Technology Lifeline

February 28, 2017

Being first world students and living in the 21st century, as students, technology is one of our lifelines without which we find it hard to live. We want to capture every moment and share it with world on social media.

Since I am going to be here for the next four months, I got myself a local sim card with a data plan to help me get around. There are many service providers here in Barcelona, which gave us a lot of options based on what kind of plan we wanted. Compared to the US, phone plans are cheaper here which was good news to all of us when we arrived. I chose Vodafone which gave me talking minutes and 2GB of data. Most talking, texting and internet plans cost €20-40.

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has two campuses – Eixample and Sant Pau. All my classes are in Sant Pau which makes my commute very easy since I live one street away. Sant Pau has a large library with tables and computes as well as printing services. Printing at Sant Pau isn’t free; we need to buy printing cards with credit and use that to print whatever we need. However, printing in Eixample is free. There is Wi-Fi campus-wide, making internet use very convenient. Overall, settling down here in Barcelona was very smooth. The main hindrance for all of us was not having internet on our phones, simply because we had no way of navigating around the city without some sort of map and were also so unfamiliar with public transport and which lines were most convenient for us.

Written By

Mitali Mirle

I am originally from India, born and raised in Dubai UAE. I am studying Environmental Science with a minor in psychology and Spanish. I chose to study abroad because I wanted to experience a new culture, travel to new places and in the process, improve my Spanish. While some people speak English here in Barcelona, the preferred language is definitely Spanish, therefore if I want to communicate with others, I am forced to speak the language, which will help me improve my conversational Spanish. While abroad, I hope to use Barcelona as a gateway to rest of Europe, say yes to almost all opportunities, try new things, eat new types of food and witness and be a part of new traditions and customs of Spain. I would like to come back and share my experiences with others like me who also want to travel the world and see the world from different perspectives.