streets of Figueres, I came across this huge fort called Castell de Sant Ferran, which I learned was the last place the Spanish Republic met before the end of the Spanish Civil War. This fort ended up being the highlight of my day by far, not only because of the fascinating history and architecture, but because I had encouraged myself to get out and explore new places. My point is, the freedom I had to just go wherever and do whatever I wanted resulted in some of the most rewarding experiences of my trip.

How to Make the Most of Your Freedom

To anyone considering a program like this, these are some tips I would recommend to utilize this newfound freedom you may find yourself to get the most out of your experience:

Don’t be Afraid

It’s easy to get scared of new experiences, especially in a country you’re not familiar with. However, I’d say the one fear that trumps fear of new things is the fear of missing out. If you’re too scared to take advantage of this freedom and opportunity you have, you will most definitely regret not doing those things later. If you are participating in an internship program like me, I would recommend not being afraid to ask questions, because there are plenty of people there who want to help you. While asking questions is good, don’t be afraid of taking initiative on projects. Be willing to use your own ideas and creativity with the freedom you were given.

A Plan is Nice, But it’s Not Everything

I always planned out the important things for activities or trips I participated in during my abroad experience. Things like museum tickets, train tickets, hostels/hotels are something you should definitely book beforehand. It’s also a good idea to have some activities in mind so if you find yourself with nothing to do, or too many options to choose from, you have something to fall back on. But it is also important to be open to being spontaneous. See a cool shop or building? Stop in for a second to check it out. You may find something fascinating that you can brag to all your friends about in your program and back home.

Say Yes

I’m not saying you should say yes to something that will put you in harm’s way. What I’m saying is to be open to new opportunities that may come your way. Did someone ask you to try a new restaurant? Go to a museum? Check out a nearby town? Even if you’re not sure you want to, just say yes. The worst thing that can happen is that you don’t enjoy it, but at least you know now, and can avoid it in the future. Saying yes to opportunities like these allows you to experience many new things you may have never thought about trying in the first place.

Participate in the Working Across Cultures Micro-credential

I highly recommend this micro-credential to anyone participating in an internship abroad program. I participated in this micro-credential, and it gave me the tools I needed to succeed while working in a different culture. It provided me with some structure when I felt overwhelmed by my new environment by guiding and teaching me how to present my experience to future employers. It made me focus on core competencies such as communication, technology, and critical thinking that I developed during my internship, and taught me how to become adjusted to a new culture.

If you follow these tips, I strongly believe they will help you enjoy your abroad experience much more, and you will be more likely to continue exploring abroad and taking advantage of that freedom.

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