Outcome

What an experience!I am very thankful to have been selected for IRES 2016. These last 5 weeks have been truly great experience. I got to visit places that have been on my list for some time now like Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. I attended festivals that were quite different from my culture.. Traveling to Alicante for the festival (mentioned in an earlier post) was very fun and something I would not have done on my own. There is so much to see and experience in this country, we tried to squeeze in as much as we could. As for the places that I haven't, until next time! 

I have learnt so much by exploring a new country as well working in a new environment. Being able to navigate through the alleyways and public transportation without speaking the language is a big confidence booster. This trip has encouraged me to travel to new places even if I am not fluent in the language. And also emphasized the power of internet, being able to translate quickly is one of the tricks to survive in a new city. Adjusting in a new environment is another thing I am taking back from this trip. Ever since I landed, there has not been a minute where I felt homesick. I am glad to have travelled with my new friends as they helped make this an awesome trip as well as the welcoming locals! Ana, our local contact, has always been there when we needed help, I really appreciate her help. One new thing for me is to learn to use a software on my own. I am not a fan of computers, so when I found out I would have to use a software, I was not very excited. But my mentors, Hospitaler and Hector, were very nice, they gave me enough time to learn the software. In the  end, I actually enjoyed learning something new. Something I have will be using in the future as I am pursuing an engineering career. After this trip, I have been able to understand Spanish a lot more, and it has also increased my desire to learn the language.

A salad that I actually can eat as a meal!

Churros con vanilla y sumo de naranja

During Spring 2016, I took Reinforced Concrete class with Dr. Yazdani. It was an interesting class and a base for the masters course I am pursuing. My research trip focuses on the seismic effect on buildings and the use of hinges to minimize it. This was a very new topic to me. But as my mentors explained to me what I had to do, I found out it was very similar to what I did during reinforced concrete class. I got to use a new software called Etabs, which is similar to SAP2000 and Risa, but just a bit cooler! The manuals used in this project were mostly American Manuals so I did not have to worry about translating the documents. 

I had been trying to learn Spanish for sometime, but being an engineering student it is sort of hard to separate time to learn the language. I knew the very basic words, I was mostly relying on the guys to translate for me. Once we met our mentors, I found out Eric and I will be working in the same area. Phew.. When the mentors starting talking, I was happy to understand few words they spoke. I was getting excited since I could understand a little bit. I should have waited until I heard them really talk! Man they speak fast, on top of that once they get excited, they speak even faster!! And then they start using valencian words, that when I gave up trying to understand and daydream instead! It would have a been a different experience had I been fluent on Spanish. They would try to speak english as much as they could, which was very nice of them. There were not many challenges in terms of engineering principles but since they used spanish technical terms, that was a different case.

Parc de la Ciutadella, Barcelona 

Barcelona Cathedral 

The mentors were very nice, not only did they explain things to us in simple terms, they also showed us around the city. They provided all the documents and manuals necessary for me to understand the project. One of the mentors was very knowledgable of the Spanish history mainly valencian. He showed us around the city and also told us about some folklore, the crocodile that attacked the locals long time ago. The naughty crocodile is depicted in the picture above. They told us about different foods to try and the local places to visit! I am very grateful to have worked along with them.

One of Gaudi's  master pieces, Casa Mila (La Pedrera)

La Sagrada Familia

Now to the exploring part, we headed to Barcelona for our last weekend in Spain. It was quite hot but every bit worth it! The city was so beautiful, pretty buildings everywhere. I looked up for the most part of my stay. And when I looked down, I could see all the pretty dogs! Ahh and not so much of poops. Me and Cherry were on our own to exploring the city and man we walked! We got to see the Barcelona cathedral, Santa Maria del Mar, Casa Guell, Parc de la Ciutadella, and the famous La Sagrada Familia! The city has so much to offer, but we tried to see as much as we could in the little time we had. Visits to these places was worth every bit, sitting on the benches and admiring the altar was truly a great experience. And wondering how they built all these magnificent buildings was interesting. All the hard work and dedication put in to designing and building is very admirable. Barcelona is a magnificent city to visit and the people there are so friendly like all the other we have met so far! Standing in front of all these buildings made me think of what we can achieve as humans and what we are capable of building.

La Sagrada Familia

After this experience, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of exploring a different culture as well studying abroad. It helps you grow as a person while creating wonderful memories! I hope to keep traveling and until next time Ciao!

Social Identity

Growing up in Nepal, I always dreamt of visiting other countries. When I first went to Singapore, it was a new experience. The city was clean, bustling and very pretty! Then came US, which exposed me to the American way of life. I had heard from my cousins about the American dream and the american way of life, even after all that I still got excited when I stepped out of the airplane. I still haven't been attracted to the american dream yet, I guess it will happen eventually.

For the last few years, I have been living in the US. Life there is very different compared to Spain. People are usually in a hurry, always in rush to be somewhere. Time is money, that I learnt after living in the country that many dream of living in. Here, it seems like people are more relaxed. They value spending time with their friends and family more than being in a rush. I have yet to see someone sit in front of a computer or laptop and eat. During the evening, I see elders walking with their friends or their better half and just having a good laugh. This reminds me very much of Nepal. It also reminded me to enjoy my time more and just take some family/ friends time everyday. Something that I forget once the semester starts.

A glass of refreshing Horchata

I knew few things about Spain, mainly the architecture side since I was once an architecture student, little bit of lifestyle. I knew of the late dinner time and long lunches. But I was not familiar with the closing of local shops during this lunch break! We learnt that the hard way. There are some shops on our street that we have seen open only once or twice because of the weird opening hours! Ha, life here is interesting. Whoever said the best way to learn a language and culture of a country is by living there is very right! I have been able to understand a little bit more of Spanish than the first day here. The Spanish cuisine is quite interesting. Having tried different paellas, I must say I will miss it when I get back to US. Horchata, a drink made from tiger nuts, is little sweet but very very refreshing! And we made sure to try one from the famous Daniel's Orchata. 

One thing that was bit surprising here is smoking. Oh dear god, I wish they would smoke a little less or not so much in public! Back in America, you don't see people smoking in most public places. Our uni is a tobacco free uni, and how I wish they would that here or at least designate a smoking area. Drinking was another interesting thing. I didn't expect people to be enjoying a glass of beer at 9:30 in the morning or serving vino and cerveza at the uni! Its quite acceptable here and also refreshing during hot and humid days. People still shop at the local s grocery stores more than at the supermarkets unlike States. And the joys of public transportation! Oh how I will miss it when I get back home and the many roundabouts. 

Porta de la Mar

Street Art in Valencia

'Personal space' thats another thing that I have to keep aside while I am here. People stand very close to you when they are talking. Sometimes I pause while walking to see if the group of people are talking or fighting. After a few seconds, I realized they are just talking and having a good laugh! 

Now lets talk about the work life. Working with the Spanish professors us quite fun! They are ever so lively! And the interactions between the professors and local students is very impressive. They are always there and willing to help the students. Its always fun to greet them in Valencian or Spanish first thing in the morning! Besides working, we are still exploring this wonderful city full of life. We start off at one point and no matter now many times we have walked by, we end up discovering a part of the city that we somehow missed before. Walking through the narrow streets and then coming across a beautiful plaza is very rewarding. This week we managed to walk from one end to the other gate of the city, Torres de Quart. I wonder if I will be able to explore all the mysteries this city holds in one trip, for the ones that I cannot, I will be back soon!

Fun Lunch!

Torres de Quart

Career aspirations

Before the Spain trip, I have never had any research experience except for concrete canoe. This is my first real research project. I am tasked with researching the placement of plastic hinges in Reinforced Concrete Frame. My research is computer model generated based. The software used for this project is called Etabs, which is a finite element software. Those of you familiar with Risa and SAP2000, Etabs is similar to them just a whole lot cooler! I can view the 2D and 3D version of the frame at the same time. I don't usually like to use computers, in this case I had to overcome that and not just learn to use the software on my own but also work with the software for 6 weeks! I am glad to have this opportunity to use a new software as well as to interact with professors from Spain. I do have to thank my lab mate, Eric as he is the reason I have been able to talk with my professors! He is a cool translator as well as Jose and Omar. After working with the software, I am confident of using new softwares and now I actually find them interesting.

Sneak peak at the project!

Living and working in Spain has been an amazing experience. It has helped me understand and adapt to a new culture quickly. On my return, I want to encourage my friends and others to try to do study abroad programs. It not only exposes you to the culture and ways of life but also broadens once perspective of life. Also, teaches you to work with a group in  a totally different environment. And I have yet to see Spanish people in a hurry, it always seems like they are enjoying life and not just dragging on. 

This research project has exposed me to a field which I never thought of before, Seismic. I am aware of all the research going on in this field at UTA. But after working a little bit in this field, I am willing to research more into seismic engineering. This little trip has given a boost to my future goal of working abroad. I want to work in different parts of the world and basically understand the different engineering concepts. 

Besides working, we have been busy exploring Valencia as well as cities around it. We also got some taste of Spanish fiestas. First, we said hola to some dolphins, fishes, tortoises, turtles, crocs, and others at the Oceanographic! That is a cool place to visit no matter what age you are. I enjoyed the dolphin show as well as looking at other animals. So, after the aquatic animals, it was time to enjoy some Valencian festival. Thursday was the San Juan festival, where everyone flocked to the beach and partied their all night. Most people in large groups  had bonfire and were just enjoying their time. It was a really nice experience to see everyone from little kids to old folks at the beach sitting around the bonfire, drinking, eating, and taking a dip in the ocean. At midnight, most people went for a dip and then came a surprising tradition, jumping over the fire! We being the adopted locals, had to try it as well!

We tried some more Valencian delicacies! And boy they were good! The fresh pescado frito was awesome! It was even better since it was not covered in batter.  My friends said the mussels and gamba was good was well. We don't skip deserts, so we tried some local dessert and more cakes!

Alicante at night 

Moving on from food and Valencia, we followed the San Juan festival to Alicante. About 2 hours drive from the our home away from home, it is a beautiful city! It was even more pretty as the streets were lit up with pretty lights and around every corner there were papermache or statues (like one shown in the picture below). At midnight, people burn those pretty things and only ashes remain. The firefighters were present at every place as they had to tone the fire down. They also managed to spray water at the crowd! I saw little kids all excited about getting wet and the smile on their faces later was the proof! This was my first festival of such kind. Oh I nearly forgot to mention the fireworks! Mainly little kids were the culprit, they kept on lighting them till 1 in the morning. So far Spain has lived unto everything I imagined about.

We spent the night at a nearly 300 year old house! How often can you say that!!! I am pretty excited to brag about that. It was cool place, although some of my friends were freaking out a little. I admit we all freaked out wen we heard some noise and then later found out it Ole, the donkey! The house had sort of a mini zoo as the next day we got to greet some hen, turkey, pig, sheep, dogs and donkey! The place once had a vineyard and still has the reminiscence of the good old days. Now its a theatre school which holds yearly camps and other things. The owners were quite nice! Oh also it was country side! It did remind me of TEXAS as it was very hot there!

300 year old house that we spent the night!

Old wine cellas

Cultura Española

 Cultura Española

A little almuerza

When all the details for the trip had been fixed, I started counting down the days. My friends told me all about siesta and drinking in España. It seems like we adapted to the Spanish way of life quickly after our arrival. We understood the In Spain, people take almuerza (breakfast/ coffee break) around 10 am, lunch from 2-4pm (this includes the famous Siesta time) and small dinner at 10pm. We followed the Spanish way of life since the day we arrived. The almuerza is always fun since it usually is our second breakfast of the day that consists of orange juice and some pastry!

After almuerza and working a little bit it is time for desayuno! Food here is super tasty! One big difference I have seen here is people do not have lunch in front of their computers or at their work table. Everyone comes out and enjoys their lunch (usually a three course meal for around 8 euros along with a glass of wine or beer! Below are few examples of Spanish delicacies. The food at the university is pretty cheap but still tasty and healthy.

          Paella varieties and arroz negro

3 course lunch at UPV

After having lunch around 2, its time for siesta! Spanish people know how to enjoy their life, like having siestas or taking a 2 hour lunch break. Taking siestas sometimes helped me recharge for the later half of the day. Dinner is usually ready around 10pm. One thing that we learned recently during one of our little Valencian excursion was not to skip lunch at 2. We were visiting el Museu de les Ciéncies Principe Felipe, and decided skip lunch but by the time we were done, most local bars were closed. Thankfully, the chain restaurants were still open! 

And las patatas! The potatoes are so good no matter how you cook them. I will miss the tasty foods and potatoes!

Patatas con alioli

People in Spain are really nice, saying hello or flashing smile is part of life. It is really nice and refreshing to see people out in the street having tapas and drinks or just sitting on a bench and having a good laugh. I really like watching old couples or friends dressed up and having a good time. Even the dogs are well behaved, once I saw a dog patiently waiting for his owner outside the bar. He did not get in even though the door was open. I do not see people hurrying or fretting. They do stay up till late at night, even the little kids! I see kids running and playing at 11pm during weekends. They are still full of energy while I am ready to sleep. I had no idea about the street festivals in Valencia. This past weekend, people were partying at every street. We decided to join them and had a blast. The music did not stop until 3 in the morning, it seemed like everyone was in the streets. 

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

How can I forgot about sports! You can see little kids to grown ups playing football almost at every corner. Sports is a big part of Spanish life, and since it is Euro 2016 time, the bars are packed during the days Spain are playing. Following the football craze, while we were in Madrid, we visited el  Estadio Santiago Bernabéu! And boy that was fun! 

Being tall is always not advantageous!

Also, I like the fact that Spain is mostly short people friendly. At least most of the old part of Valencia and Madrid are! I am the shortest one among six of us, I don't have to duck or change my path while walking. But for my friends its another story! Ha! For once I get to tease them for being tall

We have been in Valencia for two weeks now. In this two week time, I have visited about 5 churches! That is the most number of times I have visited churches. They are all so beautiful and huge! They are around every corner and most of them have some stories. The museums are big and have collections or exhibitions from the different centuries.

Walking is big part of Spanish life. And how nice it is to be able to just walk anywhere or use public transportation. Metros, trams, buses are easily available, and even with the language barrier its easy to use them. On average we walk about 10km a day. I will miss this when I return back to states! These people are a pro at parallel parking. I don't know how they can squeeze their car into a tight spot, they do touch the car in the front or back. So most cars have dents. Traffic is so much better here than back home, and most the inner streets are one way. 

Lets talk about language now! I do not speak Spanish, I do understand some words but not when people here start speaking! They speak super fast! They just don't speak Spanish, they also speak Valencian (which I have no clue about). Luckily, the boys speak Spanish and that has been a great help to us! It would have been very difficult for us to settle if all of us did not speak Spanish. Even they get lost with words at times. It gets really interesting when our mentors start talking, they use few english words for me but once they get excited about places or food, I just smile and day dream sometimes!

Catedral de Valencia

But there was one big thing no one told me about, smoking! I see most of the people smoking here, you inhale fresh air for a bit and suddenly you inhale the annoying thing. It has been two weeks since we arrived but getting used being the second hand smoker is hard. It is strange to see teenagers (like 13 or 14) smoking.

Ceramic Museum

Overall Valencian way of life is pretty fun and cool. I enjoy the walks, fresh food, close proximity to the beach and friendly people!

Ahh Civil Engineering!

I hear some of my friends were interested in civil engineering since they were children. They grew up playing with  building legos or breaking things. Meanwhile, I grew up playing with barbie, watching sports, and so on. I was nowhere close to playing with legos, I didn't really like to play with them. But I  always wondered why and how some buildings have survived numerous disasters. Growing up in Nepal, I was fascinated by the historical monuments, always curious about how did they build it that long ago without any modern equipment. And why are they still here when some new buildings are failing. I did not choose to pursue civil engineering from the beginning. I was more fascinated by the details, the craftsmanship, and work behind the pretty buildings. So I decided to study architecture, and came across the ‘designing bit’ of architecture. I found myself looking at artworks of Picasso and Matisse and thinking what am I doing! Then during world architecture class, the professor explained the structural importance behind the architecture details. Suddenly I realized; I am not just interested in the pretty side of the building but also the structural side of it! Then I left architecture (even though spending hours drawing/cutting was fun!) and became friends with civil engineering!

One of the projects from my architecture days

Civil engineering has been fun so far! No need for all nighters or spending hours in the studio. I am learning about concrete and forces and moment diagrams and so on….I have been able to build a concrete canoe with my teammates and yes concrete does float! We even raced it with other schools. Being involved with ASCE has helped to make this journey a cool one! Now, I am graduating soon and indulging into the wonderful world of structural engineering. One thing I have been told is that girls are behind in engineering, I see plenty of future engineers around me so it is kind of hard to believe that. So, as I graduate from college, I want to encourage young ladies who are shy to be involved in this field to join this as it seems like a col profession to be in! Also continue to be involved in various organizations, as it helps me stay updated with the new things going on in CE as well as provides me an opportunity to give back to the community. I am also looking forward to the research aspect of this field. Especially the part where I get to learn about the past technics and utilize it to improve the future! Also, it would be awesome to drive or live or utilize infrastructures designed by my friends or myself. Not many professions lets you boast about those things!

UT Arlington's Concrete Canoe 2016

For now CE and I are friends, lets see what the future holds! One step at a time