With my semester abroad in Canada swiftly coming to an end, I briefly summarize my impressions of this interesting journey in this post.
by Moritz Döring
When I first heard about studying abroad on a far-off Canadian Island, I was rather skeptical at first. What exactly would I be setting myself up for going to this somewhat isolated corner of the world? But the more I learned about Vancouver Island and Nanaimo, the more it piqued my interest. Despite other interesting options that my university offered me to spend the semester at, I finally decided to pick Canada, in part because I have never been to this country before. I got on my flight and made my way to this supposed land of syrup and maple leaves.
Vancouver, Nanaimo, and the parts of Vancouver Island that I got to see during the following months gave me a good first idea of daily life in Canada. First up was Vancouver, which I stayed at just before the semester started. It turned out to be a bustling city like what I am used to in Germany. Among my personal highlights in Vancouver were the Granville Island Public Market, Gastown with its iconic Steam Clock and Stanley Park as the perfect location for a bike ride. In fact, many aspects of Canada were similar to my home country, which is obviously to be expected as they both have a Western culture.
Then I had to start fulfilling my academic duties as a student and took a ferry to Vancouver Island to start my studies at Vancouver Island University. To summarize my time there, it gave me pretty much the university student experience that I was hoping for and that I didn’t really get back in Germany: An actual and large campus area, tons of students from very different backgrounds, an impressive library, traditional lecture halls and more. This is probably the biggest thing that I will remember from this whole semester, since it actually gave me the feeling of being a true university student. On top of this, most of my classes were interesting, allowed me to get familiar with various fields of study and gave me a chance to keep practicing my English.
Exploring Nanaimo showed me how small the city is, and most of the places I wanted to see were quickly ticked off on my checklist. As with pretty much any city, I ran into some more shady areas, while others were much safer and interesting. The latter included recent trips to the beautiful Westwood Lake, Maffeo Sutton Park and Pipers Lagoon Park. Going on a road trip with fellow students and organized by the university, we also got to see the small and lively city of Duncan, as well as the towering and impressive Malahat SkyWalk. Due to snowy weather conditions, the university sadly cancelled another road trip to the city of Victoria, which I would have loved to visit together with other students.
To conclude my overall semester abroad experience in Canada, I must say that overcoming my initial doubts mentioned in the beginning and deciding to pick Vancouver Island was the right choice. I met plenty of new people, had many memorable experiences, got the typical university student experience that I was looking for and even had fun learning from my courses. All in all, this has helped me to get to know Canada as a country better and has surely been worth the trip. I look forward to fondly remembering these few months of my journalism studies in the years ahead.
