Bella’s time in Spain through Global Scholars!!
By: Bella Gerencser
For me, being a Global Scholar means being a researcher who takes in a community’s perspective and researches their practices. This summer, I plan to speak to any local or tourist individuals about their perspective on Spain to try to find a connection for a community point of view.
This summer, I am studying abroad through Florida State University’s International Program in Valencia, Spain, named the Sustainable Solutions for Engineering Challenges Program. While taking my two courses on campus, I plan to film a vlog-style research project focused on how sustainability education influences young people in Spain. My daily activities will include attending my two classes, exploring the city, and documenting evidence through interviews, filming, and photography. I plan to speak with local college students, professors at nearby universities, professors at FSU’s campus, Google Form participants from university campuses, museum employees, and local protesters for sustainability. In addition to the interviews, I plan to document public exhibits that highlight renewable energy and climate policy, as well as visible green infrastructure, such as solar panel installations and green transportation. Personally, I am most looking forward to the field work of finding sustainability out on my own, such as the protests or graffiti, and being able to vlog about my feelings towards this. However, I am apprehensive about interviewing the professors as I feel I do not have professional language and may be seen as a ”childish” researcher by them.
My community-based inquiry is on how sustainability education influences young people in Spain. I chose to research this because, through photovoltaic panel research in high school, I had to find a global connection. I found that Spain was a leading country in green sustainability, and I wanted to research this further on how the country got to this point. I plan to structure this project by trying for at least 3 interviews a week for the first 3 weeks, then end with 9 interviews to be able to have enough time to start editing while there. This will give me time to involve myself in the community and not just singular interviews. I expect my impact of this research to be a look into Spain’s sustainability education, the good and the bad.
Integration into the culture for me means going to local restaurants, trying local food and drinks, dancing with locals, traveling across the country to see each city’s culture, and enjoying the land’s native nature. Through this, I plan to try a hostel in Granada to truly immerse myself in a living space that is not a hotel or dorm. Also, through my interviews, I will be able to speak to locals and understand their culture better. I plan to share my culture through stories to local university students about being a university student myself in America and the differences I have noticed, as well as being able to share the differences I have noticed in Spain’s sustainability when compared to America. Every local conversation I have, I plan to ask for recommendations for a tourist to receive a local point of view on Spain.
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