Today was our last day in Bilbao. I am so sad to be leaving, because I had such a great time. We started off our day with our last tours and presentations in the engineering building. We toured a lab where they make electric guitars. That was super interesting because I never thought about all…

We started off our day by visiting the company Tekniker. Tekniker was a really interesting company to visit because of the wide range technologies they work on and manufacture. The company headquarters are in one massive building perched on the top of a hill. The views while driving up the hill were beautiful. I definitely…

We spent most of our day completing a workshop about balance. Throughout this program we have been learning about the Oreka-Balance project that our guest professors Saioa and Mikel have been working on. This project’s goal is to create a device that quantitatively measures a patient’s balance. They created a platform with force sensors that…

We spent most of our day today completing a design workshop. This was a super fun and interesting activity put together by Saioa. We were put into groups and given a design problem, where we had to create a potential solution. The different design problems were dignity during defecation, safe and efficient patient transfer, preventing…

Today was one of our more relaxed days while here in Bilbao. We started off our morning by trying churros and chocolate. The churros were very delicious and paired well with the chocolate. The chocolate was very thick and rich, unlike hot chocolate in the states. It was a yummy way to start our day….

Today was such a great way to end our first week here in Bilbao! We spent most of the day exploring San Sebastian, a small town on the Bay of Biscay. It was a stunning town on the edge of a beautiful bay with mountains surrounding the city. The bay had a large beach where…

It’s nearing the end of our first week in Bilbao and we have already explored so much, yet have much to see! We started off our day by visiting the hospital Basurto. This was a large public hospital in Bilbao. The hospital had a unique design in that each section was in its own separate…

We started off our day by visiting a clinic that uses exoskeletons for rehabilitation purposes. It was fascinating to hear about the technology that goes into helping people regain mobility after suffering from debilitating injuries or conditions. We even got to see some of my peers test out the exoskeletons, and see them in action….

We started off our day with some really interesting presentations from University of Bilbao professors. Our first presentation was about nursing careers and nursing education in Spain. I enjoyed the comparison between the Spanish nursing system and the American nursing systems. The professor also discussed his research on reusing medical devices to make them more…

We started off our day by visiting the seaside Hospital Gorlizo. It is a rehabilitation hospital for stroke patients and patients with limited mobility. It was an incredibly interesting and detailed tour, it felt like we saw every inch of the hospital. We talked extensively to the nurses about their experiences, professional careers, and the…

Hi, my name is Aliya! I am a current freshman here at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in bioengineering. In addition to my bioengineering major, I am planning on minoring in mechanical engineering and mathematics. I am from Portland, Oregon. Although I am far from home, I love living in Pittsburgh! On campus I am…