We are happy to announce that the second monitoring meeting was successful due to the participation of most of the 38 students who are granted with an ERASMUS+ KA107 scholarship for the second semester of the academic year 2022/2023.
We could have a nice talk about daily issues and share the experience of studying at the University of Valladolid. We do hope that the rest of the semester will go on smoothly and we wish you all a prosperous end of your mobility stay!
THE ERASMUS+ KA107 TEAM
I am Adrián de la Fuente Ballesteros, a Ph.D. student in Analytical Chemistry in the TESEA Research Group (Separation Techniques and Applied Analysis) at the University of Valladolid (Spain). I consider myself as a curious person, with initiative and very adventurous. I am passionate about learning about other cultures and immersing myself in new experiences, so I decided to apply for one of the grants offered by the University of Valladolid within the Erasmus+ KA107 program. I decided to choose Vietnam, at the University of Thai Nguyen University of Sciences (TNUS) because I wanted to get to know a new culture and live a different experience from the ones I usually have in Europe. Through this scholarship, I lived for 7 days in Thai Nguyen and enjoy a training and teaching program.
On the first day, I met all the TNUS staff and interacted with the university colleagues, the communications center, external relations, and representatives of the Faculty of Chemistry. I then attended a scientific conference organized by the Faculty of Chemistry on the possibilities of cooperation between the Analytical Chemistry research group of the University of Valladolid, and Vietnamese groups. I was able to learn about a new educational system and give a short talk about my research group, the University of Valladolid and the Spanish culture. The next day, I gave some lectures to undergraduate chemistry students about research I have done in my thesis on the development of chromatographic methods for the study of contaminants in beehive products. The students were very enthusiastic and curious about the samples of hive products that I took to show them. The students also actively communicated with me about opportunities and ways of collaboration to visit the University of Valladolid.
In addition to exchanging research and teaching, I was able to enjoy Vietnamese culture by visiting the Thai Hai Ethnic Village. Here, I learned about the culture, medicinal plants, and cuisine. Fortunately, I visited the bee house and learn about the honey production process, which is very interesting to me from a personal point of view as it is my area of study.
This internship has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life because it has given me insights into different conceptions of chemistry, do networking, and gaining self-confidence. Moreover, I know that this stay will internationalize my scientific career and soon I will establish collaborations between research groups.
Finally, I would like to thank Professor Vinh Nguyen for welcoming me to his university and for making me feel like one of his family. I would also like to thank my thesis supervisors José Bernal del Nozal and Ana M. Ares Sacristán for allowing me to carry out this short stay that will internationalize my CV. Finally, I would also like to thank the Department of International Relations of the University of Valladolid to promote these programs to academic staff, thanks to which we can learn from different educational systems and establish fruitful collaborations with prestigious centers.
If you have any questions or need some advice, feel free to contact me by email (adrian.fuente.ballesteros@uva.es), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-fuente-ballesteros/) or Twitter (@fuenteball).
Erasmus+ KA107 - UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID 