An International
Life - Paola Perez
Laura Nelson
When Paola Perez ’02 emigrated to the United States from
Colombia in 1990, she knew she would have to start speaking English
in addition to her native Spanish. What she didn’t know
was that twelve years later, she’d also be speaking German
and Portuguese.
The international nature of her life and her language today astonishes even her.
Perez first began college at the Community College of Rhode Island, where she almost dropped out of her engineering classes because the language was too difficult (even though she had attended high school in Central Falls, the large Hispanic population there allowed her to continue speaking Spanish almost exclusively). Her English quickly improved at CCRI, and she decided to complement her engineering studies there with a German course after she heard a professor talk about job opportunities in German companies such as Porsche and Siemens.
Entering URI in 1998, Perez intended to earn a single degree in mechanical engineering, but she was quickly drawn to the dual-degree opportunity offered by the International Engineering Program (IEP). As an IEP student, Perez studied for a half year at the Technische Universitat Braunshweig in Germany, and did two internships at ZF Lemforder, a division of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers.
After graduating from URI in 2002 with degrees in both mechanical engineering and German, Perez applied and was accepted to the highly competitive international training program at ZF Lemforder. The program, which lasts 15 months, brought her to Germany, Brazil, and Lancaster, South Carolina, where she now works as a sales engineer.
While her job is demanding, Perez is thrilled with it. “Growing up, I never even dreamed of traveling as much as I do now,” she said. Her experiences in various countries have broadened her language skills even more – in addition to English, Spanish and German, she learned Portuguese while living in Brazil. She finds she has to use all four languages in her job, at times all at once.
“Sometimes, I don’t even know what language I’m speaking,” she laughed.
When Paola Perez ’02 emigrated to the United States from
Colombia in 1990, she knew she would have to start speaking English
in addition to her native Spanish. What she didn’t know
was that twelve years later, she’d also be speaking German
and Portuguese.The international nature of her life and her language today astonishes even her.
Perez first began college at the Community College of Rhode Island, where she almost dropped out of her engineering classes because the language was too difficult (even though she had attended high school in Central Falls, the large Hispanic population there allowed her to continue speaking Spanish almost exclusively). Her English quickly improved at CCRI, and she decided to complement her engineering studies there with a German course after she heard a professor talk about job opportunities in German companies such as Porsche and Siemens.
Entering URI in 1998, Perez intended to earn a single degree in mechanical engineering, but she was quickly drawn to the dual-degree opportunity offered by the International Engineering Program (IEP). As an IEP student, Perez studied for a half year at the Technische Universitat Braunshweig in Germany, and did two internships at ZF Lemforder, a division of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers.
After graduating from URI in 2002 with degrees in both mechanical engineering and German, Perez applied and was accepted to the highly competitive international training program at ZF Lemforder. The program, which lasts 15 months, brought her to Germany, Brazil, and Lancaster, South Carolina, where she now works as a sales engineer.
While her job is demanding, Perez is thrilled with it. “Growing up, I never even dreamed of traveling as much as I do now,” she said. Her experiences in various countries have broadened her language skills even more – in addition to English, Spanish and German, she learned Portuguese while living in Brazil. She finds she has to use all four languages in her job, at times all at once.
“Sometimes, I don’t even know what language I’m speaking,” she laughed.