By Asya Movsisyan
Undergraduate student, Agribusiness Teaching Center (ATC)

It has been a long time since I wanted to study abroad to gain new knowledge and experience. Following advice from those who had experience studying abroad, I applied and successfully won the competition announced by the ANAU International Relations Department.

Then I found myself at the University of Almeria, Spain. Everything was smooth for me in the beginning, and I was pleased with the courses I had selected. These courses required a lot of research, and I was willing to do my best to get all the opportunities I had at that time. However, the spread of COVID-19 made its corrections in Spain just like around the world. The university was closed, and we had to follow all the rules and continue our education online.

I am one of those who prefer face-to-face education, but the challenges forced by the pandemic were compensated by the dedication and efforts of the professors, effective tools of online learning, and free access to materials and literature. We were getting answers to all our questions related to both group and individual assignments.

At the University of Almeria I chose courses that would lead to the least deficiencies as compared with those at ATC: Statistics, Microeconomics, Finance, and Marketing. The videos that we watched during the classes of Statistics helped me gain some knowledge of SPSS software. I would like to single out Marketing, with its very useful practice hours of group tasks when we analyzed many videos on verious marketing steps. The main task in the course of Microeconomics was to write small 10-minute tasks. And finally, Finance, which I like very much, with the many problems that we were working out with great pleasure.

Our professors at Almeria were wonderful people and great professionals, with great human values and willing to help in any matter.

Unfortunately, the pandemic did not allow me to better get acquainted with Spanish culture; what I can definitely say is that Almeria is a wonderful coastal city, with people smiling everywhere. I never felt alienated during all my stay there.

Now it’s my turn to advise and share my experience with others. After all, it is worth trying and participating in a contest at least once․ Study abroad gives you the opportunity to gain knowledge and life skills. I think many are skeptic about whether they will pass the competition, but regardless of everything, the participation alone is an interesting and important experience.

I wnat to thank all the people who supported me, and I hope I will help at least a few of my peers at ANAU to reconsider their initial decision not to apply for study abroad programs.