Intern Abroad

• Empirical Educational Research M.A.
• Spain, Barcelona
• Universitat de Barcelona
• 11.04.-24.06.2022

My experiences:

© Caroline Scherer

Since I’ve wanted to go abroad during my time at university for a long time, I decided to look for possibilities to do an internship abroad. To find a hosting organization, I did some online research on my own to look especially for research groups, since that was the area I was most interested to work in. That is how I found a research group at the University of Barcelona with a focus on intercultural educational research. I sent them a very formal application via email and quickly received a rather informal response, saying that the group would like to welcome me for an internship. The organization beforehand was a bit difficult – although I was in contact with the professor who would be my supervisor since November, it took a long time until my learning agreement was signed. For a long time I was not sure if my internship would actually happen and I barely managed to hand in the application for the ERASMUS+-Scholarship in time.

Because I only knew about six weeks in advance that I would really go to Barcelona, I did not have much time to look for accommodation, but I have heard from other people that it’s not unusual in Spain to look for shared flats etc. just a few weeks before moving in. Since I was busy with deadlines for essays and didn’t have much time to organize accommodation, I contacted BCN-Nest, an agency specialized on finding accommodation for international students. BCN-Nest charges a commission fee which for me was worth paying because this way I did not have any more trouble finding a room in Barcelona and I felt it was a relatively risk-free option. After sending in a short questionnaire on my wishes for the accommodation, I had a video-call with one of the consultants who then sent me detailed information on one possible option. My wish was to live with a host family to have the chance to practice my Spanish skills, and I got placed with a middle-aged woman and her young daughter with whom I could set up a video-call to get to know each other a little bit before agreeing to live there.

I decided to go to Barcelona by train, the fastest connection from Aachen takes about 12 hours. After my arrival, a consultant of BNC-Nest went with me to my host’s apartment to make sure everything was in order. All in all, I was very happy with my living situation. I lived in Grácia, which is considered to be one of Barcelona’s most beautiful districts with many small shops and a lively neighbourhood. The room I rented was definitely not the cheapest option, but considering the great location and the nice apartment, the rent was completely reasonable – utilities, wifi etc. were also included in the price and I was provided towels and bedsheets, so I really didn’t have to worry about anything regarding the apartment. I also could use the washing machine as well as the kitchen tools. Because of different working schedules I could not spend as much time with my host family as I would have wished to, but we got along very well and it was definitely an advantage to have a local to talk to. Because I didn’t stay for more than three months, I didn’t have to go to the registration office. Besides the rent, my living costs were similar to Germany. I usually went to Mercadona or Lidl to buy groceries, those were some of the cheapest grocery stores. In restaurant the prices depend a lot on the part of the city – in touristic areas it’s expensive, but in other districts the prices are comparable to Germany. I didn’t open a bank account in Spain because of my short stay. Withdrawing money from my German bank account was relatively expensive (about 5€), but in my experience you don’t need a lot of cash in Spain because you can pay with your bank card almost everywhere.

© Caroline Scherer

My way to work was relatively short, there was a metro station just five minutes away from my apartment, which connected me directly with the university campus where my office was. On usual days I worked in the office of the research group which I shared with a doctoral student and sometimes other researchers of the group. My tasks varied a lot day by day, in general I was attending and assisting the different activities of the research group, which meant I was participating in team meetings regarding various research projects, I attended classes held by my supervising professor, I helped executing different steps of research projects … Since the everyday working language in the research group was Catalan, I could sadly not always understand everything that was going on and I was also very restricted in the tasks I could perform on my own. My understanding of Catalan became a little bit better over the time, but it was still far from an academic level. I usually spoke English or Castellano/Spanish with the team members, but English only when I didn’t understand something in Spanish or if I couldn’t express a thought properly. One of the tasks I did on my own when I didn’t participate in activities of the research group was updating the Website together with a colleague. Usually, we split the work so that I would write or translate pages in English and/or Spanish and she would focus on the Catalan version. Working on the website allowed me to get an overview of the projects the research group had finished or was still working on, which was quite interesting. All in all, I enjoyed working with the research group. The colleagues as well as my supervising professor were very welcoming and nice and the internship helped me to get insights on the working processes in a research group. However, I would have wished to learn more about research methods during my stay and was a bit disappointed that I didn’t really get the chance to work on the research projects actively. But since the projects were all carried out in Catalan, I could only actively assist in a few steps of the research process. I understand that I couldn’t be integrated into every part of the work due to the language barrier, but I still had hoped that I would learn more about research methods during my internship – also because my supervisor told me before starting the internship that I would definitely get the chance to do so.

© Caroline Scherer

Besides the internship I enjoyed the time in Barcelona – it never gets boring because there is so much to see and to experience! I personally found it hard to get to know other people, mostly because I didn’t attend university classes on a regular basis and besides the doctoral student with whom I shared the office, the members of the research group were all a lot older than me. I used mobile apps to find people to meet up with, and eventually I got to know other students – some other internationals, but also Spanish people. I used the weekends to visit different places in Barcelona, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends. On Sundays I often went to museums because some of them can be visited for free on Sundays after 15 pm. Of course, I also went to the beach every once in a while, but especially on weekends the beaches in Barcelona are very crowded and I couldn’t enjoy them so much. If you have the time, better take a bus or train and visit a beach outside of the city! One sight-seeing highlight for me was a trip to Tibidabo, an amusement park up on a mountain at the edge of town. Even if you don’t wanna pay the entrance fee, you can still walk around parts of the area and enjoy the amazing view over the entire region!

© Caroline Scherer

I had to adjust a bit to the life in Barcelona, for example it took me some time to get used to having dinner late in the evening. But one thing I really liked was that the city was always alive, and especially in the evenings I enjoyed to walk around the district because I loved the atmosphere when so many people were still outside enjoying food and drinks with their friends. If you’re interested in cultural activities, just keep your eyes open because there are many public events in all parts of the city, one day I went to a presentation of the Castelleros, for example. The weather was mostly really pleasant, especially in May, but since I have very fair skin, I had to be quite careful and I avoided to go outside around noon. But as I wrote before, you can really enjoy the evenings in Barcelona, so I didn’t feel like I missed out on much! In June it was very sunny and hot most days – I personally didn’t enjoy the heat much and was glad to return to Germany before it got even worse in July and August. But if you like sun and a hot climate, the summer in Barcelona is definitely perfect for you!

In summary, I enjoyed my internship in Barcelona, it was a great experience to live and work here for a while. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t learn so much about research methods as I had hoped I would, but I learned many other things during my internship, improved my Spanish skills a lot, I discovered interesting places in Barcelona and made new friends!