Meet Q!
Q is a 4th year student doing a major in Economics and a double minor in Latin American Studies and Spanish. He is planning on taking a 5th year. Q speaks Mandarin, English and Spanish. Q’s favourite video game is FIFA as he used to play wing back in soccer when he was in high school and he likes to browse online forums about soccer. He likes meeting new people and describes himself as being loyal. Q likes watching movies and loves animals, though he hates insects (especially fruit flies). Before coming to U of T, Q learned to cook and do house work, and that has become his way of distressing, in addition to working out. His favourite dish to make is tomato with scrambled eggs.
Moving On From…
Q is an international student from Jiangsu, China who found it really hard to understand Canadian cultural references. He didn’t know was a meme was, had never heard of Netflix, nor did he know what a toque was. Q found it hard to make friends with people at first, because it seemed as if many social circles were comprised of people who knew each other from high school. Q learned to speak English in China, which is why he doesn’t know how to feel about the impressed reaction he receives from people when they find out that he is an international student. He is still trying to overcome the English as a Second Language barrier, but things are coming to him more naturally now. Managing his courses has generally been fine for him, but he tends to pull “all nighters” as a result of his poor time management skills, which then leads to him having to cram. Even though he has a planner, he finds it hard to stick to it, and finds that he puts more on it than he can manage, which is something he is working on.
In his 1st year, Q went to the U of T Mississauga campus and took general first year courses but decided to come down to the St. George campus because he likes living downtown and he believed that it was a bigger campus that offered more of the courses that he wanted to take. He has no relatives in Canada, and flying home is a 12-14 hour trip in total as there is no direct flight to his city. Even though Q is used to being independent and figuring things out on his own, he wishes that there was more guidance at U of T, since he finds that motivating himself can be hard especially when he is facing personal problems. Back home he didn’t have as many stressors as he does here, and he had lots of support systems that helped set goals for him to meet. As Q wishes to take a 5th year, he needs to reapply for an extension of his study permit which he isn’t really looking forward to doing but knows he must get it over and done with.
Q’s Take Home Message
“Be honest about your feelings”- to the past Q
“After everything, I’m just trying to be okay”- to the people reading it
*Q’s name has been changed upon the request of the student