'Once in a lifetime opportunity': David's international experience in the Undergraduate Degree in Business Administration
"Once in a lifetime opportunity". This is how David Almeida describes the international experience he is having in the United States of America. An opportunity brought by the international undergraduate degree in Business Administration he is attending at the Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics (CLSBE) of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
David is 20 years old and although he says that this "is the best experience to date", he confesses that "not everything has been easy". Living alone "literally on the other side of the world, brings some difficulties". One of them is "the distance from his parents, friends and girlfriend. It's not easy not having them around when problems arise".
"Online platforms help to keep in touch, but there is nothing like being physically with people," he adds.
But the problem is not only the distance. The food, says the student, "has been a great difficulty, because I was used to Portuguese cuisine, which is one of the best in the world and in America it's only fast food".
"If I want to eat well, I have to cook and I wasn't used to that. I also have to clean the house, do the laundry. All the things I wasn't doing at home. But if you have the will and the motivation to make things go well, it's just a small obstacle in the big opportunity that exchange is," he says.
When he finished 12th grade, David Almeida, "already knew that he wanted to study Management at Católica". As for the choice of an international degree, he refers: "this course format is the best, because I always wanted to travel around the world and have an international career, eventually working for a multinational or owning my own company".
The experience is still halfway through, but the student says that "it has been very worthwhile". And he explains why: "the incredible people from all over the world that I have met, which has significantly expanded my horizons, the classes, workshops I have attended, the events and the participation in clubs with the best of the best".
Another "very positive aspect of this experience", he underlines, is the fact that "I am having contact with North American companies. They make presentations and events at the university and establish links with the students, so that we have contact with the business world".
Working in the USA, is not, however, the desire of David Almeida. The young student who has always dreamed of "travelling the world and having an international career" wants to return to Portugal when he finishes the year.
The return is a certainty, knowing that "I couldn't be better prepared", especially because he stresses, "the course is unique in the country. No other offers the possibility of such an international degree as this in Portugal, with such a wide range of programmes and partnerships, as well as the particularity that it is taught from the first year in English".
"I believe that for the kind of career I intend to pursue, I couldn't be in a better position. I am considerably better prepared to enter the labour market and establish links with foreign entities. Everything I have learned and experienced I will certainly take with me for the rest of my life," adds the student.
Find out more about CATÓLICA-LISBON's international undergraduate degrees today, at 4 p.m., on the Digital Open Day.