Her name is Anna. She's actually from India, and when I first arrived as an international student in Canada she helped me a lot. You know, with the transition to this culture as a University of Alberta student. To the community, and school especially. Things like buying textbooks, setting up my cell phone and bank account. And she helped with my resume and essay for my co-op application. It saved a lot of time, because when you're new to a country, sometimes you just don't know what to do. We hang out. I guess she's one of my good friends.

The other people in my U of A peer program are all from different countries – Japan, Germany, China. We explore Edmonton and go to different restaurants. Anna holds potlucks at her house where we get to know each other. And we all bring different food. The one before Halloween, everyone brought a traditional dish from their home country. Anna brought curry; I brought Chinese noodles.

This cultural and social diversity is my favorite thing.

It's lots of fun living here. I don't think it's strange being shown around by someone who's not from here, because I don't feel we come from different places. I mean we all speak English when we communicate; we're all students. We have so many things in common.

Next year I'll volunteer like Anna, definitely. I'm excited about it; I've already sent in my application.