Student Blog

By: Matthew Hoogwoud, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

By Kathleen Megan Harfman, College of New Caledonia, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

By: Sean Paul Veltmeyer, Langara College, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

By Kathleen Megan Harfman, College of New Caledonia, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

By: Lenelle Jordan Kutzner, University of Victoria, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

By Peter Mate, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Vancouver Campus, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

I’m nervous – my hands tremble. I fly home bearing more questions than I can answer. 

My semester, academically, is a success – I have a basic grasp of refugee law and contemporary citizenship; I’ve walked along the Danube, Siene and Thames; I’ve marched to Hungary’s parliament and climbed the Buda Hills; I’ve sat in wonderment at the Big Ben and the Eiffel tower. Yet, I’m restless. 

By Janna Wale, Thompson Rivers University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

It’s another quiet evening in the house that has become my home over the months of my exchange in Inverness, Scotland. My host mother is probably downstairs obsessively cleaning something or spoiling her ‘wee dog’ Millie, while my host father watches the documentary channel while taking trips to the kitchen for chocolate. Even though I am so far away from my family, studying abroad has taught me that ‘home’ is more than the house you are living in.

By Kathleen Megan Harfman, College of New Caledonia, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

By Gigi Lin, Simon Fraser University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

Where do I even begin? It seems that the last breath I took was at the airport, waiting for my flight information to appear, directing me to my gate. When I look down at my feet now, I think about the different cities I have been to, the many restaurants where I’ve reveled in a new cuisine, and the never-ending list of monuments I’ve had the opportunity to see. 

By Gigi Lin, Simon Fraser University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.