Our Global Classroom
When I first arrived at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in February, everything was new. The system for signing up for classes confused me, and I was unsure of what was expected from me during my first week of classes. For my first lab section, I spent hours preparing by doing what I could from what I thought was the pre-lab assignment, only to find out that I had done the entire written portion of the lab report before even attending the class. Never have I been so prepared for a hydrogel lab in my life! As I have fallen into a routine, however, I am now very comfortable with life at UPV, and have had more opportunities to reflect on the similarities and differences between this semester and others at Madison.
UPV is a much smaller school in comparison to UW. Rather than being in lecture halls with hundreds of students, my class maximums hover around 50 students. Naturally, this results in feeling like my professors know me on a more personal level, something that has been advantageous as I have navigated the new environment. Class scheduling at UPV differs significantly with UW. Rather than each student creating their own schedule somewhat from scratch, all the students in the same major take their classes together. That means, for example, that all the third-year biomedical engineering students arrive to the classroom at eight in the morning and have class until two in the afternoon. They remain in the same classroom while the professors come in an out to present their respective course content. In addition, since they are smaller, lectures tend to function as what we would consider discussion sections at Madison. That is, my professors will give practice problem time in class and make their way around the classroom to check the understanding of students in class. It is a nice way to measure progress and also breaks up the two hour lectures a little bit so that they are more interactive. In addition to lectures, I also have labs, just like at Madison. I did have to purchase a new lab coat upon my arrival, so that will serve as a stylish and functional souvenir when I return to campus in the fall.
Something I had never considered before coming to Valencia is how English-centered science can be. All of my classes are taken in Spanish. I am enrolled in classes with Spanish students, and they are all listed online as the language of instruction being exclusively Spanish – as opposed to English or Valencian, which are options offered for other select courses. Despite this, all of my textbooks are in English. My professors have explained that this is due to a lack of “quality” content available in Spanish at the desired rigor level. Often, they apologize for it, knowing that there are many students in the class who are not as comfortable learning in English. This was something that blew my mind at the beginning of my stay. It was surprising to me – and still is – that a course can be listed in one language, but the content be delivered in another. This has never occurred to me as a possibility in Madison. Coming to Spain, I knew that learning engineering concepts in a second language would be a challenge, but it was a conscious choice that I was making. For students at UPV, however, it is the only option.
Contrary to what one might expect, having English textbooks has added an extra level of challenge for me as well. Since I take my exams and complete all of my assignments in Spanish, I need to be sure that I have the vocabulary necessary to communicate my knowledge well. When I read in English, it is much easier for me to conceptualize ideas and think to myself, “I know this!” When it comes to writing these ideas in Spanish, however, I tend to find that I lack the vocabulary necessary to describe specific phenomenon (Coming up with a translation for medulla oblongata is harder than it looks!). If I read in Spanish, on the other hand, it is easier for me to identify words that I need to learn because I see them on the page and think “Oh, I don’t know that word, I should look it up.” Either way, making an effort to learn the concepts in both English and in Spanish has been an added but essential step in my studying. Knowing that this is something that UPV students do on a regular basis has given me an understanding of how fortunate I am to have had easy access to scientific publications in the past, due to my being a native English speaker.
Caitriona Treacy
Majors: Biomedical Engineering & Spanish
Hometown: Mukwonago, Wisconsin
Program: Spain, Valencia / Universidad Politecnica de Valencia Engineering Exchange