Episode 5 - The One With Andrea, Dentist - Licence To Practise Podcast - Romania to UK - IELTS
** Sit back and listen, it's time for Licence to Practise by IELTS Medical.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKNvGnx6TiI
In Episode 5 - The One With Andrea, Dentist - Christina gets to know Andrea, a multilingual (Hungarian, Romanian and English) Registered Dentist now practising here in London, UK.
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Episode 5 - The One With Andrea, Dentist
Christina: Hello and welcome to another episode of License To Practice from IELTS Medical, today we're going to be speaking to Andrea who is a dentist and has been living in the UK for the last two years. So let's give her a call.
Andrea: Hi. Good morning.
Christina: Hi Andrea, how are you today?
Andrea: Very good thank you, hi Christina.
Christina: Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and we're just gonna go through a few things hopefully get some information out there and some advice for people wanting to come and practice here in the UK. So would you be able to start by just telling us a little bit about yourself?
Andrea: Yes of course. As I mentioned earlier my name is Andrea, hi everyone. I was born and raised in Transylvania, Romania however my mother tongue is Hungarian, which makes me trilingual, I am speaking Hungarian, Romanian and English. And I completed my Bachelor's Degree in Dental Technology in Transylvania and later on in 2014 in Dentistry and now I work as a dentist in London.
Christina: Wow very good, how long have you been in London for?
Andrea: I am living in London for almost two years from now.
Christina: And was that the first place you moved when you came to the UK?
Andrea: Yes, I moved to London yes.
Christina: Yes, you have been in the UK for two years. And why did you choose the UK?
Andrea: Well, I was always curious about living in a foreign country to learn about different cultures, to experience something else, something new. So the reason I decided to move to the UK, it’s because I was already speaking English. Definitely not on an advanced level, obviously. And I think it would have been more difficult to start learning a new language from scratch and this was one of the reasons. And another reason was that my partner
moved to London as well so again I didn't have to begin this journey by myself.
Christina: Oh yeah that is a good reason! So obviously and you said you already, you know, you had quite a good basis of the language but obviously there's still the whole registration process to go through and all the exams that you have to pass in order to make sure that you can speak English to the level that is required by the governing bodies and can you tell us a little bit about what the registration process was like for you?
Andrea: Yeah, well, this was the hardest part I might say. I was struggling a bit at the beginning but eventually I made it. So I got a job offer before I moved here so I just had to register with GDC and of course to do that I had to take my IELTS exam. And the minimum required level was 7.0 if I’m not wrong, it was a while ago so I don’t really remember. I have failed a couple of times and then I realized that it is not as easy as I thought it would be. And I decided to take some private English classes, lessons and eventually I looked for a more convenient option financial-wise because I wasn't working at that time and..well..it wasn’t very easy and then I found IELTS Medical. And then we had group lessons and I could share my experiences with my colleagues and also I felt good to know that I am not the only one who is dealing with this exam. Also it was really good to share some learning techniques and I have met a lot of great people from every corner of the world and it was very nice. And I am not speaking now just about my colleagues about the teachers as well because we had a lot of emotional support as well. And eventually thanks to IELTS Medical because of my IELTS exam.
Christina: Congratulations!
Andrea: Thank you so much! And after this step everything started to work out just fine. I managed to register with GDC and then I started to work as a dentist, and that time I was working at the dentist, a general dentist in London.
Christina: Very good, very good. So did you start the registration process before you moved over here? Well I know the registration process but the exams did you do everything over here?
Andrea: Well, I had my first exam back home in Romania but I didn’t pass my exam. And because I already had a job offer and then I bought the plane ticket because I thought it's going to be definitely easier, so as I mentioned my partner was here so I came to London as well and then I continued my registration process here basically I had everything else I just needed my exam this was the hardest part for me to get the exam. And obviously as I mentioned earlier I had to take some lessons and then I had this course so after that even though it took me a few couple of months after I had my exam then I could continue with the rest of the registration process which wasn’t very difficult for me. I mean if you've got everything, everything what they are requesting then it’s perfectly fine.
Christina: Yeah, if you’ve got everything it’s fairly quick I think, isn't it? The actual process.
Andrea: Yes. And being from an EU country it was even more easier. Unfortunately for someone who is not from the EU, they need other exams as well.
Christina: Yeah there is a difference there, isn't there. So do you have any advice for dentists aspiring to work in the UK?
Andrea: Well, if I’m speaking to my colleagues who are foreigners and would like to move to the UK, I would definitely advise them to be consistent and it can be maybe difficult for them as well to take the IELTS exam, as I said earlier this was the hardest part for me. So just do not have to give up and then eventually it's going to turn out just fine.
Christina: Yeah so be prepared and don't give up.
Andrea: Yeah exactly and be consistent.
Christina: Yeah and consistent, well I think that's really good advice. So do you enjoy it, your time in the UK? Have you enjoyed it so far?
Andrea: Yeah definitely, I am very happy that I decided to move here. And as I mentioned at the beginning that I was always curious about living in a foreign country and to learn something new and I think that I improved myself a lot. And it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made, I would say.
Christina: Oh well good I'm very glad to hear that.
Andrea: I really learnt a lot of things you know, and I improved my English which is very good and I’m happy about that. And all the experiences and definitely something else.
Christina: Oh good I'm very glad to hear that! Well thank you thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story and giving that advice at the end. I'm sure that's gonna be helpful to a lot of people wanting to give it a go. So thank you so much and have a lovely day.
Andrea: Thank you so much Christina and I'm happy that I could be here today with you. Enjoy your day as well.
Christina: Thank you so much for listening and thank you so much to Andrea again for coming on the podcast and sharing your story and for that advice at the end. Consistency and don't give up! I really hope that you've enjoyed listening to this and that you found it helpful and we will see you next time.
