As an international student, having to travel many thousands of miles away from home came with the expectation of challenges. However, after my arrival in Canada and having visited York University, my perspective changed. This was largely due to the fact that I lived in an undergraduate residence and so in moments when I felt home sick and down, the Residence Life Team; encouraged me to get involved as a way of decreasing my sadness.
This encouragement came from my don who was always there to assist me. My don ensured that I was linked with the right resources such as York International, the ESL Centre, the writing centre, the Career Centre, and the five libraries. I was encouraged to get involved in residence activities and to assist with planning events such as potlucks, ski trips, movie nights and many more. This experience and feeling like I was valued definitely helped me cope with missing home. I also got the opportunity through these clubs and activities to meet many friends who have similar interests as I do. Meeting these new people allowed me to adapt to an unfamiliar environment.
How nice it is to live in residence :)
After the first month of “surviving”, I realized that for new students to enjoy university life, attending college events and joining clubs were very important. Therefore, I joined the International Students Association, which furthered my communication and interpersonal skills throughout the continuous interaction with other students. Also at the same time, it greatly improved my multi-tasking abilities through organizing and hosting events such as the International Week, which is a 7 days celebration for international cultures. While volunteering in ISAY, I felt being actively engaged helped to motivate and inspire me, since I had the opportunity to be engaged in something that would make a positive difference and impact many other students like myself. After the first year, these extra-curricular activities allowed me to learn more about what the campus has to offer; in addition it gave me valuable experience for the future. With this experience, I started to become familiar with campus resource and so in my second year, I applied to be a volunteer student ambassador. In this role, I was able to lead campus tours for prospective students and their parents to market all the innovative and world-renowned facilities, programs, services and academic support that York has to offer. I not only helped prospective students to get familiar with York, but I also gained a wide knowledge about the university, student clubs and my view as a student.
Fall Campus Day (See, how happy we are :D)
In my second year, I decided to become more involved in activities affiliated with my own college. Thus, as an accounting major, I joined the Atkinson Professional Accounting Association and helped out as a volunteer, attending many business related social events and gained a wealth of knowledge that I can’t acquire by just attending class; such as networking skills and organizational skills. I was also able to build meaningful relationships with the people I was working and meeting with which was a big bonus! Currently, I am working for the club as a communication director, where I have the chance to collaborate directly with administrative, marketing, finance and promotions departments to deliver successful events for over 300 association members. I also helped organize a variety of events, such as the CA Night, the PwC resume workshop and etc.
Having lunch with PWC recruiters!
Social event for club members networking with Big Four representatives and recruiters!
I am also volunteering as a Peer Mentor in New College which allows me to understand the needs of new students and help them deal with issues they face in their academic or campus life. I also collaborate with other mentors and officers to organize college events for helping new students make a smooth transition to university.
Me and my New College peer having fun in Multi-culture Fair event at Pond Residence
In addition, I have been working as a Night Porter and volunteered as a member the Residence Council since last September. These positions have given me the opportunity to work in a team by collaborating with other Residence Life staff. This role has taught be to work as an active, positive team player. These opportunities have given me the knowledge on how to connect with students from different cultures. As someone who has lived on residence for years I’m a veteran of “res life”, which allows me to share my personal experiences about living on campus. The past three years have really allowed me to familiarize myself with the Residence Life team, allowing me to witness the issues and concerns facing the residence community, which I can share with you guys :)
Residence Council Meeting (organizing events)
Working at the Porter Station :)
The past three years that I have spent within the boundaries of York University have played an instrumental role in my development as a holistic well-rounded individual. Looking back on those first few months of university brings some memory of the initial hardships. However, it makes me really appreciate what new students are going through when I meet them. Going to university was never something I was really that excited about but after a small push from my parents and a few timid steps on my own, I can't imagine not coming here. (You will get my point once you start university life lol) I really owe a lot to my residence, my college and my first year experience, without it there is no way I would be where I am or who I am today.
