#ipesummer25

Wellllcommeee back fellow blog readers! Tuning into this week’s recap of San Sebastian we will be covering the following: chucking balls against a wall, getting swallowed by surf waves, revisiting the good ol’ Michigan fall season (cider), celebrating a grad party, and art! I know you have all been long-awaiting this week’s blog, so let’s get into it.

Academics This was the last week of our courses before we start our research next week. We talked a lot about data collection and analysis, as well as literature review and how to write a research paper. I actually enjoyed the research assignment they gave us, as I was able to do a deeper literature dive into topics that I do research on in my Neuromuscular Lab back at Michigan. Overall this whole course experience was really enjoyable, and I learned a lot more about how impactful research can be for different parts of the world. As I talked about in my last blog with the Mubil facility, catering research towards a specific region was what I was really interested in learning more about, and I was glad to see it being applied here.

This is a picture of the Tecnun cafeteria food that we received while taking courses here! It is a two course meal, with bread and yogurt as well.

Transportation and Housing

Okay time to talk about the nitty gritty details of the housing situation and how I even get around! To begin, we are situated in a dormitory-like living situation called “La Livensa Living Studios” where a lot of Tecnun students live off campus. These Living Studios are also open to the general public, sort of like a hotel situation, where people can stay for just a couple of nights, rather than a semester like us. Our rooms came with a full bed, desk, kitchen, and own bathroom (yeah it’s really nice). It’s like your own private suite, and I really enjoy that it is close to a couple of smaller grocery stores and restaurants as well. The walk to the main Tecnun campus is a little less than 15 minutes, and the only bad thing about this location is that it is a 40 minute bus ride from the Miramon campus, where I will be conducting my research. Livensa is also like a 20 minute bus ride from the beach, and a 15 minute bus ride or 20 minute walk to “Super Amara”, a large grocery store here in San Sebastian where I do my shopping. Overall, I have nothing to complain about for this location, and it is evident that bus transportation and walking is a big part of the culture here in San Sebastian in order to get around the smaller city.

Side Quests

Starting off this week strong, I had to make sure that I didn’t spend my money every night eating out, so I decided to go to the grocery store and get some groceries. It’s honestly like your typical grocery store, but what stood out to me the most was that there was a fresh orange juice squeezer! You could literally squeeze your own fresh orange juice, and I thought that was pretty cool.

On Wednesday, I thought we were going to watch a Basque pelota match being played, but instead was excited to find out WE would be playing the match ourselves! We got a tour of the main Basque pelota facility, and then it was free time from there. They taught us about the different kinds of balls and playing styles, where you can either hit the ball with your hand, a basket, or a wooden bat. They first made us try to throw the ball from one end of the court to the other, to really put into perspective how long the court was. Only a couple of people were able to do it, and then we were split into groups to practice both hitting the ball with our hand and the basket. I was actually able to get my serve to be quite good! I just struggled a lot with returning the ball for the second hit. It was so fun to play. I had wished that I played it at an earlier age, I would be sooooo good at it now.

I’m all fitted up here for Basque pelota! The La Chistera (basket) is curved in a way that allows the Basque pelota ball to enter from one end by my hand, and exit from the other end.

The University of Michigan students with the Penn State students playing Basque pelota.

So I knew that surfing was going to be hard, but I didn’t know that also included getting filled with so much salt water that my eyes, throat, and ears would burn. Honestly, a 1000000/10 experience and would do it again! On a serious note, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to surf on a coastal city in Spain EVER, so this was definitely an amazing experience. I tried to prepare with a YouTube video, but I don’t think any additional content could have saved me. I just thought that I’d be SLIGHTLY better considering I skate back home, and have decent balance. I was only able to stand on the board for like 0.0001 seconds, but honestly I am impressed I even got up to begin with. There was one wave that came in that completely wiped me out, and after a mouthful of salt water, I decided I would try to surf again at some point on calmer waves. People make it look soooo easy, but when you’re zipping down at a rapid speed on top of the water, all you can think is “don’t fall off. don’t fall off. don’t fall off.”

A picture of a bunch of really good surfers.

After surfing, the countdown began for when we would be going to the cider house at Txinparta, where we had the Basque experience of getting cider straight from the barrel. We learned the traditional way of receiving the cider, which is starting from the bottom, and swooping the cup up towards the top. This wasn’t the best part of the experience though, because the food was absolutely AMAZING. Like genuinely best meat ever even if it did still look alive (it was super super red). We ended that night with clubbing at the beach club again, where we celebrated the Tecnun graduates and hung out with our peer mentors, ending our second week at San Sebastian. At the club, we met another group of people from the United States that were speaking English, but it turned out that they actually attended Tecnun last semester. It was nice to see that people from all over the world were coming to this University to learn, and nice to talk about how their experience has been living in San Sebastian.

Naythan and I received the cider from the cider house in the traditional Basque way (picture by Ninjin Dashpurev).

Really really really raw steak (it was delicious) at the cider house.

To make the most of our weekend before research began, we also decided to take a day trip to Bilbao where we saw the Guggenheim museum! Going into it, I didn’t know what to expect as I was going in blind, but there was so much to do and see, and they even had some interactive elements for people that may not enjoy just looking at art. I don’t want to spoil toooo much about what it had, so I’m going to keep relatively quiet on its contents for you to find out. Since we went on a Sunday, a lot of the shops were still closed, and there wasn’t the best weather for doing much, but I can say that they had really good food and pastries here for only 3-7 euros. Total steal, highly recommend coming here, but overall San Sebastian has my heart more, just because I tend to gravitate towards smaller cities. (hence why I chose Michigan and Ann Arbor)

Next week we start our respective research projects, and I am actually so excited to begin, especially considering that my research coordinator reached out to me about an additional project, due to my skill set at my lab back in Michigan. I am doing research with NMR machines, but now also with neuromuscular activity. More updates to come with this! Anyways, that’s all from me for now! Thank you for tuning into my second week recap of San Sebastian!

My friends and I were lazy and did not want to cook dinner so we got Pintxos at La Vina instead! (they have the BEST Basque cheesecake, which you can see in the photo above)

I love a good sunset, and here at San Sebastian there are no shortages of them, especially on the beach.

Friends and I celebrated Pintxo Pote on Thursday part TWO!

What. A. Week. Let me start off by saying in no circumstance do I recommend staying up for 34+ hours in a row (unless you need to cram for an exam, then I suppose it is okay). After a redeye flight and landing at Frankfurt at 6 am, I knew I would have to really lock in to get to my destination in one piece. When I don’t get my 8 hours, I function at 35% of my brain power (don’t ask how this is calculated). What I am quickly realizing with my stay here, is that I need to say bye bye to those 8 hours of sleep, as this city is one that stays awake well past 2 am. Anyways, let’s dive into my experience while arriving here, as well as what it has been like in this first week.

Traveling

I’ll start off by saying that I have never flown in a plane by myself before, as well as that planes are not my favorite thing in the world (I consume too much survival media about plane crashes and the sort). Yet, I am glad to have been able to experience what it is like to travel by myself, and the responsibilities that came with it. My self-confidence has definitely increased, and I have realized that it is less stressful to fly by yourself. The flights that I was on consisted of two things: sleep and sudoku. I straight up did one sudoku puzzle for 90 minutes, but I did crack it! Anywhooo, changing the subject… once I arrived in Bilbao, I had to take a bus over to San Sebastian, followed by an immediate struggle to find a taxi in the city, as there was no uber. I learned the very next day that San Sebastian has minimal taxis, because it is a really walkable city, and that you’re not technically supposed to hail a taxi here. I thankfully decided to go to a taxi station to find one, but since there weren’t any available taxis, I quickly decided to take the public bus out of desperation to plop on a bed. I was a little nervous, because I don’t speak Spanish all that well, and didn’t even know if I could get on the bus without a bus card. Luckily, credit cards do work on their public transport system, and once I finally arrived, I immediately took a one hour nap on what might be the comfiest bed I have ever been on. 

Once everybody else arrived, I had a sudden burst of energy, and we all decided to go to the beach late at night. Arriving at the beach, there was a thunderstorm in the distance, which was incredible to witness. Since it was in the distance, we didn’t get rained on. As we were heading back, we noticed that there was a light in the middle of what appeared to be a clump of sand, and we decided to get closer to check it out. It was a beautifully crafted sandcastle! In that moment, I began to appreciate San Sebastian and the people who shared their art in a public space.

My flight from Frankfurt to Bilbao! This is when we were about to land.

This was on the beach the first night! Cool thunderstorm right by the island.

This was the sandcastle we saw at the beach the first night!

Academics

After receiving around 6 hours of sleep, our program began the very next day, where the director introduced us to the history of the Tecnun campus. It was interesting to learn about how the Tecnun campus was different from ours, and that they collaborated with so many different engineering companies. The courses began, and I can say that all the professors did a great job with keeping us engaged, with not a single head slumped, even with the jet lag we were fighting. We learned about the research process and how to implement it into our own projects for the future. A lot of the procedures that they talked about were utilized back at Michigan, and it was interesting to take a step back and recap a lot of what I have already done.

We then had the opportunity to tour Mubil, a sustainable energy company with testing facilities, working towards energy efficiency and transportation strategies. We split off into groups and worked with one another in finding ways in which the Basque region (specifically San Sebastian) could be more sustainable, and what buildings might need to be implemented in different areas to assist with this. This was the first time I was able to work with my fellow peers, and it was really interesting to see everybody’s opinions on these sorts of things. I am grateful to be surrounded by what already seems to be an intelligent group of people.

We also learned/recapped python coding (not my favorite) and more about the government side of research, like patents and funding. It was really interesting to learn more about it, especially since I am always hearing from my lab supervisor back in Michigan about how difficult it is to startup research opportunities due to the lack of funding.

This was part of the Tecnun facility, specifically its Haas sponsored facility.

This was in the Mubil facility, where it had an interactive map display on how far different amenities were from different regions on the map. This is actually in collaboration with MIT!

Social Activities

Now into the part we have all been waiting for, the social activities! I had so much fun with everything planned for this week, and am incredibly grateful for all the peer mentors that introduced us to their country and learned their culture. We were able to tour the San Telmo museum, where we learned a lot about Basque history, and saw amazing artifacts and art, going as far back as before Christ (2000+ years ago!)

Honestly my favorite part of the week had to be Pintxo Pote, by FAR. Basically, in the Basque country region, Tapas (finger foods or appetizers) are known as Pintxos, and every Thursday, on a specific street, they sell a drink and Pintxo for 3-3,50 euros. The steal of the century, especially considering that some Pintxos are as big as burgers. We were able to socialize and connect with the kids from Penn State (they have a program alongside ours for 2 weeks), as well as some of the locals. Going bar hopping in San Sebastian for the first week allowed us to make the most connections with people, and I appreciate how a lot of the Basque culture revolves around getting food and talking to people. 

That weekend, we went to both Biarritz, France and Saint-Jean-De-Luz, France. They had absolutely beautiful beaches, and we were able to enjoy the amazing food they had there. A small group of us decided to wander around Saint-Jean-De-Luz in order to find the beach, but we heard some French music in the background (think the most French music you’ve ever heard). We decided to wander towards it (as side-questers do), and stumbled upon Udaberria Dantzan, which appeared to be a sort of traditional dance festival. It was absolutely beautiful to witness, and I thanked the concept of free-will that got us to stumble upon something as unexpected as this.

On Sunday, we went all the way to the top of Monte Igueldo, which is basically a mountain with a fun amusement park at the top. The fun event of the week that we did there was zip-lining!!!! So I forgot to mention that I am absolutely TERRIFIED of heights, but I got peer pressured (haha jokes yeah) into doing it, and after a lot of motivational talks (to myself), I climbed up. There was a zipline course and an obstacle course, and I decided to face my fears and do both without complaining. I might be lying, I complained a decent amount at first, but then I actually enjoyed myself. Face your fears kids!

We also did a lot of other things revolving around exploring the night scene with the help of our peer mentors, and discovering the best places to feast. What we all quickly realized is that the people of San Sebastian take foosball as serious as American football. We tried to play them at a bar, but we took a complete defeat 10-1, even with them going easy on us. Not to worry though, we will represent the American people properly when we begin to practice where we live, since there is a foosball table in the basement. The Basque people won’t be ready for us! (they’ve perfected their skill for years, we might need to practice for 10+ hours a day). Lastly, to explain the title of my post, we had a person in the program swim alllll the way out to the center island, which was basically around a 35-40 minute swim. He came back around 2 hours later, and we were really debating going to the police. Thankfully that was all avoided, and made for a hook of a blog title, serving as a truthful form of clickbait!

Overall, I could talk for hours and hours about everything that we did, but I tried to give you guys the most concise summary I could, because your eyes would hurt from reading so much. Thank you for tuning in to this week’s adventures in San Sebastian!

The first dinner night out with people in the program!

Located inside the San Telmo museum, this is an art piece of the Basque people in the early years out at sea.

This is in Biarritz, France, where we decided to chill and relax on the rocks, watching the waves by the side of the coast (picture by Naythan Gough).

The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd in San Sebastian.

These are the Pintxo’s from when we went on our Pintxo tour! Yum.

Naythan eating 1000 plates of Basque Cheesecake (seriously so good), also thank you for taking so many fire pics.

This is the Basilica of Santa Maria del Coro, a Baroque church building.

Saint Jean de Luz, France! (picture by Naythan Gough).

Enjoying the night scene in Bataplan, a night club in the San Sebastian beach (picture by Naythan Gough).

This is the Udaberria Dantzan festival at Saint-Jean-De-Luz!

This is a photo taken from another side of the beach at Biarritz, France.

A photo of the coast of San Sebastian, taken from the top of Monte Igueldo (picture by Naythan Gough).

Hello there!

Now that the program has come to an end, I’ve been able to take some time to truly reflect on my incredible time abroad in Prague. I can’t believe it’s all over and I’m back in the U.S. – I’m so thankful to have been part of this program. It will forever feel like a second home and family.

Hardest Adjustment

The hardest adjustment I made while abroad was definitely being independent for the first time. As someone who loves their mom’s cooking, living alone was a big step up. I had to cook for myself, clean for myself, and shop for myself – I really needed to learn how to be an adult. Luckily, my roommates and friends really helped me ease into the adult lifestyle. We went shopping together, shared recipes, and even had nights where we exchanged food we made! The connections I formed made the adjustment to Prague go from “strange new world” to “home sweet home.” I really couldn’t have survived the whole two months without the people I met and the experiences I had.

Changes I Went Through

One thing is for sure: Prague changed me in ways I didn’t expect. Apart from gaining independence by living in a foreign country away from home, I also learned how to take risks and adapt to uncomfortable situations. I won’t lie – I didn’t know any Czech going into the program. Every sign, menu, and street name was completely foreign to me, so I had to take risks and learn as I went. Little by little, I started picking up certain words, which meant I didn’t need my phone every two seconds. If I saw “kuřecí,” I knew there was chicken involved, or if I saw the street “Revoluční,” I knew I was on one of the main roads toward my apartment. By taking risks and experimenting with different foods and directions, I learned how to navigate a country where I didn’t know the language.

Bringing the Czech into Ann Arbor

These experiences and memories will certainly last a lifetime. As I learned to be more independent and take risks when needed, I know I can bring these skills back to the University of Michigan and become a better engineering student. Engineering requires a lot of blind steps in order to achieve the desired solution, and at first, I wasn’t comfortable with that. I wanted to know everything I was doing before I did it, so risk-taking wasn’t my strong suit. However, through my study abroad program, I learned how to take unknown risks and adapt to new situations. This is a skill I’ll carry into my future as an engineer.

The End

Thank you so much for sticking with me through all these blogs. I truly had the time of my life studying abroad, and I hope you were able to pick up on that. I will miss Prague, but I know this was not the last time I’ll be there.

Until next time!

Patricio Sandoval-Sanchez

Mechanical Engineering

Hello Everyone!

Back with another blog post. I can’t believe this is already one of the last blogs I will be sharing with you guys. It has been nice documenting my journey here in Hong Kong for both myself and students who might be interested in joining this program in the future. 

This week, I went on the long-awaited study trip to China, which I had been looking forward to since the start. While it was exciting to finally set foot in China and visit some renowned companies, the trip turned out to be much busier than I expected. There wasn’t much free time to explore or have fun in the city. Still, after the trip, my friends and I went on some spontaneous adventures to enjoy our last couple of weeks in Hong Kong. Overall, this was an enjoyable week, and I’m eager to share it with you all. 

China Study Trip

Before the trip, we were advised to take a few essential steps to make communication easier in China: 

1) Download and set up WeChat: Apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Google are banned in China. To stay in touch with professors and program staff, we had to register on WeChat and join a class group chat. WeChat is also widely used for payments, as many establishments only accept WeChat Pay or Alipay. 

2) Get a data plan for China: Not much explanation needed for this point. It’s just generally handy to be able to communicate with program members and staff without the need of a Wifi connection. 

3) Download a VPN: This was necessary to access many apps and sites. I found that hotel Wi-Fi + VPN didn’t really work; I had to use my VPN with mobile data to access everything smoothly.

With that being said, here’s a breakdown of the three-day trip! Day 1

On Monday morning, I finished packing, met the group at the Red Bird sundial sculpture on campus, and we set off on an hour-and-a-half bus ride to the Lok Ma Chau immigration point in Shenzhen. Thanks to the amazing Office of Global Learning staff, our visa applications were processed in advance, making crossing the border quick and easy.

Our first stop was lunch at a family-style dining restaurant. Throughout the trip, this was the standard for meals. Dietary restrictions were a challenge at times (I have a shellfish allergy, and others couldn’t eat pork due to religious reasons). We mostly had to mind our own dietary restrictions, but the staff did a great job looking out for us, pointing out dishes we couldn’t eat, and even arranging vegetarian tables.

After lunch, we visited DJI’s flagship store, where we got a good look at DJI’s product mix and attended an insightful presentation by DJI’s amazing Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Christina Zhang.

After the presentation, we visited Tencent Technology.

There, we toured some futuristic exhibition halls showcasing their products, latest tech, and social impact initiatives. It was a super interesting experience. 

After the exhibition, we got the chance to talk with researchers and marketing leads from their video game division. We got to ask questions about their job, the company, and pretty much everything we were curious about.

After the last visit of the day, we had a short cultural excursion to Nantau Old Town.

To conclude the day, we had dinner and headed to our hotel in Shenzhen for the night. Rooming was two people per room. Both hotels we stayed at were nice. No complaints whatsoever. 

Day 2 On Tuesday, our first stop was the Oppo Shenzhen headquarters, where we first got a tour of the company’s history and its various technological products.

After the tour, we heard a presentation on the company’s products, its mission, and its values. We also heard from Diego Heinz, a Creative Strategist at Oppo, about his multiple international experiences stemming from the nature of his role at the company.

We had lunch at their staff cafeteria, and after that, we got on the bus, but this time we were headed to Dongguan to visit Oppo’s local headquarters and their smartphone assembly lines. 

These last visits consisted of guided facility tours, where we got to learn about employee benefits and the amenities available. We were also walked through the process of how they assembled their smartphones as we walked past the assembly line.

Everyone at Oppo was super welcoming, and the environment at both the company and their Dongguan headquarters was pleasant. This honestly felt more like a recruitment event, so I’d like to say that there could be very beneficial networking opportunities as well as internship opportunities if that’s something you’d be interested in!

After our company visits were done for the day, we went on a short excursion to the Huagai Road pedestrian street area.

Followed by dinner, where we celebrated a program member’s and a staff member’s birthdays!

I forgot to take pictures of the first hotel we stayed at the first night, but I took pictures of the second one, so you guys can get an idea of how nice the accommodations were.

Day 3

On Wednesday, we visited Midea Group, where we learned about their history, industries, and expansion plans. 

To conclude our trip, we visited the HKUST Guangzhou campus, where we got to talk with Professor Lionel M. Ni, the HKUST Guangzhou president, and were given the opportunity to tour some of the laboratories and robotics research facilities.

Since the campus was only formally established in 2022, it’s still small, with the student body mainly constituted of graduate and PhD students, though undergrads are beginning to enroll. 

What I found super interesting about the two HKUST campuses is their academic structure, which emphasizes cross-disciplinary education and seeks to facilitate knowledge transfer between the two campuses:

 The Guangzhou campus focuses solely on STEM degrees (Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Financial Technology, Microelectronics, etc)

 The Hong Kong campus will transfer to focusing more on the natural sciences and humanities. 

And that’s a wrap for the study trip! After the visit we went back to our Hong Kong campus to rest.

This, however, wasn’t the end of my week. Since this post is already long, here’s a quick recap of my other highlights this week:

Other Adventures This Week

Thursday 

Some friends and I attended a Hong Kong Milk tea making workshop hosted by UST, where we made milk tea and tried egg tarts and pineapple buns. We also got the cups and little plates as a souvenir!

Friday

Finally went to the beach for the first time! My friends and I took a speedboat from Sai Kung to Sai Wan Beach. You can also take a cab to Sai Wan Pavilion, hike down to the beach, and take the speedboat back. It was beautiful, fun, and worth it, though you have to be careful if you take the speedboat because they usually don’t provide life jackets.

Note: If I recall correctly, the speedboat was about $160 HKD (one-way), $320 HKD total. It’s kind of expensive, but it was super fun.

Saturday

During our trip to the HKUST Guangzhou campus, we met some international students that just started their undergraduate studies there, so we decided to go back to Guangzhou for a day to hang out with them!

And that is everything for this week! I can’t believe my last week in Hong Kong is coming up. I feel genuinely sad, but my friends and I are determined to make the most out of it. In next week’s blogs, I’ll share both our last adventures and my final reflections.

Thank you for reading!

Best,

Mateo

Data Science Engr., Industrial & Operations Engr. 

Dobrý deň!

This is Pato Sandoval. This is it—the final week of my study abroad program in Prague. I can’t believe the program is already coming to an end—it honestly feels like just yesterday I first arrived in Prague. The number of memories, friends, and experiences I’ve gained over the span of this program is countless, and I couldn’t be happier to have had the chance to live this incredible opportunity. Sadly, this blog will be filled with a lot of my “lasts”—my last week in Prague, my last exams, and my last moments in my apartment. If you’re ready, I’m ready—let’s finish strong.

Last Czech Weekend

For my last weekend in the Czech Republic, I decided to spend all my time within the country to really get to know it before I leave. I explored different cities along with new places in Prague. This was such a fun and fulfilling experience, a sort of loop that brought me back to where I started.

The cities I visited were:

Kutná Hora – A beautiful historical town where we visited the Sedlec Ossuary (aka the Bone Church), the Cathedral of St. Barbara, and even went inside the famous silver mines underneath the city!

Karlovy Vary – One of the great spa towns of Europe, where we tried the famous healing mineral waters (not as tasty as you’d imagine) and toured the Czech Becherovka Liqueur Museum (this one was definitely tastier).

Apart from the incredible cities outside of Prague, my friends and I also spent a lot of time rediscovering Prague itself, revisiting places we’d forgotten about over the past eight weeks. We saw the TV Tower, played games in an arcade, and explored the city’s active nightlife! Overall, this was one of the best weekends abroad, since it gave me a chance to relax and really soak in all the Czech culture.

Last Czech Exams

No study abroad program is complete without final exams. Luckily for me, this time I only had my Calculus 3 exam instead of two like during midterms. Studying for the final was pretty straightforward: the professor provided a study guide that he said was very similar to the type of questions that would appear on the exam. After completing the guide and reviewing sections of the book I wasn’t as confident with, I felt ready. And my professor wasn’t kidding—the exam was very similar to the guide. The questions came from the same sections, meaning that if you did the study guide (which I did), you knew exactly what to do for each problem. This was the perfect way to end the class, because I finished feeling both happy and relieved—high grades and the sense that I actually learned something. I definitely recommend taking Calculus 3 abroad; it was honestly fun and not too challenging.

Last Czech Celebrations

As the program wrapped up, my friends and I decided to go out with a bang and make the most of our last few days. Not only did we go straight from class to do fun activities, but we also met up with half the program to spend our nights together! No other experience in my life can really compare to this amazing final week.

Our last week included:

Climbing the Astronomical Clock Tower in the center of Old Town Square

Exploring the National Technical Museum as part of the program’s final day activity

Visiting the Metronome monument atop Letná Park

Paddleboating in the Vltava River

Buying matching “I ❤ Prague” shirts that we wore around the city at night

Sharing a final lunch all together before leaving

The whole week was filled with laughter and unforgettable moments. I’m truly going to miss Prague once I’m back in the U.S. If you ever decide to study abroad, make sure to make the most out of it!

Moving Out Process

Although sad, moving out has to happen for the program to officially end. Luckily, the CEA CAPA staff made the process really simple. All I had to do was clean my room, spot-clean the apartment, throw out the trash, and leave the keys on the dining room table—and just like that, my apartment was back to the way it was before I moved in.

That’s it—we’re done talking about my time studying abroad. There will be one more post reflecting on the whole experience, so make sure you stick around to read that. Thank you so much for following along on my journey, and I’ll see you in the final post!

Patricio Sandoval-Sanchez

Mechanical Engineering

Hello everybody!

In just a couple of days, I will be heading to China with my class, and I am excited! Ever since I arrived in Hong Kong, I’ve been wanting to visit China, but I haven’t brought myself to apply for the full tourist visa yet. This trip was the perfect opportunity for it. With the program nearing its end, the reality of not having done everything I should’ve in Hong Kong is starting to sink in. The first session flew by so quickly, but I still managed to explore so much, so I am pretty content with how things have gone so far. Now, during this second half, time feels like it's moving slower, even though I’ve had some “dead days” where I didn’t do much (mainly because I was sleep-deprived and overall exhausted).

Important Note: Something I haven’t been great at, but highly recommend when traveling or studying abroad, is to get proper rest! Because I was so tired, I didn’t do much during the first couple of days this week. I mostly stayed on campus, resting or hanging out with friends at the canteen or 7/11.

Early in the week, we finally received information about the companies and cities we’ll be visiting in China, and the list is quite exciting. First, we’ll head to Shenzhen to visit DJI, Tencent, and Oppo. The next day, we’ll travel to Dongguan to visit Oppo’s headquarters and production line, then head to Foshan to visit Midea Group. Lastly, we’ll finish with a visit to the Guangzhou HKUST Campus. I’m really excited not only for the companies we’ll visit, but also for the chance of exploring the different cities along the way.

Outside of preparing for the trip, I also did some fun activities and went on some interesting adventures with my friends. On Thursday, HKUST hosted a bowling night event. Around 6 pm, we took a bus to Bowlbie, a bowling alley inside Kai Tak Mall. Later that week, since my friends and I hadn’t gone to Victoria Peak, we decided to hike up to The Peak Tower to watch the sunset.

However, we forgot to check the weather forecast and got caught in a crazy thunderstorm right before the hike. The route we had taken was also closed for some reason. We gave up on the hike for the day and went for dinner instead. Ever since I tried Khao Soi in Thailand last week, it’s become my favorite dish, so I suggested going back to BKK Thai Street Food (yes, again. I loved the food there). The walk there turned into a whole excursion, with boba pit stops and rain-soaked clothes. The good food made it all worth it.

After dinner, we ended the night by hanging out at the small beachfront next to our dorms, watching the sunrise. This was singlehandedly one of the best sunrises I’ve seen so far here in Hong Kong.

On Friday, while some of my friends went to the Ani-Com & Games Hong Kong convention, two others and I went to The Avenue in Wan Chai to check out a cool black-and-white themed café called Uluru.

I just had a light snack because later that evening we had plans to eat hotpot with one of the HKUST buddies. The restaurant was on Dundas Street in Mongkok, right next to the night market, but I can’t remember the exact name. This was my first time trying hot pot! The food was good (though I was still a little hungry after, and to make things even more fun, our private room had karaoke. 

And that wraps up this week! Now, all that’s left is to pack and get ready for the study trip to China. I can’t wait to share all about it in my next post!

Thank you for reading!

Best,

Mateo

Data Science Engr., Industrial & Operations Engr. 

Hello everybody!

In the fifth week, the second session of the program officially started. I now see many new faces in the dorms and classrooms. We are already halfway through the program, and I’m starting to dread its end. 

With friends from Session 1 leaving, I realized just how much I’m going to miss the people I’ve met here. Regardless of how close I was to them, sharing this trip and exploring Hong Kong together has given me memories I’ll treasure deeply. That said, the end of the program isn’t necessarily a definitive goodbye. Some people, I’m sure, I’ll see again when I visit their home countries and others I might reunite with back in the States. Studying abroad through IPE is more than just getting ahead on credits in a different country. Whether it’s professional opportunities, academic growth, or lifelong friendships, you never know what will come your way once you put yourself in new environments. At the end of the day, the true value of programs like this depends on what you make of them.

With that said, here’s a quick overview of my week! 

Monday A friend from HKUST invited me to play badminton at the indoor sports facilities on campus. Although it was my first time playing, it was surprisingly easy to get the hang of it. I would highly recommend taking advantage of all the sports facilities available on campus! The booking process is pretty simple through the “USThing” app or the website directly.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, I went to Mong Kok with my friends since I hadn’t explored the area before. We stopped at Shari Shari, a Japanese-style shaved ice dessert place, and it was way better than I expected. We ordered two flavors: hojicha with matcha cream and strawberry.

Wednesday

The last horse races of the season took place on Wednesday, so I went with a group of friends to the Happy Valley racecourse again. Afterward, we all went to RED MR karaoke to celebrate a friend’s birthday. [My friend lost his camera, so most pictures of that day are gone :( ]

Thailand Trip!

And because I couldn’t leave Asia without visiting at least one other country, I took up a friend’s offer to visit Thailand for the weekend. I was originally planning to go to Japan, but since my passport required no visa to enter Thailand, I figured it would be less of a hassle. This was probably the best decision I made so far on this trip because Thailand was AMAZING. 

Three friends and I visited Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand known for its natural beauty and Buddhist temples. We stayed there for three days at an Airbnb in a lively part of the Old Town. We arrived at night, so we just explored the area around our accommodation and found a food plaza with incredible food at insanely cheap prices. 

I was so hungry that I forgot to take pictures of my Vietnamese pork bao and the stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, but here is a short video of the rolled ice cream we had for dessert.

On our second day, we went on an ethical elephant tour at a sanctuary called Elephant Pride for the first half of the day. It was an unforgettable experience where we got to cut up sugar cane to feed the elephants, pet them, and swim with them in a nearby river.

That was probably the highlight of the trip, although we did other cool activities like going to a Thai cooking class, exploring cafés in the Old Town, visiting a jazz bar, and touring the Doi Suthep temple and Angel Waterfall Park. 

For spending only three days in Thailand, we accomplished alot. It was exhausting, but 100% worth it. 

While the main focus of this blog is my experience in Hong Kong, I can’t recommend enough visiting other Asian countries if you have the chance. You’ve already made it as far as Hong Kong, might as well make the most of it. 

Wrap-up

And that’s all for the week! Without a doubt, Thailand has been my favorite part of this trip so far. The tropical weather and scenery reminded me a lot of Colombia, my home country (plus, it was much much cheaper than Hong Kong). As I mentioned in my last blog, next week I’ll be going on a study trip to the Greater Bay Area in China with my entrepreneurship class. I am excited to find out more about the companies we will visit. I will make sure to keep you all updated on that!

Thank you for reading!

Best,

Mateo

Data Science Engr., Industrial & Operations Engr. 

Hello Everyone!

I thought I wouldn’t be able to write this week’s blog post, but I am finally able to get to it! Week 4 in Hong Kong was both exciting and somewhat stressful. As session 1 came to an end, so did my statistics class. This, of course, meant that I had a final exam to prepare for. I spent a big chunk of the week studying, as I still had some material to catch up on. Fortunately, by the end of the week, I was ready for the exam ( though I may have seen a sunrise or two in the process).

Personally, I think the class should’ve been spread out across 2 sessions. Nonetheless, the final exam felt fair and took into account the short amount of time we had to master the material. 

On the Tuesday before my exam, I attended a Neon Light workshop hosted by HKUST. We were instructed on how to mold the flexible neon light filaments, and then made our own neon signs. I wasn’t too focused on making my neon sign, but rather on talking to my friends who also attended. My final product wasn’t the best, but many other students left with some cool custom signs.

Most exams were on Friday, mine included. Once my friends and I finished, we immediately went to Red MR Karaoke to have fun, relieve some stress, and spend time with a friend who was leaving the week after. He was here only for the first session of the program.

The next day, I met with another group of lovely friends from the UK who were also about to head home. We had lunch at an Italian wine steakhouse called Pasteako, located in Hong Kong Island’s Central district. Unfortunately, I was late to the meetup, so I didn’t get to try the food (no food pictures this time), but all of my friends said it was good. They also give out free pasta every now and then while you dine!

Overall, it was a shorter week, since most of my time was spent preparing for my final exam. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to the friends I made during Session 1, but it is also true that many others are staying for Session 2, and new people will be arriving soon. Next week, I’ll be starting my second class of the program, and in Week 7, I’ll be visiting different cities within the Greater Bay Area. I am excited to share my experience during that class trip with you all when the time comes. 

Thank you for reading!

Best,

Mateo

Data Science Engr., Industrial & Operations Engr.