School of Business

When Jennifer Mattinson went on academic exchange to Spain, she did not expect to be unpacking her business skills so soon after her arrival in La Rioja. Her marketing professor there asked her to be in a fashion show for a cancer fundraiser. She agreed. Afterwards, an owner of a fashion boutique approached her with a different offer. "She knew that I was a business student and was in a marketing class. She had also seen the montage travel videos that I had made and she asked if I could do something similar for her shop." Jennifer visited the location, saw what was needed, and agreed to make the video. She recruited fashion models to participate, shot with two cameras, edited and posted the footage. The proprietor posted the video online, played it when people entered the premises, and ran it on an endless loop in the window of her boutique. To cap the entire project, Jennifer was paid for her work. How better to compliment a business student, in any language?

To have such success in Europe as an exchange student seems incredible, especially so because of the language barrier. But Jennifer, an experienced traveler who has visited over 30 countries, has a ready explanation. "Because marketing is international," she explains, "marketing skills that students possess do not need translating." The same can be said for travel itself: The experience is instantly apprehensible. "Going on exchange is about a lot more than changing geographical locations," says Julie Snair, Coordinator of International Education at Acadia. "As Jennifer has demonstrated, studying abroad is about getting out of your comfort zone, and not only opening yourself up to new ideas and perspectives but to a whole new world of learning opportunities. Exchange students tell me over and over that they expected to be surprised and challenged but they had no idea how transformative the exchange experience would be!"

Jennifer used her location in Spain to visit eight adjacent countries. In Morocco she met two other Acadia exchange students who joined her on a trip to the Sahara Desert. She has since safaried in Africa and has qualified as an Olympic interpreter at Rio de Janeiro. If the world is a book, as has been often said, then exchange student Jennifer Mattinson is clearly an avid reader!