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Canada viewed through foreign students’ eyes in essay contest

Winners of a recent essay competition on the impression Canada has left on international students give an insightful view of the country through foreign eyes.

Winners of a recent essay competition on the impression Canada has left on international students give an insightful view of the country through foreign eyes.

The top three entrants from more than 50 submissions to the competition, sponsored by Sprott Shaw College, were students from Korea, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

The students were asked: “What does Canada mean to me as an international student?”

“We wanted to ask them a question many ask themselves every day,” said Eric Lim, international adviser to the Victoria campus of the school. “Many of the students we see are well-educated, usually university graduates, who are at a stage of their lives perhaps considering immigration in the near future.”

He said that for many, studying in Canada was their first time away from their parents and this is the only foreign country they have lived in for any time.

Their preconceptions before they got here painted a simplistic picture of a hockey-loving country and our unofficial national symbol, the beaver. By the time they wrote their essays, they had been living here with host families for between three and six months and their perceptions had vastly changed.

The essays below give us a glimpse of their take on the cultural mosaic that they discovered and the positive values they acquired in the short time they spent here.

 

First Place: Ana Shimitzu Wen

What does Canada mean to me as an international student?

Unravelling the Unknown

Ana Shimizu Wen

Brazil

 

“Life is about courage and going into the unknown.”

(The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)

 

Every human being is given the gift of courage. However, there are few who ever take advantage of this gift and put it to good use. Courage is the ability to confront fear or uncertainty. Although we have all faced challenges, some of us tend to give up when difficulties become more arduous, while others face them courageously. These challenges lead us to experience, the knowledge or skill gained through involvement in or exposure to those events.

Canada has taught me to be courageous; to overcome my fears and to challenge myself. As Jon Krakauer, an American writer, says: “Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt.” We have to be exposed to different situations, whether good or bad.

Living in Canada has brought me different perspectives. I have learned to open my mind to opportunities, to see the world without prejudice, to be tolerant and to get out of my comfort zone. Once, I heard that the world is too big to be born and die in the same place, meaning that I was meant to go abroad and do something more than live a standard pattern of life.

My brief stay in Canada has made all these months worthy and significant. Thomas Mann, a German novelist, wrote that there are some situations in life which can shorten an hour, and even a day. However, from a general point of view, they could bring amplitude and consistency to the course of time, making those years replete with meaningful events that pass slower than those years empty, light and lacking in events. Therefore, all the efforts I have made in order to live in Canada have brought me priceless experiences.

I left my country with several expectations about how life would be in Canada. The unknown appealed to me. After a couple of months, my fantasies were shattered one by one. They were replaced, however, in every case, with unexpected turns of events which became the right choices, the paths to self-knowledge, the fun situations and in retrospective, the reasons I set out in the first place.

I left home with something as ephemeral as fantasy, and I am returning with something as solid and lasting as a great story.

 

Second Place: Torki Mohammed Alnafai

 

What does Canada mean to me as an international student? (Second place)

 

Torki Mohammed Alnafai

Saudi Arabia

 

Originally I came from Saudi Arabia to Victoria, Canada, to do some training for my work. But this was only the beginning of many changes in my life. I wanted to challenge myself to overcome barriers in communicating with other people, both in my work and in everyday life. I had a gut feeling that Canada would be a good place to get a fresh start.

In Canada, I broke out of my boundaries and changed the way that I communicate with others. What Canada means to me is not only travelling to a new place for training, but learning real-life communication skills. It means learning a new language to help me to interact with people from all around the world, and moreover, opening my mind.

In my training, I learned to converse with many different kinds of people with unique personalities. For example, I learned that there are three kinds of personalities: trusting, reserved and guarded. Now I am able to approach each kind of person differently and build better relationships with them.

After I finished my training and all of the trainees returned home, I decided to stay longer in Canada to continue to improve my communication skills by learning a new language. I believe that with the English language I can understand and interact with a greater number of people in the world.

Now I can have a good conversation with many people of different nationalities. To illustrate, last week I struck up a conversation with a British man, and I learned from him many things about his culture.

This is my first time visiting Canada, and my first experience of the western world. This trip makes me see the world from a new perspective. I am staying at an international hostel in Victoria. There are many people from different countries staying here, and I have made many friends who have other values, cultures and religions. This has helped me to appreciate other points of view and find out more about other cultures.

As you see, what Canada means to me is deepening my communication skills in all sorts of ways. First, it has involved studying how to interact with various personality types. Then, it has meant discovering a new language to speak to people from different cultures. Finally, it has led me to open my mind and helped me to see the world from many sides.

 

Third Place: Jongwoo Chas

Jongwoo Cha (Jack)

Korea

 

There are a number of superficial things that come to mind when I think about Canada such as the beavers, the prime minister, hockey and the fact it is the second largest country in the world. However, these are merely superficial.

To be honest, it is very difficult to choose what things have impressed me the most while living in Canada. Therefore, I have chosen three main things which to me encapsulate the meaning of Canada to an international student. They are the mosaic society, nature and the feeling that Canada would seem to be my second hometown.

Canada is often referred to as a “salad bowl” which is very interesting for me because in Korea it is very common to meet people who eat the same food, have similar fashion style and even have the same appearance as me. On the other hand, cultural diversity exists in Canada which can be seen in the variety of food, ethnicities and religions.

The one thing which really surprised me while living here is that Canadians accept all cultures equally, which means that there is no one right way to live, just all things are different. In my opinion, Canada seems to be built from the small pieces of countless different cultures.

According to a local Korean newspaper in Victoria called Victoria Today, Canada is one of the best places to live in the world. If you cannot believe it, look at your surroundings. Everywhere you look there is forest around you and a lot of animals living there that will expose you to nature.

When I first came to Canada, I saw an amazing situation on my way home where a deer was sitting in my neighbor’s front yard. I was not able to believe my eyes because it is impossible to see a deer in my home country. In that sense, I cannot help admiring Canadians for living in communion with nature.

I openly consider Canada to be “my second home,” although I am just foreigner. In fact, I used to tend to take my parents’ love and support for granted before coming to Canada. I absolutely did not know how precious what I got from them was. Also, my life here made me realize how silly I was to be dependent on others. Now, I am changing my life gradually. I am a little embarrassed to admit it, but I can cook by myself even though not well. Consequently, I have no doubt that Canada is worth visiting and travelling in.

In conclusion, as an international student, I am extremely interested in Canada. Even though I only have discussed three aspects of Canada which are multiculturalism, nature and second home, I am strongly sure that value of Canada can never be described by just them. In that sense, I cannot but like Canada that harmonizes with nature, welcomes everyone and admits diversity.