I am an international student at the College of New Caledonia, Prince George, British Columbia. In this blog, I am going to discuss my experience in Prince George. Prince George is called the Northern BC and is the largest city in northern BC, according to the size." It is situated at the confluence of the Fraser and Necahko rivers and at the crossroads of Highway 16 and Highway 97," and Population of Prince George is around 80000. (Prince George, British Columbia, 2019)
Leaving Home
It was one of the hardest thing me to do, because I was leaving behind my home, family, friends and everything else, I ever knew in my home country. So, I left having tears in my eyes and my family's. My flight from Indira Gandhi international airport, Delhi to Vancouver international airport was on August 15, 2019. I came from a very small town in Punjab called Katar Singh, having population around 1500 and total area of 1 square km.
Home vs. New Home
"Do I like Prince George?" In fact, I would say that I am loving Prince George, keeping in mind a small village where I came from. It is beautiful and diverse area. First, it is surrounded by mountains and two rivers, which makes city look mesmerizing. Second, all the important places like college, grocery stores, clothing stores, cinemas, wholesale market, etc. are located on a walking distance from my home. The thing that I like most not only about Prince George, but about the whole Canada that people are so concerned about the traffic rules and everyone follows them, which can not be said about the most cities of my home-country. In Canada, being a pedestrian has its own benefits; as pedestrians are prioritized over all vehicles and to give people a proper time to cross the roads, every road has stop and walk sings so there would be no mishappening due to any confusion. This shows that country has great value of its citizens.
What I am enjoying most in Prince George?
The thing that I am enjoying most in Prince George is the presence of natural beauty, as city is located among mountains and rivers, it has ample places to visit and spend some quality time in company of nature. As I love taking pictures; therefor I never miss a chance to save some beautiful memories.
Accommodation
In my opinion finding a renting place in Prince George is easy. People can use different apps like Kijiji or marketplace to find accommodation according to personal needs, as I also used Kijiji for this purpose. Apartments or basements in very good condition are available at $1000 per month, and it becomes very easy in sharing. For example, I am sharing a basement with three other students, and we all are paying $250 per month. Moreover, college also provides accommodation to its students.
Food
Food is available in many varieties in Prince George. For example, city has ethnic food restaurants like Dana Mandi, Karahi Nation, Tandoori Nation for Indian food, sushi star for Japanese food. Apart from that, city has Vietnamese, Mexican, Thai and other restaurants as well. Moreover, one can go to stores like Save on foods or Superstore to buy grocery. These stores also provide food based on different nationalities. Further, McDonald's, Subway, Tim Horton's and Burger king are also here for local food. Food is fresh, affordable and healthy in Prince George.
Transportation
Based on the experience that I had in my country, I would say that transportation service is excellent in the city, but it is expensive as well than in India. Students can choose Public transportation as well as private. Buses are really useful and affordable for new students, as college does provide its students with bus pass, without charging any extra cost. Other than that, if someone comes from sound economical background than personal cars could also be very beneficial. Students can buy used cars or new on installments.
Leisure
To spent quality time one can go for hiking as city has many mountains and many lakes are also here. Personally, walking down streets or sitting in a park to enjoy the beautiful natural view is my favorite activity to do on Prince George. Further, has swimming pools, casinos, cinemas, sports complex, skate park, golf club, paintball center etc. to have some fun during leisure time.
Shopping
Shopping in Prince George is fun, but new immigrants need to be be very careful while purchasing anything during initial period. The reason is, there are so many shops and stores in city providing all things. But, different stores can have different prices for same products. So, before buying anything, prices need to be considered to save some money. Moreover, I believe that thrift store "Value Village" can be the best option for many students for many kinds of products including clothes, shoes, kitchen accessories, books and more. Moreover, Kijiji is a useful app to buy secondhand things and there are many online shopping apps like wish, amazon, etc.
Friends and People
Being an immigrant, always has advantage, as people have other people around, who are also immigrants, and as much desperate to find new friends in new place as others are. So, it was easy for me find new friends at my college and at home. Other than that, many people in the city are very nice and friendly and it is really easy to start conversation with strangers and get to know them. So, according to me finding friends in Prince George is not at all difficult and one can make friends with people from own nation, with local people or with students from other countries as well.
Jobs
Jobs are really very important for everyone moving to Canada, whether they are students or on work permit. Main populated area of the city is limited, so finding a job can be difficult for some students for initial period, due to limited time availability, lack of experience or any other reasons. Different platforms can be helpful for finding a part time job. For example, many students use online platforms like indeed or LinkedIn. Further, some students prefer visiting in person to the place which is hiring. Starting pay rate for most of the jobs is the minimum wage rate set by the BC province, that is $15 per hour. Many students take a semester off after completion of first two semester, so they would be able to work full time and earn more money to pay the fee for next semesters.
School Life at CNC
I would say that College of New Caledonia is a great school in comparison to the institutes I have been to, while studying in India. It has a large variety of courses to be opted for and I am studying Hospitality Management and firmly believe that things that I am learning from this program will be very useful in my career. We are assigned with the easy courses in the beginning and difficult courses will be introduced later during the final year, according to our instructors. College life is full of workload as we are given individual or group assignments, almost every week, which is quite enjoyable as well.Our Instructors are very helpful and we can approach them any time for any kind of help. CNC has a beautiful and well maintained campus, having a limited number of students in every class. One thing that concerns me a lot is high price of books and library has text books in limited numbers, which could be more.
Conclusion
In the end, I would say that Prince George is a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and rivers and I believe that city will thrive with more and more opportunities as it is on it's way of development. Academic opportunities are bright as city has a college and a university and will have skilled workers to achieve it's targets. Life is convenient in Prince George; still new students face some challenges.
Threats
Weather: - Weather could be the main threat for new immigrants in Prince George as I have heard it from local people that temperature cold even drop down to -30 degree Celsius. This is a huge problem for people coming from warm countries like India and others.
Job: - Finding a part time job could be a big challenge in Prince George during the initial
months and winters.
Opportunities
Multicultural city: - it is one of the best thing about Prince George like many other Canadian cities that it has people from many nations and cultures living as one whole community. This gives people a chance to learn about the lifestyle and traditions of other countries.
More opportunities: - City is experiencing a period of development in many aspects. so, it is a fervent hope that city will provide it's citizens with more work opportunities.
Reference: - Prince George, British Columbia (2019). Wikipedia.
Retrieved from: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George,_British_Columbia