CANADA

David Gobeille-Kaufman
Université de Sherbrooke
Major: Business
Minor: Marketing

Birthday: September 13th 1983
Preferred academic topics: Politics
Languages spoken: French and English (very well), Spanish (a little)
Foreign countries visited: Italy and Israel (worked in the country); Germany, Romania, France, Cuba, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Switzerland and Spain (as tourist)
Hobbies: Walk & Talk
Sports: Rugby, snowboarding, keeping in shape
Music: All kind, but two thumbs up for Ben Harper (USA) and Cat empire (Australia)
Favorite books: I can’t answer this question…I have to many
Movies: Braveheart / Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulin / Scarface
Food: Vol-au-vent / Steaks on the grill

Professional objective: To many…

Why did you decide to take this course? It represents an opportunity to converse and exchange points of views with students from around the world.

Most important day in life: I don’t know if I can reasonably consider that a day was more important than all the others, but it’s possible to describe the day which changed my life for sure. It happened the August 11th 1990. I was 7 years old, in a summer camp and I knew that my mother was pregnant but, like most of the young kids, I didn’t realize what will be the consequences of this event.
I was eating with my fellow camp buddies when my father arrived all excited and asked me to bring all my stuff: we wear going to the hospital. I never saw my father acting like this before. He is usually somebody really calm. But this time, something was different.
When we arrived in the pregnancy room, and I saw this little man in my mother’s arms, I realized that my life will never be the same. And it’s for good. Of course, in the beginning it was difficult for me. Almost anybody that has a little brother (or sister) will confirm this. You have to protect your games from your little brother hands and mouth and, most notably, you have to compete for your parents’ attention. But the main conclusion of this story is that on the August 11th 1990 I was not any more a one and only son. I became an older brother and I took that position really seriously. That day, all my life changed, and it was a notable step to what it was to become.

Biography: My name is David Gobeille and I’m born in Montréal, Québec, Canada. My parents’ names are Louise and Radu. My mother is born near Montréal, in a village name’s St-Sauveur, and my father is born in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. I am living also with my little brother, Samuel. Since I can remember, I always loved being independent, being responsible for myself. I had my first real job at 16 as a youth camp organizer. I had this job for a couple of years and I loved it. I’m still working with the youth at the YMCA in a part time position and I love this line of work. Since I was 19 I have traveled overseas a number of times. Sometimes with my family, other times with friends, and the last time I traveled alone. This last trip lasted 5 months while I worked and traveled in different countries. I can say now that, the decision to undertake this trip had an important influence on what I want to do. I know now that I love to learn about other cultures, about people from other places and about their language.
Back in Canada, I started in September 2003 my studies towards a business degree at the University of Sherbrooke. I have enrolled in the coop program which requires from the participants to alternate every semester of curriculum courses with a semester of working in a related field. Since starting this program I have worked in three organizations. The first was a NGO which was raising funds for building schools in different countries notably, Burkina-Faso, Senegal and Haiti. There I was responsible for preparing focus groups, fund raising events and doing special projects. The next year I worked as a project manager in a company that organizes continuing education activities for physicians. My work consisted in coordinating the publicity and the logistics for a particular project. At the moment I’m an internal representative for an organization in the IT sector. Here I’m part of a group responsible for the printing equipment sales to customers located in the Quebec province.