Canada: The first encounter
Canada is my second home. But how did it become my second home? Simply. It was a mere coincidence (or destiny?). See, I have always loved the English language and culture of English-speaking countries. That is why I chose to study English as my major.
It was during my master’s studies when I decided to go for my second Erasmus stay. This time I wanted to go to an English-speaking country (the first one being in Granada, Spain as I also studied Spanish). That was not as easy to do as it may have seemed. My university did not exactly have a lot of student exchange agreements with English-speaking countries. First, I tried to get a scholarship to study in the USA but I was not successful.
I decided I would try to get into a student-exchange program at a Canadian university
Nevertheless, it was during my first semester of my master’s studies when I met my two amazing friends – Chris and Gary – both from Ontario, Canada. We had the same sense of humor and it was super easy to get to know each other. So natural. That is when I decided I would try to get into a student exchange program at a Canadian university. Easier said than done, for sure.
I found out that my university did not have any current agreements for a student exchange program with a Canadian university. Nonetheless, I was able to find out that there was once an agreement with Camosun College but it was never made advantage of by either our or Canadian students. I tried to email the international department of Camosun College (and also some more Canadian colleges) but did not receive any replies.
Let the Canadian adventure begin
The weeks went by and the end of my second semester arrived faster than Usain Bolt. I started to prepare for my US Work and Travel program at the Tyler Place Family Resort in Vermont. Only a day before leaving for the US, I received an email from the international study department of Camosun College. Apparently, there was a new head of department, Vivian, who went through the old emails and expired agreements and was eager to renew the agreement with our university. I was supposed to come to study there for one semester as a “trial student”. The only issue was that the semester started in September and I was supposed to be in the USA until October. Luckily, Viv was so kind as to postpone my arrival for the winter semester starting in January.
So, right after Christmas, I set off for my next adventure – 5 months in beautiful Victoria, the capital of the British Columbia province. The journey itself was quite an adventure. It was minus 20 degrees (Celsius) when I was leaving the Prague airport. There was a snowstorm in Amsterdam Schiphol. And as I am not exactly a fan of flying, you can imagine how “excited” I must have been when I saw this plane to take me from Seattle to Victoria:
In the end, it was quite a nice flight with a lot of beautiful views. I arrived at Victoria airport quite late in the evening. I had a Couchsurfing stay organized. It was my first Couchsurfing stay I was supposed to undergo alone at a guy’s place so I was pretty worried. I had also befriended a girl on Couchsurfing, Emilie, who answered all the questions I had before going to Canada. It was her I went to straight from the airport.
Right after touching the Canadian soil, I realized what such nice people Canadians were. A woman at the airport information was super kind and went with me to the bus stop where she made sure I knew where I was going. Well, I must tell you I got lost anyway, but hey, I did not have any data of wi-fi at that time, so do not judge me.
Couchsurfing rocks
After a while, I found the house of my Couchsurfing friend Emilie and we chatted a bit. Then she went with me to the house of the guy, Cam, where I was supposed to couchsurf. I was still very nervous but it turned out that there was no reason! Cam was awesome. He lived in a house that was owned by a family that lived there and whose members became one of my best friends. But first things first. Cam was offering me to go with him and his friends for a beer but I was super exhausted and jet-lagged so I went straight to bed. The next day I met the rest inhabitants of the house. And we became really good friends. Our friendship is still lasting. In the end, I stayed at their house for almost 2 weeks. And I felt at home.
I also met my now ex-boyfriend Chris through them. And that’s when my life changed forever. That’s why I stayed in Canada not for 5 months as I had planned but for almost 3 years. And that’s why I now might come back there as I became a permanent resident 2 years ago. But that’s already a different story. The most important message is not to be afraid and step out of your comfort zone. By not booking a hotel and couchsurfing instead, I forever changed the direction my life was going.
What about you? Do you believe things just happen out of a coincidence or that there are meant to happen?
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