5 Tips on How to Fight Homesickness During a Pandemic

With everything happening these days, it’s very common to feel homesick. But it definitely is better than getting sick, so stay put, and give your self a break! We international students—about 642,000 of us, if that number helps—can’t just easily return home due to travel restrictions in place during this pandemic, so missing your mom’s cooking or endless talks with friends in your local language is unavoidable.

But don’t let the blues take over for too long. When you’re ready, get out of bed, take a nice hot shower, and check out these things you can do to ease some of that homesickness out of your system.

1. Stay connected

2. Keep moving

3. Focus on the here and now

4. Fight the right forms of distraction

5. Stay positive

01. Stay connected

Take advantage of technology! You have Skype, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, QQ, and many other ways to stay in touch with family or friends back in your homeland.

People all over the world are being encouraged to stay at home as each country battles the virus, so your loved ones are most likely often at home, giving you more time to share moments with each other.

You can set a schedule each day for a video call, and instead of just talking and catching up them, you can do different activities together like cooking your favourite dish or working out together.

02. Keep moving

Movement always helps, whether that’s by exercising, which can bring about a surge in endorphins to help you feel positive, or simply doing anything besides burying yourself all day in bed.

Build a routine by creating a schedule for each day where you can write down specific activities for each hour. Whether that’s stepping out for a cup of coffee at 2:00 pm, going for a jog at 7:00 am, or cooking dinner at 6:00 pm, establishing a structure each day can help ward off homesickness.

Since we’re in the middle of summer, outdoor activities are great mood boosters, so get a few friends and have a picnic in the park or explore an easy hiking trail. Better yet, find a part time job or check out the extracurricular activities your uni may have lined up for international students.

03. Focus on the here and now

Focus and remember why you’re here: for most of us, we’re here because we want to stay here for good. You may have more reasons for coming here, so I suggest you list those down to motivate yourself to stay positive about the present, no matter how hard it is given the circumstances.

Embrace your new home by exploring the city (safely, of course) and look for bits of your homeland wherever you go. Thankfully, Canada is a culturally diverse place that can make anyone feel welcome.

We can relax knowing that we can find our favourite dish at a nearby restaurant serving food from our home country. For those who feel at home when their spirits are at ease, places of worship are easily accessible for every religion where you can seek refuge from all the external chaos that’s happening now. If you’re getting the munchies and want your childhood snack, there’s probably a retail store at the next neighbourhood selling imported goods from your home country.

And don’t forget to do these activities with your uni friends and meet new ones along the way! Not only will you help each other get through the homesickness blues but you’ll also be reminding each other to stay focused on your academic and career goals.

04. Find the right forms of distraction

Think about why you’re feeling homesick. Most likely, it’s because you’ve been scrolling through social media and hadn’t realized you’ve been glued to your screen for almost the entire day.

Seeing photos of other people happily spending time with their own families will only make you miss them more. Also, seeing other posts of people in their picture-perfect lives on social media can add feelings of insecurity, especially if you’ve been dealing with homesickness for days and are feeling a bit like a loser. But be realistic, and remember that social media is merely a curated version of reality.

So first, put your phone down. Instead, go and do something you know will make you feel happy, like going for a run around your neighbourhood you haven’t explored yet, tidying up your room or changing the furniture arrangement to your preference, learning a new skill online, or cooking a new dish for the first time.

05. Stay positive

I know times are difficult now, but remember that your homesickness is only temporary. A couple of months from now, you’ll look back at this time in your life and just laugh at how funny you must have looked crying while hugging your childhood stuffed toy as you Skyped with your parents.

It also helps a lot to share how you’re feeling with other people, like your friends who may also be feeling the same way, an organization for international students in your university, a group for people your age at your local church, or professional organizations who can support you through this time.

Good luck! I’m sure you can get through this. If you're an international student and have other suggestions on how to combat homesickness, please let me know to help out a fellow international student. Contact instudease@gmail.com.

How to Find Accommodation in Canada Before You Arrive

Your chosen College or University has sent you an offer letter, now the next thing on your list is to find out where you'll live.

The most common choice for locals when they are incoming freshmen (first year) in University or College is to look for on-campus accommodation. For us international students, this option may not always be available. If they are available, it's not the most feasible since we have to pay a semester to a year's rent in advance instead of paying the rent on a month-on-month basis. I asked my classmates what they did to find accommodation in Canada before they arrived and here are the two most common:

1. Ask family and friends

2. Book for temporary accommodation online

01. Ask family and friends

Majority of international students, including myself, had family or friends who helped us find accommodation in Canada. Either they let us stay in their home for a few weeks or months, or they helped us look for rentals. Our relatives living in Canada can become our "guarantor" before we arrive. A guarantor backs up our identity and agrees to pay for the rent if we can't or are unable to pay.

I'm Asian, and culturally most of us have a long list of relatives: uncles, aunties, and cousins. We even call our neighbour who is not related to us as uncle or aunties! Ask everyone you know, or scroll through your Facebook or Instagram account and check if anyone in your friend's list has lived or visited Canada in the past. Even if you don't directly know anyone who can help you, ask anyway. Chances are, someone from your friends might know someone who can help you.

One of the benefits of staying with friends and family, or what I call the "host family", is that they can help you get accustomed to living in Canada. Since they have probably lived in Canada for years, they can teach you how the public transportation system works, how to get your social insurance number, where to get the best deals, and even where to buy food or delicacies from your country. Depending on your arrangement and how close you are, they will also let you stay in their home for "free".

Tips when you plan to live with friends or family:

• Set expectations before you arrive. Unless you're staying with direct relatives (like your parents or siblings), you need to set expectations with your host family like how long you're planning to stay, and what are you willing to pay or provide in return for your stay. Even if they don't ask for a payment, it's always good to offer something in return. Helping with some of the household chores, contributing to pay for the groceries, babysit their kids, or walking the dogs, can "pay" for your free rent.

• Be ready to give up "some" of your personal space. Living with family and friends can sometimes feel like living with your parents. If your host family's culture is just like mine, expect to encounter awkward conversations about studies, marriage, relationships, choice of friends, attire, hygiene, and the list goes on. Regardless of how elusive you are, it will be difficult to avoid these conversations when you're living with someone for weeks or even months. Be ready and open to share. However, if it gets uncomfortable, be polite and let them know how you feel about it.

• Expect some disagreements. Let's face it; when you get to spend 24 hours a day with someone for long periods, you tend to get to know them like you haven't before. Ideas, habits, and beliefs may clash; even the way you squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube can be a cause of dispute. Since you're living in their home, unless they're wrong, the best way to get along is to follow and obey their rules.

• Don't get complacent. Although your host family is willing to help you, you can't rely on them to be able to accommodate you over some time. The worst that can happen when you become complacent is that you overstay your welcome, and your host family gets tired of helping you. When they do, they may start calling your direct relatives back in your country to complain about you. Some international students have also gotten into fights with their host family because the responsibilities or finances imposed on them to stay with their host family keeps getting bigger and bigger the longer they stayed.

02. Book for temporary accommodation online

If you can't find any relatives or friends that can help you, another option that some international students did is to look for temporary accommodations online. Depending on your budget, you can either find a hotel, motel, hostel, or book accommodation through a home-sharing or home-staying app. Renting for the short-term might be more expensive than staying with family or friends but depending on what type of accommodation you choose, you will have more privacy than the former.

Tips when booking accommodation online :

I won't go over the details of all the types of temporary accommodation you can find online, but here are some tips when booking one from your country:

• Make sure that the place you're booking in is a legitimate site or a valid post. If you don't know any local websites in your country where you can book accommodations in Canada, I strongly advise that you book it through well-known sites like Booking.com, Tripadvisor, Trivago, Airbnb, Homestay.com, or directly in the hotel, motel, or hostels website.

• Check the reviews of your target accommodation. If there are pictures from guests who have previously stayed there, go through them so you'll have an idea of what the place looks like. Browse through the reviews and see if there are any red flags that you should wary of like bed bugs, cockroaches, lousy customer service, and the like. If there are no reviews, look elsewhere. They may be legitimate hosts, but at this point you don't want take unnecessary risks when you're too far away from home.

• Ask questions. If you're thinking about booking a hostel, bed-and-breakfast, home-sharing or homestay, contact the host in advance and ask questions like:

  • Do they offer pick-up from the airport?

  • Does the accommodation include free Wi-Fi?

  • Can you cook or can you cook specific dishes in their home?

  • Do they have a laundry machine, or do you need to go to a laundromat?

  • Are there groceries nearby?

  • Is there air-conditioning?

  • Do they offer cleaning services or shovelling?

  • Is there a curfew?

  • Can you invite friends over?

  • How accessible is the house from a bus stop or a train station?

These questions are likely in their site or post, but if not, don't be shy to ask them, or any other questions you might have. These hosts are running a business and will be willing to answer any questions you have. Also, chances are, they have encountered clients with situations similar to yours, so go ahead and ask. If they don't respond or if you don't like the arrangement, find another one where you'll feel safe and comfortable. Remember that you're likely to stay there for weeks, so safety and comfort should be your top priority.

• Keep track of the amount of time you booked your stay. These types of accommodations are typically booked in advance, and your host might not be able to accommodate you if you need to extend. If you can't find another place to rent, let your host know at least a week in advance so they can block their home's calendar or help you make other arrangements if their place is not available.

Remember that you're not in Canada for a vacation. You're here to study and eventually establish yourself and build your career. That's why the sooner you can get yourself settled in and become truly independent, the better it is for you in the long run. If it gets intimidating, remind yourself how brave you are for deciding to go to Canada by yourself, leaving what you know and love behind. That decision alone already makes you special, and taking positive action puts you one step closer to your goals and being more accountable for your life.

If you're an international student and you have information on how to find accommodation before arriving in Canada. Or if you have something you want to share, please feel free get in touch so we can share it with our fellow international students. Contact instudease@gmail.com.

7 Tips on How to Land a Job as an International Student in Canada

If you’ve been putting off looking for a job, now is definitely the right time to get to it. People all over Canada are financially suffering from the impacts brought about by COVID-19, from seeing their incomes reduced resulting into missed loan or bill payments, and feeling generally much more insecure about their financial situation[1] since the onset of the pandemic. But those likely to feel tremendous distress during this crisis are those who are in Canada but are away from their home country, particularly us, international students. Not only do we rely on remote financial support from our family, who are thousands of miles away and are also facing their own pandemic-related challenges, but we also need to continue to pay for our tuition and other day-today expenses.

Looking for work may be daunting, especially during this time. But the good news for us is that until August 31, 2020, the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) removal of the 20-hour-per-week work limit on international students working on essential services (see news release here), plus the urgency of the times we are now facing, snagging a part-time or even a temporary full-time job should be our top priority now.

Here are top tips on how you can land a job during the pandemic as an international student in Canada:

1. Apply as the locals do

2. Be ready to send out a ton of application

3. Network as much, and as safely, as you can

4. Be open to working in industries that may not be related to your chosen career track

5. Explore volunteer opportunities

6. Sell your international student skills

7. Don't get discouraged

01. Apply as the locals do

Edit your resume or CV (Curriculum Vitae) so it’s easier on the eyes of Canadian employers. Some employers may simply ask for a resume, which is a shorter version that is usually only one to two pages long, while some prefer a CV, accompanied by a cover letter, which is about five pages or longer and is a more in-depth document of your previous work experiences and any related skills you may have. Your school will likely have a department that handles Career Development or similar workshops were they'll help you build or edit your resume; also in helping you find job fairs or career events.

There are also a lot of resources online that can help you build resumes, cover letters, and the like which are free or free to try. Some of the top ones are Resume.com (free) and Zety.com (free tro try).

02. Be ready to send out a ton of application

Okay, a ton may be exaggerating a bit. But at least make a goal to send out as many applications as you can each day. After browsing through local job sites and sending out customized versions of your resume or CV—I say “customized” because you should not go around sending all employers one default version of your document, and instead tailor it to show only relevant skills and previous work experiences—don’t stop there. List down the names of companies you would want to work for and search through their respective jobs pages, and just send your application to them directly! No one said getting your first job in a foreign country was easy, but with just enough persistence, you will get it. Back when I was searching for a job, I made a goal to send out 5 applications per day. It took a few weeks, but I was eventually able to get one. And after a few more months and enough local job experience, I finally was able to land a job that is more in line with my skill set.

Some of the most common job boards in Canada are Job Bank, such as Indeed, CareerBuilder, Eluta, Jobboom, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Monster, among many others.

03. Network as much, and as safely, as you can

I know these days are not the best days to be outside meeting and interacting with new people, but it doesn’t mean you have to totally self-isolate until everything goes back to normal. Because, let's face it, majority of the things we are experiencing now will be here to stay and will be part of our new normal.

So don’t be afraid of technology and start getting comfortable in meeting new people not just in person but also online. Keep broadening your network by taking advantage of your school and communities many networking opportunities and volunteer activities. Schools and communities know that these events and gatherings are still an essential part of your student life and have adopted safety measures and changed the way these events are conducted to ensure participants’ safety. Most of these events are free so take advantage of them. Just be sure that you're present in mind when you join the online events and participate so people will "see" you. Also, once the quarantine has been lifted, continue to be in places where you can talk to people and tell them about your professional goals and interests like in job fairs and seminars. Some of the sites where you can start building your network are LinkedIn and Meetup.

04. Be open to working in industries that may not be related to your chosen career track

Since the IRCC is allowing international students to work more than 20 hours per week, as long as they are working in essential functions in the following industries: health care, critical infrastructure, or food or critical goods supply. Take advantage of this when you can. For example, if a barista role opens up and your friend can get you in through a referral; take it! Even if this doesn't coincide with your plans, try to silence those thoughts for a moment and tell yourself that you’re in another country away from your relatives, and you need to survive. Not only is it a decent job that will help you pay for your daily expenses, but it’s also a good temporary job where you can acquire soft skills like customer service, communication skills, time management, teamwork, etc. which you can use to further build up your resume. Moreover, this will also start to build up your network as you continue to look for that dream job.

05. Explore volunteer opportunities

If you're getting challenges in landing a job in your chosen career, explore volunteering. There are a lot of volunteer opportunities in Canada. To find them, you can start by looking for them in your local library, communities, school, and sites like volunteer.ca. Volunteering builds your soft skills and help you build your network in your targeted field. You'll never know who you will end up meeting or working with when volunteering--it can expose you to professional organizations, people, and opportunities that will help boost your career. It's also fun and fulfilling which will help boost your confidence and give you a sense of fulfillment.

06. Sell your international student skills

While applying, don’t forget that you’re an international student and use that to your advantage by selling your skills that other people may not have. You are multilingual, have an ability to work and communicate well in a multi-cultural team, can offer solutions to problems from a different perspective, and have obtained soft and technical skills from past work experiences in your home country or other countries where you’ve lived.

07. Don't get discouraged

Failing to be shortlisted or landing a job after an interview doesn't mean you're a failure. It just means that you have opportunities that you can improve on. Use the experience to build yourself up and to hone your skills, no experience is ever wasted as long as you learn from them. Remember, we've all been there. If we were able to succeed, you will too.

Keep these tips in mind, work hard and be diligent. Soon, you’ll find yourself closer to getting that job even in the midst of a pandemic. Now is as good a time as any, and we all know we badly need that boost of confidence that landing a job can give. Good luck!

If you're an international student and you have information on how to successfully find a job during the pandemic. Or if you have something you want to share, please feel free get in touch so we can share it with our fellow international students. Contact instudease@gmail.com.

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[1] The Effect of COVID-19 On Canadians’ Financial Well-Being, Forbes.com, May 21, 2020, accessed June 20, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2020/05/21/the-effect-of-covid-19-on-canadians-financial-well-being/#46b0f08968b1