Starting over is never easy, especially in a different country, miles away from home with so many challenges along the road. Challenges that include for instance: learning the new language, the culture and the way of life. This can easily be portrayed in the college life here in Canada.
At Algonquin College, the school is one of the few that opens its doors to many international students so that they may experience the diverse programs abroad. Over 3,000 students have been enlisted in the past years, including 500 in the language training process. One program in particular, EAP (English for Academic Purposes), presented quite the challenge and experience for the students.
Batoul Shaiban, a Project Management Program student from Saudi Arabia, personally had a few things to say about the EAP Program. “The pros were that I got to meet some amazing people and most of us were newcomers to Canada which made it easier to connect. Another pro is that I got used to Brightspace which helped later in my program. The con was only because my experience was mainly online which doesn’t really work well with me and there was a fixed schedule so no flexibility”.
Luis Mojica, Arquitect student from Dominican Republic had similar responses as well. “The main downside of EAP when I took it at that moment was that we didn’t have a real interaction with our classmates. At the other side, the pros of that program all that you will be prepared for your next program in Algonquin because you learn how to develop assignments, presentation, and many things that we will use in our future program [sic]”.
The principal reason to study abroad is for the experience and for many international students this also includes the whole infrastructure and style of education. Batoul said: “I recently visited the gym and the bowling area and I was impressed and for the education the course can provide the knowledge needed if the student put an effort”. Luis Mojica, Architecture student from Dominican Republic, was impressed by the building at first sight: “The building is modern, clear, and very organized. I really like the structure in this college”.
Both Batoul and Luis share the same feelings as many international students studying at Algonquin College. It is obviously not something simple to leave your home and study abroad, but what motivates the most is the opportunity to show personal talents to the locals and be able to be a part of it, with the tools already gained in our home countries and with that, create an impact that would certainly be positive to everyone.
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