When asked to talk about the differences between Canada and his home country of Brazil, Juliano Franz doesn鈥檛 go the obvious route. He doesn鈥檛 mention climate. He doesn鈥檛 identify cultural differences. He doesn鈥檛 compare Canada鈥檚 hockey obsession with Brazil鈥檚 soccer passion.
To Franz, it鈥檚 all about the chairs.
鈥淰ery comfortable chairs, especially in the Mona Campbell Building,鈥� says Franz, a student at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil who鈥檚 spending the next two semesters in Dal鈥檚 Computer Science program.
Franz came to Dal through the Science Without Borders program, a Brazilian government initiative that began in 2011 and aims to give out 100,000 scholarships over a four-year period to students wishing to study abroad.
Canadian universities will welcome about 12,000 of those students. This year, 麻豆传媒 alone has 28 international students from Brazil.
Country comparisons
As one might expect, these visiting students have noticed things about their temporary home that locals take for granted. Franz鈥檚 comment about Dal鈥檚 classroom chairs, for example, aren鈥檛 a joke 鈥� or at least not entirely. In Brazil, he says, students don鈥檛 pay for post-secondary education, but that means some schools struggle with upkeep.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have much money for infrastructure. Here, even the old buildings have been remodeled,鈥� he says.
Franz鈥檚 countryman Hugo Yamamura came to Dal through CALDO, a consortium of four Canadian universities (University of Alberta, Universite Laval, 麻豆传媒 and the University of Ottawa) that was one of the first groups to partner with Science Without Borders.
Yamamura, also a Computer Science student, is one of 24 Brazilian students who made their way to Dal via CALDO, which helps match international students with schools and programs appropriate to their interests and supports them through the application process.
Like Franz, Yamamura has picked up on some distinctly Canadian, or at least Haligonian, customs. For one thing, there鈥檚 the practice of cars stopping to allow people to cross in the middle of the street.
鈥淵ou can go without any worries,鈥� says Yamamura. 鈥淚n Brazil, even at traffic lights you have to be careful.鈥�
Embracing life at Dal
Yamamura and Franz have both embraced the full student experience at Dal, with Yamamura joining the chess club and Franz becoming a member of the squash club. They鈥檝e found their fellow students and professors to be friendly and helpful, and they鈥檝e adjusted to certain cultural nuances (鈥淵ou have dinner too early here,鈥� says Franz).
Yamamura says living in residence has helped them acclimatize to their new surroundings.
鈥淟iving on campus you have the opportunity to meet lots of people from all over Canada and even international students,鈥� says Yamamura, who lives in Howe Hall.
Yamamura says Dal has also afforded him the opportunity to live near an ocean coastline. He鈥檇 never before visited a coast, even though Brazil has 7,367 kilometres of it.
鈥淭his was the first time I鈥檇 seen water in that proportion, not just a lake or rivers,鈥� says Yamamura.
He and Franz have also enjoyed Halifax sights such at Pier 21, the Seaport market and Point Pleasant Park.
Of course, Yamamura and Franz are here to learn, not just to explore a new country. Although both are in Computer Science, they鈥檙e taking different classes and have different goals for the future.
Yamamura is studying subjects like software development, interface design and microeconomics, while Franz is taking electronics, informatics and game design and development. Yamamura looks forward to a career in the private sector, while Franz sees himself as an academic.
A shared experience
Yamamura and Franz are different people, united by the shared experience of leaving Brazil for an adventure at Dal. They鈥檝e only been here for a few weeks, but they鈥檝e already made the adjustment to a new school and to life in Halifax, and they鈥檙e convinced they made the right decision.
That鈥檚 the message they have for all the future students who will make the trek from Brazil to Dal thanks to programs like CALDO and Science Without Borders.
Meanwhile, they have a couple of other messages for friends and family back home:
鈥淪top asking me if I鈥檓 okay,鈥� says Franz.
鈥淎nd stop asking, 鈥業s it snowing?鈥欌�� Yamamura laughs, revealing that certain stereotypes about Canada are still lurking in the world鈥檚 fifth-largest nation.
鈥淣o, it鈥檚 not snowing. It鈥檚 still fall.鈥�