Author: Adrian Salazar | Major: Computer Science and Mathematics | Semester: Fall 2024

Running down Carrera de San Jerónimo, a street close to Madrid’s city center

In August of 2024, my Uber dropped me and my two suitcases off on Calle Gran Vía – Madrid’s most iconic street – marking the beginning of my four-month-long study abroad adventure. For the fall semester of 2024, I chose to study abroad in Madrid, Spain for a few reasons. First and foremost, I wanted to practice my Spanish. My parents are from Mexico, so I grew up speaking Spanish with them around the house. While I was able to get around well with my level of Spanish, I wasn’t perfect by any means, and I thought, what better way to improve than to immerse myself in a Spanish-speaking country? There are plenty of Spanish speaking countries in the world, yet Spain stood out to me. I had been to Mexico and other South American countries before, but I had never been across the Atlantic. I wanted to experience the European lifestyle – from eating tapas at outdoor cafés during lunch to navigating the metro and walking through neighborhoods with hundreds of years of history amongst them. I wanted to be in a big European, Spanish-speaking city, so I chose to study in Madrid.

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) has two primary campuses: the engineering campus in Leganés and the social science campus in Getafe. On Tuesday through Friday, my commute consisted of a 45-minute train ride to Getafe, and then after a few classes there, I would take the bus for an hour to Leganés. While at UC3M, I enrolled in a variety of courses, from social studies classes like Sociology to engineering classes like Differential Equations. Though my focus is in studying Computer Science and Mathematics, my favorite class this semester was outside both of my majors: Principles of Economics with Professor Antonio Romero Medina. This class was particularly interesting to take abroad since Professor Medina had a very deep understanding of both European and American economic systems. Throughout the class, we explored how the two economies compare, discussing topics like public services, wealth distribution, workers’ rights, and even climate change laws. What further enhanced this learning experience was getting to meet people who lived their whole lives in Europe and had never been to America. Hearing about their experiences with universal healthcare and other public services allowed me to gain more insight on some of the shortcomings that exist in the U.S. today.

I was surprised by the sheer diversity of international students that were studying abroad in Madrid. Not only did I get to collaborate on school projects with Spanish students, but I also made presentations with people from Senegal, edited videos with students from China, went to the gym with a group of Australian guys, talked corridos and norteñas with my fellow Mexicans, became best friends with a mate from the U.K., and studied economics with some girls from Bulgaria. I even lived in an apartment with people from Canada, France, Germany, Curaçao, Belgium, and Portugal. It was incredible to be surrounded by so many people with vastly different walks of life, all of us deciding to call Madrid our home for four months. I was lucky enough to be one of them and to experience the city with such a wonderful group of people from all over the world.