From Developed Nation to Developing Nation...
International student finds way to improve others' lives
By Carol Tomerlin, ’96


What brings an international student to Fort Collins and Colorado State University? For 28-year-old Roberto Arranz of Spain it was a program’s good reputation and the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

 Wanting to enhance his civil engineering degree from the Universidad de Cantabria in Northern Spain with a master’s degree in water resources planning and management, Arranz received recommendations from his adviser for Colorado State University, the University of Illinois (Urbana), the University of Iowa, and an Arizona university—schools all known for their hydrology and water resources expertise.

Arranz researched his options by visiting each university’s Web site but applied only to CSU and the University of Iowa. And, even though the University of Iowa offered him a graduate research assistantship (GRA), CSU won out because Arranz thought the program was better and he couldn’t resist Colorado’s natural beauty.

In August 2004 when he arrived in Fort Collins, Arranz faced the formidable challenge of learning English. Even though he had studied English grammar in Spain, Arranz’s speaking and listening skills were weak. “The first semester I couldn’t even understand what the teacher was saying in class,” he says.

As an international student, Arranz also experienced a sharp increase in tuition, from less than $1,000 per year at a public university in Spain to more than $15,000 per year at CSU. Arranz especially felt the tuition difference during the first semester when he didn’t have a GRA to help pay expenses. Through hard work and perseverance, Arranz convinced a professor to allow him to participate in an irrigated agriculture study in Southern Colorado’s Arkansas Valley.
 
It didn’t take Arranz long to take advantage of opportunities that Fort Collins and CSU offer international students. As a member of Engineers Without Borders, he participated in projects with students from Nepal and El Salvador, spending two weeks in El Salvador during the summer of 2005.

Arranz also participated in social, recreational, and multicultural activities sponsored or organized by the International House (graduate student on-campus housing), as well as Colorado State athletic events and conferences, and Fort Collins International Center activities. A host family also provided moral support and met with him frequently for meals and trips.

Throughout Arranz’s time at CSU, the most challenging experience was also the most rewarding—learning English. Even though he struggled with the language when he first arrived, by the time he earned his master’s degree in July 2006, Arranz says he felt like any other student in the class. “It’s quite rewarding to think that when I first arrived in Fort Collins I couldn’t have a conversation in English, and now I use English as my working language,” he says.

Arranz is now putting his advanced degree and English language skills to use by working as a water and sanitation engineer for Action Contre La Faim, or Action Against Hunger, a French non-governmental organization (NGO). He coordinates the organization’s water and sanitation programs in Afghanistan, previously in the central mountainous area of Hazarajat and recently in Kabul, the country’s capital. The job requires technical expertise, the ability to work in a multicultural environment, and English proficiency, all skills that Arranz attained at CSU.

Even though Arranz uses English to communicate on the job, he is beginning to learn Dari, the Persian dialect spoken in central Afghanistan. In addition, because most of his NGO colleagues are from France, he is working to improve his French language skills.

Putting his professional skills to work on the other side of the world has been an eye-opener for Arranz: “Now, instead of living in one of the richest countries in the world, I am living in one of the poorest. The consequences of more than 30 years of wars are still evident in the countryside and cities.”

His experience and advanced degree are helping Arranz aid people who don’t have access to safe drinking water or basic sanitation, still use firewood and cow dung to cook with and fuel their homes, and live in unhealthy tent camps and shacks. Under the management of Arranz, a team of people from Action Contre La Faim and the local community have built 170 wells equipped with hand pumps for 22,000 people and 510 latrines for 3,000 people, while educating Hazarajat residents about the importance of sanitation.

Reflecting on his post-graduate time in the United States and at CSU, Arranz would recommend the experience to other international students. “My experience at CSU was wonderful. The opportunity to learn a foreign language makes it worthwhile,” he says, “and on top of that, I had a chance to live in the United States, close to the Rocky Mountains, in a multicultural environment, while receiving a good education.”

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