How are you doing? Good, how are you? Good, thank you.
Let's get started. Can you start off by telling us your program, your year of study and where you grew up?
I'm going to my fourth year in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. I am from and currently living in Toronto.
Wonderful! So Dariya added French Immersion to her program and she also completed one Co-op work placement as a research assistant.
She also participated in a Community Service Learning Program and she recently took part of an exchange program in France.
Could you describe to us your transition, what it is was like moving from Toronto to Ottawa?
For sure so,
I think in general for most students coming into University,
your first week is super fun, a sensory overload, and you're discovering lots parts of the city and the campus
and then after 101 week, a lot of initiation
you get hit by the school work and maybe homesickness and a little bit of stress, obviously that comes with school,
I think what helped me is taking parts of those phases to really settle into Ottawa
so I really appreciated the people I met in
the places I discovered my first week,
I let that be kind of like a de-stressor for my school phase
and I think coming from Toronto,  you kind of have a special eye for seeing things in the city
because you're used to so much going on and so many things to do, and Ottawa definitely does provide that,
it's just you have to look for it. I think with the train, it's been so nice that we finally got it a year ago,
It just get to bring you to different parts of the city and you make it really feel like home
and that's really important I think when you're transitioning into University
and living on the campus and being in a student area, downtown, you really feel like  a strong uOttawa community
and that's basically why I came to Ottawa, I wanted the amenities of a big city without feeling too overwhelmed and still feel at home with my friends.
Wonderful! Can you speak to us now a little bit about
your experiences with a French immersion program?
For sure, so I did a French immersion all through in elementary school and high school and I wanted to continue it
and it's super, it's so diverse I find, because you could do it very basic
like grammar courses or you could also just take your courses in French, which is what I did,
and we have a lot of resources
to help you transition so when I was doing
a course in French you could do a helper course
which is once a week, it counts as a credit
and it just helps you with the vocabulary that you
learned in your French Political Science course
also, if you do at least two courses in French per semester, you get a bursary
which is always very nice. How much is the bursary? The bursary is $500 per semester
which, really adds up and it's really nice after 4 years of spending in undergrad.
And there are a lot of resources as well,
there's a French Immersion Office, that they have workshops.
I really hope you'll have all of your confidence, because coming to uOttawa,
linguistic and insecurity is a think, and if you're like me in French Immersion, you're a little shy with your French,
You'll have a lot of opportunities to practice, your accent will improve,
and you wiIl recognize that, again linguistic and insecurity is a thing, everyone is dealing with it
and then you learn to kind of get over it and be able to speak in both languages very comfortably.
Perfect! Great!
So, you also went to France on an international exchange this past fall, so can you explain
why you wanted to do that and what was involved in participating in the exchange?
So, I wanted to go to France because I was in French Immersion and I just really wanted to improve my language
I'm also in Political Science and it's awesome that uOttawa has so many great connections with awesome schools
so you can do an exchange at
any Sciences Po school in France.
I didn't mind in Paris which was just like an incredible opportunity
and uOttawa also does a really good job with preparing you for an exchange, we have workshops.
The year before you leave, you have a workshop like once every 3 months to really prepare you,
so take advantage of that and that's what I did. I think that answers the question.
That's perfect!
So what would you give as a tip for somebody that wants to participate in an exchange?
Get started early on your Visa applications, they will
tell you this in the workshops,
they will stress it on their website and I'm going to stress it too, listen to them because I didn't,
I had a nightmare story of having to rebook my ticket, my visa didn't come on time, so definitely have that done early.
as well, if you ever feel nervous of going on an exchange, everyone that I know who has done a year of immersing
it's such an international community when you're there
it can also have its ups and downs, if you want to go on an exchange to really immerse  yourself in the city,
I find it a bit challenging because you're always surrounded with other international students,
but obviously it has its ups and downs because you feel so comfortable,
and you're transitioning with them the whole time. So it's really a lovely environment to be in.
Yeah, nice you share kind some of the  commonalities with them.
Yeah, you're scared at the same time and you talk about how mean Parisians are, together.
So, now you also benefited from the Community Service Signing Program.
Can you explain to us a little bit what that is and what you did as part of your volunteering?
Yeah! So, it's just an application on uoZone which is the uottawa student portal,
it has always opportunities for volunteering all throughout the city and I'm pretty sure even beyond.
I got involved in the first year, because I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my degree,
and if you're in Poli-Sci in Ottawa,
you obviously are going to want to be on the Hill!
So, I did my first placement as a committee volunteer,  so I would go to committees and write summaries for an MP,
and my second placement, I was in an MP office and then I discovered that I didn't really like Hill politics.
But some people discover that they really like working in Canadian politics.
So I was really thankful for that opportunity, to find out what I really liked to do in the rope of the Political Science.
Wonderful! Now doing Community Service Program, does it give you credit or is it a mention?
I believe you have a separate certificate for doing it, and just the opportunity itself helps you a lot
the other thing is you learn, you will have an interview, you will be doing office tasks, so it really helps you  and sets up for a job later on.
So it gives you a kind of a practical experience to figure out what you like and what you maybe don't like.
You set up your network, 100%, especially if you want the Hill, that's your go-to figure network on the Hill.
Yeah,  wonderful!
I just want to circle back quickly for the International Exchanges, so you would take part in those in the second year, right?
You can do it after your third year, you can do it in your third and fourth year
but it's only in your third year that you start preparing and in your second you start going to the workshops.
but you will get a lot of emails, read your emails because they will tell you everything!
Perfect! Thank you so much Dariya, thank you for your experiences.
Thank you!
