Hello,
My name is Iratxe López de Subijana and I have only 4 days left to start my trip to New York.
Academic background
I am currently a student of the double diploma of the Master of Civil Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering of the University of Cantabria, in Santander, and the École des Ponts ParisTech, located in Paris.
Reason of the travel
In order to fulfill the requirements of my program, I must complete a 12-month internship, and for this I have chosen to move to New York. Living in the United States is not new to me, as I was part of an exchange program between students from the University of Cantabria and Cornell University, located in upstate New York. However, and mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my experience was affected, and this is one of the main reasons why I have decided to return to the US.
Getting the job
I am going to work at GMS, a structural consulting firm located in Manhattan, and I couldn’t be more excited. The truth is that getting the job was much easier than I expected, and I didn’t have to do anything more than a couple of interviews. So far what has been the most difficult for me is the bureaucracy. I was not aware of the amount of paperwork that had to be filled out to get the visa. All these papers were much heavier than the interview at the embassy, which in my case did not last more than two minutes.
Personal objetives
My goals for this year are to learn a lot, both professionally and personally. I want to travel and get to know places in the United States that I missed a few years ago. I would like to meet people from different places and improve my English level. I’m a little nervous about facing my first days alone there, but I’m sure it’s part of the adaptation process.
See you soon,
Iratxe
