My International Exchange Application Nightmare

To be able to put this application process into context, and to help future students in my program who wish to participate on international exchange, I must state my program of study. I am in French-English-Spanish Translation with a Minor in Arabic Language and Culture.

I have actually found out just this week that the University of Ottawa is known internationally for being an administrative nightmare. I always knew this was somewhat true. I was aware that getting anything done with the University of Ottawa administration would take weeks. I knew this just from minor inquiries about my own degree.

The University of Ottawa promotes the International Office and international exchanges everywhere. Whether it be on posters around campus, on their website, in emails, and in tours given to incoming students. The University of Ottawa wants all its students to do an international exchange. Considering how much they promote international exchanges, I figured that the application process would be nothing short of a breeze. But boy, was I ever wrong.

The first part of applying to participate in an international exchange includes applying for an eligibility letter. This is where they check to make sure that you have enough credits, and a high enough CGPA. This was the easiest part of the exchange. I got my letter of eligibility rather quickly.

The rest of the application form was quite simple. Filling out my contact information, my resume, my letter of motivation, and all that other formal and technical stuff was, in fact, a breeze. However, this is where it ends.

In order to apply for an international exchange, you must select three host institutions abroad. I wanted to go to Spain. Being in translation, there was a limited number of institutions I could choose from, but I managed to pick three.

Once you have selected your three host institutions, you must fill out a preliminiary course selection form with course code, course description, course hours, lab hours, and credits.

For other programs and other institutions, the University of Ottawa already has equivalent courses, to help make your internatioanl exchange application process that much easier. However, when I looked, there was absolutely nothing for translation. The only help I got was for Universidad de Salamanca, in Salamanca, Spain, and that was from a friend, and not from the International Office. So already, the University of Ottawa's International Office was not doing its job.

Since I could not find any information about courses, I decided to email the International Office. I was told that since it is rare for students in Translation to go on international exchange, so they did not even bother asking the partner institutions for equivalent courses.

This means that I had to look for courses, all by myself, for Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona, Spain, and for Universidad de Alicante, in Alicante, Spain. Now, you may be asking yourself "But wait... What is so bad and difficult about finding a few courses by yourself? "

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Spanish websites are in general very, very poorly laid out. They are usually incomplete. They information is not regularly updated. They are circular, and extremely difficult to navigate. Spanish university websites are the worst offenders. In fact, my brother, who is a software engineer, could not believe how hard it was to gather any kind of information from these websites.

It took me an entire month of digging through websites, emailing people, and calling people in Spain to finally get the courses I needed. But, did I find everything that I needed? Of course not. I found course codes and course descriptions. The rest? It was all guess work. I had to manually calculate the course hours and laboratory hours for the courses - and even those were estimates, as Spanish universities do not update their academic calendars in time, thus, I was using the academic calendar of the previous year.

The majority of my phone calls and emails went unanswered and unreturned. And the International Office was not helping me at all. This process was extremely, extremely stressful, and frustrating.

Finally, I had everything I needed. This preliminary course selection form was to be handed in by February 1, 2016, in order for your application to be successful. But, since I was the first person in Translation going on international exchange to these institutions, I figured that it would be smart to hand in my preliminary course selection form early. Because, if something was rejected, I would have the time to contact the people in Spain to make the necessary corrections, given how long it took me to gather all the information in the first place.

I handed in my preliminary course selection form on January 15, 2016 - nearly two weeks before the deadline. I was aware that this would take a while, especially since I was the first person going to these institutions. February 10, 2016 rolls around, and my preliminary course selection has yet to be approved. Nearly a month has passed, and the University of Ottawa still has not processed and approved a one-page document. At this point, I was beginning to panic, and get frustrated. I needed to have this approved, or rejected as soon as possible, so I could start bothering Spain again as soon as possible.

I emailed the Faculty of Art, as it is your faculty that is responsible for approving your preliminary course selection. I was given quite a rude response saying how the Faculty of Arts has to approve hundreds of these documents, and how processing takes ten to fifteen business days. I reminded them again that I was the only person in Translation going on international exchange, and I was the only person who was going to Barcelona for exchange. And that I handed in my document early, in order to avoid the swarm of forms coming in from all the other students. They said they would get it back to me as soon as possible.

February 17, 2016 rolls around, and my inbox is empty. Mind you, the deadline to apply for the internatonal exchange was February 26, 2016. Less than a week and a half away. I was freaking out at this point. If they did not approve my preliminary course selection, I knew that nine days would not even be close to enough to contact the university personnel in Barcelona and make necessary changes - thus, I would be unable to even apply for an international exchange.

I contacted them again on this day. Except this time, I wrote them a very angry email explaining my situtation. I was given yet another very rude response. At this point, I had to get my father involved, because clearly, they would not take me seriously. My father's threat of legal action worked, and I received an email in my inbox not even an hour later.

I was actually boarding my bus to Montreal when I received this email, as it was Reading Week, and I was basically going for my "vacation. " I was very happy, and I would submit my entire application upon my return home.

I decided, on the bus, that it would be a smart idea to open the actual attached file of the form, just to double check that all the equivalencies were done correctly. I opened the file. My face turned white, and my jaw dropped to the ground. My entire preliminary course selection was done incorrectly, and the equivalencies were completely wrong. I was in shock. I was livid. I did not know that to do. I had eight days at this point to fix a giant mess.

In Barcelona, I indicated that I would take a total of four translation courses. I am going on international exchange to Spain to improve my Spanish, and to complete my Spanish translation courses. If I wanted to improve my French, and complete my French translation courses, I would have either stayed in Canada, or I would have gone to a French speaking country.

Apparently, this is not so apparent to the Univeristy of Ottawa, and the Faculty of Arts. They matched all my Spanish courses in Spain to French courses here. Two of which I had already completed - meaning that they totally crossed out two of my courses in Barcelona. They matched everything else to French. This would create a massive problem, because I would have gone to Spain, completed the courses there, and I would have received neither credit for the Spanish, nor the French, which would have resulted in me having to do at least an extra year of school to make up for all of the lost credits.

On the bus, I responded immediately, with the correct Spanish translation course codes. The reply I received? "We thank you for your equivalency suggestions, however, these are the equivalencies we determined, and they will not be changed, unless your faculty decides to do so. " What? Are you serious? The Faculty of Arts refused to even admit to being incorrect, and did not even offer any help.

I got to Montreal, and immediately called the director of the School of Translation. I frantically explained to her my situation, and she, unlike everyone else, was very helpful, and very quick to respond and take action. I spent most of my vacation weekend on the phone, or emailing people, but eventually, with the cooperation of the director of the School of Translation, everything was solved, and taken care of. However, I could tell that both the Faculty of Arts and the International Office were quite annoyed with me, to say the least.

I submitted my application on February 25 2016, and I felt a huge weight off my shoulders. The worst of it was over. Or so, I thought.

The International Office assured all the students who have applied for exchange that they would find out in mid-March whether or not their application was successful, and whether or not they would get a nomination offer.

Most people did not find out until the very end of March. Luckily, I got my nomination offer, and I was ecstatic. I was happy that I was accepted, and now I could start planning my next steps.

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From the end of March, until the middle of May, I did not hear anything about my international exchange, from either the University of Ottawa, or Universitat Pompeu Fabra. In mid-May, though, I got an email from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, but it was just for registration purposes. Registration took less than twenty minutes, and it went very smoothly. I was glad something about this exchange was going smoothly.

In mid-June, I registered for courses at the University of Ottawa, but then I cancelled my registration, so that I would have the transfer credit of TRF3000 done. That also went quite smoothly as well.

Later, in mid-July, I got an email from Universitat Pompeu Fabra to register for courses there. Finally! I am registering for my courses abroad. These are not any new courses, however. These are the courses that I put down for my preliminary course selection, that were approved in February. That being said, I was all set.

I went to go register for the courses online, but it would not let me. Apparently, I had to take a Spanish language placement test. This is where the issue comes in.

In order for a student to participate in an international exchange in a Spanish-speaking country, the student must have completed ESP2992, Intermediate Spanish II, with a minimum grade of a C, or from 60% - 65%. I have completed

• ESP2992, Intermediate Spanish II, with an A- (80% - 84%)
• ESP3991, Advanced Spanish I, with a B+ (75% - 79%)
• ESP3992, Advanced Spanish II, with a B+ (75% - 79%)

All of the above are very good grades at the University of Ottawa, especially for Spanish. It should also be noted that after ESP3992, Advanced Spanish II, there are only two more actually Spanish language classes - one of which is Spanish composition, and the other which is some kind of a project that is directed by a professor. That being said, I have completed nearly the highest level of Spanish offered at the University of Ottawa. So I was two levels above the requirement for exchange. It was strange that I had to do the Spanish placement test. But, I did the placement test anyway, just to the system at Universitat Pompeu Fabra would let me through.

I have been studying Spanish since I was fifteen years old. I have taken a number of Spanish exams and Spanish tests. But, I must say, the online placement test for Universitat Pompeu Fabra was one of the most difficult and most poorly written exams I have ever had to complete. Not to mention that it is an exam for native Spanish speakers, which makes it unfair, as Spanish is my fourth language, and I am literally going on international exchange to improve.

The first question on the placement test was thirty fill-in-the-blank questions. Except, there was no word bank. This already makes the blanks extremely open to interpretation, and word choice. Even the DELE exam for Spanish has a word bank. Moreover, the blanks were not just verbs, or pronouns. The blanks were everything. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepostions, you name it. I, personally, found this extremely unfair, and extremely difficult for someone who is not a native Spanish speaker.

Another part of the placement test was a multiple choice, and I was to choose the correct form of the verb. The sentences themselves had very little context to begin with. Spanish, being, well, Spanish, virtually any tense can be used to say anything, meaning that there was more than only one correct answer.

The audio part of the placement test made me the most angry. The actual recording for the placement test was so poorly recorded, it was virtually incomprehensible. It sounded as if somebody took the microphone, and was rubbing it on their shirt the entire time - absolutely nothing could be heard or understood. I actually had to Google the topic they were speaking about in order to be able to answer some of the questions.

I got 51/100 on this placement test. I did not know this test would matter later, so I just went along and registered for my courses. I successfully registered for a total of eight courses. The system let me register for all of these eight courses, despite my very poor mark on the Spanish placement test. I submitted, and I got a notification that my registration was successful, and I even got an email of confirmation of successful registration, with all my chosen eight courses there. I thought this was all confirmed, and I was going to have a total of eight courses when I got to Barcelona.

Since I am minoring in Arabic, I have to take two Arabic language courses. When I checked on the Universitat Pompeu Fabra website, it says that I would have to pay hundreds of Euros for these Arabic courses. On top of everything else I was paying, this was a very high additional expense. Here is where the information conflicts. At the International Exchange Information Session, and at the International Exchange Pre-Departure Workshop, both of which are mandatory, you are repeatedly told that you are not to pay any fees to any institution abroad. This was drilled into our minds. I tried emailing the Arabic department at Universitat Pompeu Fabra with no success. So, I emailed the International Office. I was basically given an "Oh sorry, this is a weird situation, and you will have to pay for your Arabic courses abroad. " Okay, whatever. I'll pay the fee, and take my courses. This came to a total of ten courses, which is great for me.

Two weeks pass, and I get another email from Universitat Pompeu Fabra. It said that the course registrations have been "updated. " What does that mean? I logged into my student account, and I checked what it meant. Out of the eight courses I registered for, I was only kept in three. Three courses. For a full academic year, with three semesters. This is absolutely ridiculous. I was dropped out of the other five, because "my level of Spanish is not high enough. "

Now, this is where I blame both universities equally.

1. I am paying tuition as a full-time student at the University of Ottawa, therefore, I must be in at least eight courses to get my money's worth.

2. I was given a letter of eligibility, as well as a nomination offer, because my level of Spanish was high enough, and way above the minimum requirement.

3. I am studying Translation. I must take translation courses in order to not fall behind in my current program of study. The only courses offered for "my level of Spanish" were grammar courses. As much as I would love to take these, I cannot, because they would not count towards my current degree. I do not have any electives, and these grammar courses would be nothing but a waste of time.

4. The entire purpose of an international exchange is to be immersed in a language, in order to be able to improve it. This is the sole reason that I chose Spain as my exchange destination. I want to take higher level Spanish courses so that my level of Spanish can actually improve. If I wanted to stay in classes that are at my comfort zone, I would have simply stayed in Ottawa and done Spanish courses here.

5. My Spanish will most certainly improve while I am in Spain, therefore, would it not be logical to keep me in the higher level Spanish classes? I registered for a Spanish composition course, and a Spanish speaking course, so I can improve my writing, and my speaking. I was taken out of these two courses. I fail to see the logic here.

6. With the current three courses that I am registered in, I risk doing an extra year of school, which is a financial and timely burden on myself and my family.

7. I have accepted the offer to go on exchange on the grounds that I will be able to complete equivalent courses in Barcelona that will count towards my degree in Ottawa.

I emailed all these above-mentioned points to both the University of Ottawa, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Universitat Pompeu Fabra responded to me, in Spanish, saying that I cannot be registered in courses that do not correspond with my level of Spanish, and I "may" be able to register for my required courses during the "Add and Drop Days. " This again, is very conflicting information, with absolutely no certainty.

I then decided to go directly to the International Office, in person, and explain my situation. After I did, the mobility coordinator got in touch with Universitat Pompeu Fabra. After about a week of waiting, they decided to let me take the Spanish placement test again.

But, it is still not over. They have not contacted me about how or when I will do this test again, and the system only allows students to do the placement test once.

I am leaving for Barcelona in eight days, and I still know nothing about the online Spanish placement exam. I guess I can assume that I will not be doing this placement test in Ottawa, but rather in Barcelona.

The mobility coordinator at the University of Ottawa even told me that a lot of other students who study Translation at Universitat Pompeu Fabra feel the same way about the Spanish placement test - it simply does not reflect their level of Spanish accurately. If this happens a lot, it is beyond me as to why they insist that all students do this test.

I wrote this blog post just to let other Translation students who are considering Universitat Pompeu Fabra know the amount of hoops that I have had to jump through in order to get anything finished.

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