Every March, Loyalist College hosts the Holi Festival, celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs, to help students from India feel at home and experience this important celebration of their faith and culture. Photo by Victoria Caminha, QNet News
By Victoria Caminha [1]
BELLEVILLE – For many international students, leaving home to study abroad is an exciting but intimidating experience that brings both challenges and opportunities. For Loyalist College students who come from other countries, the journey has been life-changing.
Sandeep Kaur with her husband Manpreet on their wedding day in Punjab. Brides wear a traditional dress called the lehenga and put mehndi (henna) on their hands and feet for the ceremony, she says. Photo courtesy of Sandeep Kaur
“The most challenging thing is the homesickness,” says Sandeep Kaur, a first-year student from the Indian state of Punjab who’s in Loyalist’s Journalism-Communications program.
“I miss my family. I really miss my mom. And sometimes I cry,” Kaur told QNet News in an interview.
Lakhwinder Dubb, also from Punjab, a student in the Business program, agreed.
“The most challenging thing is being far from the family,” he said.
“I (have) never been far from my family before, and I moved here with no friends.”
Melissa Noronha, a 28-year-old student in the Human Resource Management program who is from the state of Goa [2], India, said that back home, she is always surrounded by friends and family. Now she is alone: “Sitting in a room with silence is something way different for me to experience.”
Elizabeth Martinez, a 26-year-old student from Monterrey [3], Mexico, who’s in the Supply Chain Management program, says she also experiences homesickness.
“I miss the most my family, my mom,” she said. “I am a very independent person but she’s my best friend. I miss our little conversations.”
Kaur comes from the a city of Amritsar [4], famous for the Golden Temple [5], the most important worship site for Sikhism. Religion is an important part of Kaur’s life, and she says that she began to feel more at home in Belleville when she started to go to the city’s gurdwara [6] (Sikh temple) at 151 Cloverleaf Dr.
“I go there and I’ve made more friends and now I feel (closer to) India,” she said.
Melissa Noronha (third from left) during a Christmas celebration with her family at home in Goa, India. “I miss my family, the people, and my friends,” she said. Photo courtesy of Melissa Noronha
Noronha’s home state, Goa, is a former Portuguese colony on the southwestern coast of India on the Arabian Sea. It’s one of the vast country’s smallest states.
“The best thing about my place is that at any time of the day, you can go out, have fresh air, and enjoy the beaches around you,” she said.
Here in Belleville, her favourite places are the Bay of Quinte and the walking trails in the area. She arrived here last November, as winter hit. When summer arrives, she said, she wants to “go out and socialize, meet new people and learn different cultures, explore the food and music.”
Devansh Sharma, a 21-year-old Human Resources Management student from Mohali [7], in Punjab, says his hometown is full of gardens and lakes to enjoy during the day, and the city is full of parties at night: “Good parties, loud music and drinks. Punjabi people are the loud people.”
Devansh Sharma (left) in the last photo taken of him before he left his home city of Mohali, Punjab, to come to Canada. Photo courtesy of Devansh Sharma
His favourite place in Belleville is Zwick’s Park, he said. And his favourite thing to do here is “to go to Chapters and explore books.”
Martinez’s home city, Monterrey, is the second-largest in Mexico. While it’s an industrial city, it has the benefit of being surrounded by the mountains, she said. She enjoys hiking and climbing there with friends.
How does she feel about her new home?
“Belleville is a very nice place if you want to live (there) for a while, with the beautiful lake,” she told QNet. And “Loyalist College has a lot of opportunities for international students.”
“I think that Loyalist College (provides) a great opportunity for (future) journalists. That’s why I choose Belleville, because of Loyalist,” says Sandeep Kaur, here in a radio-broadcast booth at the college. Photo by Victoria Caminha, QNet News
The students agreed that the best part of being in another country is being able to explore new places, meet new people, and experience new cultures.
While Dubb misses his family, he said that in some ways, “it’s good to be far from them, because we can learn new things, and we gain new knowledge which is very helpful to our future.”
The students said that adding special things from their home country to the place they live in Belleville is important for making them feel happy and at home away from home.
“Make your place feel like home,” Noronha advised. “Try to bring your memories there. That way you will be comfortable in your space.”
Sharma agreed.
“If you want to feel at home over here, just bring as many memories as you can. You can bring pictures and belongings to keep (family) in memory.”
Making a new country feel like home can be hard, but not impossible, the students said.
Elizabeth Martinez enjoying kayaking with college friends who are also from from Mexico on the Bay of Quinte on Canada Day last year. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Martinez
“Don’t overthink about the future,” Martinez said.
“Enjoy today, live the present, and just have hope for the future.”