International Students @ Concordia

Open House/ Portes Ouvertes 3

3:16: ...so I was supposed to be here a lot earlier but for some reason, I wrote down the wrong timeslot in my trusty agenda. Oh well, I'm here now so lets not dwell on the past.

Its a little anxiety inducing being in this chair, almost like people walking by expect genius from my fingertips. I can see some friendly Open House volunteers staring at the screen as this is being typed. Self-conscious much?

3:34: I love Open House. Every year, we get this fresh, clean batch of inquisitive new students who know next to nothing about our University and are thankful for every little piece of information we can offer. I almost can't remember what it was like for me 5 years ago. Okay I'm lying. I can remember...I was terrified beyond belief. So many papers. So many requirements. All I wanted to do was run back home and rent a movie. Oh what 5 years does to a person.

3:46: This thing is winding down slowly. The end of fairs or exhibitions like these is always a very slow death. Lingering passerbys ask their final questions. The last of the free pens are snatched away. I love free things.

I think thats how I'm going to end this. Talk to you soon my dedicated and lovely readers.  Be strong and try not to curse the heavens because of the weather.

Open House/ Portes Ouvertes 2

So, I got my coffee and my sandwich. This is blogg entry No. 2.  It currently is 2:50 p.m. and time is, well sort of, running out but people are still coming to check out the tables. The ladies next to me are doing a great job in taking people's pictures . However, I wonder whatever happened to Elie.  My "companion" has was suppossed to be here and blogg with me. 

Oh well, life goes on.  People are still being a little reluctant of having their picture taken. Maybe we should hand out some chocolate to motivate them a little more....but Angela just told me they might end up eating them all themselves , whichn might a little dangerous and result in a few more hours in the gym.  ;)

Open House/ Portes ouvertes 2008

Sooo... I'm sitting here in the hot chair but before I'm going to start this off I'll have another bite of my veggie sandwich....just a sec.

Ok, now.... everybody around here seems pretty busy. Those people in their burgundy shirts guiding all the newbeez through the hallways, the spectators closely examining every table.

There is a certain huzzle and buzzle in the air.  Although I think we are missing the yellow and red bee....maybe he'll buzz by later.  I was just told Buzz will be on the webcast at 2:45 p.m. ...in case anybody missed out.

It actually is pretty interesting to just sit here and to watch people walk by.  Everybody seems to come here with different things in mind.  "Oh, where is the communications table?,"  one lady asks. "Would you mind if we take your picture?" ..."Sure! No problem!" says the girl and smiles in to the camera. Even Bill, the busdriver, has stopped by to have his picture taken but he was a little weirded out when they asked him if he had an email address. He has been driving the shuttle bus for the last sixteen years, he says.

As for now I think I'll go get some coffee to keep my enegry  level up.

All that glitters...is actually gold

As difficult as it is to not sound cheesy or cliché but I have to proclaim that it has become increasingly difficult to make the trek back home. Already being terrified to fly, having my flight get canceled twice, missing my connecting flight and being delayed for ten hours in London, finally reaching Dubai and finding out that my suitcases did nor arrive with me...all the while being on a total of six anti anxiety pills.

But the more interesting difficulty comes in the form of actually being home. After living with my similarly minded siblings for four years in Montreal, it is always a fascinating and comedic struggle between the person I was and who I am now. But living away from home, especially when your home is Dubai, has provided me with the opportunity to stretch the boundaries of where my personality can take me and who I can become amid the halls of Concordia. And the beauty of seeing these changes in the eyes of those of who knew you is worth spending those fifteen hours in the airplane awaiting your mighty return back to the city that wants to be the next city that never sleeps.

The problem with being an international student is this precise situation. We spend years away from home formulating characters that give us leverage to think outside the box. Then we come back home and the box is there for us to crawl back into it. Within this box, we sit through awkward exchanges where we try to explain to each and every enthusiastic relative what exactly it is we study and why we didn’t decide to become doctors. Then there’s the customary subtle pry into our love lives and finally ends up with the comfortable and familiar discussion on the weather and just how difficult Montreal winter is.

There's also the amazing re-discovery of just how changed Dubai has become. Gripped with a constant need for advancement on the world stage and providing the most luxurious (everything you can think of!), the most appropriate description would be to compare the city to a Beverly Hills wife addicted to plastic surgery. Beautiful. Superficial. Continuously changing.

It can be funny and it can be frustrating. But without these time warped two weeks, we wouldn’t get the comfort of our mothers doing our laundry. We forget about re-applying for our study permits. Finding the cheapest and fastest lunch in between our 2:30 to 2:45 classes becomes a distant memory. What we end up with is perspective. Perspective on the people we were and the reasons we chose to pursue an education outside this comfortable environment and get the opportunity to get those extra hours of sleep. We recharge and remember that it’s the challenge and the experience that we were chasing in the first place. Concordia will still be there when we get back. For now, we may as well watch another few hours of sitcoms without the guilt of final exams looming in the back of our minds.

Vive les Vacances !

I have been in Montreal for more than two years now and I have not left Quebec... I know, what a shame ! So this last Christmas vacation I decided it was time to explore Canada. By late December I found myself on the most eastern point of the North American continent... Newfoundland had welcomed me! I found within this very rough landscape, a pure untouched beauty on the island (especially at the coast) and amazingly warm people. I spent 10 superb days, hiking, playing hockey (for the first time), eating fish, drinking beers with cool "true Newfoundlanders" all the time enjoying myself. For those who wish to have a real taste of Canadian culture, beautiful landscape and a great time I strongly recommend you visit Newfoundland !

After this amazing week, extended by few days due to a snow storm. I flew cross continent to spend some family time in the city of light. My trip to LA was composed, like always, a trip to Amoeba ( the ultimate and biggest used/new CD store in the world !), an afternoon at the beach, some shopping, a lunch at Downtown's Philippe and good times with my friends and family.  If anyone is interested in public transportation here is the latest news: LA is investing strongly in buses and to my best surprise a new rapid lane was installed on Olympic Avenue. The number of Hybrid cars (almost unexisting in Montreal) are everywhere in the city. But unfortunately the problem of pollution is still horrible. I was more than happy to return to my dear Montreal and breathe  some clean air !

So welcome back everyone to Montreal, enjoy the comeback vibes and the nice winter we are having !

And don't forget next Saturday (the 26th of January) we will be hosting our annual Open House, so come and visit us! 

Peace,

Audrey ...

What is home again?

So, I’m sitting here in the library watching the snow fall in front of the H-building, killing time after I just got my course selection for the exchange with France approved and I decided I should finally post my first blog entry.

After being in Montréal for almost 1 ½ years straight, I finally went back to Germany to visit my family and friends over the holidays this year. I had spent quite some time abroad now and I was a little worried about what was going to expect me back home.

So, I got on an Air Canada plane to Toronto, where everything started off great with a flat screen with a really nice movie selection, right in front of me. However when I got to Toronto my connection flight turned into the usual Air Canada nightmare… an hour delay (which is still considerably good for Air Canada) but the entertainment system was broken. So there was no movie, no radio and no little map to tell you where we were. I decided to get some sleep by indulging in the free whine they offered. Unfortunately this wasn’t such a great plan and didn’t help either. I arrived in Frankfurtcompletely hung-over and tired.

One thing which really struck me already at the airport was the difference between the behaviour and comportment towards immigrants in Germany versus Canada. Becoming a permanent resident of Canada myself within the last few weeks, things just struck me more I guess.

However, being back after such a long time was not all that easy, especially because my parents live in the countryside and people’s mentality just started to annoy me. I have to say my own parents didn’t annoy me of course but just going to a store or walking through the streets of my little city, was really something I just couldn’t take anymore. Maybe one could say it was a reversed culture shock, I don’t know.   

I started to realize that people there smiled a lot less and just generally seem unhappy. One thing which really bugged me was that somebody would bump into without ever turning or saying sorry. This seems to be a little thing but I guess I got really used to it here in Montreal.

Another issue which could have turned into a big problem was that I didn’t have my permanent resident card yet when I had left Canada. For about two weeks I was not sure if I would be able to re-enter the country. I would have had to go to Berlin to obtain a travel document from the Canadian embassy, but there were only four days during which I could have gone. So basically the whole thing was a big mess but lucky enough the card arrived 2 days after I had left and my roommate sent it to me via Fedex.

My summary of my trip back home….definitely not a vacation.

      

Departure: Mexico City Arrival: Toronto???

It's one of those flights were you think you are going to die.

"Hello passengers, this is the Captain. We are going to try to land at Trudeau International Airport, but if the visibility changes, we might have to return to Toronto again…"

On top of it, turbulence…

I even felt the need to hold hands with the passenger next to me! The plane kept going down, down, down. You could make out some spots of the Saint Laurent river peeking out from a gigantic indestructible fog...

I forced my eyes to close to review some memory flashcards through my mind with hopes to forget the fear of death…

"Did I really take advantage of a month of holidays going back home?

"Well for the first two weeks I did nothing! Just relaxed and enjoyed getting pampered by my friends and family.

"Then Christmas came! It's true, I forgot how it feels like when Santa Clause comes around… But remember what the Grinch said?

<"What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?">

"Yeah! We had turkey, that's universal. But we also had Panettone, Bûche de Noël and we broke through a Piñata jumping for spicy candy!

"But the next two weeks were even more intense! We went to the Yucatan peninsula and visited haciendas, Mayan ruins and even saw Flamingos!

"Like the Temozon hacienda, where they had an artifacts workshops for the local people. As  part of Haciendas Mundo Maya Foundation, the project aims to give them a job in order to sell the products for the tourists that come around at the hacienda.

"Oh! And how can I forget the amazing taste of "Camarones al Coco!" at La Pigua restaurant in Campeche?

"Nonono, but the Light and Sound show at Edza was... too much!

And the echo effect produced by clapping in front of the pyramid of Uxmal? Just like the Quetzal bird!

"How about jumping into clear, light blue warm Cenotes on the first day of 2008!!!

"...learning the process of the henequen agave plant ("Green Gold") at the hacienda Sotuta de Peon!

"I also definitely have to go back to Dzibilchaltun, to see the summer solstice and equinox effect on the Temple of the Seven Dolls!

"And when we visited the Franciscan convent in Iztamal, I had no idea it apparently has one of the biggest courtyards after the one at the Vatican, which is probably one of the reasons why Jean Paul II came in 1993 to reunite with different ethnic groups!

"And the city of Mayapan! I didn't know it was actually the capital city of the Maya, which together with Chichen Itza and Uxmal formed the Mayan confederation!

"It's funny how, now, more attention is given to Chichen Itza,  especially because it is one of the "New 7 wonders of the world" which is voted by people online…

"But what that tourists don't usually see there is that inside the pyramid temple, at the Castillo, there is a Chac Mool statue and a jaguar-shaped throne with jade eyes. This is the place where the first pyramid used to end!

"And Celestun! Looking at the horizon on a boat and noticing a bright, bold, fluorescent pink line… only to become more than 18, 000 American flamingos up close! I can't believe they have that color just because they eat red worms!

Then, a certain bounce interrupted my stream of consciousness...

The plane had landed. I sort of forgot where I was. People started clapping out of nervousness...  We made it! We are in Montreal! We are O.K (Zero Killings!)

I'm back. Still back there in Mexico, but back here on denial...

ML=)

Next time, I will tell you more about Airport traffic! That's another story on its own for international students coming back and forth EVERY SINGLE TIME, there is an anecdote to share...

Check this out:

http://www.fundacionhaciendas.com/eng/index.html
http://www.sotutadepeon.com/