He is Spanish, he was born and lived all his life in Brussels, but he claims the identity of a European citizen. Now, he has moved to a student flat in London, where he is studying at one of the best universities in the world .
Noelia Ceballos
The career of this young Spanish man promises to remain as bright as it was before. Carlos Hachero is the son of a European official and a Spanish professor, both from Valladolid in Spain. Although he has grown-up and spent his entire life in Brussels, he has always lived with the reminder that he is “100 % Spanish”.
Accustomed as he is to living outside his country, in 2012 Carlos Hachero took a step further and came to London to study. After a stint in a French School in Brussels, he now belongs to a select group of students enrolled in one of the best British and global universities: King’s College London. He does not hide his satisfaction: “It certainly has been the best decision of my life.”
Gillermo studies politics, law and philosophy. While attending class and going to the library, he still has to decide what he wants to do with his life.
He could be a lawyer, or a journalist and sometimes other professions run through his head. But he is calm with the knowledge that he still has two years left before finishing his degree.
For him, studying means much more than the subjects that are discussed at the end of semester. These are his passions and his main hobby. He is a member of the student debate club and in his spare time he volunteers for British Inflence – a parliamentary pressure group made up of representatives from the three major parties in the House of Commons, to ensure that the UK does not leave the European Union.
In fact, community affairs are this young man’s speciality, despite defending his roots, he maintains that he defines himself first and foremost as “European”. However, he recognises that he may not have chosen the right country in terms of support for the European Union. Proof of this can be found in the latest Eurobarometer (2013), showing that 56% of British people do not share Carlos’s sentiment.
“The UK is the European country with the least difference, and coming from Brussels this is a huge shock.”
Despite this, Carlos believes that this country is the “most efficient in terms of implementation of European law,” as contradictory as this may seem. It is here, in the UK, that he has found a “few pro-Europeans, but people who defend it much more than in other countries.”
Carlos, as an international student himself, admits that life in London runs smoothly for anyone who is introduced into “privileged” circles from the start. “The student community is a complete multinational island.”
Carlos often points out that he is aware of how lucky he is to be studying at King’s College. “The world of student in London is not the same as an immigrant who comes to look for work,” he admits. “We are a very privileged few who live in West London.”
However, he believes that the English are seeing this new wave of Spanish immigration”very positively”.
As soon as new laws come into effect, laws that Government hopes will make immigration more difficult, Carlos predicts that these will affect newcomers to the EU (Bulgarians and Romanians), rather than the Spanish.
Carlos’s advice to other Spanish students who arrive in London would be: “You don’t have to stop being Spanish, but at the same time you must enter into the international community and find your place there.” In fact, students accept that they will defend their country from the prejudices that they can sometimes find in politics or economics. We know that the situation in Spain is bad, but Carlos Hachero argues that “the major Spanish companies are among the largest in the world. This is something that, in a place like London, we must defend.”
(Translated by Grace Essex – Email: grace.essex@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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