End of Week 1: Housing and Classmates

We are staying at a dorm owned by the university that we are hosted by, Universitat Rovira I Virgili. This is the public university in the city of Tarragona. Our dorm is called Residencia Universitaria Sant Jordi, and it is near the center of the city, which is really convenient for shopping and going out to dinner. The rooms are pretty typical, most similar to the Stetson dorms on campus. The rooms are a little larger than we get in Boston, and each room has its own bathroom. My room is on the fourth floor. This was only really bad on the first day, when I had to lug my 50 lb suitcase up there in an overtired state. However, the main drawback is that the dorm does not have air conditioning. Fortunately, we’re in an air conditioned classroom during the hottest part of the day, from 9am to 3pm. However, the nights can be pretty uncomfortable. Our windows don’t have screens, but there is absolutely no way that we can close them without dying of heat stroke. So, we take the risk that bugs and birds will fly in. It’s worth it! (And no birds have come in yet!) Luckily the university also provided a fan for each room. Each night I get more and more used to the weather, and I’m used to sleeping without air conditioning at home anyways. Also, this is really the only negative so far about the trip, so I think I can handle it and minimize my complaints! (If only some of my classmates had the same philosophy…)

Everyone on the trip has been really trying to get to know everyone else, so it has been pretty easy to meet everyone. I only knew one person on this dialogue coming in, and now I know everyone’s name and feel like I can talk to any of them. We’ve had a few group outings, such as the first day when we went to the beach, and going out to lunch as a large group after our first chemical plant tour yesterday. We’ll also be going on a guided tour of Tarragona tomorrow all together. Besides that, we often split up into smaller groups to go out for dinner or to work on homework. The groups end up being different most times, so I’ve gotten to know most everyone on the trip at least a little. It will be really helpful when we get back to campus because everyone here is also a chemical engineer, so chances are I’ll see them in future classes. Everyone is really friendly and we all get along so far, so hopefully the environment continues to be this way for the remainder of the dialogue!