Student studying at UBC | Photo courtesy of UBC Learning Commons.
Widely regarded as one of the world’s top cities to live in, international students from places likes Myanmar and Singapore are drawn to Vancouver because of its moderate climate, diverse cuisine and high quality of living. Adjusting to a new environment can be both exciting and challenging – for many students, their time in Vancouver might serve as a life-changing cultural experience.
First and lasting impressions
Eimon Yin moved to Vancouver from her home in Myanmar to study economics and political science. She feels that Vancouver’s diversity can help her better understand how these topics shape our lives and identities.
“[Vancouver] has a laid-back feel; people are kind, caring and respectful of others,” she says.
In her first year of university, Yin spent much of her time exploring tourist hotspots with her friends and actively learning more about the city. As she met fellow international students and Vancouverites, she was surprised to find that not all were as enthusiastic as she was about traversing the city.
“Some [Vancouverites] haven’t been downtown in years!” she says.
Yin suggests that universities can become communities in themselves and that certain aspects of life at UBC may prevent international students from truly experiencing Vancouver.
Culture shock coming and going
For some students, Vancouver’s culture can be surprising or even shocking. For Singaporean student Alison Njoo, 21, the lifestyle in Vancouver is less strict than in Singapore.
“With less of a focus on discipline, students are allowed to be more creative and express themselves more,” she says.
Njoo, who plans to become an English teacher in a Singaporean private school, hopes to incorporate her Canadian experiences into her future teaching methods. Through participation in clubs at UBC, she has had the opportunity to learn the Chinese art of lion dancing and attend a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
But one of the most interesting cultural experiences Njoo has had in Vancouver was her encounter with the LGBTQ community.
“It was very shocking, actually,” she says, explaining that in conservative Singapore it is actually considered a crime to engage in consensual homosexual activity, so there is virtually no publicly visible LGBTQ community there.
For other students, the culture shock is more apparent on their return home than on their arrival in Canada. With no agricultural programs available in Macau, Kelvin Kou decided to study food and environment at UBC. Kou, 23, plans on gaining significant experience in his field in the West before returning to China to pursue future opportunities. But since coming to Vancouver in 2009, Kou feels that he has assimilated enough into Canadian culture to experience reverse culture shock.
“I am in a position where I am not quite Canadian, but not completely Chinese either,” he says.
International students at a glance:
At UBC alone there are 8,440 international students from 149 different countries studying this school year (2012–2013).
A 2009 study conducted by Metropolis, a public policy network, discovered that there were 39,550 in Metro Vancouver. Of that number the highest percentage were Chinese at 28 per cent and Korean at 23 per cent. Saudi Arabians came a distant third at six per cent.
