Niagara Col lege

Summer Program 2014

Memory Book

ISSUE YEAR VOLUME

Niagara College is a college of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario, Canada. It opened its doors in 1967 in the city of Wel-land and expanded into other parts of the area. The institution offers more than 100 post-secondary diploma and post-graduate certificate programs. As well as this, foreign students can also enroll in a summer course to improve their English as a second lan-guage for several months. Niagara College has different campus. Some examples of them are the one in Welland and another one in Niagara on the lake. More information can be found on the col-lege's website "niagaracollege.ca"

Niagara College has

Niagara College has a strong commitment to

student's success. That is the reason why it

has been the top-ranking college for students

satisfaction among all Ontario colleges for the

last eight years.

Niagara College and staff

Moreover, Dan Patterson, Niagara College's president, encourages students to get involved in the experienc-es of the college, study, learn, make friends and have fun outside the classroom. Teachers and staff of the institution do their best in order to make students experiences as great as possible. We are grateful to have had class with Erika, Steve and Stephanie. These are really good teachers who try very hard to encourage us to enjoy our trip to Canada while giving us the opportunity to learn as much as we can about its people and customs, music, arts, culture, and also how to develop our communication skills. Students are mostly satisfied with the teachers’ methods as well as the college's services. This can be seen when looking at the answers to the interview questions we asked people.

"From 1 to 5, 1 being disagreement and 5 agreement, choose the one that best fits.

-I think that NC is well equipped with all the necessary items to learn in a correct way. -> 4 -I believe that teachers in NC are qualified and ready to teach appropriately. ->4 -I think that the Welland campus is clean, comfortable, and is suitable for both teaching and learning. ->4 -I agree with the statement that the class sizes and equipment are appropriate to boost the learning and teaching process. -> 5 -I think that the organization of the NC campus in Welland is correct and the relationships between the staff are productive. -> 4

Some quotes: “This month in Welland… I can say it has been one of the best experiences in my life. I’ve loved meeting new people and playing dodge ball! ” “I‘ve been studying here for six months and one of the best and different things of the college is that the building is opened until midnight so I can enjoy the silence there and study there as much as I want.” “The only bad thing I have to say about the college is that its food stores close really early, so when I finish classes, after 3 pm, I can’t even buy a snack.”

Niagara College

Multiculturalism Canada is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, as a result of large-scale immigration from many countries. In addition, Canada's relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture.

Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various First Nations. British and French colo-nies were established in the late 15th century. In 1931, Britain granted Canada some inde-pendence and finally in 1982 all the legal de-pendence on the British parliament was bro-ken off. While in the 1960s there was an emergence

of a new Canadian identity, marked by the

adoption of the current Maple Leaf Flag,

different cultures were still present, as shown

by the implementation of official bilingualism

(English and French).

However, and to our surprise, the surveyed Canadian think slightly differently. They love multiculturalism and many of its details such as the available food diversity, but they believe that sadly Canadians are still a little bit racist. For instance, during the Niagara college school year, they realize that Ca-nadians usually just hang out Canadians and international students with international students.

Multiculturalism

-Canadians aren’t racist at all, because Canadian soci-ety is formed by people from everywhere in the world and there are no conflicts between them. However, some people may be rude with foreigners. Aaron, Chi-na, 6 months in Canada -All people here in Canada live together, no matter where they come from. However, old people enjoy mix-ing with other cultures, whereas younger generations do not. Rob, Kazakstan, 8 months in Canada

Armando, from Venezuela, told us that Canada is not at all a racist country and that different races are not segregated by neighborhoods or social classes. Ellen from Korea and Lars from Germany agree and both are amazed with the huge per-centage of Asiatic students. Lastly, Gerson from Angola found the possibility of meeting people from almost anywhere in the world, within one college, to be very

WELLAND

CANADA’S WONDER-LAND

TORONTO

Highlights

It's been an outstanding month full of unforgettable moments, great

people and amazing places. Picking up the highlights of these 30 days

is a hard task, although here it is our attempt:

Welland Welcome to the metropolis of Welland! Although Welland is a small and quiet town, we have found some interesting things to do here. During the day, if you like na-ture, you can swim or go canoe-ing in the Canal. The water is really clean and if you don't care about water plants you'll have a great time. At night, you can go to Handle-bar Hank's and have some beer while you shoot the breeze with your friends or you play pool.

Another exciting option is party-ing at international students' houses, so that you have a nice time while you dance and you

meet new people.

Canada’s Wonderland

Probably one of the best days of our stay in Canada or even of our lives. We rode some incredible roller-coasters such as Leviathan, Be-hemoth and The Bat. We enjoyed it so much that we rode them even more than once. Besides that, we also went to the waterpark because it was a hot day and we wanted to cool down.

of the month

of the month Toronto

It was funny and refreshing trying some of the

water mats and attractions. We ended the

day eating some of Wonderland's junk food for

dinner, such as funnel cake. After a whole day

full of emotions and adrenalin, it was almost

impossible not to fall asleep on the bus on our

way back home. Definitely, Wonderland was

wonderful!

Ontario's capital was without doubt another

highlight. We had the chance of going twice,

the first day we went the weather didn't help us,

but despite the rain we had such a good day.

Some of us went to the CN tower where we

could enjoy the view and Toronto's skyline.

Some of us went on a boat ride too. It was a

short trip, but we really enjoyed it! The second

day we went was even better than the first one

and we went to the places we most like the pre-

vious time. We all agreed on Kensington Mar-

ket and Chinatown. We all felt in love with their

streets and their atmosphere.

At the end of the day we had a Canadian hot

dog with many toppings ... Mmm it was so

good. We had so much fun.

Carlota Losada

Jorge Iglesias

Canadian When you think about Canadian people, you probably

imagine some stereotypes that you've heard. But not

all the boys look like Ryan Gosling, or the girls like Ala-

nis Morissette (unfortunately). Canadians are well

known for being extremely polite, tolerant and very

good hosts. During this month living in the 'Big Metrop-

olis' of Welland, we've had the opportunity to see if the

stereotypes are true. To achieve this, we've been ana-

lyzing in depth some of the most common clichés of

the 'Canadian way of life'. These are our conclusions:

Canadian people don't live in igloos, as some foreign-

ers tend to think. In fact, their houses are very comfort-

able and cute, usually with a Canadian flag on top.

You can find a Tim Horton’s everywhere you go. When

our teacher told us that its coffee was the fuel for all

Canadians, we thought she was exaggerating. But af-

ter a month, we've become addicts. A double-double

and a donut are always okay.

SIMPLE MINDED? They aren’t simple minded, as some TV series like How I met

your mother, Family Guy or South Park try to make us believe.

Canadians speak at least two languages, they are cultured

and learned and they have David Suzuki. This is suspicious

because all of these series are from the United States…

life

Walking…really?!

Yellow buses aren't exclusive to the Simp-sons. Here they are almost as common as Tim Horton’s. Unfortu-nately, after a few trips, we realized that they aren't as comfort-able as they seem.

FREEZING

WINTER

Last, but not least:

there is a myth that in

Canada is always cold

and the sun never ris-

es. As we said, it’s a

myth. Furthermore,

we went to the beach-

each!

Surprisingly, when teen-

agers grow up buses be-

come part of their past.

Having a car is as usual

as having a cell phone.

It’s quite difficult to distin-

guish between Welland

and a ghost town: nobody

walks here.

Our Class CARLOTA: 21. Has finished her Nursery studies. She takes a lot of pictures of herself and likes always being well dressed, watching sports but not playing them, the cow game and drawing blood from people.

MARINA: 20. Studies Teaching. She loves drawing and she is very good at it. She has

also been studying music for 15 years and she plays the accordion. She is brown belt

at karate, so don’t mess with her!

JORGE: 21. He has finished his Psychology studies. He is a very easy-going person who

loves travelling, cinema, and alternative music. You can always see him wearing

bizarre and alternative clothes. He cannot ride a bike.

ANA: 18. Studies Economics and Law, as she would like to work in a big company. She

lives surrounded by boys and hates doing any kind of sport. She is a positive person

and has a very funny laugh.

JAIME: 18. Studies Chemistry. He is afraid of rollercoasters, but loves swimming, Sailing, and running and would like to try parachuting and bungee jumping. He likes

action and thriller films.

CRISTINA: 18. Studies International Relations and she would like to work at the

United Nations. She loves languages, travelling and meeting new people; she has travelled to seven countries in seven months! She loves dancing, but doesn’t like ball sports

very much.

MARÍA: 20. Studies Modern Languages and would like to work at the European

parliament. She used to play the oboe for many years, but she can’t anymore because

of an injury. She likes classical and rock music and the TV show “The Big Bang

Theory.”

VERIDIANA: 19. Studies Biotechnology and she would like to study one year in Prague. She is an awesome basketball player and is going to see the Basketball World Cup this

year. She loves summer, travelling, and would like to go to Australia. She considers

herself to be a negative person.

CONCHA: 20. Studies Pharmacy. She loves chocolate, music (she actually knows a lot

about it) and most importantly leather clothes. She also likes riding horses and playing the

guitar. She has won the name of “Strongwoman” as she is the dare-devil of our class.

PABLO: 19. Studies Medicine and this year worked with death bodies, but is

looking forward to working with live people. He plays the viola and the

guitar a little. He loves pictures! He lives on” cloud 39” and he goes hitch-hiking when necessary!

ANDRÉS: 19. Studies Mathematics and would like to work for Google when he

finishes his studies. He plays rink hockey and dodge ball. He loves shirts, beer and

Asian girls, as well as the number three.

NICO: 20. Studies Spanish Philology and his favorite part is Literature. He has tried

to write a novel, but he gave up. He likes chocolate and rock music, but is not able

to play the guitar, even though he has tried. Although he doesn’t acknowledge it, he is a machine at playing soccer.

Our Class Mikako: She is an interesting student. When she says something, she always

twists her waist unconsciously. It is so cute. She advised me to speak a lot of

English in our classroom.

Valeriya: She is nine-teen years old and is a charming woman. One of her

hobbies is riding horses. Her major is chemistry. She would like to be a

chemical engineer.

Lars: He is a patient and gentle guy. He likes soccer and winter sports and so on.

He worked in a bakery in Germany.

Alicia: She is a person I met for the first time in the classroom. She looked shy,

even though we both said “hello” to each other. She has a mature personality,

although she is a high school

student.

Andy: When I met him in the classroom, he was so sociable. He introduced

himself a little bit more than the others (I’m 27 years old…). He seems to be

positive. I understand he loves soccer.

Sumako: She is from Japan. She wants to learn English here and discover more

about Canadian culture. In Japan, she is a full-time student of English Media. In the

future she is going to be a teacher for nurses. She especially likes the Canadian land-

scape, but she misses tasty Japanese food.

A TYPICALL BASEBALL

A TYPICALL VOLLEYBALL

A TYPICALL GOLFBALL

Canadian Culture SportWe would like to include everything about Canadian culture, but

we cannot cover it all, so we are going to focus our contribution to

the memory book on typical Canadian sports.

Due to the seasons, Canadians have two different prefer-

ences for sports. Some like summer sports and some like

What Canadians

really like! During the summer Canadi-

ans practice a lot of differ-

ent sports. They are inter-

ested in golf, baseball, la-

crosse, football, tennis,

cricket, volleyball, rugby,

soccer and basketball. But

their most favorite sport in

the summer is obviously

baseball. For instance, the

Toronto Blue Jays play 162

Games per season and they

have an average of at least

27 000 visitors in their sta-

dium plus all the people

that watch their games on

TV. That really proves that

the Canadians are probably

crazy about baseball.

What Canadians

like even more! During the winter Canadians like several sports:

They do skiing and

curling, but their favor-

ite sport is ice-hockey

or how

they call

it: hock-

ey. We

do not

want to

bother

you with

some

boring

rules or

figures, but we want to

tell you some impres-

sive information about

the Canadian Hockey

sport. For instance, the

women’s national team

is only rivaled by the

United States. But in

fact since 2002 not

even the United States

could defeat them at the

Olympic winter games.

Only once since

women’s hockey

became an

Olympic sport

did Canada not

achieve the gold

medal. Also, no

other team has

won the Nation-

al Cup or the

World Champi-

onship more often than

Canada. The men’s na-

tional team is not any

worse and has also

achieved an enormous

amount of Olympic

medals and World

Championships.

We hope we will

never forget the

good moments that

we have spent to-

gether playing

sports, meeting so

many kind sports-

persons, and learn-

ing a little bit about

Canadian customs.

SPORTS at Niagara

College

What international stu-

dents have in common is

that we all have prac-

ticed sports at Niagara

College. We all enjoyed

our exciting basketball

matches, the crazy

dodge ball matches and

the speedy badminton

games. What we en-

joyed most were the

sports we practiced in

teams, so we could get

to know each other in a

different way, rather

than only in the class-

room.

Special memories

Discovering Canada

Toronto

Canada offers nice landscapes, several interesting cities and sights. We only spent a short time in Can-

ada, but it was a great opportunity to get in touch with the Canadian culture, meet friendly people, and

visit interesting places. The most interesting places we visited you’ll find here…

The College organized a trip to Toronto.

Toronto is a great, vibrant and active city.

There are so many sights which you can

visit. First, I visited the Rogers Center, the

home of the Toronto Blue Jays. Though I

still don’t understand all rules, it was

great. I think it’s always interesting to see

new sports and especially the mood in the

stadium was worth the money.

Second, I visited the Hockey Hall of Fame.

It’s really a pity that the NHL is taking its

break at the moment, but I was addicted to

get in touch with Canada’s number one

sport. During the Olympic Games in Vancou-

ver I saw how Canadians love this sport. In

Germany we don’t have something like the

Hall of Fame, but I really like the way the

supporters celebrate their heroes in it.

Finally, I visited Toronto’s most iconic build-

ing which you see from all over the city: the

CN-Tower. I think it’s always great seeing a

city from the top. The glass floor was espe-

cially a great challenge. I’m really afraid of

heights, but I had to go on it. It was really

scary, thrilling and I had sweaty hands, but I

did it!

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is the first thing that comes

to your mind when you think about Cana-

da. I was looking forward to go and see

this natural masterpiece with my own

eyes. When the bus arrived, first thing I

noticed was the noise of water falling,

which got me even more excited. When

the staff gave us pink raincoats I felt jeal-

ous because I realized that they have a

wonderful chance to see the falls every

day. When we got on the boat I couldn’t

believe my eyes with how big the falls are.

The waterfall seemed endless and I was

impressed by its power. These memories

will definitely stay with me for a long time. I

will never forget this giant creation by God.

Special memories

“Niagara Falls is the place where you can have a wonderful experi-ences…”

If you are a tourist Niagara Falls “Clifton Hill” is definitely where you want to be. Everything is super

expensive, but worth it. You can spend lots of time buying souvenirs connected with the waterfall.

Or you can go and drink famous ice wine and eat some delicious food. If you love to be scared you

can visit a house of horrors. This is the most frightening place I’ve ever been. Also there are some

attractions such as a theatre and 4D cinema. All these attractions are so incredible and amazing.

While you walking down the main street of the city you can see people wearing funny costumes or

you can stumble upon the huge volcano standing near the golf club.

Niagara Falls is the place where you can have a wonderful experiences and have a good time with

your friends!

Three Cities Trip I went 3 cities which are Quebec and Ottawa for 3 days with my Japanese friend. It was a re-

ally great time and good memory for me.

In first day, we went to Quebec City

by bus. We took a bus from Welland,

and we stopped in Quebec City, which

is capital city of Quebec. I was so tired

because we took a bus for 9 hours.

When I got off the bus, I was surprised

because everything was written in

French, and people were talking in

French. I was also so happy because

there were many buildings I had seen

on a Japanese TV program and in a

Japanese travel book. We stayed in

Quebec City for 4 hours.

We left Quebec City and we went to

Montreal, which is another big city in

Quebec, by bus. A few hours after we

left Quebec, we arrived in Montreal.

This place was different from Quebec

City. There were old buildings; howev-

er, this place was more modern because

there were toll buildings and many

stores such as H&M, HMV and so on. I

went to a bakery store, which was in

close to our hotel, and I bought some

croissants and some macaroons. They

were so delicious, and I and I had never

eaten such delicious croissants and

macaroons in whole life. We stayed in

Montreal for a day, then we moved to

Ottawa which is capital city in Canada.

Special memories

In Ottawa we went to a famous place

which is the parliament buildings. The

building was so beautiful and historical

and it was better than the Japanese par-

liament building. The building was

open and had tours for tourists. We

joined the tour, and we went inside of

the building. It was a really good expe-

rience for me because I could the dif-

ferences between Canadian govern-

ment and Japanese government.

I really enjoyed this trip to Quebec

City, Montreal and Ottawa; however, I

felt I did not have enough time in this

trip. Next time, I want to stay in this

area for longer. Also, I would like to

go during another season, if I have

chance..