Sounds of International Days

Lakehead University hosts students from about 50 countries on its campus each year and the institute celebrates that diversity with International Days.

The week-long celebration kicked off Monday with opening ceremonies that included music and dance from four continents and events like global taste testing and foreign film screenings will run until Friday.

International student advisor Tanka Awosika said the main focus of International Days isn’t just for students to showcase their cultures but for Canadian students, staff members and the Thunder Bay community to come out and learn something about different countries.

Gianluca Amadi first came from Italy to Thunder Bay five years ago as a high school exchange student. From that experience he decided to attend Lakehead University and will be graduating with a degree in molecular science this spring.

He said International Days is a good way to bring more visibility to different cultures but he feels Lakehead students are already aware of the campus’ diversity.

"There is much respect for international students on campus," he said. "I think Lakehead already is a very multicultural university."

There are challenges though for students coming to Canada for the first time and Amadi said it’s not that people are unfriendly in Canada but sometimes he’s still hit by the cultural barrier.

"It’s a bit shocking sometimes," he said. "It takes a while to understand how people relate to each other, how they interact with each other and how you can fit into this different way of interaction."

Awosika said it takes a bit to get used to the different currency, food and weather.

"It’s very little things like that that we who live here take for granted," he said. "It can be very frustrating. We have a lot of support for international students who rally behind the new students to show them something about Canada."