My Language Learning Journey… Afrika Olabe
This edition of the 'my language learning journey' series is in honour of the Erasmus+ days, which is an international six-day celebration of the Erasmus+ programme that provides participants with an incredible study, volunteer or intern abroad experience.
In this interview series, you will learn about the mobility and language learning experience of English learners across the globe. This is already the fourth interview in this series, and I'm very pleased to introduce you to our fellow community member, Afrika Olabe. Afrika is from Bilbao, Spain, and she recently completed a two-month Erasmus+ internship in Hasselt, Belgium. In the interview, she shares her Erasmus+ internship experience, and you'll learn about her motivation for learning English.
Let's hear from Afrika now, shall we?
Could you please introduce yourself to the community?
My name is Afrika, I'm from Bilbao, Spain, and I'm currently studying Chemical Engineering. This summer I'm doing a two-month Erasmus+ internship in Hasselt, Belgium, where I work in a chemistry lab at the university.
That sounds very cool! Could you share a bit more about your internship experience? How did you manage to secure this internship?
I always wanted to do an Erasmus exchange because I wanted to experience what it's like to live abroad and live on my own. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do an Erasmus exchange via my own university, so when I found the internship abroad opportunity, I was excited to go for it!
So my internship will last for two months. I arrived at the end of June and will stay until the end of August. This may seem short, but it's already proven to be a super valuable experience for me.
In what way do you feel the internship is a valuable life experience for you?
First of all, I'm experiencing firsthand what working in research in a chemical lab at a university looks like. In my internship, I'm involved in my supervisor's PhD project on sustainable polymers. In essence, we research how to turn PET plastic bottles into sustainable and recyclable monomers. What I'm learning is that research is really trying, failing, and trying again in a different way. So it's lots of trial and error.
Do you think your internship is helping you to get more comfortable with and fluent in the English language? If so, in what way?
Yes absolutely! Back at home, I practically never had to use the English language in everyday life, but here I use it daily to speak to colleagues and outside of work. At the beginning, it was quite difficult to adjust, but little by little, I'm noticing real improvements. I especially notice my knowledge of English vocabulary is improving here. I try to write down new words I'm learning, and practise those words in a new situation.
What kind of things have you learnt about yourself since starting your internship and living alone abroad?
I've been looking forward to living abroad and experiencing living alone for the first time in my life for months. I knew it was going to be an important and insightful experience for me, and that it may not always be easy, but it would definitely be worth it.
Before I left, my mother always said, 'When you live alone, your room will be a mess,' haha. But you know what, I actually discovered that I love having everything clean and organised, so I clean a lot now!
Another thing I learnt is that food disappears a lot faster than I expected when you have to cook and do groceries for yourself. And one week, I got food poisoning, and I really missed someone taking care of me at that time. This has made me appreciate home even more.
But overall, I notice I've grown a lot and become more independent and responsible, and I'm learning more and more how to adapt.
I'm happy to hear that overall your experience so far has been enjoyable and enriching! Now I'd love to hear a bit more about your experience with learning the English language.
Let's start with the basics. When did you start learning English? And what motivated you to study English to this day?
When I was six or seven, I started learning English at school, but the lessons weren't that great, and I never took extra classes outside of school. For a long time, English felt like just a subject to study, and not necessarily to use.
During my internship, things have changed a lot. I now feel English is not just a skill, but it's a necessity. And not only abroad, but also at home. I want to work in the field of my studies, chemistry, and in that field, English is everywhere in research. For instance, in academic papers and in Spain, there are also a lot of international PhD students. So English is the language that connects everyone. That is really what's motivating me to study English right now, and I'd like to do the (English) C1 exam when I get back to Bilbao.
We first met during an English community speaking session. How do you look back on joining that event?
I thought it was a really nice experience. What stood out to me was that everyone was so welcoming, and I didn't feel judged for my level of English. So it was really a great way to practise speaking English before my mobility, and possibly even after my internship ends. I'd definitely recommend it to other Erasmus+ participants who don't have a lot of opportunities to practise speaking English back at home.
What advice would you give to someone who's learning a new language or trying to improve in a language they are learning?
Lately, I've realised that I need to study grammar a bit more to feel more secure, because over the past weeks, I've asked AI tools "Is this grammatically correct?" a lot. Haha. So I'd say, get a good basic knowledge of grammar!
And other than that, I'd say watch everything in English. My siblings have a better level of English because they watched a lot of movies in English from a younger age. I'm currently really enjoying watching exchange students' videos in English, because that's the phase of life I'm in now.
What does life look like after your internship?
Next year is my last year of university, and I'll be working on my thesis, hopefully on a similar topic to what I studied in Hasselt. After that, I'd love to do a Master's, maybe abroad again if I can find a scholarship. But I'd also be really happy to stay in Bilbao.
Finally, what advice would you give to other students who are thinking about an Erasmus+ experience?
It's a great experience to have, and it helps you grow as a person and learn things about yourself that you might not have known before. At the very least, you'll learn something! What's the worst that's going to happen? ;)
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First of all, a really big thanks to Afrika for sharing her story! It was such a pleasure to hear about your internship in Hasselt and your English language learning journey!
I hope you, as a reader, have taken some all-important Erasmus inspiration and insights from this interview. Let Afrika and the community know what you are taking from her story in the comments below!
Warmly,
Marieke, OLS Community Manager – English
P.S., If you would also like to be interviewed as a part of this series, you can let me know via this link or by writing a message in the comments below!