Being an international student in the Faculty of Arts, the Quebec Studies Programme gave me the opportunity to improve my knowledge of Quebec history. Since we often study Quebec's history in a comparative approach, I was able to better understand the challenges that Quebec faces at a social and political level and increase my participation in debates that are currently taking place.
McGill University is a great place to study Quebec, and McGill's Quebec Studies Programme is an essential resource for students studying in this unique region in North America. In my time at McGill I have seen the Quebec Studies Programme act as a link between disciplines adn as a link between Anglophone and Francophoned academics and students. As a result of my association with the programme, I have been introduced to a wide variety of scholars whose influence has tended to move my thinking and research in unexpected and interesting directions.
My stay at the Quebec Studies Programme was an enriching experience that prepared me for the issues and questions about Quebec which I know fact in my studies in Law. It was absolutely necessary to have a better sense and understanding of Quebec's history, its problems and the social issues at stake, before trying to come up with solutions. For anyone interested in Quebec who wants to have a better understanding of it, the Quebec Studies Programme can give some answers, but more importantly, it provides some serious food for thought.
Being first generation Québécois, the Quebec Studies Programme allowed me to open my academic and cultural horizons and gave me a chance to be immersed in a vibrant, multicultural milieu. Learning about Quebec at McGill, a university well-known internationally for its high standards, gave me the opportunity to meet and exchange with students coming from all parts of the world. This reputation also provided me with the opportunity to meet scholars and public intellectuals. Being in Montreal, the only French cosmopolitan metropolis in North America, without a doubt, makes McGill the ideal place to study Quebec.
What first attracted me to the Quebec Studies Programme was its multidisciplinary orientation. I met students and researchers that are, like myself, interested in Quebec. To my mind, the strength of the Quebec Studies Programme is the fact that it is a vibrant milieu that brings together students and specialists with different cultural and academic backgrounds, all of whom work on the same topic of interest. For a francophone Québécoise, studying Quebec at McGill is also a unique occasion to have people from elsewhere look at your own culture.