S4E11: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International Student Edwin Chahabudine of Mozambique

In this our 11th (eleventh) episode of Season 4, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews international student Edwin Chahabudine of Mozambique about his experience here at Seattle Colleges and about life in the United States. 

1:19 - Meet Edwin!

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Transcript

Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show Conversations with! Where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Evan Franulovich  1:04  
Hey everybody! Welcome back to Seattle Colleges Conversations with! We're here at Seattle Central. I'm Evan, your host. Very excited today, our first guest from the great country of...?

Edwin Chahabudine  1:22  
Mozambique. 

Evan Franulovich  1:22  
Mozambique. Now, if you don't know where Mozambique is, get out of map, because it's a really cool location down in Southern Africa. Welcome. 

Edwin Chahabudine  1:34  
Hi everybody. 

Evan Franulovich  1:37  
Tell them who you are, where you're from exactly, maybe what your major is and how long you've been here? 

Edwin Chahabudine  1:43  
Well, my name is Edwin Chahabudine. I'm from Mozambique, Maputo specifically. 

Evan Franulovich  1:48  
The capital. 

Edwin Chahabudine  1:49  
The capital city of Mozambique. I've been here in Seattle for one year and two months. There was some kind of an issue that happend in the beginning. 

Evan Franulovich  2:08  
Okay.

Edwin Chahabudine  2:08  
I started with computer science, but I ended up realizing that I want to go a little bit towards the business field, but at the same time, stay in the tech industry. 

Evan Franulovich  2:22  
Absolutely. 

Edwin Chahabudine  2:23  
So I was looking at options, and I found out that business management information systems is something that I really want to go through. Here in Seattle, I'm doing an associate of business.

Evan Franulovich  2:23  
Cool. That's one of the nice things, guys, if you're a student out there, if you come here and you think you're going to do one major, but then you decide to change your mind. Is it difficult?

Edwin Chahabudine  2:51  
No, it is not. I remember, I started with computer science, and then I went to talk with my advisor. 

Evan Franulovich  2:59  
Yeah. 

Edwin Chahabudine  3:00  
We saw the pre-requirements of the universities, and most of the business classes are available here in the community college. 

Evan Franulovich  3:10  
Right. 

Edwin Chahabudine  3:10  
So I was like, 'Okay, why don't I switch to business? Because it's gonna be a waste of money if I was done with my computer science degree, and then I have to start over again.' 

Evan Franulovich  3:21  
That doesn't make sense. 

Edwin Chahabudine  3:23  
Yeah, it's kind of like a waste of time. 

Evan Franulovich  3:24  
Yeah, that's really cool. I don't know if anyone has told you this, but you guys should be aware, at North Seattle campus, we actually have an international business bachelor's degree. Normally, you come to a community college like Seattle Colleges, you do your first two years, and then you transfer. But if you wanted, you could actually stay for all four years do an international business degree. It's pretty popular with international students. Some people want to just go to the University of Washington, go to the Foster School of Business, because it's really rapid. But if you're interested in that four-years here at Seattle Colleges, we can help you. 

Edwin Chahabudine  4:01  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  4:01  
Well, cool, but you've been here a year, so you've got to see all four seasons already. 

Edwin Chahabudine  4:05  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  4:06  
So let's talk about the weather very quickly, because you're from a beautiful part of Africa, lots of sunshine.

Edwin Chahabudine  4:13  
Exactly. We only have two seasons. 

Evan Franulovich  4:14  
Oh, really? 

Edwin Chahabudine  4:17  
Yeah, summer and winter. We don't have fall and spring

Evan Franulovich  4:22  
Is winter more of a rainy season for you guys?

Edwin Chahabudine  4:25  
No, it's the opposite. Summer is the most rainy.

Evan Franulovich  4:30  
Oh, okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  4:33  
Winter is just cold and dark, while summer is more hot, humid, raining.

Evan Franulovich  4:41  
When you say cold, how cold are we talking about? 

Edwin Chahabudine  4:43  
Well, the cold in Africa is not the same as here. 

Evan Franulovich  4:48  
It is not super cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  4:51  
Our cold is between 20-27 degree celsius. 

Evan Franulovich  5:02  
That's wonderful. 

Edwin Chahabudine  5:04  
But here it's like the opposite. Yeah, it gets a little cold.  

Evan Franulovich  5:10  
But not too bad. We don't freak you guys out. So now that you've been through a full year, how is the weather? 

Edwin Chahabudine  5:17  
Well, I will say, I love the spring. 

Evan Franulovich  5:20  
Spring is great.

Edwin Chahabudine  5:21  
I love the spring, and I love the summer. 

Evan Franulovich  5:24  
The summer is awesome.

Edwin Chahabudine  5:26  
The summer in Seattle, and Washington state, is 10 out of 10. 

Evan Franulovich  5:31  
It's hard to beat. Even a little bit into the fall, depending on how long...

Edwin Chahabudine  5:36  
When I first came here, I started in the fall. 

Evan Franulovich  5:40  
Okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  5:41  
In the end of August, the beginning of September. So I kind of felt a little bit of the summer and a little bit of the fall. 

Evan Franulovich  5:51  
Yeah.

Edwin Chahabudine  5:52  
When I first came here, it was kind of cold, and I was just wearing a polo t-shirt, because I thought the cold is kind of like the same as my country. Fall is good. I love raining, but the rain here is different from my country. 

Evan Franulovich  6:16  
Probably. 

Edwin Chahabudine  6:16  
Because you guys don't have storms.

Evan Franulovich  6:19  
No, it kind of just drizzles all the time. 

Edwin Chahabudine  6:22  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  6:23  
Actually, if you look at a chart of all US major cities annual rainfall, Seattle's quite far down the list. The kind of the difference is, it kind of lightly rains, so it's not a downpour. Yeah, if you go to the south part of the United States, they get a lot more rain than us. But it all comes in buckets rather than spread out. 

Edwin Chahabudine  6:48  
I like the activities, the fall activities, it's kind of nice here in Seattle.

Evan Franulovich  6:53  
I agree. So what'd you do as far as fall activities?

Edwin Chahabudine  6:56  
Well, when I first came here, I would just spend my whole day at home. Right now, I go out for walks to experience the weather more, because when I first came here, I was just staying home. I hated the cold, and now I'm more into doing fall activities. I'll probably hike, even though it's raining. I go for really long walks, like 10 miles a day.

Evan Franulovich  7:32  
Oh, man. Well, you know, we have student led activities for the International Programs, and in the winter, they do tubing. Did you go tubing last year? 

Edwin Chahabudine  7:42  
Last year, I didn't, because they have limited spots. 

Evan Franulovich  7:47  
Sure. 

Edwin Chahabudine  7:48  
But this year I will probably go. 

Evan Franulovich  7:50  
Sign up. 

Edwin Chahabudine  7:51  
Yeah, I will. I really want to go tubing this year. 

Evan Franulovich  7:54  
Have you been up to the snow yet? 

Edwin Chahabudine  7:59  
I've been to the areas but in the spring, so I kind of saw the snow.

Evan Franulovich  8:07  
Did you play in the snow? 

Edwin Chahabudine  8:09  
Yeah, I have. 

Evan Franulovich  8:11  
Okay, cool. Because no snow in Mozambique, right? 

Edwin Chahabudine  8:15  
Yeah, no snow. Last year, we had snow, it was kind of like my first time seeing the snow, so I kind of like it. 

Evan Franulovich  8:25  
Yeah, it's great. It's clean, quiet, wonderful. Doesn't last very long in Seattle, if it snows in the city, which it rarely does. 

Edwin Chahabudine  8:32  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  8:32  
It won't last too long. 

Edwin Chahabudine  8:33  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  8:35  
Well, cool. Let's go back. We've talked about the weather. Let's go back a little bit to your time in Mozambique as a young person, you're growing up in the city, how many siblings do you have? Do you have brothers and sisters? 

Edwin Chahabudine  8:47  
Yeah, by blood, I have one, and my parents adopted four kids. 

Evan Franulovich  8:58  
Oh, cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  8:58  
The other two are kind of like my cousins, I consider them my siblings, because we grew up together. 

Evan Franulovich  9:07  
Cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  9:08  
And the other two are older than me.

Evan Franulovich  9:14  
Gotcha. So as far as where you fall in all of them, you're in the middle. 

Edwin Chahabudine  9:21  
Yeah, I'm in the middle. 

Evan Franulovich  9:22  
Gotcha. So your older siblings, what are they doing right now? Are they in school are they working?

Edwin Chahabudine  9:28  
One of them is studying in Cyprus. 

Evan Franulovich  9:32  
Beautiful island. 

Edwin Chahabudine  9:35  
One of them is working with my mom. 

Evan Franulovich  9:38  
Cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  9:40  
And the others two are younger, so they're studying.

Evan Franulovich  9:44  
Gotcha. Cool. For high school, once you were done with your primary school, did you end up going to a public or a private school in Mozambique?

Edwin Chahabudine  9:56  
Since the beginning, I went to a private school.

Evan Franulovich  9:59  
So you wore a uniform?

Edwin Chahabudine  10:02  
Well, I changed a lot of schools. 

Evan Franulovich  10:05  
Oh, you did? 

Edwin Chahabudine  10:06  
Yeah, I did. 

Evan Franulovich  10:08  
You keep getting kicked out of schools?

Edwin Chahabudine  10:09  
I was kind of an energetic kid. I liked getting into problems when I was kid. When I went to my first high school, I wore a uniform. 

Evan Franulovich  10:32  
Okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  10:33  
But when I moved to another high school, they had jeans with polo t-shirts. 

Evan Franulovich  10:41  
Oh, cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  10:42  
It's kind of like a uniform, but more chill. 

Evan Franulovich  10:44  
Yeah, for sure. 

Edwin Chahabudine  10:46  
But when I transferred to my last high school, we had the most ugly uniform that I wore in my life, because the color was kind of different. We wore gray formal trousers with green shirts, the color doesn't match. 

Evan Franulovich  11:08  
Yeah. 

Edwin Chahabudine  11:09  
So it was awkward. That was kind of like nice.

Evan Franulovich  11:13  
So how many years at your last school? Was it just your final year? 

Edwin Chahabudine  11:17  
No, that was my final. In Mozambique we do have kindergarten. First grade until seventh grade, it's primary school. 

Evan Franulovich  11:30  
Okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  11:30  
And then from eighth grade until 12th grade it's public high school. 

Evan Franulovich  11:35  
Oh, okay, interesting. It's a little different than here, for sure. The name of your last school, where did you go to school?

Edwin Chahabudine  11:46  
Colegio Kitabu.

Evan Franulovich  11:48  
Shout out to Colegio Kitabu. 

Edwin Chahabudine  11:51  
Then I moved to university. 

Evan Franulovich  11:57  
Okay, so you did start university? 

Edwin Chahabudine  11:59  
Yeah, I started, but I did one semester, and then I moved to the US.

Evan Franulovich  12:05  
Off to the United States. 

Edwin Chahabudine  12:06  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  12:06  
Well, when you were young, did you always dream about being an international student, or was this something that someone planted in your brain along the way, like parents or counselors or something? 

Edwin Chahabudine  12:17  
Well, I'll say, I think it's everyones dream to come to US. So since I was young, the US was kind of my dream. 

Evan Franulovich  12:29  
You could have gone to Australia or UK, Canada, but it was always the US, huh? 

Edwin Chahabudine  12:35  
Yeah. I have a couple of cousins that are studying outside of our country. 

Evan Franulovich  12:44  
Right. 

Edwin Chahabudine  12:45  
Most of them are in Europe. So I was like, 'Okay, let me go to Europe or Asia.' So when I was done with my high school, I was starting to apply to universities. While I was also in university in Mozambique, I applied for a university in Malaysia, I started my application to a university in Italy, and Portugal. 

Evan Franulovich  13:16  
Oh, wow. 

Edwin Chahabudine  13:17  
I also applied to Seattle Colleges, and Seattle Colleges were the first ones who replied. 

Evan Franulovich  13:26  
Oh, great. 

Edwin Chahabudine  13:27  
So I was like, 'Okay, then I'm going to the US.'

Evan Franulovich  13:30  
Cool. So did you apply to any other US schools, or was it only Seattle Colleges? 

Edwin Chahabudine  13:35  
Only Seattle Colleges. 

Evan Franulovich  13:37  
So how'd you even hear about us? I mean, Mozambique's a long ways away.

Edwin Chahabudine  13:41  
It's kind of funny, because my mom, she has a sister. 

Evan Franulovich  13:49  
Gotcha. 

Edwin Chahabudine  13:50  
She studied here in the US, she graduated with a PhD from UDub. And also the other sibling graduated from Seattle Colleges, and then she transferred to Seattle University.

Evan Franulovich  14:11  
Wow. How long ago was that, that she was here?

Edwin Chahabudine  14:15  
I will say both of them stayed here in the US for five years. The day I came here, was the day they left.

Evan Franulovich  14:26  
I wonder if I met them.

Edwin Chahabudine  14:30  
Yeah, I was wondering that.

Evan Franulovich  14:34  
We don't have a lot of students from Mozambique, so we would like to invite you all to apply and hopefully come, because we'd love to see more students from Mozambique. I don't know if we met, we must have met at some point. 

Edwin Chahabudine  14:46  
Yeah, because when I went to the international program, they said I'm the first one. I was like, what do you mean I'm the first one.

Evan Franulovich  14:52  
I don't think you're the first, but definitely we don't have very many. Maybe they just don't  remember. Did she go to Central, or did she go to North? 

Edwin Chahabudine  15:01  
She went to Central, but she also went to North. 

Evan Franulovich  15:06  
What did she study? 

Edwin Chahabudine  15:08  
Well, I can't remember what she studied. 

Evan Franulovich  15:10  
Okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  15:11  
I think it's something related to art. 

Evan Franulovich  15:15  
Oh, cool. So you knew about Seattle through your family, and when you got here what'd you do for housing? I mean, usually you have to have housing options, we have like three different housing options. Did you live with them initially? Did you go get your own apartment?

Edwin Chahabudine  15:17  
Well, when I first came here, I stayed in my aunt's apartment. 

Evan Franulovich  15:39  
Okay, cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  15:49  
Before I moved to the US, I applied for my apartment. 

Evan Franulovich  15:56  
Oh, wow. 

Edwin Chahabudine  15:57  
But what happened was, I didn't have my US number and they needed it for the application, and all those kind of things. So when I came here, I stayed for one week while I was still working on my application for my own apartment. 

Evan Franulovich  16:21  
Right. 

Edwin Chahabudine  16:21  
Because I lived out of campus. 

Evan Franulovich  16:24  
Sure. 

Edwin Chahabudine  16:25  
So I lived off campus, so it's kind of like a huge process. 

Evan Franulovich  16:29  
It is a bit of a process. But that's smart that you started the process of looking and applying before you left your own country. We actually have three options. You can do a homestay with an American family, that's one thing you can do for housing. You can get an apartment off campus, like you've done, or you can live in our dorms, which are right across the street. Some people do one of each, you know, maybe they'll do a year in the dorms and then go get their own apartment.

Edwin Chahabudine  16:56  
I started with my own apartment. 

Evan Franulovich  16:59  
Do you have roommates? Or is it just you? 

Edwin Chahabudine  17:01  
No, it's just me. 

Evan Franulovich  17:02  
Nice. Which part of town? 

Edwin Chahabudine  17:04  
I live here in Capitol Hill. 

Evan Franulovich  17:05  
Oh, cool. I love this part of town. This is great. Well, I know it's exciting part of town. 

Edwin Chahabudine  17:12  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  17:12  
It can be interesting. 

Edwin Chahabudine  17:13  
Yeah, it can be interesting, because I live near the highway, so it's kind of noisy. 

Evan Franulovich  17:20  
Oh, it's a little noisy. If you live up the hill, it's actually quieter. But it is in the city, so it's going to be a little noisy anyway, because there's a lot of clubs and restaurants, people out and about. 

Edwin Chahabudine  17:34  
When I first came here, I stayed in the central district, almost near Lake Washington. 

Evan Franulovich  17:41  
Oh, yeah. Nice area. 

Edwin Chahabudine  17:42  
Yeah, that was my aunts apartment, and then I moved closer to the college, so I don't have to take public transport. 

Evan Franulovich  17:54  
Cool. Well, so you went to school there, you graduated, you started university. Let's talk about how you got accepted, and then you have to get your visa. And this is what's on most students minds that I talk to when I travel to Africa, I've heard people say, 'Oh, I don't want to apply to a community college because I'll never get a visa.' Clearly, you did. 

Edwin Chahabudine  18:18  
Yeah, I did. 

Evan Franulovich  18:19  
So that's great news for you guys that are applying to community colleges. Let's talk about your visa process. So after you got your acceptance letter in your I-20, you have to make an appointment at the embassy to do your interview. 

Edwin Chahabudine  18:32  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  18:33  
How long did it take for you to get the interview, did you have to wait for a couple months? Or was it really fast?

Edwin Chahabudine  18:39  
Well, the thing is, I applied for the interview. 

Evan Franulovich  18:46  
Yeah.

Edwin Chahabudine  18:47  
So the interview was scheduled for September. 

Evan Franulovich  18:51  
Okay, that's pretty late. 

Edwin Chahabudine  18:54  
Yeah, pretty late. I spoke to my aunt that was already here, and she told me that you as an international student can send an email to the embassy to request a reschedule, because you will be late for classes.

Evan Franulovich  19:14  
You can expedite it, make it faster.

Edwin Chahabudine  19:17  
So I send an email to the embassy, and then they replied and asked me to be in the embassy two days later. 

Evan Franulovich  19:26  
Well, that's pretty fast. 

Edwin Chahabudine  19:28  
So it was kind of like a rush process. 

Evan Franulovich  19:34  
Right, right. 

Edwin Chahabudine  19:34  
So I went to the interview, and I got accepted. 

Evan Franulovich  19:39  
On your first try? 

Edwin Chahabudine  19:41  
On my first try. 

Evan Franulovich  19:42  
That's awesome. 

Edwin Chahabudine  19:43  
And then it took me five business days to get my visa stamp on my passport. 

Evan Franulovich  19:52  
Right. 

Edwin Chahabudine  19:53  
So it was kind of quick. 

Evan Franulovich  19:54  
And then you basically get on an airplane, not too many days after that. 

Edwin Chahabudine  19:58  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  19:58  
Wow. Okay, so most students I talked to in Africa don't have the experience you just described. Most of them have a tough time with the interview process. So what kind of questions did they ask you at your interview? And how long did the interview last?

Edwin Chahabudine  20:15  
My interview was like five minutes. 

Evan Franulovich  20:17  
It was very fast. 

Edwin Chahabudine  20:18  
Yeah, it was five minutes. They asked me, 'What was my real intentions after? That's a tricky question. They asked me, 'What is your real intentions after you are done with your degree, or your program?' 

Evan Franulovich  20:41  
Right. 

Edwin Chahabudine  20:41  
And if you say, 'I want to stay in the US.' They're gonna deny you. 

Evan Franulovich  20:47  
For sure. 

Edwin Chahabudine  20:47  
They're gonna deny you. So don't say, 'I want to stay in the US after I will be done with my program or degree.' 

Evan Franulovich  20:56  
Yeah. 

Edwin Chahabudine  21:05  
The council in my country speaks Portuguese. 

Evan Franulovich  21:08  
Oh, good. 

Edwin Chahabudine  21:09  
Since he saw that I want to come to the US, my interview was in English. 

Evan Franulovich  21:14  
Okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  21:14  
Because my mom also came to the US one year before I came to the US, so she kind of taught me what's the process like. So she told me that her interview was in Portuguese, but mine was in English.

Evan Franulovich  21:33  
Well, your English is quite good, so not a problem.

Edwin Chahabudine  21:37  
Now it's better, but in the beginning, it was kind of like a problem. My whole interview was in English, he asked me, what was my purpose, my major, why did I chose Seattle? 

Evan Franulovich  21:54  
Good question. And I'm just curious, what did you say when they said, 'Why do you want to go to Seattle?'

Edwin Chahabudine  22:06  
I used the same excuse, that I have family here in the US. 

Evan Franulovich  22:09  
Which is a great answer. 

Edwin Chahabudine  22:11  
And they've been talking to me about US education. 

Evan Franulovich  22:21  
Be honest. If the reason you chose Seattle is because you have family there, then great. That's a good answer, it make sense.

Edwin Chahabudine  22:29  
You have to be honest.

Evan Franulovich  22:31  
Don't tell them what you think they want to hear, just tell them your story. They really want to hear your stories. That's good. That's cool. Well, right on. So you got your visa on your first try, which is wonderful. Were there a lot of other people there the same day as you going through F-1 visa interviews? 

Edwin Chahabudine  22:48  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  22:49  
And were you seeing other people get their visas? 

Edwin Chahabudine  22:51  
Yeah, even people from other countries. 

Evan Franulovich  22:55  
Oh. 

Edwin Chahabudine  22:56  
Yeah, I remember when I was in my interview, there were a couple of students from Tanzania, one from Botswana. 

Evan Franulovich  23:05  
Right. 

Edwin Chahabudine  23:06  
And also, I think, one from Malawi, if I'm not wrong.

Evan Franulovich  23:10  
Yeah, quite a ways to travel. 

Edwin Chahabudine  23:12  
I don't know how.

Evan Franulovich  23:16  
Check carefully, guys. I think those rules have changed a little bit since you did it. 

Edwin Chahabudine  23:21  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  23:22  
For example, we have a girl, I just talked to her on the phone yesterday. She's from Zimbabwe, but Zimbabwe consulate embassy is closed now, as far as issuing F-1 visas, so she's having to travel to Johannesburg, it's designated that she goes to Johannesburg. She couldn't go to Maputo if she wanted to. She has to go to Johannesburg.

Edwin Chahabudine  23:45  
Oh, yeah, I remember, there's some countries that they close the embassies and you have to go to another country. 

Evan Franulovich  23:52  
There's a couple of ways you can do it. Check with the embassies themselves. That's always great. But you can also check with Education USA. Did you work with Education USA at all when you were in your country? Did you even know about it? I want to spread the word, because it's a really great resource. Education USA is an organization, they usually have offices all over the world, in the capitals at least, sometimes multiple locations, but they have free resources for students that are investigating or thinking about going to school in the United States like they have computers usually, they usually have libraries. They'll give seminars to talk you through application processes. Maybe they'll explain what a community college is to you, and sometimes they can help you understand the visa interview process. I mean, they won't do things for you, but they will help you understand better. 

Edwin Chahabudine  24:41  
I think in my country, we might have some.

Evan Franulovich  24:44  
I think there's definitely one in Maputo, but I think that's the only one in your country. 

Edwin Chahabudine  24:50  
Yeah, I didn't know that we have this kind of like program or departments that can take care of that. 

Evan Franulovich  24:56  
Yeah. 

Edwin Chahabudine  24:57  
Because I went through all of the visa process by myself. 

Evan Franulovich  25:01  
That's a lot. 

Edwin Chahabudine  25:02  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  25:03  
I think our application is pretty straightforward.

Edwin Chahabudine  25:06  
Yeah, it is. I was kind of worried to fill up the form by myself, but it was kind of easy though. 

Evan Franulovich  25:15  
Yeah, it wasn't too bad. And if you have questions, we recruiters are here to help you through that, or we can put you in touch with admissions, if it's something a little more specific, but yeah, we're here to support you. Also understand that our applications, for instance, you had to do an English proficiency exam, right? Which one did you do? 

Edwin Chahabudine  25:34  
I did the Duolingo. It's affordable. 

Evan Franulovich  25:37  
It is affordable, and it's fast.

Edwin Chahabudine  25:39  
Yeah, because in my country we do have the British council to do the IELTS, but it's really expensive.

Evan Franulovich  25:46  
It's expensive, and sometimes you have to make appointments. Yeah? Dual languages do at home,

Edwin Chahabudine  25:51  
yeah? You do by yourself at home. Cool, cool.

Evan Franulovich  25:53  
Some capitals I travel to in Africa, sometimes they have rolling brownouts. 

Edwin Chahabudine  26:00  
Oh, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  26:01  
Do you guys experience that in Maputo?

Edwin Chahabudine  26:04  
I will say in the rural areas.

Evan Franulovich  26:08  
Cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  26:09  
We don't have any problems downtown.

Evan Franulovich  26:12  
Okay, because with Duolingo, you want to make sure you have a reliable power source. Because if you lose power in the middle of the test, you could get locked out. And we don't want that to happen. So try to do it when you know you're gonna have really steady power. I have some students from Mali that have problems with power.

Edwin Chahabudine  26:33  
Oh yeah. I remember that. They had strict rules that you have to follow, like you have to be alone in the room.

Evan Franulovich  26:49  
Exactly. Follow those rules carefully.

Edwin Chahabudine  26:54  
Absolutely. I don't know if they use artificial intelligence, but if you get caught, you're done.

Evan Franulovich  27:05  
You have to do IELTS. 

Edwin Chahabudine  27:08  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  27:10  
How do you pay for Duolingo? Did you use a visa? Did you have to wire money? How do you pay for it? 

Edwin Chahabudine  27:17  
For the visa? 

Evan Franulovich  27:18  
No, to take the Duolingo test.

Edwin Chahabudine  27:20  
I used my parents card. 

Evan Franulovich  27:23  
I think usually you have to have a Visa or MasterCard or something. Well, cool. You got on a plane, first time you've been out of Mozambique? Or have you traveled internationally before?

Edwin Chahabudine  27:44  
I've been in South Africa so many times. I've been in Namibia many times.

Evan Franulovich  27:52  
Namibia is a nice place. 

Edwin Chahabudine  27:53  
Yeah, it's a nice place. 

Evan Franulovich  27:54  
What were you doing there, just tourism? 

Edwin Chahabudine  27:56  
Yeah. South Africa is my home 2.0. 

Evan Franulovich  28:00  
Oh, yeah. 

Edwin Chahabudine  28:02  
When I'm home, I'm always in South Africa.

Evan Franulovich  28:05  
Have you been to Eswatini? It's not too far from you.

Edwin Chahabudine  28:09  
I've crossed Eswatini when I went to Durban. 

Evan Franulovich  28:14  
Yeah, yeah. 

Edwin Chahabudine  28:15  
We had a road trip. 

Evan Franulovich  28:16  
Have you been to Lesotho? 

Edwin Chahabudine  28:19  
Nope. 

Evan Franulovich  28:21  
I think it's one of the only ones that has ski resorts.

Edwin Chahabudine  28:26  
I think it's the only country in Africa that snows. In southern African.

Evan Franulovich  28:33  
Unless you go up to the top of like Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, or something. 

Edwin Chahabudine  28:40  
It's the only country in the southern Africa that snows. 

Evan Franulovich  28:42  
And you can actually go snowboarding there, which is crazy. 

Edwin Chahabudine  28:45  
Yeah, I just realized that when I first came to Seattle, I was scrolling social media, and I was surprised to see snow.

Evan Franulovich  28:54  
Yeah, I know. Weird, right? Well, here's what you can do now, now that you're here again, you could just go start snowboarding, and you could be the Winter Olympic team for Mozambique. How cool would that be? 

Edwin Chahabudine  29:06  
Yeah, because we don't have a team. 

Evan Franulovich  29:11  
Yeah, that'd be cool. Or get a couple other Mozambique guys or something.

Edwin Chahabudine  29:17  
Yeah, because we have friends from Mozambique here in the US, but in different cities.

Evan Franulovich  29:22  
Have you met other Mozambique students in Seattle? 

Edwin Chahabudine  29:26  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  29:27  
There's got to be a few. 

Edwin Chahabudine  29:30  
When I went to Costco, I was doing shopping with my friends. 

Evan Franulovich  29:36  
Sure. 

Edwin Chahabudine  29:35  
My friends are from Angola, and someone stopped us and asked 'Are you guys from Angola?' And my friend said, 'We are Angolian, but he is not. He's from Mozambique.' And the guy was also from Mozambique.

Evan Franulovich  29:56  
Were you with King? Do you know King at North Seattle? King is from Angola.

Edwin Chahabudine  30:01  
One of them is here from Central. And the other one was his older brother, he works in Microsoft.

Evan Franulovich  30:11  
Gotcha. Well, if you get a chance to meet King at North, you should definitely do it, because he's super cool. He knows everybody, pretty cool. All right, so you get here and you went through orientation? 

Edwin Chahabudine  30:28  
Yeah, I went to orientation. That's where I met my friend from Angola.

Evan Franulovich  30:32  
Well, tell everybody what orientation was like for you.

Edwin Chahabudine  30:37  
They teach you how your academic process will look like at Seattle Colleges, and some specific points about immigration status. 

Evan Franulovich  30:53  
Yes, very important. 

Edwin Chahabudine  30:55  
Yeah, very important. And also, they had a tour. 

Evan Franulovich  30:59  
Yep. 

Edwin Chahabudine  31:00  
It was kind of nice. And you also introduce yourself to other peer students.

Evan Franulovich  31:06  
Right. Sometimes they do games. They feed you lunch. 

Edwin Chahabudine  31:10  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  31:10  
What do you think of the food? 

Edwin Chahabudine  31:12  
Yeah, I like it. 

Evan Franulovich  31:13  
It's good, right? 

Edwin Chahabudine  31:14  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  31:15  
Just so you guys know it's Middle Eastern food that they've been doing for the last few orientations. So it's halal. Is that your case as well? You come from a Muslim background?

Edwin Chahabudine  31:31  
Well, yeah, I come from a Muslim background.

Evan Franulovich  31:35  
Have you attended mosques since you've been in Seattle? 

Edwin Chahabudine  31:37  
Yeah, I know they have one downtown.

Evan Franulovich  31:54  
We have four in the city. They've one down by the airport, down in the southern part of Seattle. I know that, and I think they have one kind of in North Seattle a little bit.

Edwin Chahabudine  32:10  
Past Northgate.

Evan Franulovich  32:13  
Yes, that's the area.

Edwin Chahabudine  32:20  
I forgot the name of the city.

Evan Franulovich  32:22  
Well, it's no biggie. If you guys are Muslim and you are looking for a place to worship, we do have a number of mosques throughout the city, so you can find that community there. You can continue with your faith. That's not a problem. Very cool. Yeah, I know in Eastern Africa there's a mix of different faiths. So classes, let's talk about your first quarter here. What kind of classes did you take? 

Edwin Chahabudine  32:50  
Well, since my background is Portuguese, I had to start with English classes. 

Evan Franulovich  33:02  
Oh, so you were in the Intensive English Program? 

Edwin Chahabudine  33:04  
Yeah, I did level four, level five. 

Evan Franulovich  33:06  
Gotcha. 

Edwin Chahabudine  33:07  
While I was doing my IELTS classes, I was also doing my major.

Evan Franulovich  33:15  
Right, when you're in levels four and five of our Intensive English Program, you're allowed to take up to seven credits. What classes did you take while you're doing that?

Edwin Chahabudine  33:25  
 I took ISD 200, it counts towards your elective.

Evan Franulovich  33:32  
But I think you have to take that class, don't you? 

Edwin Chahabudine  33:41  
Yeah, I did. It was helpful.

Evan Franulovich  33:42  
Did you like that class? 

Edwin Chahabudine  33:43  
Yeah, ISD 200 was kind of a preparation to learn how to do your work, like presentations, how to be a student, those kind of things.

Evan Franulovich  34:03  
Right. What does ISD stand for? I can't remember off top my head, I think Introduction to student life or something like that.

Edwin Chahabudine  34:11  
Yeah, I also did the introduction of American culture. 

Evan Franulovich  34:14  
Oh, cool. You get to live it every day.

Edwin Chahabudine  34:18  
Yeah, we kind of go through the process of learning about how American culture really is. 

Evan Franulovich  34:28  
That's crazy. 

Edwin Chahabudine  34:29  
It's really nice. It's when I met Diara.

Evan Franulovich  34:34  
Yeah, that's another student you can watch her podcast. 

Edwin Chahabudine  34:39  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  34:40  
She's from Switzerland. Yeah, very cool. So that begs the question, you know, when you're in Africa, you watch American movies, you see what you think America is like, then you come and you live here, take a class like that. Has America been a lot different than you thought it would be, or is it pretty much what you expected?

Edwin Chahabudine  35:00  
It was pretty much what I was expecting.

Evan Franulovich  35:02  
What's been the most amusing difference? Or what have you found the funniest or strangest? I had someone the other day say breakfast cereal, where they were talking about how breakfast cereal is so different in the United States.

Edwin Chahabudine  35:20  
I have so many problems with the food. The food here is very different. I have a different food background. 

Evan Franulovich  35:33  
For sure. 

Edwin Chahabudine  35:34  
So here in Seattle, I have to look harder to find products that I want to eat.

Evan Franulovich  35:51  
Do you cook?

Edwin Chahabudine  35:51  
Yeah, I cook for myself.

Evan Franulovich  35:53  
What's your signature dish? 

Edwin Chahabudine  35:58  
In Portuguese, we call it Stroganoff.

Evan Franulovich  36:07  
Oh, Stroganoff.

Edwin Chahabudine  36:10  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  36:10  
I like it. That's great. So East African food, very different than West African food. Have you found any places near here that serve good food?

Edwin Chahabudine  36:24  
I did, I went to a lot of places here that specialize in African food. 

Evan Franulovich  36:33  
Yeah? 

Edwin Chahabudine  36:34  
So I already went to so many restaurants. I went to a Caribbean restaurant. Also Western and Eastern african restaurants. 

Evan Franulovich  36:44  
Lots of Western African food.

Edwin Chahabudine  36:47  
There was one restaurant in U district. 

Evan Franulovich  36:51  
A lot of great Ethiopian food.

Edwin Chahabudine  36:55  
That's really nice. I never had Ethiopian food in my life. So Seattle was the first place I had Ethiopian food, and it was kind of nice.

Evan Franulovich  37:06  
Seattle is a very cosmopolitan city. People from all over the world come here, not just Africa, but Asia, or whatever. I mean, you can find just about anything here. 

Edwin Chahabudine  37:15  
Yeah, just about anything. 

Evan Franulovich  37:17  
I mean, I don't know that we have a Mozambique restaurant. You can definitely see Brazilian food.

Edwin Chahabudine  37:23  
We eat Brazilian food, our dishes are kind of the same.

Evan Franulovich  37:31  
I'm guessing, a lot of seafood? 

Edwin Chahabudine  37:33  
A lot. 

Evan Franulovich  37:34  
Big coastline

Edwin Chahabudine  37:37  
We are known for seafood.

Evan Franulovich  37:41  
Spicy in Mozambique? I've never been to Mozambique.

Edwin Chahabudine  37:45  
Since it's kind of like a mixed ethnic country, we do have a lot of mixed food.

Evan Franulovich  37:56  
Curry based? Because a lot of people from India, Bangladesh come through that area.

Edwin Chahabudine  37:59  
That would happen. Also, that's basically my roots. My family is basically formed with people that immigrated from the Middle East to Africa. 

Evan Franulovich  38:14  
Gotcha. Yeah, it's actually a really cool part of the world, because  long time ago, all these traders would come to Madagascar, Tanzania and Mozambique.

Edwin Chahabudine  38:26  
The first name of the country was Musa bin Bique, it was named by an arabic sheikh.

Evan Franulovich  38:26  
From Oman, or somewhere.

Edwin Chahabudine  38:49  
And then when Portuguese came they changed to Mozambique.

Evan Franulovich  39:05  
So you're in Seattle, you're going to school, you've taken some classes. What do you do for fun when you're not in class? 

Edwin Chahabudine  39:10  
Well, I do work. 

Evan Franulovich  39:13  
Oh, you have a job on campus?

Edwin Chahabudine  39:14  
Yeah, I do. I got two jobs. 

Evan Franulovich  39:14  
You have two jobs? 

Edwin Chahabudine  39:20  
Yeah, I do have two jobs.

Evan Franulovich  39:22  
Where do you work?

Edwin Chahabudine  39:25  
In the same department, but different areas. I'm an event coordinator, and now a member of community and fees.

Evan Franulovich  39:34  
Is that event coordination here, or is it at South? 

Edwin Chahabudine  39:39  
It's here. 

Evan Franulovich  39:40  
How did you find that job?

Edwin Chahabudine  39:42  
Well, flyers on campus, but also the Student Leadership website. 

Evan Franulovich  39:53  
Ask around students.

Edwin Chahabudine  40:08  
If you are looking for jobs, you can go to the info center, and they sometimes know. And also student leadership, if we want to post anything, we go to info central to let them know that, 'Hey guys, something is happening. Can you guys like promote this?'

Evan Franulovich  40:28  
Yes, and some students, especially students of color, they join Project Baldwin.

Edwin Chahabudine  40:35  
Yeah, I'm a member of Project Baldwin. I'm also a member of Umoja.

Evan Franulovich  40:41  
Can you tell people about that organization?

Edwin Chahabudine  40:43  
Well, Project Baldwin is an organization for men of color. 

Evan Franulovich  40:51  
Yep. 

Edwin Chahabudine  40:52  
And Umoja is an organization for the Black and African American community. 

Evan Franulovich  40:58  
Yeah. 

Edwin Chahabudine  41:00  
Project Baldwin, it's not only focused, but mainly focused on men. 

Evan Franulovich  41:06  
Yeah, for now. 

Edwin Chahabudine  41:09  
We are working on Project Maya, that is also for women of color. 

Evan Franulovich  41:15  
Yeah, which I think is great. 

Edwin Chahabudine  41:18  
A lot of women join us in Project Baldwin. 

Evan Franulovich  41:25  
I agree. Do you know when that's going to start? 

Edwin Chahabudine  41:32  
I think between the beginning of the winter or late spring 2026.

Evan Franulovich  41:48  
Cool. So if you're coming to be a new student, and when we say students of color, by the way, that doesn't just mean Africa. You could be from the Middle East, you could be from Latin America. But it's a great organization.

Edwin Chahabudine  42:02  
I remember yesterday, I was talking with my dad about the meaning of men or women of color. He thought that it's only focused on Africans, and I was like 'No, Umoja is for Black and African Americans, but we do have Project Baldwin and Project Maya, that is for everybody.

Evan Franulovich  42:27  
Right. I always see people in the office, it's a great place to socialize, network, or get mentorship.

Edwin Chahabudine  42:37  
And also to get financial help. They can help with books, ORCA cards, etc.

Evan Franulovich  42:37  
It's really cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  42:40  
Yeah, it's really cool. 

Evan Franulovich  42:50  
Just wander in there. Everybody's welcome.

Edwin Chahabudine  42:54  
Yeah, everybody's welcome. They're pretty cool. I have attended so many events.

Evan Franulovich  43:01  
The countries that I recruit in, I travel to Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, and all of the students I talked to are pretty much welcome there. So definitely check it out. It's good. Let's see. We're running late here. So I want to make sure we get to the 'Get to know you.' part of the show, which I normally do at the beginning. But for some reason I start talking, and I just can't stop myself. So let's do it now, if you don't mind, this is just two options. Just tell me which option. This is a chance for the listener to get to know you a little bit more. So coffee or tea?

Edwin Chahabudine  43:41  
Well, I was addicted to coffee, but now I'm more into tea.

Evan Franulovich  43:44  
Really? 

Edwin Chahabudine  43:45  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  43:45  
So were you more addicted to coffee in Mozambique, or when you first got here? 

Edwin Chahabudine  43:50  
In Mozambique. 

Evan Franulovich  43:51  
You know, Seattle's the home of Starbucks. 

Edwin Chahabudine  43:54  
A lot of coffee in this town. 

Evan Franulovich  43:58  
I know Kenya is a great place for coffee, because they grow it. Tanzania has coffee. Do you guys grow coffee in Mozambique?

Edwin Chahabudine  44:07  
We do, but not that much. We do more tea. 

Evan Franulovich  44:11  
Oh, okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  44:12  
We do more tea in the northern part of Mozambique, because it's known for tea.

Evan Franulovich  44:19  
Right, right. I don't recommend traveling in northern Mozambique, it's a little dicey right now, but hopefully that'll change in time. All right, mountains or beach?

Edwin Chahabudine  44:32  
Wow, that is wild. Now that I moved to Seattle, I like hiking. But I'm from Africa, so I do love beaches. 

Evan Franulovich  44:42  
Yeah, that's really nice. 

Edwin Chahabudine  44:43  
That's really nice. I would say like half, half. 

Evan Franulovich  44:46  
Yeah, we have so many great places to go hiking. 

Edwin Chahabudine  44:48  
Yeah, I've been to Snoqualmie. I've been to Mount Rainier. So it's really nice. 

Evan Franulovich  44:54  
Yeah, definitely go out and see those national parks. Okay, early bird or night owl? 

Edwin Chahabudine  45:02  
Night owl.

Evan Franulovich  45:04  
Books or movies?

Edwin Chahabudine  45:07  
I'll say half half, especially right now.

Evan Franulovich  45:13  
Well, before we started filming, he was telling me that in Mozambique, you guys are big readers. 

Edwin Chahabudine  45:17  
Yeah, we have one of the two biggest authors in Mozambique. It's really nice.

Evan Franulovich  45:27  
All right, cool. Texting or phone calls?

Edwin Chahabudine  45:32  
Well, I hate phone calls, so I'll say texting.

Evan Franulovich  45:35  
See, that's what I expect people to say. Cats or dogs?

Edwin Chahabudine  45:41  
Dogs. I had eight dogs. 

Evan Franulovich  45:45  
Eight? 

Edwin Chahabudine  45:46  
Yeah. So we had to sell some because we had a lot. 

Evan Franulovich  45:50  
Do you live in the country side? I mean, how do you have eight dogs? That's a lot of dogs. Did you have a yard that they could go outside? 

Edwin Chahabudine  45:59  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  45:59  
All right, cool. You know, one of the things that strikes me when I go to the Middle East is that how many cats there are, like when I go to Morocco, , or Oman. Cats are just everywhere.

Edwin Chahabudine  46:22  
My dad hates dogs. So when I got my first dog, he loved him. So we started getting more and more dogs.

Evan Franulovich  46:28  
It's a lot of dogs. City or country?

Edwin Chahabudine  46:34  
Wow. 

Evan Franulovich  46:35  
I know it's hard, right? 

Edwin Chahabudine  46:38  
I would say country.

Evan Franulovich  46:42  
Adventure, or chill at home? 

Edwin Chahabudine  46:45  
Adventure.

Evan Franulovich  46:45  
Nice. Summer or winter? 

Edwin Chahabudine  46:48  
Summer. 

Evan Franulovich  46:48  
I knew you're gonna say that. Cooking at home or eating out?

Edwin Chahabudine  46:52  
Well, I would say going out to eat. 

Evan Franulovich  46:56  
Me too. 

Edwin Chahabudine  46:57  
I'm kind of lazy to cook. 

Evan Franulovich  47:01  
Me too. 

Edwin Chahabudine  47:02  
But I do, because I love cooking, but I'm lazy.

Evan Franulovich  47:07  
You hear that? That means it's Trivia Time. This is part of the show when we ask you five questions. If you get them all right, you're on our wall of fame. If not, you're going to cry yourself to sleep. First question: As you probably know, soccer is gaining popularity here in the United States, and next year is the Africa Cup in Morocco, Mozambique going? 

Edwin Chahabudine  47:36  
No, unfortunately.

Evan Franulovich  47:39  
Well, we have a professional soccer team here in Seattle. What is the name of our professional soccer team? 

Edwin Chahabudine  47:44  
Sounders. 

Evan Franulovich  47:44  
The Sounders, good job!

Edwin Chahabudine  47:46  
I went to couple of games. 

Evan Franulovich  47:50  
Did you? 

Edwin Chahabudine  47:50  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  47:50  
Cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  47:51  
When you're a student leadership employee you get free tickets.

Evan Franulovich  48:00  
Sweet. I was gonna ask if you got a deal. So I'm gonna tell you guys, if you're coming to be a student, like, there's always free food somewhere on campus. You can get free stuff all the time.

Edwin Chahabudine  48:19  
If you have a student ID, it's really important, because you can get a lot of discounts.

Evan Franulovich  48:24  
Yeah, for sure. Definitely take advantage of that. 

Edwin Chahabudine  48:27  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  48:28  
Cool. All right. Question number two: I am in the state of Washington here. Seattle is in the state of Washington, but if I go south, I run into a whole different state. What state do I run into South? 

Edwin Chahabudine  48:42  
Oregon.

Edwin Chahabudine  48:44  
And you're going to Portland this weekend. 

Edwin Chahabudine  48:48  
Yeah, I'm going to Portland this weekend. 

Evan Franulovich  48:52  
Cool. This is not related to the show, but can you name one big company that's from the Portland area? 

Edwin Chahabudine  49:01  
Portland area? 

Evan Franulovich  49:03  
Yeah, one big corporation, one big company. 

Edwin Chahabudine  49:07  
I don't know. 

Evan Franulovich  49:08  
I'll give you a hint, they make shoes. 

Edwin Chahabudine  49:11  
Nike? 

Evan Franulovich  49:12  
Yeah, they're in Beaverton, Oregon, which is in the Portland area. You could go to their world headquarters. 

Edwin Chahabudine  49:19  
I will go there. 

Evan Franulovich  49:22  
Nice. Question number three: Instead of driving south, if I drive north, I go to a whole different country? 

Edwin Chahabudine  49:31  
Canada. 

Evan Franulovich  49:31  
Canada, cool.

Edwin Chahabudine  49:33  
I would like to go to Vancouver, especially in spring, it's very nice. 

Evan Franulovich  49:38  
Now, citizens of Mozambique, do you have to have a visa to get into Canada? 

Edwin Chahabudine  49:43  
Yeah, we do. 

Evan Franulovich  49:44  
Okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  49:46  
They have something called Visa revalidation. 

Evan Franulovich  49:50  
Oh. 

Edwin Chahabudine  49:50  
You can schedule appointment, and then you can get your visa, but it's only applied for Canada and Mexico. 

Evan Franulovich  49:59  
Oh, okay. 

Edwin Chahabudine  50:01  
And couple of countries in the Caribbean.

Evan Franulovich  50:06  
Gotcha. I know what you're talking about. If you are in Seattle, you can take a train. This is your fourth question, by the way, you can take a train from Seattle to go to Vancouver. What is the name of the train? 

Edwin Chahabudine  50:19  
Amtrak. I'm thinking about taking Amtrak from New York to Seattle.

Evan Franulovich  50:26  
Oh my gosh. That would be a long trip.

Edwin Chahabudine  50:28  
Yeah, three days.

Evan Franulovich  50:30  
I thought you were gonna say five days. That's a long way. 

Edwin Chahabudine  50:33  
Yeah, it's three days. 

Evan Franulovich  50:34  
America is a big country, just so you know. 

Edwin Chahabudine  50:36  
Yeah, it's a big country. 

Evan Franulovich  50:38  
Cool. All right. Doing great so far. Last question: What was the last movie you saw in the movie theater?

Edwin Chahabudine  50:47  
Well, I think it was Black Panther. 

Evan Franulovich  50:53  
Ah, it's been a while. You got to get out to the theater. It's been a while. 

Edwin Chahabudine  51:01  
Wait, not Black Panther. I went with my friends to watch the new Mission Impossible. 

Evan Franulovich  51:09  
Oh, yeah. What do you think? 

Edwin Chahabudine  51:12  
Really nice.

Evan Franulovich  51:13  
Yeah, I thought it was stupid. 

Edwin Chahabudine  51:15  
I love action movies.

Evan Franulovich  51:18  
It's an action movie for sure. 

Edwin Chahabudine  51:20  
Yeah, I love action movies, and I really like it. 

Evan Franulovich  51:24  
And I love Tom Cruise. So Tom, if you're listening, man, I love your movies. Yeah, the last one I thought was just... I just couldn't, you know? I have this willing suspension of disbelief, but it's just too far for me.

Edwin Chahabudine  51:40  
Yeah, exactly. That's what I was about to say. There's some couple parts that were like 'There's no way it can happen.'

Evan Franulovich  51:52  
It's movies, so yeah. I know I'm supposed to just relax and have fun, but I couldn't. I mean, it was just so over the top, I just lost it. So anyway, that's my critique, tom, if you're listening. Nice job. Wall of Fame. Good job. All right. Well, we're at the end of the show. Now I only have a couple things left. One of the things we do is we ask our international students to say 15-20 seconds in your first language, we've already established that's Portuguese. 

Edwin Chahabudine  52:21  
Yeah, it's Portuguese. I don't know why, but people think that Mozambique speak French. 

Evan Franulovich  52:26  
They don't. 

Edwin Chahabudine  52:27  
We don't speak French. We do speak Portuguese.

Evan Franulovich  52:31  
And a lot of people have heard Portuguese before, but you may not have heard the Mozambique version. 

Edwin Chahabudine  52:35  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  52:53  
You can say whatever you want to, like if you want to say hi to your family back home, or if you want to encourage students in the region, whatever you want to do. 

Edwin Chahabudine  52:53  
*Edwin's message in Portuguese*

Evan Franulovich  53:22  
Nice. Last question: You've been through the whole thing now. You've got your visa, you've traveled in an airplane, you've gone through orientation, you've found a place to live, you've been through it. A lot of these students over in Mozambique, or other neighboring countries, they're thinking they'd like to come to study in the United States, what advice would you give them?

Edwin Chahabudine  53:43  
Well nowadays, I will say, be really cautious with things that you post on social media. And another thing I would say, try to get to know exactly what you want to do with your academic life, especially your major. I started with a computer science, but I ended up realizing that I want to do tech and business at the same time, so I changed to a different major. It's not bad because my parents supported me to do that. Take your time. Don't be in a rush. It's really overwhelming in the in the beginning, but try as much as you can to find exactly the city, what you're going to do, your goals and focus on it. Don't try to choose another pathway.

Evan Franulovich  54:48  
It's all really good advice, and I recommend you do all of that before you go to your visa interview. The more you know about Seattle, the more you know about community colleges. I wanted to touch on that real fast, because before we started rolling, we kind of talked about community colleges. A lot of people don't understand them. Maybe you can tell people is community college, university education?

Edwin Chahabudine  55:11  
Yes, it is. I remember when I was back home, I told my family that I'm going to a community college, I received backlash because they thought that I will not be able to work after that, which is not true. Here I am, I'm in a community college and after I'll be done with my community college, I will transfer to a four year universit, I will finish my bachelors in Business  Administration and information systems.

Evan Franulovich  55:46  
It's real. And the quality of education, in my opinion, I went to a community college, half of all Americans started a community college, or nearly half. And my education was awesome. I had great time. Sometimes the professors are from universities.

Edwin Chahabudine  56:02  
Yeah. The reason I started with a community college is because I came from a different academic background. 

Evan Franulovich  56:08  
Yeah. 

Edwin Chahabudine  56:09  
So that's why I was like, 'Okay, let me just start with a community college to have an opportunity to learn more about the academic process here in the US, to get a foundation, and then to go to the upper level.

Evan Franulovich  56:24  
Right And, of course, the number one reason most people go to community colleges, it's affordable, comparatively.

Edwin Chahabudine  56:30  
Compared to four years university, because it's expensive.

Edwin Chahabudine  56:32  
It's expensive to go to school in the United States.

Edwin Chahabudine  56:33  
It's a privilege if you start at a community college and you transfer to a four year university, because when you apply by yourself, as an international student you compete with Americans.

Evan Franulovich  56:53  
Did you go to our transfer fair? 

Edwin Chahabudine  56:55  
Yeah, I did. 

Evan Franulovich  56:55  
What'd you think?

Edwin Chahabudine  56:57  
I love it, because I learned about special deals for universities. So I have a lot of universities on my mind.

Evan Franulovich  57:11  
So you guys know, when you get here, twice a year, once in the fall, and once I think in the winter...

Edwin Chahabudine  57:17  
I think in the late spring. 

Evan Franulovich  57:19  
... all these universities come and they set up tables in our school and they want to talk to you because they want to invite you to their school to come there. And a lot of times they'll give you special deals, scholarships, whatever. Speaking of scholarships, did you apply last year for the Foundation Scholarship?

Edwin Chahabudine  57:37  
I did, but unfortunately, I didn't get it. But this year I hope I'm gonna get the Foundation Scholarship. 

Evan Franulovich  57:47  
Yeah, January through March.

Edwin Chahabudine  57:50  
Yes, it's really nice. 

Evan Franulovich  57:51  
What about Phi Theta Kappa?

Edwin Chahabudine  57:54  
Yeah, it's really nice. I work with them. 

Evan Franulovich  57:56  
Cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  57:57  
Yeah, I work with them. If you are a student with a 3.3 GPA or above, you can get a scholarship, and you can become a member of PTK. You also have an opportunity to go to conferences, and they offer transfer scholarships. You can also work for them. 

Evan Franulovich  58:27  
And one of the things I learned that I didn't know, I went to the transfer fair and I talked to some schools, not only did they have transfer scholarships, but they would also give special deals to PTK members. 

Edwin Chahabudine  58:40  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  58:41  
Because they know you're a good student, so you can also realize some other benefits. 

Edwin Chahabudine  58:46  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  58:47  
I did a podcast with three of our PTK officers here at Central. Check out that podcast. Lot of great information in there. I'm glad to hear you're taking advantage of that. Cool. Yeah, really great to visit with you today. Nice to have you come in. Thanks for being here. 

Edwin Chahabudine  59:04  
Thank you.

Evan Franulovich  59:05  
We're here every Wednesday, right here on YouTube or Apple podcast, Spotify, check us out. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe. Share with everybody you know, please. I'd like to get over 100,000 subscribers that it's my goal. Please help me achieve it. Tell your teachers, your counselors, your parents, your grandparents, maybe not your dog, but share with as many people as you can. We want people to subscribe and listen. It's great information, whether you're an existing student, whether you're coming or whatever, it's just good information, even if you don't come to Seattle Colleges. I mean, we hope you do, but if you end up going to another school, you're not gonna hurt my feelings too bad. I mean, I'll cry a little. Well, we'd love to get some more students from Mozambique, that would be really cool. 

Edwin Chahabudine  59:51  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  59:52  
So he has people to hang out with and speak Portuguese with. 

Edwin Chahabudine  59:55  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  59:56  
I mean, we'll try. Really great to talk to you. So Interesting. I have about a million other questions, but time's up. All right, take care. Have a good weekend. 

Edwin Chahabudine  1:00:05  
Thank you. 

Evan Franulovich  1:00:06  
Alright guys, you too. Have a great weekend. Bye, bye. 

Edwin Chahabudine  1:00:07  
Bye.

Evan Franulovich  1:00:08  
Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on 'Conversations with!' Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.