My experience studying at the University of the Fraser Valley and partaking in the exchange program was a great enrichment for me, academically as well as personally. Studying abroad broadened my horizon and my time in Canada can definitely be count as one of my best experiences so far.
It was my first time in an English speaking country for such a long period, so I was quite nervous at the beginning. Another reason for my anxiety was that I have never been so far away from home. At the same time I was excited and really looking forward to studying at the UFV. As regards to Canada, I did not have many expectations. I was thinking of seeing beautiful landscapes and friendly Canadians. I can say that I had a very stereotypical view of Canadians. The typical Canadian for me was white, not quite different than Americans except wearing check shirts all the time. And although I did not like these shirts at the beginning, I now own three of them. Arriving at the airport and while waiting for my Frankfurt- Vancouver flight, I noticed that I was totally wrong. Due to the fact that there is a huge South Asian community in British Columbia, I saw many people with turbans and was surprised by the great diversity.
Arriving in Canada, there were lots of different things compared to the daily living routine in Germany. Even grocery shopping was tough, because I did not know which products to buy and was overwhelmed by my first impressions. I realized how difficult it must have been for people living in first generation diaspora to find their way in the new host country. I could even relate this situation to my father, because he told me stories when he first came to Germany he did not know the language well and grocery shopping was hard for him, too, because products and flavors in Turkey compared to Germany were completely different in former times. I did not have as serious problems as my father had, because of the knowledge of the language and due to globalization many product brands are available all over the world now, but still there were noticeable differences.
Living at Baker House was definitely the right decision, because it was the easiest way to get in contact with different students, international ones as well as Canadian students. It was a really friendly atmosphere and everybody was eager to meet other people and new cultures. At the beginning, there was more contact between international students. A reason for this could be that we shared the same experience, being detached from home and living in an alien country for a certain period of time. While talking about heritage, for most international students the answer was quite obvious. If you were from Italy, you were Italian. Only sometimes, for example in my case, explaining the heritage took a little bit longer. This was completely different for Canadian students. Many of them introduced themselves as Canadians, but then they told you from where their parents, grandparents or even great grandparents once have come to Canada. This made me aware of how multicultural Canada really is and it still seems to be very important which roots one has. My experience showed me by assuming that Canadians were friendly people I was right. In several situations, one of them was that I needed jump-start and had no clue of how to do that or whom to ask. While waiting and talking with some friends what we could possibly do, several people came and asked if we needed help. In Germany, many people would notice that help is needed, but they would not be so open- minded and offer help by themselves. I think in Germany people would help if they were asked, otherwise they would keep some distance.
During my English studies at the Westfälische Wilhelms- Universität, I had attended a seminar about diaspora related topics given by Prof. Bharucha before. It was the first time I came in contact with thinkers like Stuart Hall or Homi Bhabha, and the concepts they introduced e.g. hybridity or the Third Space were really interesting for me, because I was able to relate certain aspects of the theories and concepts to the Turkish diaspora in Germany and with that to my own personal experience. The opportunity studying at the UFV was a good a chance to engross my knowledge about diaspora studies and learn more about different aspects and concepts by different scholars and relate to different diasporas throughout history. During my classes I realized that I felt really attached to these kind of cultural studies and this connection motivated me working hard for my classes. One aspect that I especially liked about the exchange program was that we were able to take classes from different disciplines and departments. I took classes in Political Science and Indo- Canadian studies, because I wanted to get more insights of the South Asian diaspora in Canada. Although we dealt with different topics in class, usually interrelations could be drawn and we were able to link different theoretical areas, so we gained a more complex view of diaspora in general. The class in Political Science gave me knowledge about the background of Canada’s multiculturalism policies and therefore enriched my picture of Canadian history and actual politics. I learned a lot about Indigenous issues, and as I have said in one of my blog entries before, it will be really interesting to track current developments concerning reconciliation policies.
Something that surprised me as well was that the university system in Canada compared to Germany was completely different. In Canada every work is graded, so the student has to do many little pieces of work which in summary gives the final grade. In Germany, there is mostly one big essay for which the grade counts. Of course there is also other work the student has to do in the German system, but the other pieces are not graded. I think both systems have advantages and disadvantages. The Canadian system honours all the work that is done, so if a student is for example bad at writing essays, he or she can compensate the grade with a very good presentation. I had the impression that university in Canada is more like school on a high academic level, while in Germany it is more likely that fulfilling tasks is prior the concern of the students and although work has to be done to a certain time, the student himself or herself is responsible for not missing the deadlines. I think the system in Germany allows the students to be more self- dependent. The atmosphere in classes at UFV was really stunning. Calling instructors by their first name was really confusing at the beginning, but a familiarity arise and a good working atmosphere was created. Although I am normally quite reserved in class, I participated and felt more and more comfortable to talk in English in front of native speakers. The friendliness of students and instructors and the positive feedback gave me a lot of self- confidence.
To sum up, there are definitely noticeable differences between Germany and Canada. This can be seen in small details like the greeting of customers for example, where a different way of life is shown. In Germany, there is mostly no time for friendliness in conversations in a shop. People are in a hurry and mind their own business. In Canada, you are more likely asked how your day was or how you are today. Of course, nobody would really say that he or she is in a bad mood or tell his or her state of health to a random person, but the atmosphere is still friendlier and more welcoming. Something that surprised me was the special affiliation to the Canucks team. I knew that ice hockey was really big in Canada, but I did not expect that in a bank, an official institution, employees were allowed to wear Canucks jerseys. This would be unthinkable in Germany. Tracking the little puck was really hard for all of us international students, I guess Canadians must have a special ability to see the puck actually and know what is going on. I observed this enthusiasm for sport events also for our university team, the UFV Cascades. We watched all the basketball games of our team and it was nice to cheer for them with lots of different people. It created a great sense of belonging and emphasized the importance of such events in a diasporic context, because there was a home away from home.
Although I think I can partly understand what it means to live in a diaspora, the experience in Canada made me think more about the problems especially of the first generation migrants and what difficulties can occur while living in a diaspora. I felt very comfortable in Canada, but sometimes, especially when something went wrong or was more difficult, I drew comparisons and thought that certain things would be different or better solved in Germany. This may be related to the fact that positive experiences are remembered more strongly than negative memories, which depicts a very positive image of home and creates though a nostalgia for that home. All in all, the exchange experience showed me how important further diaspora studies are and that research should be continued. But it is also very important to use the knowledge gained through different studies and develop policies which allow people living in a diaspora to feel comfortable in their new home country. Diaspora studies should become a more intersectional discipline where different scholars with different areas of research should work together and establish diaspora studies not only as a theoretical concept, but as a field of study which is lively and fluent and considers changes in society and politics.
