::: Star Campus :::

Life in Foreign Campus

My first seven days in Brock University campus

Shahriar Shahid Tomal

It was the first night for me in St. Catharnes, and before the clock hit 9:00 am, I'll have to be at Brock University to get started with my University schooling. Actually I should say that I had literally 'NO' idea where I was getting myself into. I joined Brock University on a joint major program 'Bachelors of Computing and Business' with a crappy syllabus across 5 years! Maybe the decision came out of an impulse as BrockU is located in St. Catharines, within Niagara peninsula and the 'Niagara Falls' is only a 20-minute's drive away! Again Brock University itself and the promise of the course might have contributed in the decision.

Today, I am not actually up to writing about BrockU nor about Niagara. Rather I'll be sharing my experiences of how it was, to be all by myself in an alien land with backpack,

'All lies and jest, Still the man hears what he wants to hear

And disregards the rest, hmmmm' (Paul Simon)

I moved into St Catharines in a huge van full of my belongings and furniture. I made no delay after moving my stuff and started towards Niagara Falls. The highway ride was exciting with the late evening views but everything seemed too quite.

When finally I found myself at the 'Falls' with the stony edges of the Niagara river and water running down with deafening sounds, I felt like a bipedal creature getting some unorganized spiritual thoughts rather than the material issues about life. It's gigantic, it's powerful, it's timeless, it's larger than life, and...(please insert roughly 100 more 'great' words here)

I actually hopped up with Jami Bhai, one of the Bangladeshi international students among the existing TWO, and I was adding one more head in the census. Our first night chat didn't workout very well; though later we both developed a very warm relation, which still continues.

At my first look I was really stunned at the view of the campus; it was beautiful and perfect in every possible way. The 11-floor library building was holding a huge banner 'WELCOME' with BrockU symbol on it. And which were obvious, thousands of 'FROSH' (you got to be sarcastic with the freshmen; always!) people were hovering everywhere in the campus. But before I could get glued with all the Frosh people

I headed towards the International Services office to get my official process started. It's an office where all the international students come for help and services (believe me, you can even call them up when you are having a fight with your 'Land Lord' or with your 'Girl/Boy' friend, help is guaranteed!) There I met 'Geeta Powell' the Assistant director of the International Services. She was so much comforting that I felt like she knew me for long.

I was then sent to get all my jobs done like the registration, health insurance, bank account opening and so on. I was being guided in every step by 'David' a first year volunteer doing a temporary job for pocket money. I was a bit disappointed for being picked up by 'David' (why this 6'-4” guy but not any girl!). But later this 'David' turned to be one of my first buddies and maybe some other time I'll tell you the story about how terribly he wanted to come to Bangladesh and get hooked up with a Bangladeshi girl!

When I was done with the formalities it was around 2:00 pm and I found the university unusually quiet and empty. The fact was all the frosh people were set off to discover the city and I was left behind without any company. These were definitely fun loving people who didn't waste a moment to discover the clubs, malls and party places. So I started wondering and discovering the university before my bus arrived.

The actual orientation week activities were to start the next day, but I also had a confusing class schedule conflicting with the O'week activities. Moreover class at 8:00 am seemed such a pain for me because I had a very bad habit of sleeping in irregular times. I joined the academic orientation program where lots of faculties, Deans and also the University President was present. President Mr. David Atkinson was always a very interesting person to me and he was a great fan of Rabindranath Tagore! He was basically an English literature professor but he spent two years in 'Shanti Niketon' for studying on Tagore. Also I found him quoting from Tagore a lot of times. We were all getting introduced with the academic process and activities at BrockU and also introducing ourselves with our names, country and or experiences on the way to Brock.

The next event was organized by the International office and it was on Port Dalhousie, lying on the shore of Lake Ontario. We were told to bring enough water, a cap, and 'Sunscreen' at it was going to be a daytime party. It was a beautiful place with pathways on the shorelines and a harbor walkway, which goes deep into the lake. It was a great fun with a number of sports and events at the party and with the BBQ's.

It was the third day; I actually had my first class at Brock and it was on Economics. But I found the room Thiesel 247 packed with a few hundred students inside! I had no idea how this could be and I had to look for a place until the lecture was started. It was Prof. Fellice Martinello well known for being very caring about students. Following that class I attended two more classes on Math's and Comp-Sci. From the fourth day on, classes were getting on in full swing.