From Around the World 2010

VOICES FROM AROUND THE WORLD 2010

Stories of Vanier Students

Voices From Around The world 2010

Stories of Vanier Students

Edited and Designed by

Vanier College, 821 Ste. Croix Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4L 3X9 www.vaniercollege.qc.ca

Vanier College Press, 2010 ISBN 978-2-921024-96-9

Table of Contents

Aldhi Wijaya Farewell ……………………………………….. 1

Alessia Clemente Peru 2008 ……………………………………… 2

Alexei Byelov Two Is Better Than One ………………………. 3

Alizada Shahiaq My First Day at Vanier College ………………. 4

Brenda Barrera What’s Your Favorite Scary Story? ...... 5

Damla Ozkaya That Moment of the Year ……………………... 6

Edouard Moïse Plantin My First Real Experience ……………………... 7

Emmanuel Pacifique Nsengiyaremye Playing in front of Hundreds of People ……….. 8

Ingrid Rosales Rodas My First Job Experience ………………………. 9

Jonah Xu Sleepy Games …………………………………. 10

Khan Hammad The Moment of Glory ………………………… 11

Lio Junwei New City ……………………………………… 13

Lu Lu Memories at the End of the Road …………….. 14

Mariam Jabri Going to a New Life ………………………….. 16

Salomon Ederhy The Worst Possible Ending Ever! ...... 18

Sarah-Michelle Leger 8count Dance Complex ……………………….. 19

Sergine Philosca The Right Field ……………………………….. 20

Shiela Mae Rafal Sky Pub Club …………………………………. 21

Shirley Lee Pay Attention …………………………………. 23

Sun He Li Just for Laughs Festival ………………………. 24

Vanessa Angelone My First Time Home Alone ………………….. 25

Vincent Milette On board for a foreign country ……………….. 26

Voices From Around The World 2010

Walid Chenine The Sacrifice ………………………………….. 27

Cai Xue Si My Passion for Music ………………………… 28

Xue Yang The Day I Left for Canada ……………………. 30

Ying-Di Liu My First Dissection …………………………… 31

Voices From Around The World 2010

Preface

Over the years, Vanier College has welcomed students from all over the world. With over forty languages spoken and eighty countries represented, one would only have to walk down Vanier’s hallways to become aware of its diversity. This very diversity is a treasure that The Learning Centre wishes to share through Voices From Around the World. This is a collection of stories written by Vanier students, most of who either come from immigrant families or are newly arrived immigrants themselves. Their voices portray the multicultural diversity at Vanier College. This year, like every other, the authors of Voices From Around the World 2010 have written quite frankly about their feelings and their past experiences. We thank them for sharing their life stories with us.

While this publication couldn’t have taken place without the invaluable contributions of the students, it is the teachers of the summer intensive English course, Vanessa Vandergrift and Jessica Murphy, who did a wonderful job at integrating the writing of these narratives into their classes. They guided their students through the writing process and encouraged them to submit their work for publication.

This project is sponsored by the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS) du Québec as well as L’intégration des communautés culturelles et à l’éducation interculturelle au collégial. Many thanks to Judy Macdonald (Coordinator of the Learning Enrichment & Support Services for Programs) for her support. Thanks as well to the staff members who contributed to the publication of this book: Marya Grant, Kim Muncey, Carrie Clough, Joanne Ellis, Melanie Tam, and Didier Brûlé-Champagne.

We hope that you enjoy reading this publication and that you learn from our authors’ life experiences as much as we have learned in putting this book together.

Sara Tawil The Learning Centre Vanier College

Voices From Around The World 2010 Farewell By Aldhi Wijaya

Unexpected things come at unexpected moments. I had just arrived home from a long day of school when my mom received a call from my dad saying that we were going to move to Canada. It really caught me off guard because it was my last semester of middle school. I felt sad that I had to leave all of my friends behind but also ecstatic to live in a new country.

The next morning, I went to school to tell the principal that I was going to leave the country. I left right after without telling my friends because I didn‟t know what to say to them. I went home to try to figure it out, but nothing came to my mind. At about 3:30 P.M. that day, I went back to school. The second I stepped on the school ground, my friends jumped on me, so to speak, and they asked me if it was true. I knew what they were talking about, but I had no idea how they found out about it. Apparently, the principal had been talking to the teachers, and they told their students about it, so the whole school already knew by the time I got there. I told them the whole story, and some of them actually cried. I did not know that they cared that much. I was really touched.

For the rest of the days I had left in Indonesia, I just went out and hung out with my best friends. It was a lot of fun, but time passed really quickly. It was already time for my departure. My friends and family went to the airport with me. Every one of them had been a big part of my life, and I was going to leave them just like that. I never really realized it until it was actually happening. It was a very emotional moment. Tears were shed, and there were a lot of hugs. Nevertheless, I was so thrilled to get on that airplane, and start a whole new journey. My friends handed me this black box filled with stuff that each of them gave personally. Inside the box, there was an album of the pictures that we took in a studio just a few days before. My friends also wrote a couple of last words in that album, which was really moving. I had no clue that I made such an impact on their lives. However, the one person I cared for the most couldn‟t make it, so the whole time I was in the airport, I spent it on the phone with her. My other friends also texted and tried to call me, but I couldn‟t hang up the phone until the last minute, when I was already sitting on the plane with my seat belt buckled up. She was the one person who made it really hard for me to leave, and when she started crying, I felt crushed. I did not know that she cared that much for me. I really wanted to tell her the three words I have always wanted to say, but I couldn‟t. She was already hurting, and I didn‟t want to make it worse.

After the flight attendant told me, for the third time, to hang up and turn off my cell phone, I finally did. It was tough, but I had to do it. A couple of minutes later, the plane took off. I was looking down from the window, hoping to see my friends again, but I couldn‟t. That was definitely the most memorable and unforgettable moment of my life. Who would have thought that I would find out how my best friend really felt about me right before I had to leave the country?

Aldhi Wijaya is going into Exploration 6 to get his prerequisites for Health Science. He hopes to be a surgeon in the future.

1 | Voices From Around The World 2010 Peru 2008 By Alessia Clemente

On the 23rd of June 2008, fifteen school friends and I packed our bag packs and left for a three- week humanitarian trip to Peru. I was so excited to go on my first real trip on my own. I did not know what to expect nor did I know how the Peruvians would accept us.

After one entire day of traveling, we finally arrived to Peru. We were all extremely tired. We then took a taxi to a little town called Tacna. Eight people were crammed in the car. I remember thinking the cab driver was crazy because he was driving extremely fast and was not following the road signs.

We then arrived to the parish in Tacna. The parishioners welcomed us with open arms. They made us a poster with „‟Bienvenido Canada‟‟ handwritten on it. At this point, I wasn‟t tired anymore; all I wanted to do was to immediately befriend everyone who was awaiting our arrival. The next day, we got to meet the families we would be staying with during our trip. My Peruvian family was very nice. It was a little complicated to communicate with them because I was definitely not very good at Spanish. I sometimes felt as if we would mostly talk in sign language rather than in actual words.

I loved helping out in the church. One of my favorite parts of this trip was definitely playing with the less fortunate kids who would come to the parish after school. We would mostly play soccer. I must admit, the little 7 year olds were much better than us. It was quite embarrassing, however I sill enjoyed myself.

During this humanitarian trip, I did many new things that some people never get to experience in their lives. I am very thankful and appreciative of all the good and bad situations that we had to go through. I have learned and grown as a person because of this adventure. I will never forget it. I would go back to Tacna any day.

Alessia Clemente, a 17 year old student who just graduated from high school, will be walking the halls of Vanier College in the fall of 2010. She has hopes of becoming a nutritionist.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 2 Two Is Better Than One By Alexei Byelov

Everything is dark and silent. Suddenly, music starts playing. Then, light appears in a shape of a circle on the hard and cold ice, lighting up the doors that players use to get on the hockey ice! In the dark, the whole crowd starts yelling and cheering while the players come on the ice called one by one by the announcer of the arena. The lights are turned on; players warm themselves up a last time on the ice by stretching and shooting the puck to be fully ready for the big game. The buzzer resounds in the whole arena ending the warm up time. Players skate to their benches; the ref blows his whistle and drops the puck for the beginning of the final game of the tournament! Having a chance to play in this type of game is the dream of all hockey players and that dream came true for me!

2005 was a year that I will remember for a long time. Indeed, that year, I was playing for a Dollard-des-Ormeaux pee-wee hockey team. Imagine a team of little monsters with an average age of eleven. You might first think that those kids are innocent. But when they‟re on the ice, it‟s a whole different story! The name of our awesome team was “The Civics of Dollard-des- Ormeaux.” Maybe our team‟s name didn‟t sound as evil as we were. We did what some players can‟t achieve during their whole life. We got to the finals of a regional tournament. But we repeated this twice in one year! Two times we went out there and fought with everything we had. No, we didn‟t fight like gladiators in arenas, but more like lions defending their territories from any other predator. Of course, there wasn‟t any hand to hand fighting with blood and medical assistance. But all the battles for the puck were hard. Each goal that my team scored was a big release from our shoulders, as if someone removed tons of pressure from us. On the other hand, each goal scored against us was a hit as strong as a punch in our faces! The parents were cheering so hard that we had trouble hearing each other on the bench. Unfortunately, we lost both of the final games by one goal with a couple of minutes remaining on the clock to the end of the game. Imagine the looks on our faces when we saw the puck crossing the line in our net. I was really disappointed, even though we finished second in two tournaments in one year! We lost two games, but we got two silver medals, two trophies and two banners saying that we were finalists. I saw it as a reward for our hard and sweaty work out there!

Years later, in 2010, I had another type of a final for a battle between the second and the third place. Fortunately we won and we received a silver medal. That was a third one for me. Only at that moment, I understood that receiving a silver medal means a lot. Even though I didn‟t win the gold anywhere, the second place is a very good position since I worked my way up to a single final game. I might consider myself a lucky person, because as my coach told us in 2005, “Some people never reach the finals in their whole life. You guys did it twice. No matter what happens, go out there and be proud of what you did!” I was proud, and I am till this day and will be in the future because our past is our history which can‟t be forgotten!

Alexei Byelov, a Ukrainian guy NOT Russian, will be a Commerce, International Business Major, student from this fall till 2012.

3 | Voices From Around The World 2010 My First Day at Vanier College By Alizada Shahiaq

Monday the 27th of June 2010 was exactly a day before I was supposed to start college. Everything was going perfectly. I had been waiting for this day for the past four years. I wasn‟t able to stop myself from asking questions... I asked myself, how is college going to be? How are people going to be? How am I going to talk with my English classmates and English teacher? How am I going to find my classroom? Every kind of thought was coming to my mind over and over again until I fell asleep. The next morning, I prepared myself for college. I was going to start my car when suddenly my cell phone rang. It was my reminder and it was saying that I had an exam at 9:00 o‟clock, that same day and the day after, at my high school. Everything changed in one moment: my plan, my goal and my mood. I was not expecting a similar situation on that day…

I passed two days like this. Finally, I started college on Wednesday. First of all, I faced a lot of problems just finding my classroom. I don‟t know why but I was feeling so weird in my new school. Maybe it was because my new school is ten times bigger than my old one or maybe because everybody speaks English. After a 15 minute search, I finished by finding my teacher and my classroom. I was totally discouraged. I thought she was not going to let me into her class because I missed two days, but she let me in and I turned happy. After getting into the class, I found out that I had missed a lot and I promised myself to work hard until I pass my course!

Alizada Shahiaq is 19 years old and wants to finish the Accounting and Technical Management program at Vanier College.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 4 What’s Your Favorite Scary Story? By Brenda Barrera

When I was eight years old, I got to spend Halloween for the first time with my older sister and her friends. I was with my cousin, who is a year older than I am, and we were joined by three of my sister‟s friends. When the trick or treating was done, we needed to go to my sister‟s friend‟s house to trade candies; this was a tradition in my sister‟s group. The friend lived further away from where we were, so we thought it would be easier if we took a shortcut. We found a little space between some bushes; it was the perfect way to get to the other side. Once we went through, we realized that we landed in the cemetery. My cousin and I were scared.

We had a fear that zombies were going to come out of the ground, grab our feet and take us down with them. We were paying extra attention not to step on the graves. My sister thought it would be funny if she told us scary stories on the way. I wanted to run away, but I didn‟t know where we were. It seemed like a never-ending cemetery. Suddenly, we stopped. They made a circle around my cousin and me. We were confused, until I heard “She‟s following us”. We then took a few more steps, yet the eerie figure was still following. I could tell my sister and her friends were terrified. I tried to find a gap between them to see who this mysterious lady was and I saw her. She was this tall woman dressed all in white.

We quickly ran, trying to find a sign of freedom. As we were going out, one of the older kids turned around to verify if she was still there. They then realized that the white woman was the statue of the Virgin Mary. Still, to this day, I am frightened of visiting a cemetery on Halloween night. I‟m scared of reliving that moment; I‟m positive that the statue was actually moving. My sister learned her lesson though; she shouldn‟t scare younger kids because she‟ll end up scaring herself too.

Brenda Barrera is 17 years old. She has been a Vanier College student since summer 2010. She will be studying Social Science in the fall of 2010. She wishes to complete her college years with great memories. She also hopes to succeed and become an elementary school teacher some day.

5 | Voices From Around The World 2010 That Moment of the Year By Damla Ozkaya

As my alarm went on that morning, I could already feel the heat under my feet and the butterflies in my stomach. To tell you the truth, I had never felt this way before. I was anxious and stressed on my way down to the main floor to meet my mother standing there. Her smile lit up the kitchen. My dad gave me a big hug. It was so vast that I could barely feel myself breath. This is when I knew my parents were proud of me. This is it. This is when we know we have completed our high school. The 21st of June was the day I knew I would have to say goodbye to each and every classmate I had. Of course it wasn‟t forever as they say, but at least until the diploma ceremony which will be taking place in September.

As we sat down for a quick breakfast, my phone rang. As always, I was full of joy to see my boyfriend‟s name on the caller ID. He wanted to give me a good morning call and let me know when he would get there. My dad surprised me for the second time on that same day in less than 30 minutes. He brought me a dozen of blue roses, my favourite. After getting dressed, I was ready to face the big day. I kissed my parents so loud that you could hear the smooches in the empty room. Afterwards, I took a deep breath and walked outside the door, with my right foot of course.

As my boyfriend says, it is always good luck to step in or out the house with the right food. It is a cultural thing. Like every other girl, everything had to be perfect on that day and so I made sure to take my step with the right foot. Just in case, you know. As I was on my way to my friend‟s house, I called her to make sure she was ready. She picked up the phone with a loud scream. She said to me; “I can‟t believe this is it. This is our day, Damla, we‟ve made it!” I said the same to her with a joyful tone of voice. My smile was from ear to ear. Everything was going as planned. My dress was a custom design. It was my graduation gift from my grandparents back in my hometown Istanbul, Turkey. It was unique and chic at the same time. The beautiful grey satin and all the detailed sparkles made the dress stand out even more. I had already bought the shoes and the clutch to go with it.

After getting my hair and makeup done, I was on my way back home to get dressed and take a last look at myself before I headed to the graduation party situated at downtown Montreal. We took some quick shots in my warm and lovely backyard where I spend most of my summer enjoying the weather with people that make life worth living. After our vast white vehicle arrived, my boyfriend and I were ready to leave. As we gathered everyone together, we all enjoyed our way to the biggest event of our lives. I enjoyed every single moment of my graduation and so did my close friends. I appreciate what people have done for me on that special unforgettable day. If I would have the chance, I would go back anytime with the same people along my side and enjoy the party twice as hard.

Damla Ozkaya, a future lawyer who might defend you at some point in life.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 6 My First Real Experience By Edouard Moïse Plantin

When I was fourteen, I used to listen to a lot of music from different bands, but Metallica was my favorite one. I adored everything about them: their songs, their attitude and especially their concerts. This made me feel like I could do the same thing they were doing, especially playing the guitar.

For some reason, I was attracted to the guitar. If I saw one at school or at the mall, I would try to play a song that my friends had taught me or songs that I already knew. I remember asking my mom almost every day to get me one so that I could learn how to play.

When Christmas came, my mom bought me the gift that changed my life. She finally bought me the guitar that I had wanted for so long. I was so happy to get the guitar out of the box. I remember picking it up, it was as light as a feather, the paint job was black and it had a white pick-guard with plastic on it so that dust wouldn‟t get in it.

My first experience with my guitar was awesome. I easily learned a few riffs from songs by Metallica and some other bands. Since I was on Christmas and New Year‟s vacations, I didn‟t have to worry about school or anything. I could play from morning till late at night even though my parents wouldn‟t like it. However, when school restarted, I waited for the end of classes to go home and play.

From that Christmas up to today, three and a half years later, I am still playing and enjoying it. After a few lessons, part of this dream has come true. I am now in a band with my friends and also at Vanier‟s music program, but it‟s not over yet. It‟s just the beginning; I still have a lot to do!

Edouard Moïse Plantin is 18 years old. He is a guitarist going to Vanier's music program next fall. Besides playing the electric guitar, his hobbies include skateboarding with his friends.

7 | Voices From Around The World 2010 Playing in front of Hundreds of People By Emmanuel Pacifique Nsengiyaremye

This is the moment. It‟s Saturday, I‟m well clothed. Today is a great day. I‟m 10 years old and I‟ve just played piano in my church. Well, I should say that I played the piano this day instead of the regular player. Believe me; it‟s not as simple as it might appear.

That morning, when I woke up, I felt a pain in my stomach, a big one. I moaned and rushed to the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, the pain was still there, less strong but there. I went to the kitchen, after washing my hands of course, to eat. Anybody could tell I wasn‟t feeling great. My father laughed because he knew that I wasn‟t really sick. In fact, knowing that I was going to be the one to play for the whole church was a great stress. I had been receiving piano lessons for only one year; how could I possibly handle this responsibility when piano players had more than two years of practice. I was feeling like Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible”, yet the only difference was that I was shivering in my chair out of fear.

Two hours later with hundreds of people in the church, it was time to start. Usually, the pianist has to play a solo to tell the members that worship is about to start and that they should be ready. On the other hand, what happens when it‟s the pianist who isn‟t ready?? We were about to know, to my great displeasure. I started playing until I got to the last note. I made a mistake, a pretty huge one. Right after, I could see that everybody was looking at me with a strange look in their eyes. There were those smiles on their mouths, waiting for the perfect moment to laugh; at least they were polite. It was a disaster, but to preserve my pride, I went on and continued to play the others songs with all my soul.

At the end of the day, I was destroyed and I didn‟t know what to do. I was pretty sure that my parents were going to comfort me because of the mistake I had done in my first piece and the other ones after, seven exactly. Then came the shock; nobody could understand what I was talking about when I asked them. I guess that I was stressing too much about this and it pretty much drove me crazy. Now, I know that stressing excessively about something is useless and quite painful as Terri Guillemets says: “Give your stress wings and let it fly away.”

Emmanuel Nsengiyaremye will be studying at Vanier College in the computer science and mathematics program. Emmanuel really likes the computer science field and the music one too. He plays several instruments in his spare time; he lives for music.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 8 My First Job Experience By Ingrid Rosales Rodas

Last summer, I applied to a program called Valorisation Jeunesse. One day, someone emailed me and they told me that my new job would be to work on a project to save the environment; in other words, I would be working outside, in the forest. They told me that, in this job, I was going to cut invasive trees that are called European buckthorns and then replace them with other kinds of plants or trees. So I finally accepted to work on that project.

On my first day, I got lost because I had never been in that place before. It was located in Henri Bourassa, in Montreal North, whereas I live in the West Island. I was on the right street and I turned to the right side. While I was walking, I was searching for the park where I was going to work, but I was seeing only apartments and houses. So I asked someone to tell me the directions of that location and that person told me to go straight ahead on the left side. And then I realized that, all along, I was walking in the opposite direction. When I entered the cabin, there were only teenagers. I thought there was going to be only workers older than I. At first, my supervisor explained how to cut a tree with the new tools like saws and clippers. I thought we were going to cut the trees with electric saws, but it was all manual. Then, they were teaching us first-aid. I thought that day was going to be boring, but, in fact, it was really interesting and I really enjoyed what I learned that day. During my whole summer, what I did was cutting, cutting and cutting trees with the sun burning my face. It was hard work depending on the weather. When the weather was hot or when it was raining outside, it was really difficult to work. But when the temperature was around twenty degrees, it was comfortable to work. The European buckthorns are shrubs or small trees reaching twenty to twenty five feet in height and maximum ten inches in diameter. Their bark is gray or brown. The upper leaf surface is shiny; the lower surface can be hairy or smooth. The leaves are thin, egg-shaped and glossy. They are invasive because they‟re abundant and they prevent other trees or shrubs from growing. On my last week of work, our goal was to plant approximately eight hundred trees and shrubs.

On my last day, we planted one thousand trees. My companions and I celebrated the great work with good food and by playing cards. It was joyful! I really enjoyed working there because I made new friends, I learned how to take the public bus and the metro, I learned many things about the flora and I went on a lot of amusing fieldtrips. After saying goodbye to everyone, I said to myself: “For my first job, I had a wonderful experience this summer and I will never forget the image of invasive trees!”

Ingrid Rosales will be an architecture student at Vanier this fall. She likes playing soccer and watching the Simpsons while she's eating Doritos.

9 | Voices From Around The World 2010 Sleepy Games By Jonah Xu

I‟m a basketball player who plays for a Chinese team in Montreal. A couple of weeks ago, we went to Toronto for a big tournament where there were over eighty teams from around North America. It was the first time that a Montreal team would appear in that tournament. We didn‟t want to seem weaker than the other teams, so we trained hard. We thought that we would be able to handle the other teams. But, after arriving there, it was another story. I don‟t mean to say that we didn‟t play well, but just not as well as we wanted. We weren‟t able to reach our full strength all because of our tiredness.

What really happened is that we didn‟t sleep enough. The first night, we planned to sleep at 11 o‟clock so the next morning we would be in good shape for the two games. It didn't work out as we wanted. We tried to sleep, but it was impossible. There were lights coming from the hallway because there were windows next to the door. We were all over-excited for the following day. We played cards until 2 o‟clock in the morning. Then I had the brilliant idea of going to eat at McDonald‟s since we were all hungry. We were there, but we weren‟t served since only the drive through was open. We had to wait for every car to pass first and after thirty minutes, it was finally our turn. We ordered our stuff and we ate there. We went back to the hotel at around 4 am and went to bed. This time, we were tired, so we fell asleep quickly.

Our game was at 9 am, so we planned on waking up at 8 o‟clock so we would have 4 hours of sleep and that would be enough. But no, our coach wanted to have a team meeting at 7o‟clock. He came to our room and woke us up. He told us what the game play was. It only took him 10 minutes to tell us. At the end, we had only three hours of sleep.

When we played our first game, we were like zombies playing basketball. Even though we were tired, we won. The second game was a little harder to handle. We did well for the first 30 minutes, but after that we didn't play well and we lost.

Jonah Xu is a Chinese born in Canada. He is going into the Computer Science program next fall.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 10 The Moment of Glory By Khan Hammad

The 29th of April 2010 was the big day of dreams coming true. The day my teammates of the Juvenile soccer team and I had waited for impatiently. It was the finals of the double A indoor soccer tournament of the region. The winner of the competition would have the chance to participate in the provincial level tournament. Our team had ranked first place throughout the season and we were against the runner up team from Lasalle High School.

In the dressing room, silence ruled. It was a silence that no one had ever experienced in the past, a silence that the deaf experiences or a type of silence in which the noise of dripping water would be equivalent to an explosion. Players were seated on the benches along the walls with their eyes closed. I sat among them asking myself what they were possibly thinking about. Soon I began to hear a funny noise coming from my left and later from my right. I slowly opened my eyes to discover the origin of this mysterious sound. It was the sound of shaking legs and stressed players. I realised that I had to do something because this much stress would jeopardise our victory. Since it was my last year in high school, this victory was very important to me. It was my ticket and my last chance to experience provincial soccer. I decided to get the team together and raise the level of testosterone, their self-confidence and create strong feelings in them. We all stood up in a circle with our hands joined in the middle and screamed out the team slogan, “D.E.S D.E.S Victoire Express!” The screams ended but their sound was echoed for a certain period of time and helped the players gain their confidence back. Then we left the dressing room and walked in the direction of the field. As we entered the enormous gymnasium, where the match was to take place, I gave a quick look to the public that was cheering with their loud voices and noises. “Go Express Go!” Some fans were equipped with a goblet drum and added their music to others‟ cheers.

Moments later, the match kicked off and our team was having difficulty playing like we had during practice. The passes were not accurate and the shots were not on target. The opponents took advantage of our mistakes and scored their first goal. All the players were traumatised and their level of stress grew. I could see them starting to give up and lose hope for this victory. My coach called a time-out and we gathered in the corner. He said, “This is not the time to lose hope guys and certainly not the time to give up. We are the best and we can do this!” This speech was all we needed to get back on track and start playing like we were taught to. Back in the game, I took a shot that turned into a beautiful goal and the fans rose on their feet and began cheering once again. This important goal gave us the opportunity to believe in ourselves and bring this game in our favour. The other team was exhausted and was starting to make mistakes. This time we took advantage of their errors and we scored two magnificent goals with the head. The score was three to one for us but there was still time until the end of the game. I was wishing for the time to fly away and to hear the last whistle of the referee and drop to the ground.

A few minutes later, the referee finally announced the end of the game. I jumped with joy and then slid on the ground. Everybody jumped on me and we all celebrated this very much deserved victory. People got off their chairs and joined us in our celebration. The organisers called me in front as the representative, the captain of the team, to hand me the trophy of the champions. I walked with my head high full of pride and honour to accept the award. I held high, above me,

11 | Voices From Around The World 2010 the very beautiful, shining and decorated golden trophy. The surface of the award was so reflective that I could see myself in it and see my dream come true. I brought the trophy to the team and waited impatiently for the provincial tournament.

Khan Hammad will be a health science student at Vanier this fall. He is a soccer fanatic and he is looking forward to achieve his life by pursuing in both of his interests: science and soccer.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 12 New City By Lio Junwei

I grew up in Montreal, more precisely in Saint-Laurent. I had big attachments to that place. I knew almost everything about that place: every restaurant, every street, every park, everything. Of course, I also had many friends, childhood friends, whom I made plans with for the future. Who knew that, one day, I would actually leave Saint-Laurent and leave my best friends behind; I didn‟t want to move at all.

I moved to Laval city when I was half way through high school, all because of my parents. We are a family of six people, so I can‟t blame my parents for wanting a bigger place. Everything was different there. It was quiet all the time and you could only see houses no matter where you looked; nothing like in Montreal. Convenience stores and grocery stores were twenty-five minutes away by foot. There was no place to have fun at all, just at home in front of the computer. I felt bored and empty inside. I hated there. The only thing that I was looking forward to was going to school to meet new people and hoped to make new friends.

The first thing that I found surprising, as I went to school, was the transportation. In Montreal, I was used to ride the public bus to school, but, in Laval, they had a yellow school bus to give me a ride. It was fun. When I arrived at school, the first thing I did was to try to find people whom I might know. Surprisingly, I found a lot. They were people whom I met when I was still in elementary school. They showed me around school and talked to me every day. It was really fun hanging out with them. We became good friends, and, since then, I stopped hating Laval as much. In fact, I‟m really glad that I moved to Laval.

In the end, I decided to go to Vanier College when I finished high school because it‟s an English school and because it‟s located in Saint-Laurent.

Lio Junwei was born in November 5, 1992. He likes to play basketball and video games. He is currently in the Commerce program and hopes to become an accountant in the future.

13 | Voices From Around The World 2010 Memories at the End of the Road By Lu Lu

Ever since I started high school, I have been looking forward to my graduation. I often counted down the time left until I could finally graduate. However, time went by, and my graduation day came. Despite all the excitements of being a college student, I am sad. I am sad for leaving the school where I‟ve studied for five years; I am sad for saying goodbye to all the teachers who always shouted at me for not having my uniform or for running in the corridor; I am sad for abandoning the small classrooms and the blackboards ran over by the white chalk lines. However, there is something much more unbearable other than the thoughts of leaving my school: The fact that I am leaving some of my friends and that I might not see them again.

I can still remember all of them as if I had just known them yesterday. The whole story starts with a miracle girl.

During the summer of 2008, I learned of a girl named CC who was being transferred to my school. At that time she was just a friend of a friend to me. Although I hadn‟t had the chance to meet her in person, I learned from my friend how sweet and kind a girl she was.

On the day of registration, when everybody was gathered in the auditorium, I noticed that there was a girl who wasn‟t wearing a uniform. She had a rather short build. Her long black hair hung loosely across her shoulders and her face just looked so innocent and lovely, the face of a child. Strangely, she gave me a pure and warm feeling like a cup of hot chocolate in a cold rainy day. I observed in silence for a moment. She must have noticed me, as she turned and smiled at me in a naïve and affable way.

“This should be CC,”I thought. And I was right.

Slowly, we got to know each other and became close friends. At first I was surprised how fast she became friends with everyone around her, people whom I went to school with for three years and still didn‟t know that well. It seemed that there was something magical about her, about how she can affect everyone around her. At every break, we had to walk around the school to get to our next class. And if we were together, I would spend a lot more time than I usually would. This wasn‟t because she walked as slow as a tortoise, but because she can meet somebody she knows at almost every corner of the school, so she had to stop. Little by little, I realized that CC‟s friends were not just a small group of people but were from everywhere in the world. Sometimes, I saw her speaking English to one but the next second, she was speaking French to another.

Afterwards, I too knew a few friends of hers. Somehow, I recognized that as one day, I had to stop a few times on my way to class, for I had seen one of my friends as well. As you might have already noticed, I changed. From an inert and quiet girl, I had changed into a much more friendly and passionate person. Eventually, my friends helped me a lot. Not only inside of school but also outside of school. I went out with them everywhere on holidays instead of my usual habit of staying at home. With them I learned more about Montreal, a city that I‟d lived in for three years, but which I did not know much in other than Chinatown. I visited Mont Royal for the first time; I

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 14 went to the cabane à sucre for the first time; I tried poutine for the first time; I registered a Facebook account for the first time; I also got home after 10 p.m. for the first time. Our footprints, our laughs, our songs and our happy time together are memories that I could never forget.

And now, it comes time to part. How can I bear it? How can I say goodbye to all those friends that have given me those most unforgettable moments in my life?

Nevertheless, life is a road. Different people take on different paths. Sometimes our paths intersect, sometimes we have to take on the same path, but saying goodbye is always inevitable. Today, at this first great crossroad in our life, we are all in our black academic gown to celebrate this moment that we have dreamed and waited for years and years. Don‟t be heartbroken because saying goodbye is just to welcome another brand new day and a farewell is necessary to allow us to meet on the next intersection.

Lulu is now a summer student at Vanier but will study in the Computer Science and Mathematics Program in the fall semester. She wrote this narrative about her graduation because she told herself that this is the last time that she can think of the past. She has to look forward and move on in life.

15 | Voices From Around The World 2010 Going to a New Life By Mariam Jabri

People usually know the date of their birth but not the date of their death. For me I knew the date of my death. It was the fifth of September in 2007, do not be surprised. It was really the date of my death; but it was not my physical death, it was my spiritual death. Now, I am going to tell you about my story.

In 2007, I left my country with my family. I was obligated to do that because my country is Iraq and you know about the political situation there. So we took this big decision to leave our hometown. We started preparing our suitcases and stuff. It was a difficult moment when I was preparing my suitcases; I could not believe that I was going to leave some of my clothes, my stuff and my bedroom‟s furniture behind. I could not take all of them because we were only allowed a limited amount of luggage on the airplane. It was really difficult to describe this feeling .When the fifth of September came, the date of travelling; I felt that my death came with it too. Maybe some of you are shocked, but for me, my country means my life; my country means the memories of my childhood; my country means the place where I was born. We left our home after a last look at it; we left our home with sad and broken hearts and big tears, but what could we do? We did not have another choice. It was either that we move to a new country or stay and get killed. We went to Syria. It is an Arabic country and we speak the same language, but it stays a foreign country to me. In our first month there, I suffered a lot because I did not have friends and I did not know anyone there. But one day while I was walking in the street I saw my best friend by chance, her name is Zeina, and she told me that she lived in the same area. This girl was my best friend from grade one to grade ten but she left Iraq because of the same reason as mine. I felt happy when I found her because I felt that I found the person who could listen to me and appreciate my forlorn feelings; she had the same feelings too. Finding my friend changed many things in my life in Syria. I felt more comfortable, especially when she joined me in the same class there. In our school in Syria, we sat at the same desk. It was an interesting thing to me because back at our school in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, we sat at the same desk too. How nice it was to meet in a strange country and study in the same school. In spite of that, I had another problem at school.

Now, I am going to tell you how I suffered at school there especially in the first months of the academic year. It was a new school to me with new teachers, new classmates, a different style of education and a new curriculum. Firstly, I could not adapt to the new situation at school but after a few months, I forced myself to adapt because I had no choice. If I had not adapted, surely, I would have failed. I challenged myself and studied hard so that my dream to be the best student in class could come true. In 2009, I finished my high school there and got a high average that qualified me to apply to study medicine and I was accepted in a famous university in Syria called the Arabic European University. From my perspective, I consider that a big achievement, even though I did not study at that University because we moved to Canada in October 2009. We came here because of our relatives who have been here for more than twenty years. They told us about the developed education system in Canada and about how job opportunities after graduation here are better. Based on that we decided to come here and continue my education. In Canada, I would like to pursue my dream to be a doctor in the future. I applied to health science at Vanier College and got the final admission. After achieving my first dream, I would

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 16 like to attain my second dream which is to improve my English and speak this language as perfectly as I speak my mother language, Arabic.

Mariam Jabri is a health science student at Vanier College. She likes walking but she hates basketball and tennis.

17 | Voices From Around The World 2010 The Worst Possible Ending Ever! By Salomon Ederhy

During the summer of 2009, my friends and I really wanted to go to New York. So, a Friday night, we packed the car and we took off to go to New York for the weekend. During the ride, everybody was sleeping except for Mike, of course. Six hours after leaving Montreal, Mike woke us up and told us that we arrived.

During our time in New York, we went shopping in expensive shops, we ate at fancy restaurants and we went to museums. Our Hotel was located in front of Central park, one of the biggest parks in the world. We had a really good time in NYC. So Saturday at 3:30pm, we started to pack the car and we took off to come back to Montreal. One hour after leaving NYC, Mike realized that the car needed a refuel so we stopped at a gas station. Mike checked his wallet and said to me: “Salomon, I don‟t have any money left, can you lend me some”. I said: “of course” and I went to the car to get my wallet. When I opened my wallet, I realized that I had no more money. So, I woke up my two other friends and I asked them if they had money; they told me: “Yes, but you kept our wallets”. I asked myself: “were did I put the wallets?” I checked in the car but I couldn‟t find them. Then I realized that I had forgotten them at the hotel. Hence, I went to see Mike and I told him: “Mike, I forgot the wallets at the hotel, and you don‟t have any fuel left, what should we do?” Mike told me to call my dad. I called my dad and he told me he will be here in 6 hours. The only problem is that there were two wallets at the hotel with 200$ in each. While waiting for my dad, I called the hotel and told them to keep our wallets until I would come back; they said ok.

At the end, we ended up waiting in the car for about six hours before my dad came. It took us one hour to go back to the hotel. Finally, at three in the morning, I was lying in my bed, dead tired.

From experience, please spend your money wisely when you‟re on vacation and please double check when you leave your hotel room.

Salomon Ederhy was accepted at Vanier College in computer science technology. He absolutely loves Subway sandwiches.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 18 8count Dance Complex By Sarah-Michelle Leger

I was born in a very entertaining family. My aunts and cousins are musicians. They play the piano, one of them is a singer and we all love to dance! Starting at the age of three, dancing has always been my passion. I‟ve gone through a lot of different dance studios but nothing like the 8count dance complex.

August 2009, my hands were starting to feel cold, my heart was knocking in my chest as if it were trying to get out of it, that was how stressed I was to do my audition at 8count. My friend recommended that I register to try making the team since they have varsity teams at the dance complex. I never thought that it would be that hard and quick to learn choreography. We literally had an hour to learn over five counts of a dance piece. At the end of my audition, I was exhausted and the only thing I wanted was to make one of the 4 varsity teams. Two weeks later, the studio called me for a “Call Back Audition”, so I went back and gave my all on the floor. In early September, I was the new member of the original varsity team of 8count, called DV8. I had practices twice a week, two hours each; it was intense dancing and body training. It was really awesome. Not only that, two formal members of the studio went to So You Think You Can Dance Canada and made it to the Top 20. What is more is the incredible job that the strongest team of the dance complex, Blueprint Crew, did on the American TV show America’s Best Dance Crew.

It was an extraordinary year I should say. I don‟t regret anything of my experience, as a matter of fact, my way of interpreting dance has changed and it‟s all for the best.

Sarah-Michelle Leger is a passionate dancer. She loves playing soccer and she can’t wait to start College. She wants to pursue her dream of becoming a famous entertainer by joining the Communication Program at Vanier College.

19 | Voices From Around The World 2010 The Right Field By Sergine Philosca

I am now in the car looking out of the window; trees, restaurants and cars passing by, thinking, what a wonderful law student I will be, knowing stories about other countries, knowing my laws, knowing the most political things. My mom suddenly interrupts my thoughts, asking me, “Did you finally decided who you‟d like to become after College and University?” I answered her, “Mom, well, if I‟m accepted to Vanier, I will become a lawyer. It‟s very important for me to know my law and to prove to people that I can, that I can be somebody. That I can go somewhere and do something good for humanity... Something, something good, but for the moment I‟m accepted at college LaSalle, for now I will be the biggest fashion designer and the best, everyone would buy my clothes.”

My mom always taught me that if you want something, go for it but do it proudly and with effort.

We are now arrived home. In the mail box, I see that today we‟ve received a lot of mail. I noticed a white envelope with red writing, Vanier College. My heart starts to skip beats, I take a big breath. I do want to open it but at the same time I don‟t want to. I grab my keys and open the door; I hurry and put all the letters on the table. I open my letter from Vanier College. As I start reading, I can‟t think, nor breathe. My future was based on this letter. I‟ve only read the first two sentences and I am shocked, my eyes are wide open, “I‟ve been accepted”. Was it goodbye fashion Designer and hello lawyer? Was I really about to throw my dream and passion in the garbage? Maybe I was. I actually was about to throw it away and start down another avenue. Fashion designer has always been my dream; I was asking myself, am I doing the right thing? Am I going to regret my decision? I don‟t think so because law is very interesting and I will always learn new things. That‟s what I like. I can make sure that justice is served. I‟ve made my decision, I mean, Vanier made the decision easier for me. I am scared, thrilled and still undecided about this. It‟s my future but I‟m sure I‟m going to rock at Vanier College and be the best that I can be. This choice will give me a much better salary and good learning skills for my education. All I have to do is believe in myself and what I can achieve. Work hard to be who I want to be and it‟s to become a lawyer where I can and will show my knowledge. Fashion designer is my plan B, my hobby. I will always create and design new clothes because it will be impossible to completely put aside my dream. Vanier College is my present, my future and me.

Sergine Philosca is a prep school student and will be attending Vanier in the fall. She is 19 years old and she loves shoes (She’s a shoe maniac) and to dance.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 20 Sky Pub Club By Shiela Mae Rafal

We were all kids back then who didn‟t know anything. Twelve years had passed since the last time we had met. My cousins had immigrated to California and two years ago, we immigrated here to Canada which is not far from them. Now we are all grownups and finally we, cousins, have met again. One of our cousins came here and spent four days with us. Finally, we had the chance to spend time with each other and to talk about our childhood and our past. We also had the chance to party ignoring our parents even though they would scold us.

I‟m going to tell you about when we went clubbing here in Montreal. It was my first time going clubbing here. It was Saturday night at 10:30 and it was cloudy; it seemed like it was going to rain. We decided to go clubbing and I was so excited, but, because I am the youngest of them, my brother didn‟t want me to go. But I forcedly said “I will come whatever you say. I am 19 years old, so I can do whatever I want to do and I can decide for myself.” He called our mom and he told her about it, but mom said yes, so my brother had no other choice.

That night, we took the bus because everyone would have a drink, so we all couldn‟t drive after. But we forgot that we didn‟t have tickets for the bus and we didn‟t have a lot of change. My brother opened his wallet and he searched for change, but he was missing 10 cents to have exact bus fare. So, we started looking for change on the road and in the slot of a parking meter where the change comes out, but sadly we didn‟t find any. Good thing that in front of the bus stop there was a gasoline station that had a convenience store and I went there to ask for change. Finally, we had change and we were ready to go, so we waited for the bus for a couple of minutes. While we were on the bus, my brother kept on talking like he was the tour guide and I remained silent. We got off at Guy Concordia metro station and we took the subway until Beaudry metro station. While we were inside the subway, my cousin told me that we were going to a gay club, then I was blank and I just smiled. I didn‟t say anything because I want to experience everything and my brother asked me why I was smiling, but I said “nothing.” When we arrived at the station, we walked along St. Catherine Street until we reached Sky Pub Club. The club was a three storey building. The first thing that came up on my mind was “wow! There are a lot of good looking gays here” and I told my cousin “Hey! I want to have a gay „boyfriend‟ now,” then my cousin laughed. When we got there, we sat in front of the club. A couple of minutes later, one of the servers came and asked for our orders and my cousin just ordered one pitcher of beer. We had decided to drink a lot and get drunk before we go dancing inside the club. While we were drinking, my brother started to turn red because he‟s not used to drinking alcohol. My cousin and I told him to stop drinking, and then we asked the server to give us a glass of water for him to sober up. We asked him if he was “ok” and if he wanted to go to the washroom, but he said he was ok and he just wanted to stay there. So my cousin and I continued to drink and we finished two pitchers. After that, we went inside the club and we started to dance. We were at the ground level and because of curiosity; we went upstairs just to see what was in there. The second floor was the same thing as the ground floor. On the third floor, I saw guy dancers on a stage with just briefs on them and lastly, on the roof top was a nice view. We sat there just for us to sober up and I ordered one cold cranberry juice. After drinking the juice, I went to the washroom. I was a little bit tipsy then that I even forgot that I was in a gay bar and I was like a fool looking for a ladies‟ washroom. I laughed at myself. So, I entered the only washroom on the rooftop just like

21 | Voices From Around The World 2010 that. It was so convenient to use the same wash room as the guys. When I finished using the washroom, I went straight to our table and started telling my brother and my cousin about the washroom. Then, my cousin told me “Don‟t worry. They won‟t hurt you and they don‟t care anyways.” I just smiled. After that, we went back to the second floor and started to dance again until 1:30 am because we told our parents that we should be back home by 2:00 am. At exactly 1:30 am, we left the club and started walking along St. Catherine. My cousin kept on asking why we were walking instead of taking a taxi. But I didn‟t know why we were walking either. It was obvious that we were a little bit tipsy that time. When we got tired, we took the taxi and headed home. My cousin said, “That was fun. Thanks guys!”

That night was fun and it was good that I experienced it. I will never forget that night. I want to say thanks to my cousin for bringing me there.

Shiela Mae Rafal is going to study Health Science this upcoming semester. She’d love to be in the Health Sector and wants to work in a hospital.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 22 Pay Attention By Shirley Lee

Teachers say that there are always consequences if you don‟t follow in class. I didn‟t really believe it before. This is what happened to me.

In the summer of 2009, near the end of the semester, it was a normal day as usual. I woke up at 7am, I brushed my teeth, I took my white polo and my blue marine skirt and dressed, I ate my breakfast and then I went outside to wait for the bus to arrive. The bus arrived as usual. As I walked inside the bus, my eyes looked around to search for a place to sit. All seats were taken. I waited for a while with my earphones in my ears and I finally sat in a seat near the window. After a while, I left the bus and walked quietly to school. The bell rang and I quickly climbed the stairs until I reached the sixth floor, almost losing my breath as I just ran nonstop for two minutes.

A few hours passed and it was finally the last period. I took out my agenda and looked for my next class. I saw “English” written on it. I walked to the classroom with heavy steps. I didn‟t want to go to that course. I wanted to go home. The second bell rang and the teacher still hadn‟t arrived. I heard footsteps approaching from far away and I knew that she was coming. She entered the classroom and started to talk. I was already daydreaming. She talked and talked, but I didn‟t hear what she was saying as if I were deaf. I couldn‟t concentrate at all and I abandoned trying to listen to what she had to say. I turned my head ninety degrees and I faced the window next to me. I looked at the people who were walking on the sidewalk. My eyes were following them. I really envied them. They could do what they wanted to do. As I was still daydreaming, my ears suddenly opened and I heard what the teacher was saying. She was talking about adverbs. As I went back to daydreaming, I heard the teacher say “Shirley”. As she said that, I jumped and stood up and apologized for being inattentive. Everyone turned their head and looked at me with an interrogative face. My friend sitting in front of me said, “What are you saying?!” The teacher then said that she wasn‟t calling me and that she was only saying “surely”. Everybody opened their mouth and started to laugh. I felt that my whole body got hotter and hotter. All flustered, I sat down with my tomato face.

After this event, I haven‟t daydreamt in class again. I also learned that not listening in class does have consequences.

Shirley Lee was born in Canada in 1993. She has many hobbies including singing and listening to music. She will be studying commerce at Vanier College.

23 | Voices From Around The World 2010 Just for Laughs Festival By Sun He Li

I was lucky to land in Montreal at the end of June, the best time of a year, as I was able to catch the Just for Laughs Festival. Not being able to appreciate English humour, it‟s difficult for me to understand how people laugh only at silly jokes. What happened at the festival changed my way of understanding humour.

Fair weather makes going on a trip more enjoyable. One of our friends invited us to the Just for Laughs Festival. It seemed like a silly decision to meet each other at 6 o‟clock in the evening since it would already be crowded. Despite this, my sisters enjoyed the festival a lot. Having not participated in any activities gave me enough time to look around the festival. There were some clowns playing around with little kids, sharing candies with them, and also there were amazing shows which scared people. My family was doing Sudoku puzzles and my younger sister was fishing in a tiny pool which had several toy fish in it. People danced to music and waved their arms. The festival was not as interesting as I thought. It took hours for my family to participate in all the activities. It was time to go to have dinner. As if they discussed it a little bit beforehand, all of them wanted to go to the bathroom at the same time. Because there were only porta-potties, we had to use our own Kleenex. I became the person who stood outside with the empty Kleenex box. I couldn‟t even find a place to throw it away, so that caused a problem. An unbelievably kind lady walked past me and put a loonie inside my box. She said,”Take care.” I was confused at first, but soon I understood what had happened. "No, I'm not..." I said as soon as I could. "I see, but like the name of our festival, just laugh and have fun," said the lady. Wow! I could feel as if a door had just opened before me. I am in North America. I am a part of the world.

By the end of June, I had been here for almost one year. Life was kind of boring at first, but it's all right for me now, because I know laughs are right beside you when you live life.

Sun He Li, a student in Pure & Applied Science of Vanier College, wants to learn Double E in the future.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 24 My First Time Home Alone By Vanessa Angelone

I woke up one morning to the bright sunshine coming in from my bedroom window. As I was getting ready, my mother quickly came to speak to me. She explained that she and my father were leaving for work and my siblings were already on their way to school. That meant I had to spend the entire day by myself. I remember thinking: “I can‟t wait for the day to begin!”

That same morning, I played, sang and danced around the house, enjoying every moment. When the clock stroke noon, I began to feel hungry and decided to make myself something to eat. There I was eating and watching television when I heard a loud noise. I turned the volume down and started to look around. I checked every door to see if there was anyone nearby, nobody. I went to sit down when I heard it again. It sounded like a bang on the window that kept getting louder and louder. I decided to look around one more time but still nothing. A few minutes later, I heard another noise. This one sounded like a high-pitch screaming that just wouldn‟t stop. There I was on my first day home alone, scared out of my mind.

Shortly after, I called my mother to tell her what was going on. She thought the whole story was hilarious and refused to come home. I decided to make her hear the noise. She finally started to take me seriously. She told me to look around one more time just to make sure. I did, but this time, holding the phone so tight and ready to jump and fight “the bad guy”. I still couldn‟t find out where the noise was coming from, so I panicked and ran outside.

About five minutes later, my mother came racing home like Super Woman. This time, she checked the surroundings herself, only to find out that, this whole time, there was a bird in the chimney banging and chirping to get out. I will definitely never forget my first day home alone.

Vanessa Angelone is a seventeen year old Vanier student who will be studying health science in the fall. She hopes to be successful in the future.

25 | Voices From Around The World 2010 On board for a foreign country By Vincent Milette

The story I am about to tell is not as extraordinary as landing on the moon, but, for a young guy like me who hasn‟t experienced that many things in life, it is pretty funny. Last winter, I was definitely motivated to do something different, so my classmates and I decided to go on a school trip to offer our help to a little community called Canaan located in Costa Rica.

When I first arrived, I was totally confident and I thought that since Spanish sounds like French and since they both are Latin languages, I wouldn‟t have any problem being understood by my new neighbors. But it wasn‟t the case and I realized it fast. It happened to be my first real trip to a country where I barely knew anything about the culture, the values or the language. In addition to the fact that my way of communication looked prehistoric due to using sign language to express myself, the first days were extremely hard because I had to get used to my new life for two weeks. Not a single detail of their everyday life was the same as here in Canada. After a couple of days there and after realizing that living at peace with the nature was the most amazing journey I had ever lived, I started having fun and fully enjoying my trip.

Also, moments like when I played waving flag with my guitar around the fire while everyone was singing , or when I wanted to say kitchen in Spanish ,but, in reality I said “lustful” and when the family that took care of me were dying of laughter are unforgettable and priceless. There‟s also the day when we suddenly stopped the whole traffic in downtown Costa Rica because the cops had to help us get out of an underground parking lot in which we had stayed stuck because our bus driver wasn‟t smart enough to notice that the height limit was way below the height of the bus.

In the end, visiting this country, taking advantage of the wonderful landscapes and getting to know a new culture while practicing my Spanish was an experience for which I doubted at first but that will last forever in my mind.

Vincent Milette is going to study “International Studies” in the fall semester. He loves sports and also plays the guitar in his spare time. He is really passionate about history, politics and geography; this is why traveling is a really important part of his life.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 26 The Sacrifice By Walid Chenine

The sun was up high, gazing with all of its might, leaving no trace of clouds in the sky, the crickets were calling out to each other passionately in a cacophony of sounds, as the smell of freshly cut grass in the air captivated us with its aroma. These are the only fragments of the untainted memories of my youth and of that summer eight years ago.

The summer of 2002 is my most vivid memory and it is for a good reason. The story starts with my friends and I playing soccer in the school‟s playground which was always left open during the summer. We were having fun passing the ball to each other, kicking it, passing it around and kicking it again with the skills of ten year olds until one of my friends made a bad move and sent the ball over the fence. We had no choice but to get it back no matter what.

We all went to look for it, not knowing what lay ahead of us, nor what sacrifices we had to make. We walked through bushes after bushes to finally arrive in a backyard of a house we knew nothing about. But what we found laying around was worth all the trouble getting there. We found dozens of balls. As trivial as it might sound to you, to a bunch of ten year olds it was like Ali Baba‟s cave. Everyone started to take as much as there little arms could handle and I was no exception. Everything was perfect up until a dog that came out of nowhere started running towards us.

At that point, as we all ran for our lives, we all knew that it was every kid on his own. Now that I think about it, I am thankful to God that I was the fastest boy at school because the slowest one had to be sacrificed to the dog.

Walid will join the social sciences general profile in the fall semester but he plans on going into the social sciences commerce profile in the winter semester. Walid already has his prerequisites but he was too late to apply for the first semester.

27 | Voices From Around The World 2010 My Passion for Music By Cai Xue Si

My mom has some talent for singing, so I got very familiar with Karaoke Clubs in my childhood. However, at that time, my mom found out that although I inherited her passion for the music, I didn‟t really inherit her talent. However, she probably didn‟t realize that the passion that I inherited from her is much more important than the talent, which had been falling asleep during my childhood.

During my primary school and the beginning of my high school, I kept loving music and singing with a lot of passion but out of tune. One day, a well done French test, which seems irrelevant with music, changed my life. It qualified me for an enriched class. However, to have access to that class, I was obliged to take an instrumental course. I chose the clarinet, one of the most accurate instruments in the wind orchestra. Little by little, my friends discovered and told me that I sang well. I guess my clarinet helped me a lot on the accuracy of my notes.

Being in tune should be the easiest thing for anyone who knows singing, I agree. It took me fifteen years to work that out. However, within less than two years, my singing skills improved with an amazing speed. My potential talent came out from the fog day by day. I loved more and more Karaoke clubs and met some friends there. Having much more confidence and being recommended by friends, I signed up for a Singing Contest.

I met a lot of old friends in the audition and also made some new. Being not in great voice condition, I picked a le ss intense song, more popular style, named „Don‟t say that you didn‟t care about my tears‟. I wasn‟t stressed because I went there just for a trial. I wasn‟t shy because no one would laugh at me as I was alone with the judges. To my surprise, one of the judges really appreciated my performance. She said that she heard powerful emotions in my voice. The next morning, she called me to confirm my qualification to the final contest.

I was very excited and began to prepare for the final day by day, hesitating between songs. Finally, I chose a song that I loved a lot, named „The World is in My Heart‟, a Chinese song from the 80s. Compared to the song that I had performed in the audition, this one is much more intense and powerful. The final contest took place in the Chinese Culture Center. Spectators were composed of friends, parents, and fans. Sponsors who have provided financial aid for the Singing Contest were sitting in the front seats. At seven o‟clock, the contest raised its curtain with a fashionable salutatory from the two hosts. I wasn't really stressed at the beginning because I thought I would be as relaxed as I had been during the audition. However, my stress was growing as my turn was approaching. I went to the restroom several times to try to calm down alone and release my stress. I began to worry about a lot of things, such as how spectators would judge me if I didn't do well, how my friends and parents would be disappointed if I was the worst performer. I lost my confidence and felt that I would easily fail on stage even though I had practiced a thousand times.

The moment I mounted on the stage, I was still in my nervous psychological state. I took the prelude time to reflect; I told myself “I have qualified to the final because I am strong enough and that is what I have believed so far.” At the right moment, my friends shouted out together the

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 28 slogan made with my nick name, “Little fatty, little fatty, we love you; little fatty, little fatty, you are the best!” I suddenly understood that no matter what, my friends, and surely also my dear parents, would always be there to encourage me. I took a deep breath and took up role right away. For the first part of the song, I wasn't stressed anymore. I began to walk around on the stage and make some gestures to show that I was devoted to the song. For the second part, I completely enjoyed my performance. With the beautiful melody and powerful lyrics, emotions came out naturally. Colourful stage lighting and spectators made me forget that I was in a contest. I was at my own concert. Instead of showing my skills, I wanted spectators to enjoy my performance. My intense song ended with a long high pitch note. With enthusiastic applause and cheering from spectators, I felt that I‟ve successfully attracted many of them with my emotional voice and probably also my singing skills. I made a deep bow to all my friends and my parents. Without them, I could have never recovered my confidence.

After that success, I believe that I will be able to achieve my dream. Having full confidence, I registered in a Double-Dec program to have a formal music education. Unfortunately, I did not get acceptance and was deeply depressed. Shortly afterward, I said to myself that I will meet my first failure one day or another, but no failure will stop me from keeping my passion, to carry on my music life and to carry out my dream.

Cai Xue Si is a Marianopolis student and will be studying pure & applied science.

29 | Voices From Around The World 2010 The Day I Left for Canada By Xue Yang

“Xiaoxue, it is time to get up, hurry up.”A familiar and normal voice went into my mind on the morning of the day I was leaving my home for Canada. Actually, I had woken up a long time before that. I woke up early by myself but I did not get up. I just looked around my room. The beautiful and long curtains which were my favourite were still very new even though my mother bought them for me two years ago. There were many pink and red flowers in big shapes on the white curtains, as if I could have smelled the fragrance of the flowers in my room. In front of the window, there was my orchid plant that my father gave me as a birthday present in the previous year. I had been watering it every week during the whole year and it grew as well as I did. “Breakfast is ready, come and have your meal, Xiaoxue.” My mother called me again. I went and sat at the table. In general, my parents and I sit around the round table that made us feel comfortable. My mother talked about the plans for that day, such as what we were going to do after breakfast, when our relatives and friends were going to see me and have a big lunch with us, when we were going to the airport…as I was having breakfast. However, my father was very quiet at that time. He just ate his meal and looked at me now and then like a child looking at his favourite toy he would lose.

After breakfast, at about ten o‟clock, my relatives and friends came one by one. We talked, laughed and waited for the big meal; that was a traditional way for saying good-bye to someone in China. Time passed quickly. After a while, it was lunch time—around 12 o‟clock; I was leaving soon. During lunch, everyone was eating except my father, my mother and me. Although the food would have been very delicious otherwise, it just seemed like an ordinary bowl of rice to us. Suddenly, one of my cousins said, “I will miss you very much, you should call me often.” I said, “I will, I promise.” even my father said in a low voice, “yes, you should call us often.” For a long time, my father kept silent. Eventually, he spoke. At the same time, my mother turned her head around in order to avoid being seen because she was weeping. I felt that a big stone was being put on my heart. I could hardly breathe.

At the exact time according to the plans, we arrived at the airport. My father held my hand as we were entering the airport. He used to hold my hand in many situations. He would hold my hand as we crossed the street. He would hold my hand as I was in danger. He would hold my hand as I was sad. He would hold my hand as I was happy. He was holding my hand as I was leaving him… I was going to board the plane. Finally, my mother couldn‟t help weeping; she threw her arms around me. Big tears streamed down her face. As a result, I also started to weep. I love them as much as they love me.

Xue Yang will be attending the Accounting & Management program at Vanier College in the fall semester.

Voices From Around The World 2010 | 30 My First Dissection By Ying-Di Liu

My first dissection was in Secondary 3. When the teacher told us we will do a dissection, I was thrilled. I thought it would be fun. I wanted to know what it felt like to plunge a knife into an eyeball or the feeling of holding a heart with my own hands. I was also excited because it was a break from what we usually did which was writing and listening to the teacher.

My first dissection was a disappointment.

When we started the dissection, I was excited. Five minutes later, I didn‟t feel so excited. I was disgusted by the horrible smell coming out of the thirty dead eyeballs, thirty dead hearts and thirty dead kidneys. The smell was terrible. Cutting an eye was not as exciting as it sounds and touching a heart was not fun. Since we were obligated to wear gloves, I didn‟t feel what I was touching. I was also waiting for the others to finish so I could continue, because the teacher wanted everyone to finish at the same time. At the end, the teacher dissected a dead baby pig in front of us. I didn‟t like the experience. Why? Because there was nothing interesting about it, there was no blood to scare anybody so I couldn‟t have a good laugh with my friends. My legs were too tired from standing for two hours and the smell was too horrible. I was also waiting for the bell to ring so I could go to my next class because I wanted to sit down.

It was the most horrible experience in my life. My first dissection was not amusing at all.

Ying-Di Liu was born in 1992 in Canada. He came from the College Français de Montreal High School. He is going in Computer Science and Mathematics in fall.

31 | Voices From Around The World 2010

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