My Name’s Tony Wassouf, I come from Homs-Syria, I studied Mechanical Engineering for three years at UniBs and now I am working as a technical designer.
Q&A
Can you share some challenges you faced as an international student and how you overcame them?
First: Italian language. I think it was easy to overcome because the University of Brescia offers excellent Italian language courses, which improved the linguistic level. Also, daily chatting and interacting with friends helped me to form great relationships in a welcoming city like Brescia! Additionally, the Italian language is full of tones and every word ends with a vowel, which makes it so beautiful.
Second: CoronaVirus Situation. I could overcome it thanks to the flexibility of our university in finding solutions provided through online lessons, and by our professors we received a ton of briefings.
Also, our professors were motivated to help us and they were encouraging all students.
All these factors made us confident and believe that we could overcome this situation.
Did you engage in any sports activities offered by UniBs? If yes, how did these activities enrich your life?
UniBs is surrounded by green spaces, basketball court, tennis, ping pong, etc, which give us the opportunity to practice various sport activities and positively affects the health of body and mind and helps us to meet people from different cultures.
Were there any specific initiatives or programs you found particularly impactful during your studies?
The University of Brescia gave me the possibility of participating in an external training internship which gave me the opportunity to be connected and ready for the world of work. Additionally, UniBs organizes various networking events, industry and careers days to make sure that we can connect to professional relationships and job opportunities. Also, I participated in student collaborations (150 HOURS) where our University publishes an annual call for student collaborations in activities related to university services, which supported me financially during my studies.
You finished your studies already: where do you live currently? Where do you see your future and why?
Currently, I live in the center city of Brescia. In the future I will be here also, because Brescia contains many factories and international companies, which gives me the opportunity to be connected with the work environment.