By Ryan Cooke
Jan. 20, 2012
For Mohammad Altheiban, life is much different these days. In some ways it’s more convenient, in some ways not so much.
Gone are the days of the blazing Saudi sun, the desert heat and the old familiar cultural customs. Instead, he endures the bitter Canadian winter while studying business at UPEI.
Five years ago, Altheiban earned a scholarship in his native Saudi Arabia to study abroad. He was unsure of where he would be heading, until the day he got a letter saying he would be moving to Prince Edward Island.
He was told nothing of the province, other than it was an island. What he imagined and what the reality of it was were two totally different things.
“All I got from what they told me is that it was an island. So in my head I was expecting palm trees and coconuts. And I came here and saw the big cow at the airport.”
There were no tropical perks, and it was certainly a far cry from what he was used to at home.
On top of the cultural differences and language barriers, Altheiban had to learn to adjust to life as a regular Canadian student.
Coming from the bustling capital city of Riyadh, Altheiban was accustomed to the comfortable life of the Saudi middle class. He grew up in a home with a maid who would clean after him and a personal driver to take him around.
“It was hard to clean my room. The clothes stayed where they were left last.”
Canadian life was also an adjustment for Miki Oishi.
The 23-year-old student from Sapporo, Japan came to UPEI after spending some time in Wyoming. For her, there were several small cultural things that took some getting used to.
She recalls getting a hug from a friend when first coming to North America.
“Woah,” she thought. “That’s a little close, but thank you.”
Other things such as shaking hands, holding the door for people, and talking to strangers are things that took her some getting used to.
“People are more friendly. Not in Japan. If you’re opening a door for someone it’s like ‘oh, thank you,’ but it’s kind of weird.”
Things were kind of weird for Altheiban as well, but despite the misconceptions and adjustments, coming to Canada was still a dream come true.
As a child, he hatched a master plan to come to Canada in hopes of one day returning to Saudi Arabia with new knowledge to share.
“The way I look at this world, Canada is a first-world country and where I come from is a third-world country. Basically, we are a few steps behind. So in a sense, I’m in the future right now.”
He believed if he could look at ways Canadians have succeeded in building a well-developed country with less financial wealth than Saudi Arabia, he could return home and achieve tremendous success, bettering his country in the process.
“The ideal would be establishing the best of two worlds.”
Bringing two worlds together is something Ruth Freeman has grown quite accustomed to.
The director of UPEI’s diversity office has been running Diversity Week at UPEI during the last week of January for four years now, and has seen the cause grow each year.
“Each year we get a bigger audience as word spreads about what we’ve been doing.”
The aim of the cause is to educate students on just what diversity really is.
“Diversity is everything really. People tend to think in terms of race and culture. But diversity encompasses so much more. Age, ability and sexual orientation.”
The wider cause is to increase awareness of diversity, and allow students to accept and become accustomed it.
“What we do here at UPEI, by making people aware of diversity is that we are preparing our students to go out into a very diverse world, and if they’re not going to learn about diversity here then where are they going to learn about it?”
With over 500 international students from over 60 countries, diversity and multiculturalism have been rapidly growing on the Island.
Summerside native Matt Aucoin sees this growth as a positive thing.
Growing up, he didn’t see much variation in ethnicity. Despite taking Japanese in high school, it wasn’t until coming to university last year that he was immersed in a multicultural environment. He quickly made friends with several of the Japanese students.
“There’s less and less barriers between people, and people are getting to know each other,” he said.
Altheiban has been a witness to the falling down of barriers in his five years here.
Today, the 23-year-old is completing his final semester of a business degree. He has seen tremendous growth in diversity at UPEI since 2006, and is quite proud of it.
“It’s amazing to see a small place like PEI with more than 500 international students here from so many countries.”
Diversity Week kicks off Monday, Jan. 23 with a series of events lasting throughout the week.
For a full schedule of events, visit www.upei.ca/do.
Filed under: Ryan Cooke
