The return home: From Canada to Brazil

By Thiago Valentin

It’s time to pack all of our stuff and get a flight back to our home country (in my case, from Canada to Brazil). Then we realize that we are about to leave Canada for real. How should we feel? Leaving our country, family and friends to spend one year abroad is very difficult, and so is leaving the country you called home for the past several months.  As we face the return home, here are some accomplishments and adjustments that are common to experience as international students:

• The culture. Living in Calgary has helped me to meet people from all over the world. It is fascinating how much I have learned about different cultures, and not only Canadian culture. Back in Brazil, I always enjoy meeting new people from different places that may need some help getting adjusted in our country.

• The language. While in Canada, with a lot of effort, I developed my English skills. I had several people helping me with that and now I am able to do the same for others, teaching them English. Also, I started teaching Portuguese to some Canadian friends, which was an interesting experience for me. All of this language exchange made me realize that I want to start a new goal – learning Spanish.

• The University. During my time at the University of Calgary I learned that the teaching system at the universities in Brazil and in Canada are very different. I tried to make the best of these differences.. For example, I find that 50-minute classes (in Canada) are shorter (maybe too short!) and that in Brazil we might benefit from some tutorial classes. Adjusting between these two worlds has made me consider how we can take advantage of the strengths of each system of study and work.

• The fear. Big changes can always be overwhelming- and moving from one country to another is a good example of that. When I left Brazil, I thought that I was about to begin another life. And by the time I left Canada, I was worried that I was about to end this other life, as if there were two parallel universes. But this fear must be positive, always making us move forward.

• The city. Both cities – in Brazil and in Canada – are very different. One of the things I miss most about Calgary? It is so calm, with few traffic jams and (in general) ease of mobility.

• The weather. This is the most difficult topic for me to talk about. While some people may not like the long winters in Calgary, I enjoyed it the most. I have lived my entire life in Rio de Janeiro and I don’t like the hot weather we need to bear here. Both extremes, I should say. When it’s almost -40ºC in Calgary, the thermometers have already reached above +40ºC in Rio. I do miss watching the falling snow each morning there.

• Friendship and family. It is always great to reunite with family and the friends that we have ‘left behind’. But once you have lived in another country, there will always be other friends to miss. And we need to face it as a good point, not a bad one; because we had the chance to meet in very good circumstances. As they say, friends are the family we are able to choose.

Photo gallery ‘things I miss about Canada’