Memory of Visiting PhD Student in Canada

Story

Start Studying Abroad

Time: 12/22/2021 PST, maybe 7:00 am, I saw the Rocky Mountains on the Air Canada 025 and I known that I had arrived Canada and the visiting life would start.

A few days ago, I finally got my Canada Visa and bought the airplane ticket with the help of CSC (China Scholarship Council, 国家留学基金委). At first I prepared to visit the University of Southampton, but the visa was too difficult to apply because I had to ask the school for a COS code which it didn’t grant for anyone in late 2021. I guessed it was the reason for the tense of international relations. So, I had to change the destination. At this place, I want to thank Prof. Shi, IEEE Fellow, who gave me a chance to use the scholarship of CSC.

It was still not convenient because of the Delta Covid-19 virus was still running around the world, and all of us were worried about getting infected when going abroad. So, when I start to going aboard, I saw many students were wearing hazmat suits. I did not bought hazmat suit. I think it was very safe in China, the real dangerous were outside China at that time, why I had to wear an uncomfortable suit like that? Not to mention that this plane will not allow people board in the middle transfer airport. I don’t know that whether they who in hazmat suits would recall this experience. It was a very long trip.

When I got to Vancouver, I spent 5 hours to change the visa. I had to complained that the efficient was so slowly in Canada. The first impression is not good.

I rented a temporary house, actually, it was an attic over a garage to spend the following 2 weeks because the I house I rented for one year are not available at that time. The house owner is a white old man called Wayne, yeah, the Batman Wayne. He was really gentle and he had visited over 80 countries around the world. He told me that it was not necessary to worry about the life in the future, what I would live with are just people. Actually, he was right. I got the same conclusion when I finished the visiting life.

The cooking materials are rare in the temporary house. I had to bought some in the next day, and I first saw the milestone of University of Victoria. It is too expensive buying food in Victoria. And I found a bug, I can’t use high temperature to cook Chinese food because it would generate smoke and trigger the smoke alert.

Get Used to the Life in Canada

Seven days later, the house owner, who is the land master of the one year house I rent,told me that the house I rent was available. “Your house is huge”, my friend told me. At first I did not believe him until I realized that the area I lived is just a small part of this house.

After the snow vanished, I saw the beautiful environment in Victoria. The house owner told me that this is the most beautiful city in Canada, much prettier than East. He was right! I nearly got a feel of my child life in Taigu, clear sky and green grass. My friend told me that he had prepared a lot of anti-allergic drugs to alleviate the symptom of rhinitis, but after he arrived in Victoria, he noticed that these drugs were waste of money, the air is really good there.

My house was near the sea, it only took 5min to walk to the seashore, the daily exercise was going to the seaside and taking pictures. The sea in the cold zone is different from the sea in the tropics. There is no golden beach and no small fine sands, no people enjoy sunbathing. In addition to rocks, there are only stones on the seashore. But the water is very clear, I can see the bottom of the sea on this rock cliff.

Few days later, I went to the Lab. This lab is just a temporary place to place students. This is my station. Not large but sufficient.

There were many Professors would like to pin some interesting pictures on their doors, most of them were really funny and showing their non-mainstream personality. It is not common in China. In China we only want to make the door clean.

There were many animals in Victoria, in UVic school yard. They did not afraid of people very much, but they did not get in touch with human, too. I saw peacocks in the school yard wondering through the crowd and deer eating grass or relax beside the main street, and deer might node to me when I said “Hi” to them while I didn’t know whether they understand what I said.

Few days later, I wanted to join an IFAC industrial control competition, and I moved to another lab for discussion. This lab was small and it can only contained three people. I spent the following visiting days here. Zehua and Yanni were my two lab colleagues. Zehua was from Shanghai Jiao Tong University while Yanni was from University of Science and Technology of China. They were both really excellent talents, and I have learnt so much from them. However, just one or two months past, Zehua would come back to China. It was a pity that I had not played with him for many time.

It is boring in Canada, and it is difficult to find a good tasting drink. Starbucks seems like the only choice. (I think Tim Hortons is too sweet to swallow.) This is the Starbucks store in Uvic bookstore. It is a place I may visit everyday, because I wanted to find something with flavour to eat or drink. Starbucks in North America is a very cheap brand, so much different to China. You can just cost 5-7 Canada dollars to buy a very very huge cup of coffee or other drinks. 5-7 Canada dollars means that less than 3 tins of Coca Cola. Really cheap!!! They (Starbucks) have fooled us for so long, but I truly would not choose Starbucks in China because I have so many other good taste drink choices. The poster is an interesting one I saw in Starbucks.

Canda Goose is a very expensive brand of down jacket. Nearly 1000 Canada dollars for one? Maybe. I can’t buy one after all. But, I can let you see what Canada Geese look like.

In summer vacation, my friends and I went to the national park, Banff. The nature scene is beautiful. It is in june, but still cold there. The Columbia Glacier go back 5 meters a day, and it will disappear in 90 years (maybe, I forgot). The driver also our tour guide told us:“ It is none of my shit!”.

The Butchart Gardens is a 119-year-old internationally-renowned 55-acre display garden located in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia. Created by Jennie Butchart, and still privately owned and operated by the family, The Gardens was designated a National Historic Site of Canada, in 2004 for its one hundredth birthday. It is built based on a mine pit.

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