Entrepreneurship Summer Program in Scotland – I am currently sitting in my room at the Burn. A beautiful historic, Georgian house in the Shires of Aberdeen, Scotland.  My time here is quickly coming to an end. These last couple weeks have been nothing short of inspiring and educational. What I have learned here cannot be written in a few short paragraphs, but will forever affect the way I think and view life.

There are subtle differences between Canada and Scotland. The land looks very similar to home, for the exception of the beautiful castles in the countryside. I have had the opportunity to explore the amazing Dunnottor Castle in Stonehaven, and the city of Edinburgh I climbed all 287 steps of the Scots monument! I also had the opportunity to explore so many gardens and other castles during my time here.  We also toured the Glen Garioch distillery, where I learned what the difference was between the two spellings of whisky/whiskey! I cannot get over this country’s raw beauty.

The couple of differences that stuck out in my mind were their customer service, and driving on the other side of the road! Coming from a customer service back round, the little differences stood out to me. Cars driving on the other side of the road took some getting used to as well! The biggest cultural difference was not actually with the Scots themselves, but with the Chinese students we spent the first week with at school. Seeing most of them use a fork and knife for the first time was very interesting and we had a lot of fun teaching them how to use the utensils!

Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen is where we started our academics. We went to school with German and Chinese students who are also participating in summer courses. We spent our first week there, before coming to the Burn. Interacting with German students has been an amazing opportunity on both a cultural and academic level. Creating business ideas within our group has been a lot of fun. My group consisted of students from both Canada and Germany. We had to reinvent an old business idea or come up with a new idea. Tomorrow we get to present it to the rest of the teams and a panel of judges. The ideas that we came up with were very innovative and creative. We had a lot of fun working together, even with a bit of a language barrier. I even enjoyed working through the challenges we came across.  I will definitely take away the team building and communication skills I have acquired and use them in the future.

Between the historic castles, the guided tours around old Aberdeen, the mysteries of the Loch Ness, and so much more, I have had an experience of a life time. I have met lifelong friends and created memories to tell everyone about when I get home!

Amanda Pyrovolos

International Business

NSCC Truro Campus