As I lived in El Salvador for over 18 years with my family and finished my studies from high school until 12th grade, I felt very motivated and thought that I had enough value to learn globally by starting my studies at Thompson Rivers University. I thought that the only way that I could find better ways of education and being successful in society and the world was to be involved in TRU. Right after I graduated from high school in El Salvador, I felt that I had ineffective communication and empathy skills to gain intercultural experience through the world. Being involved in this phenomenal journey for almost 7 years, an invaluable treasure chest full of joyful moments, values, skills, discipline, attitudes, and knowledge of cultural diversity, inclusion, and equity has been achieved all within me over time. As an international student who appreciates, receives, and views education as the main source of personal growth in different ways of interpretation, I would like to share with you in detail how my international studies in Canada became legitimately the best decision of my life.
Starting through the weather season, my initial arrival in Kamloops was in the Winter of 2018. As I was arriving through Kamloops by Air Canada, it seemed almost all land was covered with a bright white layered surface. As I touched my feet in Kamloops, I later realized that what my feet touched was snow and was indeed snowing! I immediately felt cold as I left the plane at the airport, and I was breathing deep cold air through my nose. In addition, my skin was starting to get dry and pale. Then I was wondering how people here in Canada can survive this kind of weather. I then thought that surviving cold temperatures would take some time to adapt and I then decided to remain patient. After a few hours of trying to get my way Downtown, I was impressed by how organized and clean it was. On every block of the street, different-sized buildings were seen in front of my eyes. Apartment buildings, hotels, banks, restaurants, and shops were easily seen within blocks of a street. What impressed me on Downtown was the relatively easy way of walking down the street by using the Red-Light system. In El Salvador, we don’t have that type of pedestrian trespassing system on the roads, making it feel insecure and scary. Therefore, I later felt very confident and happy to go to different places throughout Kamloops.
As I was reaching for my first class ever in TRU, there were some spaces for students if they needed some additional services. Personally, that is very helpful for international students who are coming alone to Canada for the first time. There were some outdoor open spaces on campus if you wanted to sit and enjoy the sunshine, play some sports, or something similar like that. During class time, I was walking through the campus streets while I was seeing hundreds of students and faculty members from different countries going in and out of all buildings.
Looking at what I have gained towards global learning while studying at TRU, I learned how to speak more compassionately towards society of different cultures, understand different languages and be friendly with such people, and also acquire a big picture of intercultural tools to cohabit with people internationally. Understanding the historical context of the indigenous people of Canada, made me realize how nature in BC is greatly appreciated and cared for. Hence, as a resident of Canada, I deserve to respect and care for borrowing and treating their “home” in Canada. However, taking care of the environment makes us live sustainably so doing such tasks is greatly appreciated for the world.
As I am about to graduate, I have gained a drastic change in global competency. As I met lots of different people from different cultures, I gained tremendous awareness of discovering what their customs and traditions are so that something mutual can be found and harmonically live together. In addition, I gained great listening skills when I asked effective questions or when people were trying to tell me something so that I could provide the most helpful tasks.
When I joined as an intercultural ambassador at TRU, I realized that this must be important for me to be globally competent. During the time I was officially an Intercultural Ambassador, I learned that I should respect other cultures, and open myself from learning what others say. In addition, I learned that I should be open, be aware and always show respect towards other cultures. The project I did about Plurilingualism, made me learn that the same words have different meanings in other countries. Therefore, the workshop shows that the TRU community including myself, needs to be more aware and understand the contextualization of words in other cultures so that society can be globally competent for successful communication. Therefore, this can be seen in my career from a chemical biologist and scientist perspective. As I work in a chemical lab industry from another region such as Europe, I will interact with my co-workers, manager and supervisor by using effective words in their languages to understand which word is most comfortable for them to work together as a team. As a globally competent student in TRU, I will implement essential listening skills to understand, learn and be aware of what other cultures do so that everyone is satisfied in meeting each other harmonically.