My name is Nicholas Kizewski and I am the Business Badgers Abroad Blogger for the summer and will be studying in Barcelona, España for the next two months! While here, I will be taking classes in both international marketing and international management.
A little more about my background first: I am a Wisconsin native and was born and raised in Wisconsin Rapids, WI. I am a fifth-year super senior pursuing a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE) and a certificate in Business. On campus I am a part of a few student orgs including: The UW-Madison Alpine Ski and Snowboard Team, The Center for Educational Opportunity (CeO), Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), and the UW-Madison Chapter of Camp Kesem. A few of my favorite passions at school include watching Wisconsin Sports, listening to music, beating my roommates at Super-Smash Bros. (shots fired), binge-ing anime, procrastinating, staying up way too late, and creating debauchery with my friends.
So why Spain you ask? I wanted a challenge but more importantly, I wanted a change. When I was first picking out a list of potential cities I wanted to sign up for, I was leaning towards Amsterdam and Paris. After finding out that I was unable to take the classes I wanted to abroad in either of these two choices, I changed my approach to Spain! Although no one from my immediate family has ever traveled outside of North America before, I was especially excited about Barcelona due to all the praise the city got from both its visitors and residents. While I’ve only taken two years of Spanish back in high school, I am confident that I can pick up enough conversational language skills to help me succeed in daily life. I made my final decision to apply to Barca after speaking with one of my roommates about her study abroad trip to Granada! Once I found out firsthand about all the amazing food, dancing, music, and people, I was sold.
While in Spain, I want to capitalize on the opportunity to immerse myself in a culture totally different than the one I’m accustomed to on campus. Although this process will not be easy, I believe if I continue to put myself outside my comfort zone, I can accomplish my goals. During this time, I want to work on improving my time management skills, find a more sustainable school/personal life balance, and reflect on my personal values. I have honestly been waiting for this trip my entire life and now that I’m finally here I can’t wait to learn as much as possible both about Spain and myself. While getting to this point has been no easy task, I wanted to take a moment to shout out my academic advisors, my parents, friends, and business school study abroad drop in advisors for helping me get to Spain in one piece! While adapting to this new lifestyle has been exhilarating, I am still nervous about making new friends, my lack of Spanish speaking skills, and getting around the city. I have never lived in a city as large as Barcelona before, but the reality check I get every morning helps push me past many of my insecurities.
On Wisconsin!
Go Brew Crew!
-Nicholas
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