ERASMUS STUDENT AMBASSADOR OF THE UNIVERSITY ROVIRA I VIRGILI 25th anniversary of the Erasmus Programme 2012

I am Robert Brunet from University Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain) and I want to share with all of you one of the best experiences of my life; the Erasmus Mundus Programme. An experience that more than 2.2 million students have already taken part in. Since I was a child, one of my life purposes has been to discover and explore new places, people, learnings, languages, cultures, customs and traditions. When I was nine I moved with my family to Houtson (United States) for a few months. The experience in Houston deeply enriched my state of mind and meant an inflection in my life so that after obtaining outstanding results at High School I enrolled at the Rovira i Virgili in Chemical Engineering. At university, you realise that knowledge is alive and in constant evolution and moreover you have the opportunity of being a part of it all. You also learn the importance of creating a science focused network of people from other institutions and professionals so as to become competitive in your area. Initially the University is a tinny world expending only to the internet and our near colleagues and professors. Fortunately, from the 2nd or 3rd year, you have the possibility of enrroling in the Erasmus Mundus Programme and study in another of the 4,000 Higher Eduction Institutions participating in this Project. This probably being one of the best decisions of your life. In my case I went abroad for 4 different projects. One was the Erasmus, the others were internships in companies. My first stay was in summer, 2007 in Philadelphia (United States), I worked for a Wind Energy Company as a developing programmer. For the second stay, in The Netherlands from June to September 2008, I was an industrial trainee for a chemical manufacturing company that produces plastics, chemicals and agricultural products. Then betweem September and February 2009 I was in Belgium for my Erasmus in The Katholieke Universiteit of Leuven. Finally for my Master Project, I stayed in Germany from February to August 2009, in a consumer goods manufacturing company. As you can imagine the Erasmus Mundus programm has a lot of associated experiences and advantages. Lets start from the beginning. At a certain time, depending on degree and University, there is a meeting with your Exchange Coordinator, who offers you the possibility of participating in Mobility Programmes and Studies. Then, you start to search on the University websites, talk with Erasmus students from previous years, look for opinions on internet and so on. Once you select your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice, you have to wait for a few weeks for the resolution. If you are fourtunate and you are admitted to the programme, the second phase starts. Practical preparation comes with the second phase. A deeper research about your destination university, the subjects that you can take, the country, the traditions. Moreover some people take communication language classes according to where they have to go. As for logisitcs, it means finding a place to stay, travel tickets and finances. As always time runs fast and although you think the day to take the plane will never arrive you find yourself having a farewell dinner with your friends, then your luggage in the plane and you knowing that in a few hours you will be in another country to live the Erasmus experience. Once on side the first steps are the clear: 1) Find a place to live (if you already booked from internet perfect). 2) Meet with the Erasmus coordinator of your department to talk about the subjects that you want to take. 3) Meet people, participate in activities (most of the Universities organize welcome events students for Erasmus students). After these exciting first days everything must go back to normal, although you have to learn to a different way of doing, different language, different culture, and different educational system. Finally when you finish the period of the Erasmus, there are different possibilities: 1) Go back home. 2) Stay at the Exchange University 3) Look for other programmes or job offers to stay abroad in other places. In most cases you will feel that you had one of the best experiences of your live, where you gained so much in confidence, linguistic ability, social and technical skills and so on. For sure, you have this positive feeling that this experience is a key factor in your growing process. In my case, it has been a growing process in all the areas of my life. I learnt a lot of new technical skills. I wrote 4 technical reports and I obtained important results from my studies. I met a lot of interesting people, which whom I still maintain the contact and I learn a lot from them. I improved my English and German, and I learnt a little bit of Dutch. I played soccer in the 4th division of The Netherlands and for the University of Leuven. I visited places such as: New York, Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin amongst others. I have two younger brothers who want to study Chemical Engineering as well and I will recommend them to do an Erasmus, as I believe it is a key factor for their future. After all these experience I came back to my home University to do my PhD in developing mathematical programming methods to design cleaner chemical processes. Also, from the first day I am helping to coordinate the activities for the Erasmus & Exchange students who come to Tarragona. I am the founder and vice-president of the association AEGEE-Tarragona, which is part of the well-known AEGEE (the largest cross-faculty students organization in Europe). Additonally, I am part of a humanitarian organization that helps people from the third world. In April I am going to Peru to prepare a computer room and teach Microsoft Office at a Village in the Amazon and I have an AEGEE congress in Alicante. In May I am helping to prepare the 1st Internationalization Meeting of my University. In June I am going for a congress of Chemical Engineering in Greece. In July I am going to Brazil for a course about Process Engineering, and in August I am preparing with AEGEE-Tarragona, the 1st Summer University in our place and I am going to Cagliari to give a course about Environmental Issues and Regulations in Europe. Finally for this year, in October I am going to Minneapolis for the AIChE Congress. As for the near future, I am planning to finish my PhD in September 2012 and then going to the Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburg) for a Master Graduate Programme in Engineering & Technology Innovation Management. In the long run I want to create my own service organization to advice companies and Universities and give classes, courses and seminars for the strategical and technical preparation of their students and employees.