My journey to Toronto

Before writing about my journey to Toronto, I need to explain the readers, about how I got the idea of studying abroad.

Where did the idea start?

I got my first experience of living outside Chile, from December 2013 to February 2014 in the city of Santa Barbara, California to study/improve my English when I was 17 years old.

As I mentioned in my previews post, I studied in the same school my whole life, so everyone that I knew was from my school or from my family, I didn’t know anyone outside my immediate circle.

When I flew to Santa Barbara I was very nervous, it was my first time flying anywhere on my own, and I was flying to a different country where I had to speak in a different language and meeting new people.

There was a moment that I got afraid, especially when I lost my flight due to some bad weather conditions.

Thankfully, as I already had all the arrangements paid for my English course, I called the school, and they sent someone that was going to pick me up from the airport and taking me to a homestay family. I was very lucky that everything worked smoothly after all delays, I even got one of the best roommates that I have ever had. I should let you know that this was my first time ever sharing a room with anyone that was part of my family, I still miss the conversations at night about our days or about different but interesting things.

Having a roommate taught me to respect others space and silence, we had a different schedule, when he had a morning class I had afternoon classes so when waking up, I had to be very silent, so I didn’t disturb him, he did the same for me.

In my personal opinion, I’m very thankful with my host family, as they made me feel like home since day one, they even had my same sense of humour, so they were a perfect match for me, it was an unforgettable experience.

On my first day at the school, I start hanging out with fellow citizens from Chile, but I rapidly start meeting new people from different countries like France, Germany, Austria, Perú, and Saudi Arabia, due to my real intentions of study outside of Chile was to meet people from all over the world friends that no matter the distance. I still keep in touch every now and then.

What did I learn in Santa Barbara?

It was a great experience where I learn many things. I used all my languages skills English, French and Spanish. I notice that in South America, even if every country, except for Brazil (Portuguese) they each have their own version of the Spanish language, so there are sometimes that we don’t understand each other XD.

I learn to truly valued and appreciate what I have, like to spend Christmas and new year’s without my family, two holidays that I’ve always spent it with them. It was hard but because I had friends and the wonderful homestay family that I mentioned before, it wasn’t unbearable. I even went to Las Vegas with a group of friends for New Year’s Eve, I couldn’t do much due to the fact of being underage at that time but I had an amazing time wandering around the city, and ridding some roller-coaster which I generally wouldn’t do, but that ride was fun.

I also learn something that changed my life. There are a lot of better places to study than Chile, especially if you wanted to study something related to advertising or marketing, majors that don’t exist in my Curiyork.

Later on, I realized that studying, in my case, in Toronto, it will cost almost the same for my parents than if I stayed in Chile. Adding to that, the fact that I could get a degree in fewer years for the same or a better quality of education, especially when talking about marketing.

What happened when I came back home?

Having been on my “own” for a while, my own schedule and taking my own decisions like what to eat, where to go and things like those, then coming back to Chile, I started to feel different, because I was back to my old routine, and old habits.

When I finally came back home, I felt like something was missing in my life but I couldn’t tell what it was yet. Later on, I realized that the whole being in a different country and learning about new cultures were lacking from my life in my country.

I graduate from high school on 2014 and on the beginning of 2015 I enrolled to study advertising in a university in Santiago, university which doesn’t exist anymore(thank God I came to Toronto).

I moved to an apartment with my sister. It was great, I also loved my major. I wanted to learn more about it, one of the factors that made me search for a better education outside Chile, but I hated the city. I couldn’t get used to living there, the air is/was very polluted, the public transportation was always crowded, and an unsafe city if you are not careful, I even got my cellphone stolen on my first day taking a bus towards my university, which I felt that was the city saying, “welcome to Santiago”.

My Search began

When I was half-ways of my university year, I secretly started looking for universities outside Chile and Canada being one of the most appealing countries since they have French and English as their official languages. I signed in to every university and agency I could find, that could send me some information about how to study in there, my aim was to study on an English college/university in Montreal, so I could study in English and do daily things like going to the supermarket in French. That was my dream.

Still in Santiago, Chile and searching for a while, and with my mind fully set up of studying in Canada, thanks to the support of my parents (even if they didn’t like the idea) and the help of my sister, who luckily had a friend that contact me with an agency called Maple Study and Work.

This agency provides guidance to help people to study French/English in a college and in some cases, they can recommend which career to take in the future in Canada. Their service is totally free for the students, they earn money on commissions, they charge the schools not to you, and they helped you with the whole process, as they helped me J

Someone from this agency called Soraia advised me to study marketing in Toronto instead of Montreal, due to the better labour possibilities in the city. I agree to start the whole process thinking that while being there I could take a better decision and I needed to improve my English anyway so, to Toronto the tickets.

The whole process wasn’t immediate nor fast for many reasons. It took time to get everything in order and get the relevant permits, my parents didn’t love the idea that much neither, they thought that the Canadian winter would get me depress or something like that, and I also had to finish my university year as a personal goal.

When I had everything ready to start my journey, I had many goodbye parties with friends and family. it was heartbreaking saying goodbyes to my love ones, I knew that their lives will continue without me, that I would miss birthdays, celebrations, the grow of my nephews and nieces, and enjoy the comfort of my city and home but I was more eager to know what the future had for me, I knew that to be the man that I want to be in next 10 years, this journey will change my life.

That’s how my journey started. I’ll write about some challenges/experiences that I have faced throughout these 3 years in Toronto, and how my parents change their minds about me living in this beautiful city on my next post.

I hope you enjoy my story so far J

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Alberto Yaconi Vilches

I'm a blogger in the making and marketing enthusiastic from Chile, living his dream in Toronto. I post every Friday or every 2 Fridays :)