Hello again! My name is Dominic Spatola, and I’m from Springfield, Pennsylvania. I am in my sixth semester and studying computer engineering. I am also pursuing concentrations in autonomous systems and software engineering, a minor in economics, and a certificate in product design. I enjoy discovering how new digital technology influences the design process and our workflow.

This semester, I’m studying at ENSEA, an electronics school in Cergy, France, about 45 minutes northwest of Paris by metro. ENSEA runs an exchange program every spring where students from various American universities can take English-taught electrical engineering and computer science classes.

Before coming abroad, I was the workshop chair for the school chapter of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the vice president for the PA Lambda chapter of Tau Beta Pi. I am a general member of Habitat for Humanity and the Recreational Climbing Club. I am also an upcoming board member for the Math Club. Outside of school, I like to go to the gym, climb, and cook. I’ve also picked up grappling thanks to Cergy’s free student classes.

Last summer, I did the summer program for Business, Technology, and Engineering the German Way. So why did I feel like doing another global experience? I was looking to deepen my global experience by observing a new culture, preferably one with a language with which I had no familiarity. My previous global experience had a whole roster of impressive factory tours, so now I wanted to observe the day-to-day life of a student: foreign classes, foreign bills, foreign groceries. I wanted to see how the French are taught in their schools and how it relates to balance. After all, keeping everything running while apparently having so many holidays and coffee breaks is quite a feat. I hoped to find a school-life balance. I felt like I was scratching the surface of it in Munich, but I let it slip away back in Pittsburgh soon after.

In a professional sense, I wanted to see what sort of work engineers would do in Paris. Paris has some of the fastest trains in Europe, and I find it a marvel how the trains run so fast and how the timetables are so accurate. By serendipity, I was available to talk with an employee at Alstom in Paris about stochastic AI while hitching a ride from Beauvais Airport. Furthermore, Paris is an avant-garde hub; you can find entire neighborhoods of just studios. These studios excel at creativity and a relentless pursuit to try new things, and I wanted to bring these advantages into my degree. Of course, like in my school work mentioned above, I pursued the secrets to work-life balance. Staying in France a bit let me test the waters for pursuing a job in Europe as well.

I also saw an opportunity to have more free time to get to know the country. While my summer program was rigorous in order to maximize our time in Munich, and rightfully so, I knew the slower pace of college life would allow me to gain a deeper appreciation of the culture. This would manifest as visits to cafés and restaurants, exploring Paris’ numerous museums and gardens, and traveling around France and Europe. I wanted to explore France’s ubiquitous cuisine, especially their pastries and cheeses, find what makes the traditions and flavors tick, and possibly bring some of those lessons to my own kitchen. I also wanted to see France’s museums to learn how they put their history together and to reflect on how it compares to American history. Encompassing all of this, I wanted to travel and explore a new place at my own pace so I could broaden my horizons and inspect my own values. Thanks to the generous tuition and 4 weeks of break, I was able to visit fifteen new countries in addition to France, even leaving Europe for a bit.

And look, I’m not going to hide it. I wanted to scratch the gap year itch, a lot of classes transferred to my major, and the tuition was cheaper than Pitt tuition.