Nora Melero is from Pamplona and is studying 3rd year of Degree in attendance Management at campus in San Sebastian. This semester, like most of her classmates, she has spent this year abroad on Erasmus; specifically in Toronto (Canada), thanks to the agreement of ISSA with Centennial College. 

With a determined smile and very bright eyes, she states, forcefully, that the experience has been unbeatable. Canada captivated her from day one, despite the harshness of the weather. "It has been the coldest winter in the last 30 years. When I arrived in Toronto the thermometer read -30º... then the body gets used to it and from -10º to -20º there is no difference grade . There, at -5º, people wear suspenders," he recalls.

 "What has impressed me most has been the multiculturalism. Forty percent of the inhabitants are immigrants. I shared classroom with Indians, Koreans, Russians, Venezuelans, Chinese... The least common were Canadians. I loved getting to know so many cultures at the same time," he says.

The form of teaching has not left him indifferent either. "I enrolled in 4 subjects at the Postgraduate level: Business Communication, International Business Law, Global Analysis & Research and International Banking and Finances. I have always been attracted to finance so I chose the latter subject, despite being the most complicated. It was a good decision: after taking it, an exciting world has opened up for me," he admits.

"The methodology in Canada is much more continuous, based mainly on assignments, both individual and group", he explains. "In the assessment of the subject I counted 40% the papers, 30% the MidTerm (it is a test similar to the midterm exams in Spain although it does not release subject) and 30% the final examination. My impression is that it is easier approve although much more difficult to get good grades since a lot of subject is given in a very short time."

Nora emphasizes that this form of teaching forces you to develop a lot of time organization and management ."Every weekend we had to do work. The exams are concentrated in 3 days so I had to do the 4 in a row. I am very happy because despite the stress of the first few weeks I managed to get good grades," she says.

Outside the classroom

As for accommodation, Nora chose to live at residency program in the center of the city. It was far from the College but she didn't want to miss out on Canadian life for anything in the world. "Toronto doesn't have much life in the evenings so I took advantage of every minute during the day. I met a Mexican girl at the College and we became close friends. We went around every corner of the city and of course we did a lot of sightseeing too: Ottawa, Quebec, Chicago, New York, Niagara Falls... I also had the opportunity to go skiing at Blue Mountain and hiking on the frozen lakes of Quebec," she recalls.

As for the future, Nora is clear that after this experience she will return to Canada. "I plan to return. To do a master's degree there and stay working for 4 or 5 years to gain experience. Not much longer. In Canada if you have a employment of responsibility it is very difficult to have a life outside of work and that is not what I aspire to."

"While there, I attended an Alumni Network event where I was able to make my first contacts, mainly with Scotiabank, one of the strongest banks in Canada. It is in continuous expansion and its most ambitious projects and businesses are with Latin American countries and Mexico. That is why it is a bank that values Spanish-speaking people very much. I think these contacts will be very useful to me when the time comes.