Eurocampus Experience: Temiloluwa Paul Adetola

I am Temiloluwa Adetola (Temmy), proudly Nigerian, from the culturally blessed southwestern part of the country. I grew up in the city of Abeokuta, bagged my primary, secondary and first degree education in Ogun State. I speak Yorùbá language and English fluently, also some basic Estonian as I currently study Communication Management MA at Tallinn University.

How I learnt about Eurocampus? I got to know about the Eurocampus during a spring semester at Tallinn University. One of the best professors I’ve ever met, Anastassia Zabrodskaja informed me about the programme. She is also one of the organizers of the programme. I have never taken part of any study exchange programme, prior to the Eurocampus, but when my professor told me about it, I saw a unique opportunity there. I’m grateful that my professor went out of her way to selflessly organize an information session for those of us that were interested, gathered materials for us and made us see the benefits in it. In fact I had learnt a lot about EMICC from her, so I started looking forward to the Eurocampus. It caught my interest as it is a programme that will expose me to the core of intercultural communication.

What were my main motivations to apply? First of all, I got to know that I would be one of the pioneering master's students from Tallinn University that will represent the university at the Eurocampus. I have always loved being a pioneer or pioneering member of new and good things. Secondly, Eurocampus did well by selecting Anglia Ruskin University for a programme like this – rich in diversity, ARU’s student base cuts across 177 countries, touching all the continents. Holding EMICC there couldn’t have been more thoughtful. I already met students from Panama and even Vietnam among others. I am learning a lot about intercultural communication. Thirdly, the location for this year’s Eurocampus fascinated me, as Cambridge is an historical city, having one of the best universities in the world. Last, but not the least, I thought it would give me the privilege to interact with people from other cultural backgrounds, make new friends, gain more insight in the subject area and the application of the knowledge gained in real life situations.

What were my first experiences? Interestingly, first thing I noticed the moment I got out of Heathrow airport was steering wheels are on the right while driving is on the left lane. This was no news to me anyways, but I had not seen it in practice. It was confusing trying to cross the road sometimes. These are little differences in our societies that pizzazz our world. United Kingdom is culturally diverse, as I see different races – a multicultural community indeed. I have a landlady who always wants to make sure I’m fine and all my concerns are addressed, inviting me to meals – such a wonderful woman. However, getting accommodation in Cambridge is tough. Getting to ARU from London was quite easy for me with locals willing to assist and a map being used at some points. The DLR and train experience was cool, I met students from my country and saw students from all over the globe. Oh, yeah! I finally met my Eurocampus colleagues. They were welcoming, friendly, we exchanged pleasantries and we started bonding right away. Then I knew I was in for an awesome experience. It might also interest you to know that our class is made up of about 28 different languages from about 19 participants – rich! My first experience with Eurocampus lecturers was quite welcoming. I equally enjoy such welcoming from my home university TU. Our lecturers are professors from the network of universities partnering in the EMICC programme. One of the topics I enjoyed most was Linguistic Pragmatics (Politeness) taught by Prof. Claus Ehrhardt from the University of Urbino, Italy. I had never thought politeness could be this broad with such a depth. Wow! Knowledge is really endless and limitless. The class was highly interactive, interesting and very practical that I looked forward to his class each day. I also met an American professor, Prof. Stephen Croucher from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. He was amazing as well and taught with good and practical examples. It was fun learning from them all. I must also say that the knowledge, experience and fun embedded in the EMICC programme dwarfs the intensity and the enormity of the programme. I know the journey has just begun, and I’m in for more exciting study experiences in such a culturally diverse setting at Eurocampus. Read more about the programme. Story by Temiloluwa Adetola (Communication Management MA student).  

Read more about the Communication Management programme and admission requirements from our webpage.