By mid-March, all USC students were taking online classes on Zoom and learning to adapt to a new learning style. In Madrid, my roommates and I had already begun the process two weeks before USC, using Adobe Connect for our classes. The biggest adjustment for us was finding new ways to extract the cultural lessons we had expected to gain from our study abroad experience. We were limited not only by our screens but also by a nine hour time difference, which meant many of our classes were at 3 AM. We were the true embodiment of the Spanish concept madrugar, working (or partying) so hard all night that you’re up before the sun rises.
As a business student, my knowledge base on consumer insights and gamification expanded greatly. However, as a global citizen, I was lost. How was I supposed to learn the nuances of Spanish culture without being there physically and interacting with people on a daily basis?
The pandemic challenged me to be creative in ways I may not have been otherwise. In an attempt to get one-on-one attention and maintain my network, I started setting up online coffee chats with my Spanish professors. These calls ranged from various topics like the reputation of American companies in European eyes to my personal long-term career plans.
In my Negotiations class, my professor was determined to keep the spirit of in-class group work alive. He would assign teams randomly and make us FaceTime a peer to work out a negotiation or deal. These conversations with students in Spain gave me an inside look into cultural differences, and similarities, amidst the pandemic. In other classes, our group presentations required daily meetings. My teams were diverse, with students from Germany and the UK. We were able to develop friendships over Zoom and Whatsapp, creating a sense of camaraderie that got us through lectures and the technical difficulties that almost always followed them.
Spending my days at home meant I had more free time to watch Netflix. As a way of staying connected to Spain, I began to watch Spanish shows like La Casa de Papel and Elite. These shows kept my ear tuned to the Spanish language and provided me with cultural insights. Because these shows were set in Madrid, I got to see the city through a different lens. My vocabulary expanded and I started to pick up on colloquialisms that I would not have understood if I had heard them without subtitles. For 40-minute periods, I got to experience Madrid from 6,000 miles away.
In many ways, this pandemic has given me more exposure to real working teams than in-person lectures ever could. Most of the world runs on cross-cultural business, late night calls and virtual interactions with international employees. Maintaining professional relationships across the world is now much less of a daunting task. The Spanish television shows I’ve been watching have kept me updated on pop culture references and terms. While this was not an ideal situation, these methods were the best I could do given the circumstances. This experience has taught me flexibility and to make the best out of every situation.