- January 31, 2022
"MIT's Global Teaching Labs program helped me discover the warm and welcoming Spanish culture, explore history from many centuries ago, and learn about how the students I taught experience happiness. GTL is something no MIT student should miss out on!"
When Nick traveled to Spain on a summer vacation long ago, he never thought he would be able to teach and live in one of Spain's most vibrant cities for a month!
Learning and adjusting
Nick taught Math and Physics to students all the way from 6th grade to 12th grade. He taught at Escola Proa near Plaça de Espanya in Barcelona. Students had the opportunity to interact and learn more about MIT, the US, what it’s like to be an engineer, and life as a college student. The timing of the day was a bit different for Nick. The two hour lunch break and lack of a breakfast was something that required adjusting, but he was able to settle in quite nicely.
Connecting with sobremesa
Nick was nervous to use his Spanish (Castellano) in Catalonia because of the fear of offending those who prefer to speak Catalan. However, the case was the exact opposite, and he was able to truly improve his Spanish. His favorite cultural difference between American and Spanish speaking countries, especially Spain, is “sobremesa.” Literally translated to “over the table,” it is the practice of sitting around the dinner table with family and friends and talking for at least an hour and sometimes two. He remembers one night when he and his host family were having dessert and had been talking for 30 minutes after finishing dinner at this point. He mentioned an ice cream float and his family had no idea what it was! He made them a coke and vanilla ice cream float, and that spurred their first long sobremesa, which lasted nearly 3 hours. They talked about everything from the political situation in Catalan to cool inventions at MIT.
Nick learned that human interactions and family sometimes trump any career goals. He thinks he would have interacted more with the Spanish culture if he had the chance to do it again--going to FC Barcelona games, watching flamenco, etc. He 100% recommends this experience to other students because he learned to love the people of a different culture. This experience improved Nick's Spanish, which he will forever be grateful for.