My home is here

When walking on the campus from Asper School to St Johns College, passing university centre, I am often amazed at the large number of Asian students at the school. When I stop and try to pick up what language they are speaking, nine out of ten chances, they are speaking in Mandarin.

So, I want to find out the total number of Chinese students, but I cannot find anything on the university websites. But from talking to some senior students and staff, I got the conclusion. The number has reached about 2000. WOW! It is almost ten percent of UM population. Although we have a large population base, sometimes I hear some students complain about feeling lonely. Yeah, I feel the same. Families and dear friends are on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, who will not miss them. However, all the friends here make my day meaningful and plentiful.

I have studied in U of M over a year, now. So, more or less, I have got in touch with quite a few Chinese student groups and also got involved in some of the activities. U of M has two large Chinese students groups. One is UMCSSA, which stands for University of Manitoba Chinese Students & Scholars Association. The other one is Fenghua Club, which is organized by a number of young Chinese U of M students mainly supporting a famous Chinese magazine “Manitoba Chinese Tribune”. Smaller ones are Purple Pearl dancing club and international committee in Asper. As long as you find nice posters and you are interested, just go to the events and get to know some new people.

For me, I volunteer a lot at Manitoba Great Wall Performing Group. That is thanks to my friend, Xiao Liu. We met each other in the Asper library, chatting about school and study. Then he asked if I wanted to help out at the Chinese New Year festival gala. I wanted to give it a try and said yes. I got the task of being in charge of the music during the show, which I found so exciting and challenging for me.  After the gala, I found I just loved the job. I volunteered at every event Great Wall held thereafter and knew a bunch of nice friends. And almost all of them are graduates from U of M and the rest, like me, are studying there.

There is a Chinese idiom, “friends of childhood will become friends forever”. Chinese students at U of M are making a real difference on the campus and off the campus. Anyone can be a part of it. For me, all friends are from school and most of my time is spent at the school. In that sense, U of M has become my home.