Welcome to the second part of this blog series! If you are just joining us on this journey, I will quickly give you an overview of what was shared in the previous blog. In the first chapter, we talked about the challenges of making friends, the language barrier, and how to take small steps to tackle these. In this part, I’ll talk about challenges international students can expect and prepare for when facing a new climate and educational system. If you are an international student, no matter where you come from, this post is for you.
Being a university student, I get many opportunities to meet my peers at club events, university programs, and, of course, in the classroom. There, I met different international students from various countries, like India, Vietnam, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Mexico, who came here to study and fulfill their dreams.
After talking to them, I understood that getting used to the new environment, in particular, weather differences, can be another big challenge for most newcomers. I have personally experienced this. I am from India, where the temperature is generally around 40 degrees. You cannot wear thick T-shirts or layers of clothes there. Whereas the Canadian climate is totally opposite. Canada is far colder in comparison. During the fall and winter seasons we cannot go out without wearing hoodies or layers of clothing. Living in negative temperatures is a completely new experience, and some days it may feel overwhelming. But you can prepare for the day by checking the weather app on your phone. Make sure to always verify the outdoor temperature so you can dress appropriately. During winter, dress in several layers and make sure to buy good winter jackets and shoes to help keep yourself warm. A nice tip is buying these during sale events like Boxing Week and Black Friday where you can find them at affordable prices.
Apart from the weather, adjusting to the new educational system and transitioning from school to university can be difficult. For me, in high school, I had a fixed schedule and had to follow that. But here at the university, I have to make my own schedule and nobody is going to do it for me. For everyone, there are more readings and a larger workload, unlike in high school. Also, the size of the classroom is much bigger at universities so professors won’t be there to force us to study; we have to do it ourselves. So, trust me when I say that it is normal to feel overwhelmed by the demands of school. It looks scary, but opening up and asking for help from peers and teachers can be helpful. The most important thing is to be honest. Be honest with your professors, fellow peers, and, most importantly, yourself. When you feel confused and overwhelmed, try to open up to someone to discuss your problem and together come up with a solution.
What I have seen based on my personal experience is that the problems faced by international students are not new, and most of the universities are aware of these. As a result, they have various resources available but a lot of students are not aware or use these services. We may end up stressing out because we do not know whom to reach out to or where to go. That is why it is important to make friends and discuss our challenges with someone. You might not know everything, but your friends might have experienced it, so their advice could help.
And this is all for this chapter but this is not the end yet. We still have our final chapter left, where we will be listening to the experiences of some of the current international students in Canada. Join me for one last encounter as we go on the ultimate journey of challenges, struggle, and victory. So take care, stay strong, make sure to check the weather outside, and have some fun with your friends.