What are your career plans?

I still have one more year before I graduate from Imperial, and after that, I would love to start working in some of the companies I like the most. My plans might also involve a PhD at some point in the future, but I want to work as a software engineer at first, and then see if that can open more doors for me.

What is your course specialisation?

Since I am studying an MEng on AI, I will probably be taking all the modules I can relate to this specialisation in my fourth year. I have loved all the logic and ML related ones so far, so I can see myself doing my individual project on something related to these fields.

What's one thing that anyone new at the Department of Computing should know?

To not be scared at first. We all come to imperial from different backgrounds, with different knowledge levels. And programming is something you can learn by yourself, so I would always expect to see someone that knows more than you about something.

It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but everyone finds his place in the end, and I find computing to be one of the funniest and most entertaining courses at Imperial.

We have so many activities and events… I would make the most out of them! Especially in the first year, when you have less work pressure!

How did you adjust to living in the UK?

For me, it was weird at first, since such freedom was something I wasn’t used to. It takes around 3 months to get used to all the things you don’t have to do when you live with your parents, but it is really nice to have some kind of routine that you can control.

I find that the UK is an amazing place to live, since you will always find something to do, and many new things to try. Imperial is also in one of the nicest areas, so there is a lot of things to see without going far away.

What did you find hard or easy?

I found it hard to get used to the language at first. I knew some English and I thought I spoke at a good level but when I first attended a lecture, I felt overwhelmed since I couldn’t understand anything.

As I said, it took me around 3 months to get used to it, but I felt that this was worth the hard work at the beginning of the degree.

As one of the easy things, I would say that meeting people is not hard. There are a lot of events organised every week, so you have many opportunities to get to know people and find the ones that you connect better with. I have met amazing people in the time I’ve been here and I’m very grateful for the friends I’ve made.

How well supported did you feel?

Really well, we always have contacts that will support us, especially in our first year, when you’re a bit less used to everything. In the tutor group, you will be able to get closer to some other students and you will also have the chance to meet older students that can help you with questions you might have about the degree or the courses you’re taking. You also have your personal tutor, that helps you if anything happens to you or you have any doubts about anything.

Why would you recommend other international students choose Imperial?

I would say this is the best university to find more people that also come from outside the UK, so it has a huge international students rate. Therefore you won’t feel like an outsider at any point, because most of the people here are from different countries. We also have so many societies that you will easily find some people from your country which is always nice.