How IEC Opened the Door!
Maggie Darling
International Experience Canada
Hi, I’m Maggie! I am from Canada and studied public relations and communications at university. After graduation, I worked at United Way for about 3 years, before I completed my IEC experience.
I’ve always wanted to live abroad and to have an international experience. I figured, if I don’t do it now, I’m not going to do it. So I made the leap. I did a lot of research and came across the IEC program. My original plan was to go to Australia, but my family immigrated from Scotland and I went for a holiday in Scotland and that changed my plan. So that’s where I went to live and work for a year.
The whole visa process from the day I applied was about a month, which is a pretty quick turnaround. Although this was my experience for the UK and can vary from country to country.
What I liked about IEC...
For Canadian youth, the IEC is hugely beneficial as it’s a cheaper alternative than the traditional immigration route; as you are not limited as you are with a regular visa. Through regular immigration channels, it would be considerably more expensive than through IEC which makes IEC such a good choice for young travelers.
It also opens you up to more options while traveling, so I could go to the UK and work in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales. This is awesome as the IEC allows you to move around to different places/countries and gives you the opportunity to travel! I chose to remain in Scotland to live and work and spent my free time traveling throughout the rest of the UK and Europe.
You weren't tied to a job, you’re not tied to any specific destination that you selected, I could choose to use it to further my career, or I could use it to work in any position.
Travel Mishaps?
A funny one… My cousin came over and we were planning to climb the 3 peaks, which are the tallest mountains in England, Scotland, and Wales. On the first day, I rented a car and had done a couple of lessons to get used to driving on the other side of the road. We were in Wales, going up the side of this single-lane mountain road. It had been raining, and the side of the road gave out. We ended up in the ditch - 50 meters from our Airbnb. The people from the AirBnB came out and soon after we had the whole street out. I’m sure they were laughing at these Canadian girls, driving on the wrong side of the road. They even offered a tractor from a local farmer to help pull us out, but I stuck with roadside assistance.
After that, I was a little worried because I was meant to be driving for the rest of the trip, but we survived and I’m here to tell the story!
When we rented the car I said can I please just get a small sedan because I’m new to driving on the other side of the road. And of course, they said, “we’ve upgraded you to this large SUV”.
There was no damage to the car so that's good!
What growth did the experience provide for you?
I’ve always been an independent person and I think you kind of have to be to put yourself in that kind of position. But I am so much more independent now than I was. I am much more confident in what I am able to achieve. You realise just how strong and capable you are. Especially when you're on your own with no one else to rely on. Sometimes it gets a little hairy, sometimes you’re sitting there with no money in the bank and no job, and not sure what’s going to happen next, but you realize things tend to work out as long as you keep pushing.
I come from a small town, so you know everyone, have mutual family and friends, so then going to a huge place where you don’t know anyone - it can be really hard to meet new people. Especially if you're not in school or work, how do you meet people? But I managed to meet a great group of friends. I just had to put myself out there.
I'm definitely more confident, self-assured, and independent. You become really more resilient to the little things.
Why would you recommend someone to go traveling?
I think it opens you up and you learn so much about yourself and the world! It opens you up to this whole different array of possibilities that you didn't know were possible. Seeing how other people live. I learned a lot about their way of life. I’m now going to try and incorporate some of these things into the rest of my life.
Something that I noticed in the UK and probably in lots of Europe is that they move at a lot slower pace. People are not as obsessed with their job and their career as I’ve experienced at home. It was interesting to see that although it was business, it just wasn’t that sense of urgency, and that ‘this matters the most’. Family and friends come first- work comes second, yes, you have to pay your bills, but you don't live to work.
One of my worries, before I left was, am I going to set myself back in my career? Am I going to set myself back in my personal life? But when I got back I, that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, I was offered my job back, with a pay and holiday increase. Your friends and your family, if they truly care about you they will still be there and support you for your choice. And in the grand scheme of things, a year isn't all that much.
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