Another one.....
I have to give a brief background
re: how I ended up in Canada
before I tell my story. Here it
goes:
I came to Canada back in 2005 in
order to study Electrical
Engineering at University of
Windsor. I was the top student of
one of the renowned high schools
in Bangladesh and that raised the
bar of expectation. I did
moderately well at the engineering
admission test in Bangladesh; but
that wasn't satisfying to me or my
parents. So, my mom took
initiative to send me overseas for
a quality education. At that time,
I wasn't aware of uWindsor's
reputation. I found a liaison
office who dealt with uWindsor,
UofT and York; I applied to both
UofW & UofT and got admission. But
I was told that I would have to
wait another 8 months to get into
UofT-Engineering; hence I had to
choose uWindsor thinking that I
would be able to transfer credit
later.
Well, it wasn't easy to leave your
home country at 19 especially when
you're the only child of your
parents. It certainly did not help
when my father passed away all of
a sudden at the beginning my 2nd
semester. He was only 52 and the
sole incoming member of our
family. It unveiled huge pressure
on me. I dropped that term, flew
back home with heart-broken and
then came back after 3 months due
to my mom's unparalleled
motivation. I was so troubled with
the thought how I'm going to bear
the cost in Canada; which hampered
my 2nd year studies tremendously.
We actually had to sell dad's
shares in our business (limited
company) although he had on-going
plans to expand the business.
Being very close to my mom, I
thought I should earn my own and
that led me to do co-op.
During my undergrad period, I had
4 co-op terms (24 months in total)
which helped a lot to pay my
tuition, bear other cost and
finally land with a permanent job.
Initially, I put studies aside to
get my first placement and as a
result, I didn't do well in my 2nd
year. But I did pretty well in 3rd
and extremely well in my last
year. I even secured my permanent
job with one of my co-op employers
(a crown corp. of Ontario) in my
final year.
For an extended co-op term and
dropped semester due to my
father's demise; my graduation got
delayed almost by 2 years. Despite
all these unforeseen
circumstances, I graduated being
Dean's listed. As soon as I
graduated, I took time off before
joining my employer and got
married back home (to my
girlfriend who was maintaining a
long-distance relationship with me
for the whole time). My employer
helped me to apply for Ontario PNP
and we got our PR within a year. I
applied for Super Visa for my mom
and she was approved. She visited
us last year for the first time.
I've just become eligible to apply
for citizenship and we've bought
our first house in this month.
Only thing that needs to be sorted
out is my wife's career path. She
is an IMG (Int'l Medical Grad/
Foreign Trained Doctor) and it's a
long (really long) shot in Canada.
So, life is treating us well. I
wasn't fond of my university
(especially with faculty/
facilities/administration) nor
Canadian life-style or weather;
but I really appreciate the
opportunities I've been given
(which are rare back home). I
believe that Canada can bring
fortune if you're on the right
path for yourself.
