In summary my participation in the Diaspora Studies Consortium in Canada was a positive experience for me not only on an academic level but also on a personal level.
First of all, studying in Canada was a completely different experience than studying in Germany, not only because the university systems are very different from each other but also because of the differences between the two countries and their cultures. Even though I had been to Canada several times before taking part in this exchange program and had also lived there for a few months, I still realized differences that I had not noticed before, which was maybe due to the fact that during my other trips to Canada I had mainly lived in rural areas and not in an urban centre like Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley. For example, it is hardly recommendable to live there without a car because the public transit in Abbotsford (and probably in other cities of the same size and not of the size of Vancouver or Toronto) is not comparable to the German or even western European public transportation systems. Taking the Greyhound bus, which serves as the main means of long distance transportation for people who do not own a car, is in my opinion more adventurous than taking the main means of long distance transportation in Germany, which is the Deutsche Bahn. Although in Germany everyone complains about the Deutsche Bahn, in my opinion it is still more useful than the Greyhound because the trains run more frequently and thus, the common delays of the trains do not appear to be as severe to me as the delays of the Greyhound that I experienced in Canada because for example from Abbotsford to Vancouver they only run seven times a day and not hourly like many trains in Germany. But on the other hand, a positive aspect of the Greyhound is that during the rides on the buses people are often sociable and sometimes interesting conversations take place.
The differences in the university systems of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and the University of the Fraser Valley were mainly to be found in the different styles of teaching. At home in Germany students are expected to be more independent, whereas at UFV in Canada, students have to fulfil many different written tasks during the semester that are checked and marked by the teachers. In my opinion, both systems are reasonable and it probably only depends on what one is used to and what one’s personal preference is. To me, the experience of the Canadian system at UFV sometimes seemed as if responsibility was taken away from me, but at the same time, by splitting the grade into several smaller tasks that need to be fulfilled throughout the semester, the stress at the end of the semester to write one essay that compiles the grade along with a presentation is reduced.
What I especially liked about attending UFV was the outstanding sense of belonging to the university from the beginning on. The organization of many school events and regular activities and opportunities to get together with other UFV students outside of the classroom was assigned special attention. For example, there were lectures by different Canadian authors, cultural events like the Métis day, where we practised a traditional Métis dance and tasted homemade bannock bread, the weekly free pancake breakfast for all UFV students, several different intramural sports such as volleyball, dodgeball, basketball or pickle ball, get-togethers at the campus pub, or weekly changing ethnic dinners for a small contribution towards expenses. During all these events we got the chance to meet new friends who also attended UFV and thus, there was always a way to start a conversation with somebody. Last but not least, the feeling of togetherness was created through the games of the UFV sports teams, such as the basketball team, which was probably the most popular sport to watch at UFV, even though basketball is not Canada’s national sport. From the first week of classes on we almost watched every home game of the “UFV Cascades”. Despite the fact that I did not know any basketball rules and neither especially liked this sport before, I very much enjoyed cheering for our team and dressing up in the UFV colour green because it was another opportunity to get to know other students and to extend the feeling of belonging to UFV.
After a little while and in spite of some challenging times during the first weeks at UFV, I really felt like I belonged there and I felt at home in my room at the student residence called Baker House. The decision to move to Baker House turned out to be wise because that was where I met most of my friends that I made during the past four months in Canada. When I went to visit UFV and Baker House last summer, I realized how new the building was and that there were units for two students to share, so that I would not be too secluded in a single room. Furthermore, I already met some nice and welcoming students there and noticed that it would be very convenient to live with many other students in a house and to live on campus because public transport appeared to be complicated and slow.
Although I was comfortable living in Baker House and being close to my new friends there, I sometimes missed my home in Germany and things related with this. Therefore, every now and then I decided to cook some German dish that I would usually cook at home to feel better and to feel closer to Germany again and shared it with my friends to let them try some German food. In this respect I agree with Anita Mannur, whose article “Culinary Nostalgia: Authenticity, Nationalism, and Diaspora” we read in the Diaspora core course. In her essay there is a quotation of Ketu Katrak, an Indian American cultural critic, who states that living in the diaspora her former lack of interest in food from her childhood “was transformed into a new kind of need for that food as an essential connection with home” and that she “longed for [her] native food as [she] dealt with [her] dislocation” from her home in India. Even though of course I was not living in a diaspora in Canada because I was only going to stay there for a certain period of time, I think this made me understand the situation of people in living in the diaspora better.
Throughout the time living in Baker House, I kept on getting to know more and more people there and many of them were international students, who only stayed for one semester like me or who wanted to finish their studies in Canada. Some of my friends were Canadians, who were born outside of Canada, and others were born in Canada. What I found interesting was that for me it was never a question where I was from or what my ethnicity was, since I simply consider myself German. But for many people that I met in Canada, their origin seemed to matter more because actually almost all of them had been immigrants at some point of time or their ancestors had come to Canada from somewhere else long ago. I noticed that many Canadians are proud of their cultural and geographic origin. Often they mentioned the countries where their grandparents or even previous relatives came from, but I am not sure if they only did that because talking to me as a German probably made them mention it. Several Canadians that I talked to also pointed out that they still speak the language of their or their relatives’ country of origin or celebrate festivities the way that is common in their home culture. This was an example of multiculturalism in practice in Canada besides the many different religions that can be noticed when driving through Abbotsford or Vancouver, which are practised in the diaspora.
To sum up, I also learned a lot in the classes that I took at UFV and I especially enjoyed my Canadian Literature class because it was a unique opportunity for me to learn about this literature right on the spot. I was able to extend my interest in First Nations’ Literature and culture and I am intending to pursue this interest in my studies in Germany.
I am very glad that I got the chance to take part in the Diaspora Studies Consortium and attend the University of the Fraser Valley because I was given the chance to learn a lot, not only during classes at UFV, but also during my free time, and because I brought back unforgettable memories and new friendships that will hopefully persist for a long time.
I can recommend taking part in the Diaspora Studies Consortium to anyone interested in applying for it and in my opinion students at the English Department of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster should take advantage of the opportunity of this new exchange program with Canada.
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