Transcript

(upbeat music)

- So my name is Sebastian.

- Hello, my name is Alexandra.

- Hi, my name is Romina.

- My name is Shoumik.

- My name is Lanre.

I'm here to try some great food with some great people, have nice conversations, you know, try some good Canadian dishes.

That looks nice.

- So this is bannock. It's a traditional indigenous Canadian flatbread with fruits in both indigenous and Scottish cultures. It can be enjoyed with sweet toppings like butter or jam, or savory choices like smoked salmon cheese, or wild game meat.

I'm originally from Côte d'Ivoire and I'm in my third year of health sciences at Queens University in Kingston.

- Should we try?

- Yeah.

- All right.

Let's dig in.

I wanted to choose between England and Canada, there were so many opportunities for international students like me.

- Let me try the jam, actually.

- What's on top of that butter?

- That's not bad.

That's just salt.

- There's only one way to find out.

- Okay, thank you.

- I'm from Lagos, Nigeria.

(camera clicking)

I study at Nova Scotia Community College.

Really excited to dig in.

- You do one.

That's good.

- Really very good.

- That's good.

I am from Mexico City

(camera clicking)

and I go to Carleton University in Ottawa and I'm really excited for today. I'm, I just want to try new food that I've never tried before and maybe also meet new, amazing people.

I'm sorry, but I love butter so.

- No judging.

- Don't apologize.

- I am originally from Bangladesh

(camera clicking)

and I went to school at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.

- Hey, what do you guys think of like, the weather here though, like?

(students laughing)

- I didn't know the climate could be so like, diverse. I came thinking it was just cold, but I came here like, middle of August and it was actually so nice.

So my name is Sebastian. I'm originally from Bogota, Colombia. When I saw the University of Calgary, immediately I knew like that was a place for me. I was looking for something 

(camera clicking)

different from my home and Calgary was like the perfect middle because it's not a small town but it's also not a huge city.

- Mexico City, like the weather is always the same.

- Yeah.

- And only I had like sweaters, but now here winter, I had to buy so many winter clothes.

Canada was always my dream. The independence that students have here like, it's a whole new thing. It's a whole new culture and I wanted to experience that.

In Mexico, I never took a bus, a train.

- Me too, me too.

- Never like, alone, never.

- I remember like, first time walking like at night like looking over my shoulders all the time. They're like, someone's gonna rob me or something. Like, I was so scared but then it was like just a student going like, you know, home and then I called my mom like "Mama, I can do, I can walk at night."

(students laughing)

- Like, my first experiences in life were mostly in Canada.

My first concert, Canada.

First trip with my friends, Canada, like.

- That's actually so cute.

- I just, here I do.

- [Shoumik] It's the freedom.

- Yeah, here I do all the things that I could have never done. 

(camera clicking)

- I was looking at going into school in my home country, in Bangladesh as well but then at the end of the day I had a few friends

of friends who were already here in Canada and they said the education here in Canada is top notch and I was like, you know

what, maybe I'll go to Canada.

(Lanre chuckling)

- [Lanre] This looks very healthy.

Very healthy.

- This looks interesting.

- It looks like something Bugs Bunny would like.

(Sebastian laughing)

- Bugs Bunny is crazy.

- [Shoumik] For the drink, it's a Caesar.

(Alexandra laughing)

- Oh, that reaction.

- Caesar, or the bloody Caesar is a popular Canadian cocktail invented in Calgary in 1969 by bartender Walter Chell. It's made with Clamato, which is a mix of clam and tomato juice, hot sauce, vodka and Worchestershire sauce.

I always struggle saying that.

I always say WERE-SHUSH-STIR sauce.

- WERE-SHUSH-STIR sauce.

- Yes.

I have bartended through my undergrad education. The drink that I hate making the most is a Caesar.

The last thing a bartender wants to do on a busy Friday or Saturday night is to make a Caesar. Do we like our Caesars?

What do we think about the Caesars?

- No.

- No?

Oh yeah, yours is still full.

- Where was this made

so I never go there?

(students laughing)

- Invented in Calgary in 1969.

- Oh God.

- So you're not, so what are you saying?

You're not gonna go back to your home city?

- I didn't know it was from Calgary.

Unfortunately, my people disappointed me in there but if someone likes it, that's on them but I cannot understand how someone likes it.

It tasted so bad.

- What are some of the practical things that you think someone should know about life in Canada?

- How to get your finances in order.

- Budgeting.

Right.

- Budgeting.

How credit affects your living in Canada.

A lot of people don't understand a lot of people are scared of getting a credit card and other people get a credit card and just spend everything on it at once. They don't understand, you know you need to build a credit score, you need to, you know utilize it in a very very practical manner. Every single thing you see, like for example if you see this and it costs $10, that's not the full price 'cause after taxes, after taxes it probably would cost maybe like depending on the province it probably would cost you like maybe like $12 or $13 at the end of the day.

- Yeah.

- So if you now multiply that into like big purchases like a phone or maybe a car and then you think the car cost you $8,000, no it doesn't.

No it doesn't.

- Yeah, the taxes are they take some time to get used to.

- You're gonna do a lot of things for the first time. Like, I remember I did laundry the first time when I was 18 like by myself and just like opening a bank account like all the things like no one really like tells you what to do.

- You actually need to become an adult.

- You kinda have to become an adult.

- There's a lot, but I also think, you know there are supports in every university that actually teach you these practical skills.

- Exactly.

There's so many things you can access that are literally free like you just need to know.

- The International Student Ambassadors program is a great program that actually creates a home away from home because as international students there's this fear, anxiety about talking to other people making friends and things like that.

So this program really helps alleviate such anxieties.

- I remember going to like international student services my first week being, I had no idea what I was doing and they gave me like a full rundown on what to do. Thanks to them is that I'm still in this country because I already know how it together.

- I'm excited for the next course. I hope it's something really interesting.

- Ooh.

- That looks good.

- Okay, poutine.

It originated in Quebec in the late 1950s and consists of crispy fries topped with cheese curds and smothered in gravy. The dish was initially met with disdain, viewed as junk food or even as a culinary mistake.

(camera clicking)

- Oh.

- However, it has since become a proud symbol of Canadian cuisine.

Mm.

- You know, it's actually not bad, like.

- [Shoumik] I like it.

- I really like the cheese curds.

- Right, cheese curds is good.

- When I was a little kid I always thought like "Oh, my dream is to go to Canada. "I'm gonna work so hard to get good grades "and get a scholarship." So technically I kind of just I already fulfilled my dream so I think I'm gonna stay here.

- Calgary, I think it's a really nice place to live. Like, it's very quiet and I really enjoy the peace from there and also the view like I really enjoy going to the mountains.

- I see myself being in Canada as well just because my profession has a huge demand here in Canada.

- Do you guys feel like you've got like a really good education?

- Definitely.

- For the program, I find that they will really prepare you for medical school. They provide all the courses you need, like biology, chemistry, physics and they make sure you won't miss anything.

They really help you, and they include all the courses you need in your schedule.

- The end of the day, it just comes down to the quality of education. These professors, they're really just working for you and they want nothing more than your success.

- It's scary, like graduating and you're just like thrown into the world. I feel really, really prepared.

- [Lanre] That looks good.

- So our next meal is smoked meat sandwiches. Originated from Montreal in the early 20th century. The sandwich features spice smoked and steamed brisket served on rye bread with mustard.

- I’ve been maintaining eye contact with it.

(students laughing)

- All right, I guess we're diving in.

- [Shoumik] Wow, that's a lot of meat.

- That's straight meat too.

There's like nothing else in here.

- Mm.

- This is beautiful.

- The growth that you get when you study abroad is you're not gonna get it anywhere else.

Yes, like you can move away from home but you leaving the country you putting yourself out there in a situation where you don't know anybody that's some growth that I don't think you're gonna find anywhere else.

Was fitting in hard for you guys or?

- I feel like it wasn't.

Canadians are so like accepting and very open.

- And they accept you for who you are.

Like, you don't have to act like someone you're not or anything like that.

- Yeah.

- You can just be who you are and everybody will be accepting of who you are so that's really nice.

- Before moving to Canada I was really nervous that I wasn't gonna fit in.

- [Alexandra] Me too.

- Like, I thought like I wasn't gonna have any friends or, but first week of school and I did friends like this. Like, there's a lot of also international students and also Canadian students, nationals like they're also nice and welcoming.

- I think the best way to make friends in a new place would be to get involved with the societies and volunteer opportunities that your school has.

(camera clicking)

Like, I played soccer my whole life so I, when I first came to Canada I looked for you know soccer groups that was in my university and that's where I met my closest friends that are here now.

- I don't like to say the word network when it comes to friends, but like all of it is really just networking.

- Yeah, pretty much.

- Because I feel like even at work you can make like amazing connections with different people.

- Like, it's really easy to make friends.

- [Alexandra] Yeah.

- To not feel alone.

- I think all the meals so far have been great especially the company that I have. I didn't realize that you could just hit it off with the people that you meet for the first time and everyone is really enjoying 'cause we're going through the same experience at the same time.

- Oh, dessert.

- That looks good.

- All right, this is called nanaimo bars.

This no-bake treat features three layers a graham cracker coconut, and a cocoa base a custard-flavored middle layer, and a chocolate topping.

- Let's try it.

- Sounds delicious.

Chocolate, coconut, custard.

Mm, okay, that was good.

- That's good.

I think it's pretty cool to see that we have similarities. And even though we have quite different cultures I feel like we have the same... tastes [laughs] in drinks and food too."

- Talking to them really made me reflect on how accommodating Canada is and how safe an environment Canada creates for you to connect with other people.

We all came here as strangers but we left here as friends.

(upbeat music)