16/10/2023
2022 has been an incredible year for me. Aside from easing the COVID-19 restrictions and returning to life in many parts of the world, I finally applied for a master’s program and got accepted. The program is Health Research Methodology at McMaster University. Last year, I talked to my friend about this program, and it was like a dream for us; but it seems dreams sometimes come true.
I thought being accepted to the university was the hardest part. But for anyone holding an Iranian passport, the following steps seem to be much harder in some sense. First, there has been no Canadian embassy or Visa Application Centre in Iran since 2012. Therefore, Iranians should go to neighbouring countries for biometrics. I went to Hewler (Erbil) in May. Kurdistan is a wonderful place, especially Southern Kurdistan, where Hewler is. Fortunately, all Canada Visa procedures are online (except for the biometrics), meaning there is no interviewing or something. However, many applicants have been long delays in the process, especially those accepted for a PhD program. And this has made obtaining a Canadian Visa stressful for Iranians.
Fortunately, I got my Visa very soon, compared to many others — in exactly a month. After that, I entered a new stressful step in my life: preparing to leave my hometown for real! Besides that, I started to worry about the accommodation in Canada. Unfortunately, unlike many other universities in Canada, McMaster University does not provide any accommodation for first-year graduate students. And this year was also remarkable for one reason: fresh and returning students worldwide were coming back to Canada as it was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that the classes were going to be exclusively in-person for many courses.
Read the whole post on Medium:
https://choxos.medium.com/first-days-in-canada-f0a799409a83
