Ola Przydatek (microbiology)
My name is Ola and I’m a third-year microbiology major at UVic. I spent my summer working as a research assistant at the Centre Hospitalier de Valenciennes (CHV) in Valenciennes, France.
I’ve always wanted to study or work abroad in France, so when I saw this opportunity pop up on the co-op portal, I thought “Why not!”.
Contributing to hospital research
At the hospital, I was involved in collecting motion-capture data of patients suffering from various ailments. My position also consisted of learning how to program a new software that would allow for the analysis of novel movements captured in this hospital laboratory.
By the end of my co-op, I could independently prepare a patient for testing, test them, and analyse their data. I also spent time at the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (UPHF), where I did most of my programming and project planning.
This job was much more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. The programs coded by the other UVic student and I, along with the patient testing protocols we developed, were actually integrated by the hospital staff as part of their regular rehabilitation practices.
The benefits of working in France
This job was very cool, but after living in Northern France, so close to the Belgian border, one thing I’ll miss a lot is the food! Delicious bread, affordable, nutritious meals at the UPHF and the CHV, fantastic waffles, and amazing fries were all part of my weekly diet.
One of my other favourite things about living abroad in France was how easy it was to visit amazing places. Every weekend I discovered a new city: Zurich, Gent, Brugge, Dunkirk, Nice, Calais, Brussels… the list goes on! Additionally, in Europe, everything is very student-friendly.
From discounted train tickets and public transit to free museum entry and free events, I’ll miss the ease of experiencing new things without worrying about the cost. But, since the French have no school over the summer, there were few other international students to interact with.
So, something I recommend to students considering a summer exchange in France is to go with a buddy from UVic!
Developing confidence through an international experience
This international experience helped me develop a level of resilience I didn’t know I had. Being so far away from my usual support system, I was forced to rely on myself to get things done, especially due to the cultural differences between Canadian and French student support systems.
I was surprised by how much my confidence grew and how much I developed the sense that everything would work out eventually. And it did! Although I was only gone for three months, my co-op in Valenciennes was one of my most memorable university experiences."