So today marks the beginning of my 3rd week at Comillas. I have survived 14 days, but, to be honest, I am still adjusting to my new life here
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Just a little background on my Uni (as they say here) , Comillas is a small private Catholic university that offers many degrees. It has 2 buildings located in the heart of Madrid; ICADE for business majors and ICAI for engineers. It also has one traditional campus outside Madrid called Cantoblanco for international studies. ICAI offers every class you could possibly need for an engineering degree so I only have classes in the ICAI building. Classes are small, approx 20 – 30 students max. All Comillas students are required to be bilingual and take engineering courses in both English and Spanish. Grading is heavily dependent on exams. In some/all of courses 50% or more of your grade is the final exam, thus homework is rare. The engineering elective courses and language courses are the only classes that require homework. There is a lot of in class group work, but other than that, most studying is independent. Additionally, unlike my home university, attendance is mandatory; there is absolutely no excuse for tardiness, cutting or leaving class early or even cell phone use. I have had some difficulty adjusting to this style of education. I am so accustomed to having significant hours of homework every day that now without homework I find it hard to study. Luckily, I have good professors that are understanding of my situation and willing to take the time to help me outside of class. One other reason why it is difficult to concentrate here is because …I am in MADRID! There is always something cool happening. I want to do so much while I am here, like attend special events that I will only experience once in a lifetime. There just aren't enough hours in the day.
Aside from the specifics of how Comillas functions, the actual classes have been very interesting! Every day I feel like I am learning so much. I am enrolled in 22 ETCs (European Credits), a total of 5 classes. I am taking Control Engineering, Renewable Energies, Spanish for International Exchange students, Habilidades Profesionales and lastly, I am participating in a research project with a Professor for credit. Control engineering is my hardest class by far. Originally, I was placed in the Spanish section of this class. That did not go too well. Math is supposed to be universal… but as far as I’m concerned that is completely false! I thought words and phrases like Laplace transform, DC gain, overshoot and voltage could not be translated. Boy, was I incorrect. So I switched to the English class but the course is still difficult because at Comillas my major, mechanical engineering, does not exist. Instead this class is geared toward electrical engineers. So we talk a lot about circuits and unfortunately, I have no idea what the professor is talking about at times. Luckily, there is another exchange student in this class with me who does understand and who has helped me a ton. Moreover, the professor is quite nice and meets with me after class to review the course content. Slowly but surely, I am finding my study/school work “groove” here at Comillas. This week brings additional excitement because I finally start my Research Project. I am really looking forward to getting into the lab! Sounds nerdy but true. I will keep you posted about my research experience as soon as it gets underway.
On a side note completely unrelated to school, I have become slightly obsessed with the transport system here. It is just so fascinating! Car traffic here is a little less hectic because everyone uses the public transportation system as well as scooters, dirt bikes or motorcycles. As I walk to classes and other places I have been collecting pictures of different and /or unique vehicles I see on the road. Last week I saw two vehicles on the road that I have never seen before (pictured below). I did some research and discovered that the speedracer looking vehicle is a GoCar and the black vehicle is called a Twizy. The GoCar is a vehicle that tourists can rent for GPS guided tours and the Twizy is an electric two-seated car. For anyone interested in these vehicles below are some links.
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| http://www.gocartours.es/ |
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Twizy |
As always...I could say more but for now, chao!
