Written by Tanya Ng Cheong
Coming from India, Gulpreet came to Canada partly because of the future opportunities she saw, but also because of the Indian and international community here: she knew she would see familiar faces. When Covid hit, she was unable to go home, so she spent the whole pandemic here as an international student. Being a foreigner came with its array of problems: for example, overseas transactions were hard to make, so she thankfully got a fee deferral from the Registrar. She was scared of going to hospitals and clinics, leading her to discover how many resources Health & Wellness offers. In fact, working at the ISC, she always urges people to make full use of the resources we have on campus as the pandemic made her value them even more.Â
Seeing so many people suffer around the world while being away from family made her worry all the time, especially as she thought about her parents. It made her more aware of how important it is to be surrounded by friends and family; as a young woman, she started feeling guilty as well. However, she told herself she came here for a reason: to build her own life, so this is what she strives to do on the daily. Catching up on the networking she missed during the pandemic, Gulpreet looks forward to in-person classes and the return of more activities. While the pandemic was hard on her mental health, she felt that her feelings were not valid as other people had it worse. She has now been able to vocalise all the pent-up feelings she had, and expressing them has helped processed them. If she had one piece of advice to give to her pandemic self, it would be that time will pass: be where you are and explore what you have.