I came to Spain to do a master in marketing, and even though I love Barcelona, and its culture, it was hard finding a uni in here. First of all, when you are looking into coming to study in Barcelona you need to remember that in here they speak Catalan, yes I know, they also speak Spanish, but they prefer Catalan, and they expect you to learn it. With that said, the official universities have a lot of professors that will speak in Catalan, even when some of the students do not understand it. It is fair, it is their country, their rules, however if you don’t want to learn this language, you are better off going to a private school that will assure you the classes will be given to you in Spanish.
At first, I wanted to learn Catalan, to integrate better, but it is not that easy, plus, during class, it is CRAZY, yes, professors will talk in Spanish, but you can’t do anything about those students that want to speak in Catalan, even when they know you are not understanding. This is one of the problems some other girls from Latin America and I have been going through. At the beginning I thought it was EXTREMELY RUDE on their side, however, I understand now that they do not realize they are doing it, for them it is just normal. It is like when I am in a place where I am supposed to speak in English, but I know someone else in there speaks Spanish, and suddenly I will find myself speaking to him/her in Spanish, without noticing. Anyway, this is just one of the few problems I have been facing over here, especially during class.
It is funny how nowadays people with a master’s degree are just like people with a college degree a few years ago. It is still not a must, but in order to move forward, you need one, otherwise walls start appearing. It is sad though that due to the recession, that high level of education can’t be backed up with some experience at work. When we first started the master, only international students were looking for internships, but every time I find out that more classmates are looking for a job.
I know that a lot of girls study a master after college to give them some more time to live out of their parents until they find the perfect husband, but that is not me. I want a job, I like to work, and I want to. It is true that it is hard to find a job in Spain, but I need to admit its even harder back home, so all I can do for now is to keep looking, and prepare myself on the meantime so that when that opportunity appears, I will be ready for it.
