Marcia Coueslan
A lot of people will tell you that finding a job abroad is next to impossible. I suppose that if you listen to people who say that, then it is true. I really wanted the chance to work in Scotland, and once I started looking for work the odds didn't seem as insurmountable as people had lead me to believe.
After applying, I was hired by a research institute based just outside of Aberdeen, Scotland, in a village of 8000 people. It truly proved to be an experience from day one. Roads in Scotland are just not the same as they are in Canada. For starters, a two lane road in Scotland is about a single lane width in Canada. They also tend to twist and turn quite a bit. In fact, you would swear the Scots built their roads around every rock that got in the way instead of moving the rock. The Scottish people consider this normal, and drive at about 60 mph on these roads. My boss almost got into two crashes on the way back from picking me up from the airport. I spent the first two weeks praying for my life every time I got into a car, and I felt queasy at the very thought of flying down those roads. I won't even mention what the single track roads were like.
The next surprise I got was seeing what was to be my home for the next four months. The institute hires a number of placement students each year, so they provided free accommodations on the grounds of the institute. I had been assigned a miniature trailer home as an accommodation. It had its good points and its bad points. On the positive side, most people shared rooms and had twin beds. I had my own room with a double bed. I also had my own kitchen. On the negative side, the trailer was quite drafty even with the windows shut. My bedroom was full of small, green spiders. And I did not have running water. The closest thing I had to a toilet was in the nettle patch behind the trailer, and wouldn't you know just because of that I had to go to the lou every single night I spent in that trailer. Not only did I have to avoid being stung by nettles, I also had to avoid being seen by the security guards patrolling the grounds. I remember thinking that first night, 'Good God, what have I got myself into.'
I was very fortunate in that most of the other students were my age and from a variety of places. I worked with students from the Netherlands, Scotland, Wales, England, Italy, and Spain. I definitely discovered that other countries view things much differently than Canadians do. We also had some rivalry. I can't say I was very popular when Donovan Bailey won the 100 meter dash in the Olympics because everyone else knew that Christie was faster. Despite the rivalry, everyone made me feel quite welcome. The second night I was there, about 12 people took me out for my first taste of Scottish pub life, and I continued to taste it once or twice a week for the rest of my stay. We also did quite a bit of sight seeing as a group because most of us had never been in the area before.
The work I did over the summer was surveying erosion in the Scottish highlands. I had to survey different field sites-- one which saw no human visitation and one that saw high levels of human use all year round. I soon discovered that I was going to be paid to hike in mountains that people from all over Europe pay hundreds of dollars to hike every summer. I can't describe the exhilaration that you feel when you climb to the top of a mountain and look out over the countryside below--unless of course it is cloudy and raining, quite a common occurrence. It makes you feel like you are the only person in the world and that you are seeing things that no one has ever seen before.
One of the other projects I was involved with was interviewing visitors to the high usage field site. I got to meet travellers from all over Europe and from as far away as Zimbabwe. It was a great chance to meet people with lots of interesting stories. There seems to be a certain camaraderie between people when you meet them up in the hills. I think the couple that sticks out in my mind the most is the couple that had come to the mountain to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. They had come there to Cairn Gorm Mountain for their honeymoon 40 years earlier and had come back to relive their memories.
The summer of '96 is one that I am going to remember for the rest of my life. I met wonderful friends, got an invaluable work experience, and got to experience another country by living and working with the people there. If anyone ever has a chance to work abroad I really think that they should take it. It will be one of the most rewarding experiences they will ever have. If anyone has any questions they would like to ask me about working or going to school abroad, I can be reached at cen6mlc@leeds.ac.uk. I would be happy to hear from you.