Engineering students mark International Education Week by discussing highlights of living and learning abroad
To help celebrate International Education Week, three Waterloo Engineering students share their academic or co-operative exchange term highlights on video.
Mayyasah Akour, Emma Belliveau and Aleksandar Lakić, discuss their unique experiences studying at universities in Singapore, Turkey and France in 2019.
Numerous Waterloo Engineering students have taken part in an academic or co-operative exchange with one of the many international institutions with which the Faculty has a mobility agreement.
Akour says studying abroad at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Turkey meant she needed to step out of her comfort zone and take risks.
“Ultimately, the experiences that I had, the friends that I made, the food that I tried and the architecture that I saw all came as a result of me putting myself out there and trying something unfamiliar to me,” says the now fourth-year School of Architecture student.
Before travelling overseas, Belliveau didn’t know anyone at the National University of Singapore. But that didn't matter to the nanotechnology engineering student.
“I was really able to take the chance to make new friends, many of whom I still talk to regularly,” she says.
Lakić, who spent his 3B mechanical engineering semester on an exchange term at L'université Savoie Mont Blanc in the French region of Haute-Savoie, learned and adapted to a new type of educational system, with different methods of teaching and marking.
During his time in France, Lakić discovered he is fully capable of making a life for himself in a foreign country and something else.
“I also realize that I have a new favourite cheese, which is a really nice bleu cheese,” Lakić says smiling.
Engineering students, faculty and staff are invited to submit photos that showcase global experience, for example food, cities and landscapes, or highlight a memory or perspective gained through travel, study, and/or work abroad or across Canada.
The deadline to enter is September 30 -- see the online submission form for contest details.
The Waterloo Engineering community has the opportunity to vote for the winner. Check out the submissions and choose your favourite by end of day September 30.
The photo with the most likes will be displayed in the International Office area on the seventh floor of Engineering 7.
