Walking through the streets of Los Angeles for the first time, Marta Guberna, David Román and Mireia Dilmé found a little slice of home.
The students from Pompeu Fabra University never met while studying in Barcelona – the highest ranked Spanish University according some university rankings. Instead, they first became acquaintances after enrolling in the Global Cities program – a 12-week-long program split halfway between Barcelona and L.A. It was during the program’s first six-weeks at Pompeu Fabra University that they grew closer with each other through field trips.
Once the first leg of the program in Barcelona was over, it was time for the Spaniards to board the plane to L.A.
After splitting up into different apartments they found through Craigslist, the students from Catalonia started to notice aspects of the neighborhood that made Westwood different from the more familiar Barcelona. One of the first things the students pointed out was the architecture.
The spread-out nature of UCLA’s campus was an instant contrast to the more high-rise nature of Barcelona, Román said.
That sparseness, however, brought a certain allure to the UCLA campus that the Pompeu Fabra students thought was lacking at their campus, which sits in the center of Barcelona.
“There’s not really a campus or a feeling of being part of the campus,” said Dilmé, a third-year business management student. “There’s no, for example, football field, or teams or anything like that, so it’s super small compared to UCLA.”
It was easy for the trio to get lost within the charm of the university’s vastness. They had to spend their first couple of days at UCLA with a map as they traversed through university grounds. But it was navigating the city that gave the visiting students a bigger headache.
“Here you have different types of buses, it’s a little bit messy for us,” said Guberna, a fourth-year international business economics student. “We have to go to one place and make a transfer, pay again … it’s just complicated and takes a lot of time.”
But it didn’t take them long to pick up the everyday Angelino’s worst-kept secret – a car is necessary in this city.
Still, the need for a car did not deter the students from exploring L.A. Over their six-week stay, the students visited LACMA, the Getty Villa, Santa Barbara, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas among other locations.
Though the students said they spent much of their time travelling, taking classes at UCLA was the main purpose of their visit.
“The instructors are very passionate of what they teach. I don’t know if I’m very lucky and that’s an exception, but my instructor is always very passionate, trying to make you understand, even making jokes.” said Román, fourth-year political science student. “And the classmates are very participative; they want to say what they think.”
When considering other places to visit during week six of summer session C – the last week of their stay in the city – the students were unable to find time to add anything to their agenda.
It was finals week for them, too.
Contributing reports from Julia McCarthy, Bruin senior staff.