We Have Two New Partners!

At IXO, we're constantly trying to expand our student's horizons as well as opportunities. This means we never tire of forming partnerships with new universities all over the globe for our students to benefit from. When forming partnerships, exchange programs make it easier on both our students and incoming students to travel from or to AUS. This matters to us greatly because IXO is always looking to make those transitions and opportunities much easier on people to pursue. Most currently, we added two bilateral exchange partners to our list, namely the University of Alberta in Canada and Universidad Carloss III de Madrid in Spain. Let us tell you a little bit more about those two wonderful destinations!

Universidad Carloss III de Madrid in Spain

This university is very student-centered. It routinely has a number of on-campus as well as off-campus events for its students as well as student associations, clubs, sport teams and activities. Situated in the heart of Madrid, the campus is a beauty to behold. Madrid is the third-biggest city in the European Union and is a largely student city. Rich with culture as well as history, it is estimated that Madrid was founded around the year 860 A.C.

Below are the courses offered at the university:

Find out more at the university's official website: https://www.uc3m.es/Home

University of Alberta in Canada

The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Canada. The university is over a century old and has esteemed contributions in research. Social responsibility is stressed on and student life is of the utmost importance. Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is a cultural, governmental and educational centre. It hosts a year round slate of festivals, reflected in the nickname “Canada’s Festival City”. It is home to North America’s largest mall, West Edmonton Mall and Fort Edmonton Park, Canada’s largest living history museum.

The courses available at the University of Alberta: 

Find out more on the official university website: https://www.ualberta.ca/

My Time At IXO by Divya Mahadevan

"Hi, my name is Divya Mahadevan and I graduate from AUS in Spring 2018 with  major in Architecture.  I did a studio abroad in Miami University, Oxford, Ohio in Fall 2016 and worked as a peer advisor & Publicity Specialist in IXO during Spring 2017.
Working at IXO was the most positive work experience I have had and now when I reflect upon my university education and experience, I believe that IXO has better prepared me for the job I have landed in Kuwait as a Jr. Architect when compared to any other internship or work experience.
My experience at IXO taught me the necessary professional ethics and the importance of working in a team that supports each other at every stage.
During my time at IXO, I always smiled while coming to work because it helped me take my mind off my stressed studio schedule. I loved the little gestures that were made for the main staff and the student employees which made me feel more at home in IXO than anywhere else. Even as an outgoing student, I always admired the rapport and the support the team had for each other and I am grateful to have been a part of it.
I admired the tireless efforts made by IXO staff to not only make incoming students comfortable but also make sure our students who went abroad were safe, and the students working at IXO enjoyed their tasks. This, I believe, is not something any other office or firm will have. The sense of belonging and homeliness is only evident here at IXO and it makes my heart warm when I think of how generations of students are going to join the IXO team and leave with a big smile on their face.
Having graduated, it is hard for everyone to get a training before starting off as a professional, but I consider myself lucky to have gotten an exceptional professional experience from IXO and now I am confident that I can perform well in my professional field. In a professional environment, I anticipate difficult situations and decisions that I may need to make, but I am sure that I can count on my experience at IXO to make me realize where my strength lies and approach everything with an optimistic and professional front.
I also believe that Linda, Grace and Lillie are always just a call or an email away to ask for any advice as they have shown immense support to all of their students and peer advisors. No internship, or mentorship would have prepared me for my future like being at IXO.
If anyone asks me how working at IXO was, I would not know where to begin but I would be sure mention that the person who I am today, is because of them. I have learned discipline, love, passion, creativity and professionalism from my time at IXO and I only look forward to mastering these skills with my new job."

And the Best Buddy Award Goes To...

We're not sure you know - and you should - much about our Buddy Program here at the International Exchange Office. The Buddy Program, or 'A-shab', comes from the Arabic meaning of “Friends.” ‘Ashab is a program that gives an opportunity for international connection between students who have come from abroad and those that are already a resident in the UAE. Through this program incoming international exchange students will be matched with a current AUS student. Students will be asked a set of questions to get a sense of their personality and will be matched with a student who has most compatible answers.

The founder of the Buddy Program at AUS is on of our own peer advisors Anwar Elsheikh. She provided the following testimonial on creating the Buddy Program: 

"I came up with the idea because I had spoken to exchange students in the past about their experience and one of the main things they missed about their study abroad was not meeting and making friends with local or AUS students. I had heard about buddy programs in other universities and experienced it when I went abroad to LSU so I decided to do this here at AUS. To make the buddy program more and personal and different to other programs I decided to match people together by personality instead of just choosing people at random! I also decided to name the program A-shab to get a sense of the culture as well."

The Buddy Program had its first ever award to give last semester (Fall of 2018), which Rania AlMadi rightfully earned. We spoke to AlMadi about her experience with the buddy she was paired up with, and it was full of growth, acceptance and at one time, horror. She personally wrote up her testimonial and told her story below: 

"My name is Rania Al-Madi, I’m Jordanian by nationality and Palestinian by origin. Icurrently study industrial engineering and I’m in my fourth (and NOT final) year. If I wereto describe my interests, the word SPORTS will probably come up 10000000 times. Ihave always loved sports. I’ve been on my school’s football, basketball, volleyball,badminton, and running teams. I’ve also ridden horses for much of my life, and continueto do all these things. I also love volunteering and helping others grow. I’m also a socialbutterfly, in a sense. I love to get to know other people and to hear their stories. What iseven better is when I start to connect with these people and form actual friendships.That is what led me to constantly meeting exchange students, ever since freshmanyear. In my first semester at AUS, I made good friends with Bradley, an exchangestudent from Chicago. In my second year, I made good friends with Liz, an exchangestudent from New York. In my third year, I made good friends with Zac, an exchangestudent from Arkansas. Beginning to notice a pattern?... That is what drove me to signup for the buddy program. Due to my history with exchange students, it only seemedright to intentionally befriend one of them, and not by coincidence, which was whathappened the first three times. I saw the e-mail about the buddy program in the summerjust before senior year started, and my friend shared it with me as well, so all the signsindicated that I should sign up for the buddy program, and I did.
I first contacted my buddy through e-mail so I could get her Whatsapp number. Afterthat, I texted her to start a conversation. My buddy’s name is Simah Al-Jabari. She’s Turkish-Iraqi and she comes from San Diego. I think part of what Simah was looking for in coming to AUS wasgood people that she can call family when the time came for her to leave. I believe she has found that family in coming to AUS, and I couldn’t be happier. It didn’t take much; we clicked from the beginning. We shared interests and we were both “not awkward”. In fact, I felt like she’d get along with my friends as well, so I invited her to come horse riding with us that same week I first spoke to her. I had not physically met her yet and the first time we met was at 5:30 AM on a Friday morning when we picked her up to go horse riding. Neither of us looked our best, but that didn’t matter much. We had a nice ride that day, and after we finished horse riding we decided to go have breakfast, after which we went to play some board games. After that, we wanted to go Karaoke (mind you, we were a group of 10+ people). We reached the Karaoke place and found it to be closed, so we decided that it was finally time to go home. As soon as we tried to start the car, we realized something was wrong with it and we went about trying to figure that situation out. Throughout thisexhausting day, Simah did not decide to run away. I was quite impressed that she stuckwith me through all that, considering it was the first day we met.
In the weeks following that day, I spent a lot of time with Simah, either having lunch,playing volleyball with my friends, or just hanging out and having coffee. Every time wehung out, we grew closer and closer. There was never a dull moment in conversationwith her. One weekend, I took Simah back to Abu Dhabi with me, where my family lives.She spent the weekend at my place and I showed her some spots in Abu Dhabi. It wasa relaxing two days full of good home-cooked food and it was the first time Simah eatsMansaf. Following this weekend, we spent almost every day together. Even when westudied, we would just meet up and each work on our own thing. I really enjoyedSimah’s company, and seeing her everyday was never too much. As the time of herdeparture from the UAE grew nearer, I started dreading her leaving. We have grown soattached! That is when I decided to create something that would hold all of our bestmemories and include a piece of every person Simah cherished. I decided to make ascrapbook and include pictures from Simah’s entire exchange semester. I also hadeveryone write in a farewell note. It was the best thing I could think to give her as afarewell gift. It’s safe to say that she loved it! Of course, I organized an entire dinner tobring together all of the friends Simah made to have one last happy gathering beforeshe left. Tears were shed, both happy and sad.
My buddy and I’s favorite past times include eating yoghurt at Yoghurt land. No joke, Iwas able to redeem a free cup in the time she was here! Also, we frequently went to thedesert. We both loved the calmness, peace and quiet that the desert offered, as well asthe warmth that came from a bonfire.
I think I taught Simah the importance of patience. That’s about as much as I taught her.She has taught me so much with her compassion, devotion towards her close friends,her caring nature and her consideration towards others. She also made me realize that Ineed to put myself first sometimes. I definitely grew as a person from spending so muchtime with Simah.
One day, Simah did not feel well and started to get dizzy, bordering on losingconsciousness. When she called me to tell me she wasn’t feeling well, she couldn’tcontinue the phone call and hung up. I had someone go check up on her in SBA while Iran as fast as I could from dorms. I was in a real panic. When I reached her, we got herhelp from the clinic then transferred her to the University Hospital Emergency Room,where they treated her. It was a scary experience, but she pulled through very well. Ihad never experienced something like this happening to a friend, and it’s amazing howassertive and rational one becomes when one’s looking after a friend in need.
My favorite part about the experience is growing so close to Simah in the span of only afew months to the point where I consider her a sister. Truly, I have grown so attachedand fond of Simah, and I feel very lucky to have gotten paired up with her. I had gaineda friend/sister for life, and that doesn’t come easy. Parting with Simah was difficult. It felt like she had taken a piece of my heart with her, not knowing when I was going to see her again. After all, San Diego is a long way away from UAE. It was difficult on my friends too, who had also grown quite attached to her. She definitely entered many people’s hearts, which is only to be expected of someoneas kind-hearted and pure as she is.
This experience gave me a new perspective on what friendship means. It also providedme with support and love that were much needed in a busy period of my semester.Most importantly, this experience taught me that there’s always good to be found inpeople, no matter how things may seem; it only takes a shift in perspective to notice it.I’m not sure whether it was the lucky pairing that made the Buddy program such asuccess in my case, but I’m very glad I did it and I would recommend it for everyone.You never know, you might just find yourself a friend for life!"