While the holiday season often brings people together, it can be a lonely time for international students spending the winter break far away from their loved ones.<\/p>\n
Each year, Brock International organizes the Home for the Holidays program to connect international students with a Brock staff or faculty host to share their holiday stories and customs.<\/p>\n
This year, nearly two dozen students signed up to experience new traditions with others in the Brock community.<\/p>\n
Second-year Communication and Media Studies student Jasnoor Saluja and her boyfriend Ansh Shah, a second-year Computer Science student, were thankful for the connections they were able to make through the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had an amazing time,\u201d Saluja said. \u201cAs international students, we learned more about Christmas and its origins, which intrigued us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saluja and Shah were matched with Parker Holman, Laboratory Supervisor, Anatomy in the Department of Kinesiology and Adjunct Professor of Psychology, and his partner Charlis Raineki, Assistant Professor of Psychology.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven our experiences as international students and immigrants to Canada, my partner and I know how impactful opportunities like Home for the Holidays can be,\u201d said Holman, who is originally from the United States while Raineki is from Brazil. \u201cWe wanted to pay forward all of the hospitality and kindness we experienced when we moved to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holman and Raineki hosted Saluja and Shah for a meal and shared their mix of holiday traditions from the U.S. and Brazil while learning about the students\u2019 lives in India and their experiences at Brock and in Canada. They enjoyed discussing each other\u2019s stories of coming to Canada and the things that surprised them when they arrived from their countries of origin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe winters were definitely a hot topic,\u201d Holman said.<\/p>\n
While Home for the Holidays centres around the needs of Brock\u2019s international student population, Holman said that the program benefits hosts and students alike and it exemplifies Brock\u2019s spirit of diversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Home for the Holidays experience of having a diverse group of people getting together to learn and share together encapsulates what we love about Canada and Brock University,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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