Studying in a foreign land was something I always wanted to do but circumstances didn’t allow me to do so. And to my surprise, I got admitted in IILM, Gurgaon with a compulsory one month foreign exchange program in Fanshawe College, Toronto, Canada for a Google Digital Marketing certification. It was like icing on the cake for me, mind you chocolate icing (the divine one). After a 2 week intensive orientation program at IILM, we left for Canada on the 26^th of June and from the moment I stepped on the IGI Airport till date, my experience has been exciting, enriching and exhilarating. To begin with, our entire group was sceptical about the 19 hour flight but to our surprise, it was really smooth and comfortable. Once we landed at the Toronto Airport, we quickly grabbed our bags, got past the immigration easily and were all set to board our bus to London, Ontario which was about a 2 hour drive. As expected, each one of us was exhausted and was fearing another 2 hours of journey. But, the moment the bus started moving and the beautiful landscapes of Canada started moving past us, all of us and I bet you, all of us completely forgot about our exertion and were mesmerized by everything that Canada had to offer – pretty land spaces, widespread greenery, the cleanliness, the pleasant weather, the smiling faces around us and not to mention the hospitality of Fanshawe College.

 

As soon as we arrived at the college, we were immediately given first class en-suite apartments according to our preference, we were expecting an apartment with 4 small rooms and a lounge area, but what we found once we entered our en-suite apartments was complete astonishment. We were given literally 5 star apartments, where each one had four single rooms with 2 fully equipped bathrooms, a common big size fridge and microwave, ceramic utensils and cutlery, a TV, a comfortable lounge area and not to forget goodies from the Fanshawe College. Since we had arrived on the weekend, we had one day to explore around before classes started. The coordinators at Fanshawe went out of the way to make our stay comfortable by helping us with bus routes, directions, solving our room discrepancies, guiding us about restaurants and above all, making us feel like at home.

Before the classes were about to start, we were unsure whether we would be able to familiarize ourselves with the Canadian teaching methods. However, the professors here are not at all different from Indian professors. They are very helpful in both presenting content and solving questions. The course we are pursuing here viz Google Digital Marketing Course is an extremely vital course and the best part of Fanshawe is that our professors are people who are working live, side by side in digital marketing firms. There can undoubtedly be nothing better than on hands real life experience. I am so glad I chose IILM and I am getting a chance to experience this.

The best part of the course is that we would be working on real clients and our reports would be presented to them as well. We would also be given a chance to write Google certified exams for Google Adwords and Google Analytics.

I was never very keen on marketing but coming here to Fanshawe has generated a very strong interest in me towards Digital Marketing and I am so thankful to Fanshawe and IILM for it.

Apart from the classes (which are not hectic at all with ample time to explore Canada), Fanshawe college has also arranged excursions for us. We were taken to CN Tower (3^rd tallest building in the world) in Toronto which was undoubtedly an unforgetful experience for us. They have trips planned for us on the weekends, some of them being a visit to the Niagra Falls, The Great Lakes, Canada’s wonderland and local mall visits.

All in all, till now this experience has been very exciting and eventful and I would like to give IILM a big thank you from my side for giving me this lifetime of an opportunity.