Today marked our first full day in Bilbao! We kicked things off at the Bilbao School of Engineering, where we met Professor Saioa. She is an industrial engineer who teaches at the university and runs a research project! She first told us an overview of Bilbao and the university. I was really surprised about some of the differences when compared to the United States. Then, she introduced us to an innovative project called Oreka-Balance. Hearing directly from her about how the team developed the idea from start to finish was very interesting. I felt that this was the most engaging part of the day and that I learned a lot. What stood out most was how much emphasis they place on actually listening to healthcare professionals and patients. They made sure that their product would be the best for their target group, stoke patients, by implementing feedback from professionals. It’s clear that they care about creating something genuinely useful and practical in a medical setting. I also was especially shocked when I found out that they do not make much money off of this project. They invested this much time and effort to help others, not just to make money.
After the presentations, we had lunch at the university cafeteria. It ended up being a full three-course meal, and it exceeded expectations by a lot. The pasta I had was really good! It was also a nice break to talk with other students on the trip about how interesting everything that we had just learned was.
In the afternoon, we explored the city with a local guide who showed us both the historic and modern sides of Bilbao. We first saw the “Cathedral”, a fútbol field. This was cool because the Basque area is known for how they only recruit Basque people for the team, so seeing where they actually play and practice provided some connections to what I had already known. Walking through the streets, we saw many interesting sights and also learned the history behind them. The mix of old and new gave the city a really distinct character. My favorite thing that we saw on this tour was the Puppy sculpture made of flowers! Along the way, we stopped for pintxos, which quickly became a favorite food of mine.
By the evening, we had some free time, so a few of us ventured towards The Guggenheim to eat dinner. We found this great pintxos place and ordered one of every type to all split and try. My favorite was the ham and cheese croquette. It was the perfect start to the trip. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
