I came to Toronto, Canada in the fall of 2015 as an international student (more on my academic background later!). The idea of committing to this blog was quite impulsive, like most of my decisions. Its been a while that I have been thinking about the students from all over the world who were planning to leave their country for higher education. With that thought, came the question of what I would do if I were fresh out of high school and somebody hit the pause button of our planet with a virus. I’ll answer it at the end to make sure you read my whole post today. :D
Writing has been a very personal form of expression for me. I articulate better on paper for reasons I’ve yet to fathom. What I have been struggling with after finding solace in writing is the discipline to write regularly. I never had a diary as a kid or as an adult. After social media happened, I used pictures or status updates to express my feelings or opinions. I wrote a few poems if my feelings were too private to share but that was it. I even had a blog that I named “notexactlyawriter” only to live up to its title and stop posting after a few months.
So here I am, giving disciplined writing another try at 25 because I don’t have academic deadlines as an excuse anymore. This blog is going to be about me and my journey ever since I left home (Bangladesh/India) back in 2015. I am not doing this with a strict audience demographic in mind, but a lot of international students might resonate because of the similarity between our journeys. I do plan to cover some essential topics for them that will be helpful but there will be more anecdotes than tips. There will be stories of failures, accomplishments, loneliness, friendships, dark days and happy ones.
If you have read through this so far, know that I appreciate it and here is the answer as promised:
I would hold on to my admission letter, take the year off to rest, rewind and let the world heal at its own pace. I would still come to this country maybe a little later than planned but I wouldn’t trade the incredible journey that I had for anything. I admire the person that I have become and am eternally grateful to the universe for the privileges that helped me create my life here in Canada comfortably.
My name is Troyee Lahiri, and I hope you enjoy the stories of this foreign beaver in Canada.