I went to Canada in the beginning of January in 2018, with my heavy luggage and a heart full of expectation and excitement. That was roughly the coldest time of a year in the country, I will never forget how chill it was when I get out of the airport: it was minus 26℃.
This journey started with a lot of difficulties and challenges, we had to find our accommodation in another country by ourselves, we almost missed the bus to Queen’s University because of the flight delay, and I need to figure out how to deal with my daily meal. All the things bothered me but that was absolutely a great exercise for me. I felt easier and less nervous when doing traveling plan after that, I became better at communicating with others and I even know how to cook!
Queen’s University located at Kingston, a small city close to Lake Ontario. Kingston is at a small size but has everything we need, I can walk or take bus to downtown to find some food or go shopping at anytime. Four months is enough for you to get familiar with the city.
We majored in economies in Queen’s University. I only chose three courses, two of them are economic courses and one is marketing course. It takes time to get used to western education system, or style, and I still can’t handle the hundreds of reading materials and lots of in-class fast notes so well several months later, especially the economic materials and notes, which I felt are a little bit “boring”. However, even for me who is not interested in economies and has no talent in this subject, I still surprisingly found some fun and rules that help me better understand the content of the courses after learning them for a while. I still remember how excited I was when I found I got a pretty good grade on my economic paper, in which I invested a lot of time; I still remember how concentrated I was when I engaged in group discussion and worked on the cases; I also remember how nervous I was when preparing for the exams and the upset or satisfaction I got after finishing them. I feel enriched in the 4-month study life, but I was not so stressed out because I only chose a few courses. I sometimes joined activities organized by the International center or hung out with my new friends.
（Taking part in the trip to see how maple syrup is produced ）
During the four months, I went to Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, and Vancouver, to which I took a train named “The Canadian”. It took almost four days and nights from Toronto to Vancouver by train but this is definitely one of my best trips so far.
（The Quebec city）
（Watching sunset and the Rocky Mountain on the train）
I think I will keep missing this short exchange journey. I will miss all my friends, the scent of coffee in the library of Queen’s University, the warm-hearted behaviour of holding the door for people behind you, the squirrels who run across streets, the good restaurants in Quebec city, the exciting scream in the cinema when I watch the premiere of Avengers 3, the sunset and the splendid Rocky Mountain I saw on the train, I will even miss a normal piece of snow in the campus. Thanks to the business school of Shantou University for giving me the opportunity to experience a completely different life and study style, this is definitely one of my most precious memories.
