Students joined event promoted by Academic Mobility team
Students share international experiences during Speak Out Photos: Camila Cunha
In an effort to share the opportunities enjoyed and the challenges faced abroad, students who did the Academic Mobility Program in 2018 congregated in the evening of Mar 12, at the atrium of Building 9, for Speak Out: Experiências Internacionais. The mobility session addressed topics of importance to students, including pre-departure, departure, proficiency exams, the country and university of destination as well as tips on getting there, finding accommodation, courses to sign up for and the local people.
Individual and non-stop experiences
For Psychology major Stephanie Mello, 23, who went to the Universidad Marista de Guadalajara, in Mexico, her experiences in the country propelled to grow personally and professionally. “Doing a mobility program gets us to recognize our weaknesses but also our strengths”, she adds. The need to fit in to understand a different culture get us to reflect about the real value of life. “In my understanding, to choose a country in Latin America is to choose to live the delicacy and fragility of these places, to give the simple things the right value as they abound in affection and positive energy”, she says.
Having the chance to meet different people required some time to adapt and fit in. And this will give us a tremendous learning experience when it comes to relating to locals. Journalism major Maria Eduarda Petek, 22, who went to Newcastle University, in Newcastle, UK, stresses the importance to visit different places to enjoy the experience to the fullest and get into the culture. “I made friends from all over the world. I spent some time in different places, different cultures. I also had the chance to brush up my English and work on my writing,” she says.
A unique event
Speak Out is a unique moment for former mobility students as they have an opportunity to share their different views, perspectives and feelings about their experience. “It’s funny that each one of us experienced the same things in such different ways. I think this is such an important detail for the audience since it makes things easy for us to choose the country”, Stephanie adds. After sharing, students are more comfortable to face all the red paper that might be ahead of them. “If we look at the things that makes us worry from a different perspective, we may see the bigger picture. We knew what we were supposed to do and where we wanted to go”, Maria Eduarda finishes.
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