So, I am off to North America for a month soon and have decided to keep a blog for my reflective journal assignment for the Business Globalisation Canadian Study Tour.
The study tour consists of two weeks in Toronto at Ryerson University. I had never heard of Ryerson until the study tour and have learned, through the workshops held, that it is quite similar to RMIT in where it is located within the city, and how the business faculty has its own building. It will be interesting to learn whether their university layout is similar to ours both within the buildings and business course structure.
Having never visited Canada before I am not quite sure what to expect apart from the stereotypical “friendly” Canadian. It will be interesting to see how different and/or similar it is to the US. However, not only will I be comparing Toronto with big cities in the US but also with Melbourne, as they have both been compared.
One of the main reasons to why I chose to attend the study tour was that I had heard Canada was similar to Australia, in that it was also a very multicultural country. My cousin, from Singapore, moved to Canada a couple of years ago and she loves it so I also want to see whether it could be a country I could potentially move to in the future. I also have a couple of friends from Toronto, and so I hear from them that it has a good live music scene which I find appealing.
Another reason to why I am attending this study tour is that it’s my last year at RMIT and I don’t plan on studying further at university in the future. One thing I regret is not studying abroad during my time at university. I have been on another RMIT study tour, however this was extremely different as it was a three week study tour, travelling across five countries over Europe. It was also an accounting study tour, as I am studying a Bachelor of Business (Professional Accountancy) degree. This Business Globalisation study tour in Toronto took my interest as it isn’t an accounting subject and would allow me to learn about something different in the business world. Particularly in international business, as my goal is to work overseas.
Regarding the cultural aspect of the course, I believe I am quite open to different cultures and that Canadian culture will not be as different to Australia’s. This is due to both being heavily influenced by British and American culture and both English speaking countries. Obviously, as both nations are under the Commonwealth and I assume that Canada has more American influence through media. Also, having friends who live in Toronto they are easy to communicate with and there doesn’t seem to be much difference between our values and beliefs. However, I think this may not apply to the French part of Canada. Unfortunately I won’t be visiting Quebec so I won’t be able to compare the culture with Ontario or even France.
Other than the above, I am not sure what else to expect from this experience. I am really looking forward to going over and being able to spend two weeks in Toronto to get to know the place and to study at another university.
Out & About 