Finding support, resources and yourself while studying in Canada

From an interview with Avani Singh, Banking Advisor, RBC.

Going abroad to study was a dream for Avani. Only a handful of people from her small town in India had ever left the country for their education. Yet when she was 16, she decided that she would go to North America for better opportunities. For the next three years of high school, she sought as much mentorship as she could and applied to universities in the United States and Canada. Based on the quality of a Canadian education, and its reputation as a welcoming and peaceful country, Avani came here to study finance at University of Toronto (U of T). She shares her story of overcoming  challenges, discovering new experiences, helping international students, and starting a career in Canada.

As an international student, challenge is a word you hear and experience every day. I came to Canada alone; I had no family here, and no personal connections in Canada. It was essentially just packing my bags, moving halfway across the world and figuring out what to do from there: what to wear in the Canadian winters, learning to buy groceries and cook your own food, the basics of banking in Canada, navigating the nuances of this new culture, and being an adult living alone for the first time far from home.

Fitting in while staying true to yourself

I came to study at University of Toronto and was swept away by the school’s grandeur, Toronto and Canadian culture in general. For the whole of first year, I focused on adapting and fitting in: I didn’t participate in any Indian cultural activities. As a result, I ended up feeling disconnected – likeI didn’t really know who I was anymore. I had this image of myself that was not the same as who I was.

As a newcomer, you can feel stuck between two cultures, two countries. Most international students have developed the social skills to fit in and they blend in very well. That’s the way I was. But it made me question my culture and my identity; it made me question myself a lot.

I felt homesick the first year I was away from home, and sad that I was not taking part in the festivals and celebrations that had been so important to me back home. Over the next couple of years, I reached out to student groups on campus and other support groups who essentially hosted big Indian celebrations like Diwali and I joined the Indian Student Society at U of T. That helped my cultural experiences take shape.

Exploring new academic paths

When I came to study at U of T, my initial plan was to get a finance degree, with perhaps a computer science major. I ended up graduating with a degree in management and strategy, which is quite different – a field of business that I never thought I would go into. But over the years, I realized that’s where my interest and passions lay.

One of the best things about U of T, especially in the first year, was that I got the chance to explore courses that you wouldn’t traditionally think go together, like theater and finance. The way they structured it was that you had to take a certain number of classes in different fields: science and technology, humanities, and languages. This ensured that every student was getting as much exposure to different interests and different courses as possible.

Many soft skills that I learned in these courses have actually made me who I am today. Finance, Management and Strategy were my main focus, but I also took a course in first year on reviewing theater, and I got to attend my first Toronto International Film Festival. As an international student, it was such a great experience that gave me insight into Toronto’s culture – into a different world.

Finding allies: Introduction to RBC On Campus team

I got involved with the University of Toronto Students’ Union that supports over 44,000 undergraduate students. I wanted to help new students make their transition to university life much easier than mine had been. In my particular role, I built partnerships with organizations and external partners that shared our goal of helping students.

During this time I was introduced to the RBC On Campus team and I quickly realized that we were doing similar work. We could work together on one of the biggest challenges facing students: financial literacy. There’s a lack of personal finance and financial literacy in the international student community.

For example, despite the fact that I was taking very difficult finance classes, until I met the RBC On Campus team, for the life of me, I could not have told you what my account packages looked like or even how my credit card worked. There were lots of students in the same boat as me.

So we did a whole financial literacy week with the RBC On Campus team, offering free workshops to help international students understand their finances. It was a great partnership. The RBC On Campus branch was a very friendly environment: a very open, judgment-free, and safe space where you could talk about things like financial worries. It was very casual, very personalized; you could ask them about anything and they would give you advice.

They also host a lot of learning sessions, like Investing 101: which essentially explains what the different ways of investing are in Canada, what is an RRSP is, what is a TFSA, things that you hear all the time, but no one has actually taken the time to explain it to you in a way that you will understand.

You don’t even have to have a bank account with RBC in order to attend these free sessions; if you want to learn, you are welcome. It was basically helping students, and it wasn’t even just banking. They are an ally and a support for students and student wellness.