Brescia’s Bridging Program started during my second week here. The Bridging Program is a week-long orientation for international students. It is a mandatory program for students coming from outside of Canada that allows them to adjust to campus life before the official start of the school year.
The week had a very busy schedule, so no is one bored! We started on Tuesday with the popcorn meeting, a meeting where everyone including the Principal, Dr. Susan Mumm, staff and students get together and share something unique about themselves. On Tuesday afternoon I joined the group for a trip to Walmart and a few other stores to get supplies to decorate our rooms. When I heard that we were going to Walmart, I felt like a kid in a candy store. We rode on the big yellow busses, which was a new experience for me as we do not have those in Holland so it was a nice treat for me.
We had close to two hours to shop for goodies and almost everyone came back, including me, with their hands full of plastic bags from Walmart. And when we came back to Brescia, the next activity was going to start! Everyone made a paper version of their hand and we had to put it on a big piece of paper to create the real Brescia community feeling. It was a good opportunity to bind with your ‘Brescia sisters’!
On Wednesday, everyone had to get up very early again for another exciting day. There were a lot of lectures throughout the day and for dinner we went to Barakat, which is a Middle Eastern restaurant that serves food like shawarma and kebabs. There were girls in the group who had never tried one them before so this was their first experience! Afterwards, we played some really fun games in the evening with the residence staff. I think everyone had a lot of fun!
On Thursday, we had to get up early again. We cooked a typical Canadian meal for lunch and in the afternoon, we went to Palasad! We had dinner first and then had to prepare for the games at Palasad. We got to bowl, play pool and try out other arcade games. If you’re a real girl, you’ll know that the competition already started! There were different teams and the purpose of the games was to score the most points. Everyone had a lot of fun and did their best! This was definitely something we will have to do again.
The Bridging Program is very successful, and this isn’t even the full week yet. Next time, I’ll tell you about the rest of our fun adventures during the week! X Floor