An Adventure on Uncharted Lives in Canada

By Chloe Jang

By Chloe Jang, Humber Student



Are you a tenderfoot in Canada?

And are you also new at Humber?

If you are, then we are friends for the just simple reason that we are here together!

My name is Chloe, an international student from South Korea. I came to Toronto 5 months ago with my husband Dan and lovely two cats. After arriving here, I have studied English at a Humber EAP program until last April, and now I am preparing for the Human Resources Management program starting this September.

The most important reason why I chose to come to here is that I really love Canada’s natural environment. Ever since I watched Canadian luxuriant forests, crystal lakes, the wide spaces of its prairies, and even wild animals on TV when I was young, I have fallen in love with Canada. So, I started to prepare going to Canada with Dan once I got married to him.

Living in Canada is a very exciting and adventurous experience for me, and also makes me feel satisfied with all that I expected. Nowadays I usually go to parks in my neighborhood to take a walk, get fresh air, as well as enjoy its amazing mood. I had never imagined that I could walk with a rabbit or a bird as a friend along the beautiful street, but now, I became friends with them! From June, I am planning to learn how to paddle a kayak at the Habourfront, and then I will go somewhere by myself to enjoy a peaceful and secluded area. Also, I am dreaming about going to the Rocky Mountains in 10 years with my family (of course including my cats!), driving our own camping car. How wonderful it is!

I have experienced a number of things such as being respected and recognized as me, myself, not as a stranger and an outsider, which makes me attracted to Canada and Humber as well. I am looking forward to having a lot of experiences ahead of me, even though I don’t know what and when they will come.

Do you think here you are a stranger apart from natives? I believe I could share my stories and feelings with you as a friend, a colleague, or a sister who has the same concerns you have had. My stories in this blog are maybe becoming your stories and sometimes your guide of choices, I hope. 

Coming in my next blog, I would like to tell you how the Humber EAP program was and suggest you how you can improve your English beyond the campus.

How to earn, save and pay your way through college!

As an Ambassador in Humber’s International Centre I often got calls from potential students asking about the cost of studying at our college. While Humber offers one of the most competitive tuition fees, the heavy price tag of studying abroad is sometimes daunting for those with only nickels at the end of their purse strings.

“Uh…how much did you say?”

(Long, awkward pause…)*I hope he didn’t pass out.

 “Ummm, o.k. thank you.”

Studying overseas is always something you have to plan for. Being International means you have to pay full tuition fees, which today, could run you over $13,000 or more per academic year. But there are benefits to studying abroad. A recent American survey showed that students who studied overseas were more likely to land a better a job quite sooner than the average graduate! http://www.iesabroad.org/study-abroad/why/career-benefits.

So, before throwing in the towel (or throwing out your dreams for that matter), consider these options:

Humber’s Entrance Scholarship:

Humber College offers international scholarships ranging from $1,500 to full tuition (renewable) scholarships each year. These are offered to three (3) first time applicants with demonstrated excellence in academics and community involvement. To find out more about these scholarships visit our website at: http://www.international.humber.ca/study-in-canada/scholarships.

Loan from are relative, friend or a lending institution:

Families and friends are also great resources for getting that extra buck you need-especially if you don’t qualify for a loan from a formal lending institution. Approach this as a business venture. Provide them with a payment plan outlining your expenses; including how and when you plan to repay the loan. And, remember to honour your promise-you never want to be the “he’s-never-getting-another-red-cent-from-me” fugitive…uh, relative that everyone avoids (or hunts)!

Charity/Scholarship Organizations/Alumni Groups:

Research possible scholarship or charity organizations (or alumni groups) affiliated with your country on- line.  The National Institute of Jamaican-Canadians (NIJC) is particularly helpful to Jamaican students in need while there are countless other organizations for international students from other countries. So Google away!

  

Work on (or off) campus:

All international students are eligible to work on campus while in Canada. Although you’re paid minimum wage (approximately $10 per hour), this can go a long way in closing the gap between expenses.  You can visit the college’s career website at http://www.careers.humber.ca/ for available job postings or view Canadian jobs on http://toronto.kijiji.ca/.

Create a College Fund

Create your own college fund; the earlier you start the more likely you are to meet your target. In your monthly budget, include a sizable chunk for your future college tuition (once your immediate and essential costs have been covered). Keep your expenses at their minimum. It’s a tremendous sacrifice but it will be worth it in the long run; you’ll be one step closer to becoming a Humber graduate!

Counting Down the Final Days

                                                                 

                                                                                                           

Image courtesy of
http://varsitybreakout.com/2012/11/15/how-to-beat-exam-stress/

With just two weeks left for the end of the semester every second of my life is chained to an endless string of tasks to complete. * I need sleep. Lots of it...

On any given day I wake up and scamper from classes to work or to my internship.Meanwhile my finals and assignments loom menacingly around the corner like the "Boogie Man".

There's something about the end of a school year which sees you puttering to the finish line with almost deflated enthusiasm. It's like an anti-climatic plunge after you've reached your intellectual peak. I've always found this strange since, logically, this should be the time when you're most excited to get the job done and move on.

While in my Marketing class last Tuesday this became most evident. By mid lecture, many of my classmates had already given into an hour's battle with sleep while I contemplated wedging my pens like tent posts under my own collapsing eyelids.

Desperate times call for desperate measures...

I've found that a good pick-me-up for the end-of-year blues is to break the monotony. A quick five minute stretch or my self-taught Salsa always seem to do the trick (o.k, the Salsa bit never leaves this blog).

And for those who'd rather be entertained (than to entertain themselves)-there's never a dull day on campus. Just last week I was drawn to the pulsating rhythms and Bollywood style festivities of Indian revelers in the college's Student Centre.

In that brief moment, and without recognizing it, I'd lost myself in the euphoria; forgetting all deadlines. I'd finally stopped counting down the days and learnt to relish the moment.

  

 Next Week

Plan on coming to Humber but think you can't afford it? Join me next week for easy steps on how to earn, save and pay your way through college!

Should I Go...or Should I Stay?

                                                                
                                                                             


By Kimberly Lowe



 

I tore the Humber envelope with bated breath and  hands visibly trembling. Did I? I didn’t? “Yes, I got in!” I shrieked. The mauled envelope was, by now, on the floor while I held my future ( in bold prints) in my hands. 

It’s been two years since I’ve been at Humber in the Media Communications program. I started in 2011, wide –eyed and with great expectations. I arrived the summer before I started and began making preparations for the new term by creating my own personal ‘game- plan for success’. This included taking a tour of the campus, mapping out my route and meeting with the coordinator of my program.

As the summer wound down and the semester started I felt confident that I had crossed the awkward hurdle of getting familiar on the first day. Orientation went by like a whirlwind and I hoped I’d remember at least one of the people I met during ‘Meet and Greet'- (I never remember names!). I also used the opportunity to introduce myself to the staff of the International Centre as a future student and a possible work-study candidate. It worked! I landed a job shortly after as an Ambassador.

Home Sweet Home…

You’re never quite prepared for the roller coaster of experiences (or emotions) that come with being an international student. Early adapters learn quite quickly that the key to surviving in Canada, and in any foreign country is finding a strong support base and relationships that count.

I’ve often wondered if I’m alone in my struggles to adapt. I’m still peeved by old man winter pinching my cheeks with his frosty fingers; the layers of long johns, trousers, blouses, jackets and boots I straddle myself with and then peel off…exhausted. And, the evenings I go home after a long day of school and work to a miniature room with a bed and all my belongings crammed into a corner.

Behind the pictures with the wide grins and proud poses in front of the CN Tower, Wonderland…and (even) Walmart lurks a longing for the things that are familiar. Home.

Of friends and acquaintances…

I’ve met some of the most remarkable people at Humber from which I’ve drawn motivation and inspiration (and a few I may have to perform exorcisms to forget). The International Centre’s Diane DuChemin and my coordinator, Lynne Thomas, have both impacted my life profoundly with their unbridled compassion for others and love for what they do. I could always rely on them to put out the fires that flared up occasionally during the semesters.

Over the two years I’ve also found lasting friendships with my classmates, Gina and Seine who’ve made learning more than a classroom experience.

 I’ve skipped through hoops, hurdles and some near misses …and still kept the grades up. Some I’ve attributed to luck but for the most part it’s been sheer hard work and determination. As with any major mete you do get out what you put in! Now that I am nearing the finals, I look back with a greater sense of achievement and appreciation for the struggles that have made this  uniquely my Humber experience.So will I stay or will I go? Keep reading or you'll never know...

Turning your passion into a career

For Laura Mabee, a Bachelor of Arts in History was not the end of her postsecondary journey, just the beginning. “I chose web development because I enjoyed it as a side hobby, so I decided to take my passion and turn it into a profession,” says Mabee.

After some careful research, Mabee decided Humber’s one-year, postgraduate Web Development certificate would offer her the skills she needed to merge her passion with a career.

And, at the end of year portfolio show, Mabee was proudly displaying her collection of work from the past year, with the confidence of her upcoming internship already in place.

“I came into this program not knowing a lot of code and working in the museum environment. The web development program is giving me an opportunity to do an internship at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), where I’ll be working on the museum's end coding. Humber’s program has bridged the connection between what I’m passionate about and like to do, and has combined it with the most perfect internship,” says Mabee.

Students are taught HMTL and CSS along with various other programs, how to work with databases and create complex databases for websites, along with the business of web development and how to work in teams.

“Classes are a combination of lectures and hands on projects that commence as soon as the program starts in September. Students are given a project right away that simulates a real client’s demands and have to come up with the requirements and a plan. We even make students start filling out time sheets, working it into their professional practice right from the first day,” says Bernie Monette, program co-ordinator, Web Development program.

Monette stresses that while various backgrounds, not just computer programmers are candidates for the program; the most important skill is lifelong learning, as they will be working in an ever changing environment.

Made in China - pictures worth a 1,000 words

Not everyone has the opportunity to visit the Great Wall of China and hike through a rice terrace, but 20 graduating Humber Creative Photography diploma students did.

Spearheaded by professor Neil Fox and accompanied by photography technician, Chantal Denne, Humber students participated in an adventure of a lifetime. The 18 day excursion took them off the typical tourist path, hiking and kayaking in the heart of the country. The photographs documenting the trip became part of the 2012 Contact Photography Festival, Made in China exhibit.

“At one point we stopped in a small village and handed out 20 point and shoot cameras to a small group of schools kids. Each child was paired up with a Humber student and learned how to use the camera. It was a great experience,” says Denne.

While the exhibition took place a year after the trip, it gave graduates an opportunity to reunite and reminisce about the worldly adventure.

“There were so many great photographic moments, but sleeping on the Great Wall of China and getting shots of the sunset and sunrise is something that I’ll never forget,” says Denne.

Multimedia students showcase the elements of beautiful design

Who’s coming out of Humber’s two-year Multimedia Design and Production Technician diploma program? A group of highly skilled, diverse and talented grads, up to date on industry trends and cutting-edge technology.

This year’s portfolio showcase at the INGDirect Café in downtown Toronto was a way for 30 graduating students to present their online portfolios to industry professionals, recruiters, family and Humber staff.

“When industry is saying we’re producing a high quantity of well-rounded grads, that’s pretty exciting," says Linda Nakanishi, professor, School of Media Studies and Information Technology. “I think the draw for interactive is that it’s always changing and Humber is really good at adapting the program. Every year things change, expectations change, technology changes, trends change in design, and we have to revamp and keep things current at Humber.”

The theme for this year’s show was ‘Elements’ and the graduates worked on the marketing, branding, web and print promotion, with the students having a say in every step of the process.

In addition to showcasing the student’s work, the show was also a one on one networking opportunity with industry representatives and recruiters, allowing students to fine-tune their communication skills.

JeJun Lee, a graduating student was encouraged by his professors to enter his design into the FITC (Future. Innovation. Technology. Creativity.) Awards competition, which honours the best of the best in the new media industry. Lee did so and won a Best Canadian Student website award. He was also hired full-time, prior to finishing his school internship.

Graduates of the program often go on to become Web Designers, Front End Developers, Video and Web Editors, Digital Marketers, Project Managers, Community Managers and more.