Skip to main content
Home
/
News and Stories
/
Insights from Afar
Barcelona, Spain
Julia Kassab

Student Perspective: Julia in Barcelona

Julia Kassab
School of Information

“I would highly encourage other undergraduate students to study abroad. I feel as though I was more deeply engaged with the culture of the country I visited than I would’ve through regular travel because I was guided through the experience by local students, professors, and program coordinators. It is cliche, but I felt truly impacted by my stay in Catalonia. I found the culture and cuisine to be beautiful and rich, and I feel certain I will return in the future. The apartment I was staying in had a clear view of La Sagrada Familia, and my friends and I would often picnic in the park nearby and go on walks at night around the cathedral. A core memory for me would be attending mass in La Sagrada Familia. Barcelona is a beautiful city, and I am so grateful to have experienced it. The professor was very thoughtful and often gave us recommendations about where to go and what to do in the city. In the mornings and after class, I would usually go to the beach, Barceloneta, which was only a few metro stops away, and just read and look at the sailboats. I feel as though this experience positively impacted my career and professional goals because it contributed towards my degree progression and helped me to refine and visualize my goals for the future. I also appreciated having greater exposure to Design Thinking as a practice in the tech industry. Finally, I feel as though I left Europe with a greater appreciation for the world around me and an invigorated spirit to continue to travel and explore more in the future.

Studying abroad is uniquely different from just going on vacation. I feel like I truly learned about and engaged with another culture. Growing up, I often did not have the opportunity to travel, and so learning about different regions of the world was facilitated for the first time through my education, which I could not be more grateful for. Experiences like this make me feel really proud of where my education has taken me.

The First-Generation study abroad scholarship helped make my travel experience possible. Without having received the scholarship, I would not have been able to afford the travel expenses. It also made me feel really supported by the University of Michigan as a First-Generation Student.I would advise future students, who may be hesitant to study abroad, to consider the many unique things they may learn about the world through travel that they ordinarily would not learn in the classroom. I would also like to reassure students, particularly first-generation students, that studying abroad is more approachable, and realistic than they may think due to the many scholarship opportunities out there.”