Illustration by Katie Doyle
The pandemic has made the Canadian education experience not what it appeared.
Amidst the chaos of the pandemic and the uncertainty that came with it, I applied for George Brown College. After three months of waiting, I received my offer letter in April of this year. After my acceptance came paying tuition fees, which were through the roof for a middle-class family living in India. Nevertheless, it felt worthwhile for a chance to pursue my dreams. My excitement was immeasurable at first, but it quickly evaporated as I came face-to-face with the effects of COVID-19.
The flight was torturous and one that I will never forget. To reach Canada, I had to travel through three cities: Dubai, Belgrade, and Paris, with layovers from 10 to 16 hours each. I was travelling for three days straight.
Was it adventurous? Definitely. Would I do it again? Not at all.
Surviving on doughnuts and fries, sleeping on uncomfortable chairs, and going through verifications and baggage checks multiple times a day would not be on anyone’s bucket list. But I and many other international students had to go through it all to be here.
Hungry and jetlagged, I finally set foot in Canada. I had already finished up my first week of classes back in India, but I missed the second week of my classes to travel. Balancing almost double the load of assignments while perusing locations to live in made the first two weeks in Canada a challenge.
Dealing with unaccommodating professors only poured more salt in the wound. Even with prior notice, some professors didn’t accommodate the genuine need for extensions to make up for the time lost travelling. In such circumstances, a student can do nothing but lament over their sinking grades.
Online learning has proved to be convenient for many. However, to me, it’s failed to effectively convey material. With so many potential loopholes and breaches for tests and assignments, it is easy to secure a good GPA, but learning suffers. Having limited options in such times, I can only wait for the normalcy to return.
I once read that “humanity stays ever sanguine.” The human in me has stayed optimistic in these times. I’m saving my hopes and expectations for the right time to flourish, and to experience the perks of being a student in an alien country, especially after all the hurdles I have faced.
