#ipesummer24

Howdy Umich IPE Blog, I am Connor Gilfillan, a rising junior Mechanical Engineering student about to spend the summer at Nagoya University in Japan. I will be taking both an introduction to Japanese course and an Automotive Engineering course. The automotive Engineering course is the one I am expecting the most out of, as it includes trips to numerous automotive factories such as Toyota, which, fun fact, was founded in Toyota City, which is within the boundaries of the Nagoya Area.  I am super excited to share my wacky and zany adventures with the world, so make sure to keep up with my blog. 

(This is a photo of me on my way out the door, I was listening to Movin' Out by Billy Joel)

To begin, I am a PROUD New Jerseyian. I love my state and how ridiculous it is. So I wanted to say goodbye to it and all my friends and family before I left for new adventures abroad. Some highlights include going to a multitude of diners and having a BBQ with my friends. But after all that fun, I had to say goodbye.

I began packing about three days before I left, which mostly involved me and my mother running a bajillion errands because I forgot to bring a lot of stuff home from Michigan. Luckily, she is the best, and kept me on track as I was a bit frantic towards my departure date. She even let me get three pairs of new shoes.

(My fully packed suitcase, The moment I finished packing and realized I was in fact leaving for another country. And yes that is a fanny pack)

I got into Tokyo quite late after two long and sluggish flights. Having to go through Japanese customs wasn’t too bad, but I had to go in and out to catch another flight which left me quite stressed (I accidentally ended up at the wrong terminal). After my flight to Nagoya, I was able to make use of my totally super complete Japanese skills, (thank you 3 weeks of Duolingo) to read the subway map and get to my hotel. 

(Boarding the plane before my flight to Nagoya from Tokyo)

After spending a night here, my nerves have calmed down quite a bit and the excitement is kicking in. Breakfast here was quite good, I had one of everything at the buffet, and I was one of the first people there (jet lag made me wake up at 5 am). My favorite part of breakfast was this really fancy rice dispenser they had where you were able to press a button and it dispensed a small, medium or large amount of rice, it was super cute. But now I have a full day of fun ahead of me and I will make sure to keep all of you guys updated with photos and my experience. I really hope I make lots of new friends here.

(This is the view from my hotel room)

(My breakfast which included chicken, eggs, rice, orange juice, and three kinds of fish)

Connor Gilfillan

Mechanical Engineering

Howdy y'all, it's me Connor back after another week jumping around Japan. And oh boy this week was one for the books as it was Tokyo week, but I'll get to that later.

Classes have continued on ramping up as my finals for Japanese and Engineering begin next week. I have been spending a lot more of my free time in the library rather than exploring the city, yet still I am always excited to learn. Japanese is such a fun language and I can't get enough. However I would be lying if I said I'm not stress about our final this Friday.

This is a photo my friend Ethan and myself in the library about to work on our engineering presentations. The topic I chose was car materials and applications. I am doing a deep dive primarily into the interior systems of a car and the different types of plastics and electronics that are used. I have a week left and lots of research to go so I'll get back to everyone on my findings.

We also had quite a few outings this week tied into what we were learning in the classroom:

These photo were taken in the National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory. This is a center dedicated research to improve automotive quality within Japan. My expectations were blown out of the water by this experience. They had a state of the art fog room (Left) where we got to see how they tested headlight power and visibility. They also had a massive anechoic chamber (Right), it was so quiet and they use it to make sure vehicles on the road are not too loud.

Another huge portion of this week was motorcycles. We got to visit both the Suzuki and Yamaha museums and see their massive displays of motorcycles and history. The top photo is in front of the Suzuki factor. The photo on the left is me sitting on the Suzuki Hayabusa, a motorcycle which when produced was so fast and had so much power that it changed the way motorcycles were produced forever, (There were laws made because it was so unsafe). On the right is Suzuki's most recent Motorsport bike. I did not know much about it but regardless the experience was a wonderful time.

This is a photo from inside the Yamaha Museum of the MT-09 an 850cc motorcycle. It was my favorite in the museum and there was so much to see. I even got to ride in a motorcycle simulator which was a ton of fun. I learned so much about motorcycles this week and if my mom were not reading these blogs I would say I want one.

The final academically tied experience was a trip to the Yokohama Rubber tire factory. Sadly I was not allowed to take any photos inside but the plant was massive and we got to walk around the factory floor seeing each step of how a tire is produced. If anyone plans on going in the future just know the factory is hot and smells terribly of burned rubber.

Now for the Complete Tokyo Review

Granted this won't be the largest review as I really only had one night and one day to explore but oh boy did I do so much.

This is me at Shibuya Crossing, one of if not the most famous crosswalk in the world if not for Times Square. We went on a Friday night and it was so amazing. The streets were packed and it was louder than any other place in Japan it was so exciting. In addition Shibuya Crossing is the home of the Hachiko statue. There is a very large history to this statue that I highly recommend everyone look up, it made me tear up a bit. We had a quick hot pot dinner that was amazing and I went with a huge group of my friends. That was just about the end of the first night in Tokyo as we got in super late and did not want to miss the last train but I had a massive day ahead of me.

These are photos of m at the Meiji-Jingu Shrine. I was not allowed to take photos within the shrine, it was very elegant however many of the shrines in Kyoto put it to shame. What was really cool was the massive Torii gates, the inner garden, and the famous sake wall. They were all spectacular and the garden was beyond serene. The one downside is that there were way more tourists here than in Nagoya.

The upper photos are from the Sinso-Ji shrine. It was exceptionally beautiful and there were a ton of shops around that I got lost in. I found this full fish skewers near a live performance and got one. It was unsurprisingly fishy and salty. The bottom photos are taken from the Tokyo Skytree the largest building in the city. The Tokyo Skyline is amazing and the city is so much bigger than I could ever imagine it was beautiful. I had such a full day in Tokyo and it really was amazing. Next up are all the roadside adventures we had.

This is a famous volcano we stopped at. It reeked of sulfur but was very cool otherwise. It was well know for its black eggs. They are hard-boiled eggs said to increase you life-span by 7 years and they only sold them in counts of 4 so hopefully I enjoy the extra 28 years I get. The bottom photo was just at a gas station on the side of the highway where you were supposed to be able to see Mount Fuji but it was covered in cloud and not in great view so I got this cool photo instead.

The last stop was a skywalk on the longest suspended bridge in Japan. This thing swayed back and forth like crazy and I was terrified walking across. However on the other side there was a ton of cool stuff such as this owl exhibit where you to pet and see owls up close. Although I also got a finger bit off I would do it again in a heart beat.

Because this week was so busy I do not have a ton of food pictures however I do have one very funny photo from Tokyo.

This was a bowl of ramen I received in Tokyo. I ordered a small and it came with this massive mountain of bean sprouts. I was very determined to finish it and it was so delicious but it proved to be too much.

Anyways, that about sums up my week so I will see y'all after finals.

Until next time, さようなら, また 来週

Connor Gilfillan

Mechanical Engineering

Okay 8 weeks in let's get down to business, how much money have I spent and where. First of all, there is the tuition which was base of $5,205 which includes housing and tuition for 3 months in addition to various trips that were planned by IPE. Through the trips, they likely spend a decent amount of money. However, I got a scholarship for $3,500 which most people in the program got if not more. The most pricy part of the program was probably the plane tickets which was approximately $2,000 for a round trip. Since coming to China, I’ve spent ~12,000RMB (1,500 USD). Here is a breakdown of my other expenses and how far everything can go.

In the first week, I spent a lot of my money on various dorm necessities like toilet paper, trashbags, and miscellaneous expenses. In total, it added up to approximately $300RMB (40USD) which is fairly cheap for all the little purchases that added up. Here is the rest of the breakdown for the past 8 weeks.

Utilities/Essentials: 504 RMB (68.85USD)

This includes hot water which we need to pay for separately which isn’t too bad since it is so hot I don’t end up using the hot water much and this also includes laundry which I do often because the hot weather makes me sweat through all my clothes at a lighting pace.

Food: 2043.18 RMB (279.12 USD)

This is crazy cheap considering I only eat out and I don’t pay attention to my food budget whatsoever (before I decided this blog was going to be a cost report). However, this is just my actual meals, I summed my snacks/drinks separately.

Snacks/Drinks: 1469 RMB (209.86 USD)

How have I spent almost the same amount on snacks and drinks as real food? I am ashamed but also it is so easy to buy snacks here and there when there is a convenience store everywhere (including in our dorm) and each snack is approximately 1 USD but those costs can add up for sure.

Shopping: 2964.3 RMB (404.92 USD)

It is sooo easy to spend so much on clothes when everything here is so cheap and cute. I also have been buying gifts and souvenirs for friends and family back home but I think I definitely need to reel in my shopping addiction.

Experiences: 1261.56 RMB (180.14 USD)

This includes fees and transportation for miscellaneous activities such as watching Inside Out 2 (which was really good), doing an escape room, going to a gaming cafe, or exploring downtown. This I would say was all 100% worth it.

Solo Trip: 3290 RMB (449.45 USD)

A few weeks ago, I went on a 4-day solo trip around Shanghai to Hangzhou and Nanjing. I ended up spending 449.45 USD for the train tickets which were approximately 120 RMB (17 USD) each and for the hotel rooms which were 340 RMB (48 USD) per night. Although, my friend who took a solo trip to Chongqing only spent 150 RMB on a hotel so it can definitely vary a lot. It was definitely worth the experience and you can definitely solo travel for even less money too!

Hopefully this helps put in perspective what studying abroad means in regards to money. To be honest, I have not been the most careful with money, because my parents have money in RMB that they won’t be using anytime soon. Regardless, hopefully my breakdown was helpful!

See ya next week!

Erin Xia

Mechanical Engineering

Howdy y’all, it’s me Connor, checking in after my first week here in Nagoya, Japan.

First off, holy guacamole the culture shock is real. Who could have guessed being in a country 6000 miles away from home is a bit disorienting. However, I have begun to get used to all the changes. Because classes have yet to start I have done nothing but eat, explore and experience this amazing country, that I have somehow found myself in. So let’s go over some highlights together:

First day in I visited the forefront tourist destination the Nagoya Castle. There is nothing I can say about this location other than stunning, an absolute marvel of scale and human ability. Every inch was intricate and precisely made.

This is a photo of me in front of Nagoya Castle. Sadly the main portion (The white building) was closed to visitors however I was able to tour the palace (The smaller wooden building) which was astoundingly beautiful. The entire area was filled with history and I was able to learn so much. I even got to see the largest stone ever placed in a handmade stone wall (Photo not included).

(left) A cup of matcha and a green tea mochi dessert I had. Both had a wonderful earthy flavor which I really loved. I even got to sit at a traditional Japanese table on the ground it was a ton of fun. (right) a photo I got with two real life ninjas at Nagoya Castle. Later this week we even got to explore Iga, a city renown for the Ninja arts.

Day two was orientation, this is the first day where I met all the new people I’m going to be spending the next month with. Luckily everyone was super friendly so I had no problems introducing myself. I moved in with little issue and got done with the orientation for classes quickly. We even had a huge party afterwards with the professors and some other Nagoya University students.

A banquet and party held by the staff. This is where I met a lot of the tutors who are current Nagoya University students who are helping us adjust to life here. They are all super cool and telling me I shouldn't be a Chunichi Dragons fan (The local major league baseball team) but I still can't wait to go to a game (Hopefully next Friday).

This is my dorm room, it is actually smaller in real life but I can't wait to call it home for the next month.

The next couple days were spent on a huge group trip to the cultural capital of the country, Kyoto. We saw a ton of amazing architecture between the number of castles and shrines we visited along with the clustered and vibrant streets of the downtown. This trip is when I met a lot of my new friends too. I had such an amazing time and plan on going back at some point later this trip.

The first of the temples we visited in Kyoto, this was the Kinkaku-Ji. It was a massive gold structure surrounded by beautifully cut wilderness. This will truly be a place I will never forget. Funny enough this temple was also known for its mochi, I got the brown sugar flavor which was quite delicious.

This was our trip to the Kiyomizu-Dera one of the most famous temples in the entire world. This is where you wash yourself with sacred water which was a wonderful time. Another absolute wonder of human ingenuity. Most of it was built simply with wood fittings and no nails.

I lit incense and candles at temples for a number of reasons. I was shown how to by some of the staff for the NUSIP program and how to properly pray to ensure my wishes come true.

This was me visiting the Fushimi-Inari Shrine (More commonly known as the primary Torii Gate Shrine). Fun fact I woke up at 3:45 am to see this and it was well worth it. Another absolute marvel of scale with there being about 10,000 gates you can walk through.

On the left I am joined by some friends at a river in Kyoto we actually took a quick dip in because it has been exceptionally hot and humid out this week. On the right it is another group of friends I have made at an Izakaya, a type of Japanese restaurant often know for its large number of appetizer-like courses and large drink menus.

During the Kyoto excursion we also stopped in Nara, another huge cultural center of Buddhism within Japan, more important though, THEY HAVE SUPER FRIENDLY DEER THAT YOU CAN FEED AND PET.

Finally the weekend came and we were left to our own devices:

Saturday we has a chock full day of visiting Nagoya's very own shrines which although less impressive than the ones in Kyoto were beautiful never-the-less. This day also included a trip to the Nagoya Port Aquarium where we saw an amazing dolphin show.

Sunday we went to Nagoya Spaland. It is a combination amusement park, water park and spa. It was so much fun and there were no lines and I even went on the longest roller coaster in the world. Sadly we got caught in a massive rainstorm and you can see me and my friends rocking trash bag ponchos to protect ourselves. We got laughed at by everyone but we made the bus so it all ended well.

Classes are finally going to start this week and I am eagerly awaiting them. I have gone over all of the syllabus for my engineering course and I am going to learn an incredible amount about the automotive industry. I truly cannot express my excitement as Japan is just filled to the brim with automotive history. I am also ready for my Japanese skills to improve with class. Its been fun being the Americans who don't speak any Japanese but it has made traveling quite a bit harder.

Lastly for a little surprise here is a tik I made in Kyoto to the song Kyoto by Phoebe Bridgers :)

Until next time, さようなら, また 来週

Connor Gilfillan

Mechanical Engineering

This past week, I’ve been busy participating in activities put on both by Sant’Anna institute and through CIS Abroad. Sant’Anna organized several activities each week for students to sign up for, ranging from cooking classes to painting nights and hikes. The activities are great to be immersed in the local area and culture and to meet new people. There are around 150 students studying here and I feel like I talk to someone new about every activity! 

Recently, I participated in a tiramisu making class, a sunset yoga session, and a gelato making experience at a local, family-owned gelateria. I’d have to say the gelato making was my favorite as we got to sample both lemon sorbet (a personal favorite) and chocolate gelato that we helped make. The shop also gave us all a free cone with two scoops of any flavors we wanted after we finished the class!!

(Shop owner leading the gelato making class)

CIS Abroad also organizes activities for us. They are not as often, but are usually bigger excursions. Over the last two weeks, I have gone on a wine tasting at the modest winery in Sorrento, a boat cruise along the coast to Amalfi, and a beach day at one of the beach clubs in Sorrento with lunch included. 

During the wine tasting, we learned about the whole wine making process from growing the grapes, how long each type of wine ferments in barrels, the different temperatures required for different flavors, and saw the machinery behind the packaging of the bottles. We then got to taste three different types of wine along with paired cheeses and dried meats, which was all delicious. 

(Right: Table set-up for the wine tasting, old barrels in the back and a meat, cheese, and bread board spread on the table with wine glasses set up at each seat. Left: Me holding a wine glass in front of a stack of barrels)

The cruise might have to be my favorite excursion so far as I love to travel by boat and learn some of the history of the coastline. We passed by the area said to be where the sirens of The Odyssey lived, as well as many other locations of Greek and Roman myths. After around a 1 ½ hour boat ride (I only got slightly sunburnt), we docked in Amalfi and had around 4-5 hours to explore. The town is known for its homemade paper and I loved going into various local shops and hearing about each one’s process and looking at some of the beautiful artwork.

(Left: Me and my friend standing on the dock with the part of Amalfi and the sea in the background. Right: View of Amalfi from the dock)

Lastly, I got to go to Peter’s Beach Club and hangout for the afternoon soaking up the sun and swimming in the shockingly-clear water. Usually, I just go to the small free beach near the institute so it was nice to experience the fancier beach with a sunbed and umbrella (the free lunch was a delicious bonus).

(Picture of the couscous and vegetable bowl I got for lunch with the beach visible in the background)

Both CIS Abroad and the institute do a wonderful job immersing us students in the local area and keeping us engaged. For the next few weeks, I have several big trips planned and class is picking up with midterms, projects, and field trips, so stay tuned as my next blogs should be exciting!

Marika Ruppart

Mechanical Engineering

Time feels like it’s going by so quickly, as it’s already the end of the second week in Berlin. This week introduced the technical lab course, which for me is my robotic programming lab course. I haven’t had a great deal of robotic programming, and as everyone was introducing themselves during the first class, it seemed that the consensus was that a lot of people were pretty new. So it could be said that I was more than a little shocked to be doing partial derivatives and working with differential equations on the first day. Anyways, it actually wasn’t too bad as it made everyone work collectively and made time go by much faster as we were so laser-focused on finishing our tasks.

On Tuesday, we went on a fun brewery tour of the brewery on the VLB campus. You see, all the beer that was being produced was for research and scientific purposes. The brewery was experimenting with different techniques and recipes for different kinds of beer. We got to see the station where the barley is first broken down into malt, then where the yeast is added, and finally where the beer is dispensed. As an added bonus, we even got to try some!

Prior to the weekend, around Monday or so, 7 of my friends and I planned a weekend trip over to Amsterdam. We were to leave right after class on Friday and get there at around 1:00 am on Saturday and return back to Berlin at around 8:30 on Sunday night. I packed my stuff at around 5:45 am Friday morning because I’m just an all-round excellent procrastinator. 

The entire Amsterdam journey was an absolutely crazy one, but quite a memorable one. For starters, we missed one of our trains and had to race the train via taxi. One of our trains was heavily delayed, which caused us to miss our ensuing transfer train. As I was the only person who somewhat knew how to speak German, I was forced to put my minuscule vocabulary to use when I had to communicate to the information help desk and taxi driver that our train had been delayed and now needed a taxi service. We eventually were able to get a taxi service to the next stop, and thanks to the driver, just barely made it before the train, and the trip continued to proceed as normal. I thought that it was crazy that we had just happened to have one German speaker with us on this trip and for it to be actually a pivotal moment in the trip.  

As soon as we arrived, we headed to the Airbnb and just chilled out until everyone went to bed. The following morning we decided to go sightseeing and check out any potential museums or other tourist attractions that we wanted to hit up. We eventually settled on splitting up between sightseeing and visiting an electronic music museum.

I went with the group to the museum and as we were walking there, we were met with absolute torrential downpour. Since we had to make our time slot, we trudged through the rain to the museum, arriving on-time looking like we had swam through the waterways to get there. In the electronic music museum, we got to learn about the history of House music and see priceless artifacts like Marshmello’s helmet and Avicii’s keyboard. To top it all off, we even got to experience their own little DJ-mashup of some of the most iconic songs. 

That night, we met up with some other University of Michigan students who were traveling through Europe, and we decided that since it was one of their birthdays, to go out that night in celebration, seeing as he was turning 21. We walked around Amsterdam at night, appreciating the beautiful views of the city at night and basking in the nighttime culture of the city. Even though it was late at night, there were still streets packed with people having a good night out in pubs and bars. We walked around for about an hour, then attended a music festival. Now, this is where the night really starts to get interesting. 

When we arrived, we were really excited and were in high spirits. Then someone from our group got kicked out. We didn’t really know why and after clearing up the confusion, they were let back in. We then spent the next couple hours dancing and chilling around, eventually leaving at around 3:00 am. As we were all pretty hungry at the time, we decided to hit up this one street full of fast food shops until around 4:00 am. However, as we were walking there, another person lost their wallet. We spent about 30-45 minutes looking for that wallet until somehow, by the grace of God, we found it next to a curb untouched. It was a pure stroke of luck that we had found it and even more lucky that it was left untouched. Seeing as how the universe was so unfairly lucky to us, it decided that it was time to reverse the tables. As we were walking to get food, I saw that we were running behind and needed to get moving if we were to get there before everything closed. I started sprinting and turned around to tell my friends behind me that we need to get going. As I turn back around however, I see a bike coming straight for me and BAM, it slams right into me. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt and I was able to walk away from it with minor bruises and swelling. However, this experience was extremely scary and I am extremely grateful that things did not end differently. At last, we were able to get food right around 4:00 am and eventually headed back and called it a night. 

Sunday was our final day in Amsterdam and seeing as how our train back to Berlin left at 2:15, we could only do some light shopping in some of the shopping streets before we ended up heading over to the train station and heading back to Berlin. Overall, it was an extremely fun trip and well worth it. Even though we had some scary moments, we cherished the short time that we spent and left extremely satisfied with the experience.

This will no doubt go down as one of the most fun trips that I’ve had in recent years and definitely the most crazy and unpredictable trip ever.

That’s all for this week, see you guys next week!

Dervin Tian

Data Science

Hello, hello! It is Declan McGrath here checking in before my program officially starts at UCD in Dublin this Sunday. I am so incredibly excited to begin this program and meet all of the amazing people that are going to be in this program with me as well as other people from around the world and Ireland.

First, a little bit about myself. I am a first-year mechanical engineering undergraduate. I absolutely love to cook and try new foods, read, play videogames, take pictures on my Polaroid cameras (which I will most likely be sharing with you all throughout the program!), and just all around hang out! Up until this point, I have never actually left the United States so this trip is going to be an entirely new experience for me! From trying all the new and different foods to exploring a different culture to meeting new people it is all going to be brand new. The program I am a part of is the IPE: Big 10 STEM and Irish Studies in Dublin at University College Dublin. This program has me taking Physics 2 lecture and lab as well as a History of Modern Ireland course which both meet requirements for my major.

I actually arrived in Ireland two weeks before my program started and have been exploring Ireland a lot! My family has a lot of Irish roots and so when I got confirmation that I was accepted into the program my family almost immediately began planning a family trip there before the program started. We drove from Michigan across the border to Canada to catch a flight alllll the way to Dublin. We landed in Dublin at around 9 AM (incredibly jetlagged) but began to make the most of our time in Dublin by exploring the various pubs, restaurants, and stores throughout the city while also visiting some amazing national monuments and museums. We walked through the rain to the famous Temple Bar Pub in Dublin where I got some amazing Irish fish and chips! All of the food I have had in Dublin has been amazing actually. There are so many ice cream stores in every city and some even have something called “bubble waffle” which is essentially an extra sweet waffle with bubbles in it and coated in ice cream. And the soft serve ice cream they have here is absolutely amazing, probably better than the US’s (and that’s coming from a guy who used to work at a Dairy Queen!).

After a couple days in the city we took a trip out into the Irish countryside to a small AirBnB in Terryglass. We picked up a rental car and I helped navigate my dad out of the city and into the countryside. It was so weird sitting on the left side of the car and not being the one driving and even weirder to see all the cars driving on the opposite side of the road. That is honestly the biggest thing that I do not think I will ever get used to while abroad, so it is probably a very good thing that I will not be driving at all on this trip. While out in Terryglass my family and I made a trip out to Cashel Rock to see the final resting place of Miler McGrath, an ancestor of mine with way too many great’s in front of grandpa for me to type out. It was very cool to see this amazing fort and also learn some things about my heritage. I could keep going on about all these things I did before the program even starts but I don’t want to spoil Ireland for y’all before the program even starts!

I am really, really excited for the program to start and I have been thinking a lot about all of the things I want to do during this program. So much so that I made a list!

Get to know the people on the trip with me! There are a whole bunch of people that I have never met before that are going on this same journey and I want to take the time and get to know all of them. 

Travel! Travel between European countries is supposed to be really affordable and I want to take full advantage of the free time that this program has to offer by taking weekend trips with other program members.

Get some awesome photos with my Polaroids! I brought a lot of film with me on this trip and somehow managed to burn through almost all of it before the program began :’) so I want to buy some more film and continue to take photos of all the amazing sights Ireland has to offer.

Pass my classes! This trip is not just about having a blast in Europe, it is also an opportunity to learn a lot in subjects that I am genuinely interested in. I have always been interested in physics and (from what little I was able to glean from short museum trips) Irish history is fascinating.

I am slightly nervous about adapting to the fast-paced environment of Dublin. The city is always bustling with activity and it can be a little bit hectic but I am ready and excited to face it head on. Though I am also a little nervous about getting lost in the city. I have a habit of slightly getting sidetracked (especially when there are so many cool stores all around) while walking around but hopefully I can make some friends on the program that can help me get from A to B with as few side quests as possible. 

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my blog post! I am so excited for this program to begin, travel to new places, and meet new people. Until next time!

Late February is when I made my first official plans for my study abroad trip. I knew I was going to be in Spain for all of June and July of the past summer, which perfectly coincided with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. It was the last weekend in June, and my roommate insisted that we go together. I had no idea what to expect, since I didn’t follow F1, much less been to a race. 

As the weekend approached, I had settled into Madrid. We took a train down to Barcelona the day before. The Spanish countryside whizzed past me through the window—hills dotted with olive groves and fields of sunflowers. The next morning, it was time for what would be one of the best experiences of my life. We woke up crazy early to catch the metro, because the track was pretty far outside Barcelona. I was surrounded by fans wearing team shirts and caps, some proudly waving flags for Ferrari, Aston Martin, (both have Spanish drivers) and other teams. The excitement was contagious, and I could feel the energy building as we got closer to Barcelona.

Friday was two free practices, and even without racing I could feel the excitement and smell the burnt rubber on the track. Saturday was when things really got started- there was one final free practice, and then qualifying, which determined where on the grid the drivers start. As the first round started, it was nail biting. My roommate and I each had our drivers we were rooting for, and we're dying to see if they would make it to the final round. Thankfully, they did, after a very close match up. 

Sunday was the day with the most excitement. It is impossible to describe the tense, electric feeling sitting heavily in the hot air. The morning was a whirlwind, and all of a sudden, it was lights out and away the drivers went. The crowd went wild as the cars took off, the intensity of the engines captivating every person on the circuit. I could barely sit still in my seat, my eyes fixed on every car as it zoomed past. After hours of nail-biting turns, daring overtakes, and strategic pit stops, the checkered flag finally waved, marking the end of an incredible race.

My roommate and I rushed onto the track, rushing with hundreds of other fans to see the podium. There is truly no feeling like looking up and seeing your favorite driver spraying champagne with the winners anthem. It was euphoric, and something I will never forget.

As the race ended, I made my way back to the train station with the rest of the fans, feeling like I had been part of something much bigger than just watching a race. I had witnessed the passion of Formula 1 racing live—and in Spain, no less. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I knew I’d carry with me far beyond my time studying abroad.

-Megan Gottfried

Engineering in Madrid, Spain