We are delighted to introduce you to our new student ambassador, Ida Lagerlöf. She is participating in EC Montreal’s French programme. She is an outgoing student and we are confident she will make everyone feel welcome at EC!
Here is a little something from Ida!
Salut!
My name is Ida Lagerlöf, I´m from Sweden, Stockholm (the capital city). I´m currently 19 years old, and back home in Sweden I live with my mom, dad and little brother Oscar who is 17 years old. I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood almost one hour away from downtown of Stockholm. In June 2019 I graduated from my three years of high school, where I studied in a scientific program which specialized on marine life and biology. After my graduation, I started to work in a store for interior design, and I worked there up until my departure for Canada. Nearly a year ago, I decided that I wanted to go to Canada to study language, and since I love the French language, I decided to choose Canada for several reasons: I had already been to France, I wanted to be able to practice my English at the same time as my French ( I chose to only study French though, since I can practice my English when speaking to the locals and such), and I had never been in a country situated on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. I really feel like my choice was the best one possible so far.
My first day in Montreal was in the last day of November, a Saturday. On Sunday I went to the welcome tour with the school, and I immediately felt welcomed and safe in the school environment. After just a few days, I had got a lot of friends already, which was one of my biggest concerns as a new student. I felt overwhelmed by all the new impressions, experiences, and meeting new people felt like a big task for someone new in a totally unknown city to me. But thanks to how caring and welcoming the staff at the school was, and thanks to all the lovely students being in my class when I first got there, all my hesitations about not getting friends and not being able to manage all the impressions of a new city, was totally gone with the wind. Everything was over my expectations. I was happily surprised with how fast you get to know people in school, and how fast you actually adjust to the environment concerning the new language that you are going to study for during your time at EC. I came here to learn French, and I actually have some experience from my educational years in Sweden, where I took French for about 4 years, where one for the years was in high school. So, as a conclusion, it has been a while since I practiced my French, hence why my French was fairly dusty so to speak. But now, more than a month in, I feel like my knowledge in French really has grown, which makes me happy. It will probably take me some time to improve and change level and such, but since the only person you should compare yourself with, the fact that my learning might take some time is really not a problem. That is also one of the things I’ve learnt here: You should never compare your accomplishments to others, because the earlier experiences in the subject that you are studying differs from person to person, so all that matters is how you as a person develops your knowledge, compared to what you knew in the beginning and where you are now.
The reason why becoming a student ambassador interests me is because I was very impressed by the student ambassadors that took care of me when I first got to the school. They really helped me at the time, being a new student with a lot to learn about both school and the stated culture in Montreal. I love helping people. Also, making people feel included is really important to me, and as I understood it, that is one of the most important things that the student ambassador can contribute with. And I like meeting new people from all around the world, and I also enjoy being a part of the activities that the school holds for the students. So, being a student ambassador sounds really appealing to me, and I would love to help students at the school feel welcomed, included, understood, seen and respected.
If you choose to study French or English at EC Montreal, you will already have a friend in Ida!