Buddy Programme helps UAB Barcelona Summer School international students feel at home

The Buddy Programme, coordinated by the Community Involvement Unit, aims to help international students participating in the UAB Barcelona Summer School to meet with local students and make their stay on campus easier. During 3 weeks, students took part in activities and immersed themselves in the local culture with workshops such as Catalan from Scratch, offered by the UAB Language Services, and build human towers with the UAB casteller's group Ganàpies.

10/07/2019

Since the first session of the UAB Barcelona Summer School began this past 25 June, UAB students taking part in the Buddy Programme have been accompanying international students in different activities to help them become familiar with the culture of Catalonia during their stay at the UAB.

The social programme began with a language tandem in which international and local students practiced langauges and held an international pot luck to share typical dishes from each person's home country.

During the second week, the buddies accompanied international students in the Catalan from Scratch workshop offered by the UAB Language Services, with the aim of teaching them the basics of Catalan and help make their stay in Barcelona easier. Students were also shown many of the campus' hidden corners, thanks to a walk through the forests and creeks running through the campus. And the UAB casteller's group Ganàpies also formed part of the programme by teaching students about the secrets of building human towers.

The programme will end on 12 July with the closing of the first session and will begin once again on Moday 15 July, with the welcoming of students to the second session of the UAB Barcelona Summer School, who will be able to enjoy the same activities held during these first three weeks.

Fourth Edition of the Buddy Programme

The figure of a buddy uses participation and involvement to favour interactions between local and international students participating in the UAB Barcelona Summer School, facilitates being able to learn and practise other languages, and helps to fully experience their student exchange.

Members of the Buddy Programme are mainly local students who have participated in an Erasmus or UAB Exchange Programme or are planning to in the future and want an international experience at the UAB.