COVID-19 pandemic challenges U of Windsor international students

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Gabriela Pedroso Reis is not a fan of how her native country of Brazil has been handling the novel coronavirus.

“It’s been rough. It makes me feel a little hopeless,” says Reis — one of hundreds of international students at the University of Windsor dealing with the challenges of learning in a foreign land, but also doing so under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been among the loudest of world leaders in downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19 and dismissing the need for vaccination.

“I, personally, hate (what he’s been saying). I was against him the whole time,” Reis says. “Bolsonaro does not represent me. I have a bunch of family issues because of it. Most of my family support him. And I don’t.”

Reis, 23, grew up in the rural state of Minas Gerais before eventually settling with her family near Sao Paulo.

She’s now in her third year of studying dramatic art at the University of Windsor.

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“Back in Brazil, the school system is very rigid. The only electives that we had were physical education or English. And so I have studied English from an early age,” Reis explains. “I also took English in private lessons, from an early age. I feel like I was fluent at 15.”

These days, Reis lives alone in Windsor in an off-campus apartment. COVID-19 measures have amplified her sense of isolation. But Reis has some help: “My best friend lives right across the hall from me. We’re in each other’s bubbles, That’s who I see most of the time.”

Asked if she feels she is a part of the University of Windsor community after almost three years here, Reis replies: “Yes and no. I say yes, because everybody has been very welcoming, as soon as I got here. But at the same time, I still feel like an outsider.”

“I like to think there are different worlds. Being here in Canada is completely different from being in Brazil.”

By way of example, Reis recalls spending winter break in the town where her parents live, Itapura, and witnessing an ambulance driver refuse to wear a mask. “He kept telling people that COVID is a scam. I had to report him.”

“People in Brazil are still having parties. People are getting together and nobody has a mask on. People actually feel ashamed to have a mask on, because nobody else is wearing it.”

Reis says that when she visited Itapura, she quarantined herself for 14 days — but Brazil has no requirements to do so. “Even my parents told me I didn’t have to. Against my will, they brought my grandparents to see me that same weekend I arrived. It was just overwhelming.”

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Another South American locale — Lima, Peru — may be 6,000 kilometres distance by plane from Windsor, but there’s only an hour difference in time zone.

That’s a fact for which University of Windsor graduate student Emily Espinoza is grateful, as it lets her share daily morning phone calls with her parents.

“Every morning, I talk to my mom and my dad. Every morning, without change,” says Espinoza, 31.

Internet technology has been invaluable to Espinoza, allowing her to stay in regular contact with family and friends around the world. “It’s easy to get in touch, to get connected, if you want to,” Espinoza says. “We use WhatsApp a lot, we use Facebook Messenger. We say ‘Happy Birthday’ with Zoom.”

Espinoza arrived in Canada on Jan. 9 to continue pursuing her master’s degree in communications and social justice. She had completed one virtual semester with the University of Windsor while she was home in Lima, but wanted to spend time on campus to qualify for a post-graduate work permit.

“I needed to be immersed in the culture,” Espinoza says. “That’s a big thing for me.”

It’s only the second time Espinoza has been in Canada: She travelled the country as a tourist for a few weeks in 2018.

Language has not been an obstacle for her. Espinoza considers herself fortunate to have learned English as a child. Her parents enrolled her in an American school in Peru to maximize her future opportunities.

Indeed, Espinoza wishes Canadians were more talkative — a minor cultural difference. “I need to express things very straightforward and directly here. In Latin America, we’re used to chit-chat a little bit more.”

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While she recognizes that it takes organization, responsibility, and commitment to adjust to living in a new country, Espinoza believes she has done so quickly, with the help of the resources offered by the University of Windsor to international students.

“I’ve also had a really warm welcome here,” Espinoza says. “The university staff, my professors, my colleagues — They’ve all been a great support for me.”

But as a natural extrovert, Espinoza feels a sense of isolation during pandemic conditions is inevitable. She landed in Ontario when the provincial stay-at-home order was in effect.

“That was hard. If someone tells you that it’s not like that, that they have never cried during these times, he or she is lying,” Espinoza says. “It’s not easy.”

“But those feelings and emotions are temporary. I have to stay committed to the main goal, which is the program… I am focused and goal-driven. That helps.”

Another great help for Espinoza has been bonding with her roommate. “Even though she is from Turkey, and I am from Peru, we have a lot of similarities,” Espinoza explains. “We speak English all day long. We ‘get’ each other. The language barrier is not as important as the cultural barrier. We have overcome the cultural barrier.”

“We’ve known each other for five weeks, and she knows pretty much everything that happens to me. My roommate is a very close friend right now, and talking is a coping mechanism. For me, talking to someone who is physically in the same space as I am is really important.”

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“Even though I miss home, I feel very calm here. Windsor is, for me, safe.”

As for the Canadian weather — the coldest Espinoza has experienced in her life — she claims she doesn’t mind it. “I like it because it’s different.”

Nikhil Adusumalli, who came to Canada for the first time on Jan. 26 after travelling 13,000 kilometres from Hyderabad, India, doesn’t have quite the same enthusiasm for Windsor’s climate.

“The first challenge was to get used to this weather,” says Adusumalli, 23, a master’s degree student in the University of Windsor’s applied computing program.

“As soon as I landed in Toronto, there was a huge snow storm. It took us something around four hours driving to get from Toronto to Windsor.”

Thankfully, while his new locale is much colder than Southern India in general, Windsor doesn’t have the extreme winters of other parts of Canada.

“I’m getting used to it,” Adusumalli promises.

And even the region’s COVID-19 measures are elements that Adusumalli has been taking in stride.

“They have been put there for our own safety,” he reasons. “No in-person meetings, all our classes going virtually — I feel that’s for our own good. For the good of everyone.”

Pandemic loneliness hasn’t been a factor due to Adusumalli’s living situation: He’s staying in a rental house that’s very close to campus with four other students, all from India — two from Southern India like himself.

Adusumalli credits the friendships he built in his previous semester with the University of Windsor, which he completed remotely in Hyderabad.

“As soon as we made friends, we thought that we would find a house and live all together, and that’s what we did.”

COVID-19 might mean everyone in the house must “sanitize everything before using and be safe as possible,” but Adusumalli doesn’t feel the pandemic is diminishing his international student experience.

“It is great (being in Windsor),” he says. “I like seeing the Ambassador Bridge. Windsor has been pretty good to me.”

dchen@postmedia.com