The impact of moving from home for school.
Cami Davila (she/her) // Crew Writer
Andrei Gueco (he/him)// Illustrator
Not even three months after I arrived in Canada, I had a huge infection in my leg. I had to find the nearest hospital and run there in the middle of the night. When I was waiting in the emergency room—doing everything I could to forget the horrible pain—it suddenly hit me: the realization of all the things I gave up to be here.
In that vulnerable moment, I felt the absence of my mom, who used to take care of everything when I got sick, and my sister, who made me laugh when things got complicated. I realized that I left behind the privilege of economic stability, among other things, such as having a car and avoiding the discomfort of calling an Uber at 1 a.m. to pay $15 for a 10-minute ride.
When I decided to become an international student, I gave up things I never thought I would miss. This includes a health system I actually understood, and doctors that have been taking care of me since I was little.
This also includes my language (warning: you would need a 12 on the International English Language Testing System to understand medical diagnoses and procedures in English), my house—where I had a private washroom and no one needed to see me when I was feeling down—and my job, that allowed me not to be thinking about money all the time.
Please, don’t get me wrong. I am so lucky to have the opportunity to be living in Canada as an international student. However, we cannot overlook the fact that we leave behind our life and the privileges that we had back in our home country. All of us are making a huge effort to be here, and paying the crazy costs of studying abroad.
But, I digress, back to the emergency room.
When I was on the hospital bed, waiting to hear the results of the blood test while completely high on painkillers, I started to question if it was worth leaving my life behind to be here. Did I make the wrong decision? Why did I put myself in this position?
I want to hug every single international student who is going through the first few months of living away from home. It’s definitely not as easy as they make us believe in the Netflix movies. I cannot tell you how many times I have been desperate since I arrived here due to not understanding what I am doing. ChatGPT is now my best friend because it answers questions like, “How can I tell the Canadian coins apart?”
On that horrible day in the hospital, I came back to campus residence holding hands with my two best friends and my girlfriend. Who would’ve imagined that we’d go through such a scary challenge less than three months after meeting?
I talked with my mom over the phone that night and she told me, “This is what you chose, Cami. Of course, it comes with a lot of challenges and discomforts. But, don’t forget that it is your dream and it will have many good things along the way.”
And, she was—as always—right.