One Year in Canada

The two flags have been with us since the beginning...

June 20, 2010. While our friends were celebrating a 3-1 Brazil's victory over Ivory Coast at World Cup 2010, we went to Guarulhos International Airport. Tears falling from our eyes when we said goodbye to our families, 128kg checked baggage limit, and a lot of anxiety regarding what we would face in Canada.

A year ago we arrived in Canada. Certainly this year abroad was the most intense year of our lives. The balance could not be more positive. Everything has been going fine up to now (despite the Canucks' loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final). We rented a nice apartment as soon as we arrived here; we discovered how to use bike as a transportation (under the sun, rain, snow...whatever); we went back to our "student life" and counted every single penny spent, we prepared our first Christmas turkey (away from home); we saw the snow falling; just three weeks after getting our Work Permit Visa, we found two jobs (one on-campus and other off-campus), we made friends from all around the world, and we have been studying, studying, studying!  

We were positively impressed by the high level of the education in Canada. We are studying so hard like we have never studied before!

Today we understand why almost no one who attends the program works at the same time. We do not have time for anything else. We sleep (less than 8 hours a day), we work 25 hours per week, we attend classes, we work in several assignments, and we study for the quizzes, mid-terms, and final exams. After this year, we can say: we are tired! We want our Hawaii vacations! But, on the other hand, we are so happy with everything and there are a lot of surprises happening that give us a boost of energy! All the time, we realized that we are on the right track. 

The good news that happened recently was the fact that we have found great companies to do our internships! To finish the program a four-month internship is mandatory. 

So we thought about what we wanted to do after graduation and we chose the companies that we would like to work for. And... guess what? We both just got the "internship of our dreams"! We are very happy with the quick response of the companies and with the availability of our future bosses!

Of course the city we chose to work “helped” us. While everyone wants to live in Vancouver because of the proximity to the sea and the better weather during the winter months, we will re-start our life in Calgary, Alberta. The province of Alberta is the richest in Canada because of the huge oil reserves discovered in the early 1950s. The winter is severe though. In other words, many job opportunities and few resources available. That is what everybody says! Let's see... Calgary: here we go! Now we are going to live in the real Canadian winter.

We are moving in August. Now, a new cycle of anxiety starts. A different province, a different and larger city (Calgary has 1 million people), a life under - 40° C, working in different areas of expertise. I am going to work in the Investor Relations area for a mining company: TVI Pacific. Renato is going to work in a well-known university (in the International Centre) in a project to bring more Latin American students to the school: SAIT Polytechnic.

To sum up, we are very happy, especially because Renato and I worked on this Canadian project together and, so far, everything is going pretty well for both. It could not be better. See you!