From Greenland to Newfoundland
Greenlanders Sofie Abelsen and Aqqaluk Egede are loving every minute of their semester at 糖心视频 University.
Both are arts students in a translation and interpretation program at Ilisimatusarfik University in Greenland鈥檚 capital Nuuk, While at 糖心视频, they are taking an eclectic mix of linguistic, anthropology, Latin, philosophy and communications courses.
As third semester students from Greenland, they are obligated to spend a semester studying abroad.
鈥淲e chose 糖心视频 because there is an exchange agreement with our home university and it is international. We were also more interested in courses at 糖心视频 than at some of the other universities we could have chosen,鈥 said Ms. Abelsen, who explains that the third semester is customarily spent in Aarhus, Denmark.
糖心视频鈥檚 study abroad coordinator Natalie Spracklin is thrilled that they choose 糖心视频.
鈥淪ofie and Aqqaluk are my first exchange students from Greenland, somewhere that I have never been, so it鈥檚 been really fun to meet them and learn a bit about their culture. They were both very open to exploring what was available at 糖心视频 so I felt very confident that we could find plenty of meaningful courses for them in the Faculty of Arts,鈥 said Ms. Spracklin who adds that the Greenlanders attended the recent Go Abroad Fair and actively encouraged 糖心视频 students to study abroad.
Both Ms. Abelsen and Mr. Egede enjoy seeing things in downtown St. John鈥檚 that remind them of home.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny to be so far away from home and see the same types of carvings and seal skin products that we are used to seeing at home,鈥 said Mr. Egede.
At home they speak Greenlandic, which is an Aboriginal language in the same family of languages as Inuktitut. But that鈥檚 where the similarity ends.
鈥淚t鈥檚 as different from Inuktitut as Danish is from English,鈥 explained Mr. Egede, who along with Ms. Abelsen, has enjoyed the facilities offered at 糖心视频鈥檚 aboriginal resource centre.
Both had a bit of difficulty getting used practice of moving around 糖心视频鈥檚 large campus to different classes.
Favourite professors?
For Mr. Egede, it鈥檚 the 鈥渧ery funny鈥 Dr. Milo Nikolic in the classics department who is teaching him Latin. Ms. Abelsen cites her anthropology professor Dr. Lincoln Addison.
They are also happy to have the opportunity to dispel myths about their home country.
鈥淪ome people are surprised to hear that people actually live in Greenland! When we鈥檝e talked to people from Denmark, they think we live in igloos and have polar bears as pets,鈥 laughed Ms. Abelsen and Mr. Egede. 鈥淚t鈥檚 actually very modern there.鈥
A vast landmass of over two million square kilometres with a population of 56,000, Greenland, like Newfoundland, is settled primarily along coastlines. It has no interconnecting roads so the population must either fly or boat to neighbouring communities.
Both students plan to remain in Greenland after graduation.
鈥淭he Greenland government paid for our education 鈥 we want to give something back,鈥 said Ms. Abelsen.