It is not a rare thing to graduate from high school and not know what the future holds for you or what you plan to do next. Well that is the story for Oriol Morer and he along with the help of his parents decided that a trip to the United States to is a good place to start. “I’m from Spain, Barcelona and basically I decided to come to the United States right after high school when I graduated. I really didn’t know what to do in college over there and what my major would be,” he says. “So me and my parents just decided to send me at least one year abroad to try to improve my English and learn a new culture and live a new experience. I loved it so much that I decided to finish my college years and graduate here in the U-S before coming back home.”
After spending a bit of time of time out West, Oriol Morer contacted a friend attending Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont. That one call was enough to influence Oriol to come to the college. “Well first of all I didn’t go to SVC [Southern Vermont College] right away. I went to San Diego California and I was there for three years. I got my associate degree over there, but then since I knew Ludovic who is a friend of mine and he also is an international student and he is here at SVC and I knew him from high school because we went to high school together,” he says. “So I just kept in touch with him and since he was on the East coast and I had never been to the East coast before I was like maybe I should try to go to some place else so I can see something different and that is why I came here.”
Oriol is a junior majoring in Business Management. He says the size of the college is good for him. When he isn't studying his time is spent playing Basketball or hanging out with other college friends. “What I like about this college is that since it is a small college we can pretty much know everybody so you get to meet a lot of people because when I was in San Diego my college was like really big and you almost met nobody because people just were going in and out and you didn’t have a chance to meet a lot of people,” he says. “But over here since it is a small college, it is pretty much like a big family. Everybody knows everybody. So it makes it pretty interesting and what I do my main thing over here is playing Basketball that’s what I love and besides that I just go to the movies and listen to music and hang out with my friends…. nothing special.”
Oriol says coming to the United States to get an education is something he doesn't take lightly. He says being here is a dream come true and he is definitely enjoying his experiences. “For me it was a big thing because I am aware that not everybody can have the chance to go to college and especially here in the United States and then since Basketball was one I really love Basketball and it is a really big thing in America it was one of my dreams to be able to play college basketball here in America and I have the chance and the opportunity to do that, so I am really grateful for that and especially to my parents because they really like supported me and helped me out to come over here,” he says. “I am aware like when I talk to all of my friends most of them are like ‘you are really lucky to be over there’ and having this opportunity and I am really aware of that. That is why I am just trying to make my experience the best and try to enjoy as much as I can right now.”
The social atmosphere and nightlife here is totally different for Oriol. He says back home in Spain it is a bit livelier and that along with a few other things back home he misses. “Well definitely the food…I miss the food a lot and I know like the rhythm of life we have over there is totally different because over here we are use to having dinner at 5 pm and having lunch at noon whereas in Spain we just like maybe the day starts a little later but we have lunch around 2 o’clock and then we have dinner around 9 o’clock,” he says. ‘Then the nightlife over here is pretty much like it is not very outgoing because people they never really go out of there houses and just like walk around. They just go with their cars someplace and then they come back and then that is it,” he adds. “Whereas in Spain you just can walk in the streets until like midnight and 1 o’clock [in the morning] and there are still people over there in the bars and I don’t know I think it is just like when you go outside it is loud because you see a lot of people so I know it just makes it…makes it real nice.”
Oriol Morer still has another year before he graduates from Southern Vermont College. Going home to Spain is what Oriol says he will more than likely do.