I Moved Countries for a University and Dropped Out After 2 Weeks
by Alai Landa
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Two weeks into moving my life to Spain for an Architecture degree, I dropped out.
For years, I thought I wanted to study architecture. But once I started going to class, I realized a couple of things.
1) In Spain, the last two years of high school are your “bachelor’s,” (bachillerato) where classes are based on what you’ve decided you plan on studying in university.
What this meant for me — going to a public Spanish university — was that everyone was two years ahead of me in technical drawing and this weird architectural math I’d never seen before. I remember when I explained this, all the teachers said was, “You better learn fast.”
2) Architecture was way too technical for me.
While I still eventually wanted to build some cool shit, I did not want 5 years of this.
So I was all alone in a foreign city with no one to talk to about feeling like I just made the biggest mistake of my life. Of course, I was wrong, since EvRYtHiNg HaPp3nS FoR a ReAs0n, but this was before I really knew that.
Spanish universities are very different from U.S. universities, or even international schools in Europe. There isn’t really a simple way to “switch majors,” and no one is there to guide you through the process.
After walking out of class a couple of times to go back to my dorm and cry quietly so no one would hear me through the paper-thin walls, I called my parents and told them I wasn’t going to continue architecture.
They told me to give it a year and see, but at this point, I knew this would be a miserable waste of time.
So, I decided that I’d find a major at this school I was interested in and spend the year learning for fun while I figured out what I was going to do with my life.
Since switching majors wasn’t “a thing” here, I had to actually un-enroll myself and reapply for the philosophy “major” (there are no majors or minors in Spain, you are only studying what you apply to) and wait to be accepted all over again.
After a week of having nothing to do, I got accepted and spent the year learning so many interesting things. Even though I probably won’t use that year for anything credit-wise, it taught me about life, myself, and introduced me to new philosophers and philosophies from around the world.
I learned…
Only I can really come to a conclusion of what’s best for me. What got me into this situation was my dependency on my parents for guidance.
I wasn’t stopping to think that I’d actually have to live there and study architecture every day because I was so busy talking about doing it.
A few times of hearing my dad say, “We love it here” to people on our trip to visit the school a few months earlier, and I believed it too.
What to consider before moving your life somewhere…
Stop to think about the things that make you happy at home.
Are there room for these things in your upcoming plans?
For example, something I didn’t consider was that I was miles away from any swimmable body of water after living next to the beach my whole life, and it sucked!
It’s important to acknowledge that big moves — especially to start school — will derail your current reality. Life is going to change completely. But this makes space for new passions, experiences, and lessons to come into your life.
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That year in Spain was full of really low lows and incredibly high highs, and I learned so much about myself and my potential as a human being. I’ll write another post about that — dealing with depression while off at school — and why I’m not going back to a “regular” university.
Don’t stress out too much; your life is divinely guided, and the lessons you need to learn are coming your way. No matter how ugly, hard, or painful, each experience has the potential to open you to the eternal love inside you.
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