The Unexpected Journey: In the most Multicultural Country

by CHRISTIAN KARLOS PUA (Hong Kong)

A leap into the unknown Canada

One day during my exchange academic exchange semester in Seoul, South Korea in March 2018, I was anxiously waiting for the decision of whether a Non-Governmental Organization in Canada would take me to be one of their interns. Suddenly, on the 10th of March 2018, I received an email from my university that I have been accepted to be a Research and Experiential Learning Intern with ALPHA Education which is an educational Non-Governmental Organization and registered charity located in Toronto, Canada. I was so excited to have the opportunity to go out of Asia for the first time in my life and live in another continent for two months. My internship with ALPHA Education will be for two months from July to August 2018 as mentioned on the email that I have received. Undertaking an overseas internship is a new challenge as we may not be familiar with the working environment, living conditions and culture of a place that we have never visited before in our life. My internship with ALPHA Education started on the 2nd of July 2018 and was already excited to start exploring Toronto and possibility the other cities of Canada. My internship schedule was Mondays to Fridays with the working hours of NINE to FIVE, a typical white collar office job. After the first day of my internship, I have started planning trips to go to different places of Toronto and Canada during my free time. Researching more about Toronto and Canada itself has helped me realised that Toronto is labelled as the most multicultural city in the world along with two official languages being spoken in Canada. I thought that Canada only speaks English as it is next to the United States. When I got off the plane at Toronto Pearson International Airport, I notice some French phrases of “Bienvenue au Canada” which means Welcome to Canada. I thought that this was only used in the airports in Canada. During my research on sites to visit in Toronto and Canada, I came across a website of Welcome to Canada and discovered that Canada has two official languages that are English and French. I decided to take a trip to Montreal and Quebec City in the province of Quebec during the weekends as this province is quite different from the other ones in Canada. The province of Quebec speaks mainly French. When I first arrived to Montreal, I noticed that all the street billboards and signs in the public transportation are all in French. I arrived at six in the morning after a seven hours bus ride from Toronto. Since, I had only two days to explore the province of Quebec, I decided to go to Quebec City as it was only a three hour bus ride from Montreal and I arrived eventually arrived at Quebec City at around ten in the morning. I was searching on google maps, what was the best site to visit during my short four hour stay in Quebec City. I decided to go to Old Quebec as it was the landmark of Quebec City. When I was asking someone to help me take a picture with the landscape of Old Quebec, a professor from South Korea has said “Hey, Christian”, it’s you again. And he was super SHOCK to see me in Canada and in Quebec City. He asked me “How are you?” AND “Why are you in Canada?”. Then, I told him that I am doing an internship with an organization in Toronto, Canada and I just went to Quebec City to see what makes the province of Quebec different from Ontario. My professor said you are so lucky to have the opportunity to do an internship in the most multicultural city and country on earth. I asked my professor if we can take a picture together as a remembrance of this once in a million chance of meeting someone from another country in a country of a different continent. We finally said goodbye after taking a picture and I continued exploring Quebec City and Montreal. This trip to Canada taught me to never judge or assume where a person and to respect people that from every ethnic background.