Sandy (仙弟) on Studying and Working in Vancouver | Improving Your English, Fitting In Locally | Digital Marketing Co-op

Today we have Sandy (Instagram: 仙弟在加拿大｜英文x插畫) sharing her experience studying and working in Canada: how she improved her English, fit in locally, found part-time work there, and got along well with her host family!

“Who” – Why I started my own channel

Why did you start 仙弟在加拿大｜英文x插畫? And why the drawings and animations?

When the pandemic hit in 2020, I went through a long dark period. I couldn't find my direction. I wanted to work in marketing but had no background in it, and I was too scared to switch careers.

At first I started the page just to build a portfolio, and the content was mostly about marketing. Later I wanted to cover more topics I was interested in, so I began sharing my experience learning English, plus everyday English you can't learn from textbooks.

As for the illustrations and animations: English-learning accounts were popping up everywhere, and to keep my account unique I created three characters, Hash Brown Dog, Bubble Tea Cat and Rice Pudding Bunny (碗粿兔). They also stand for made in Taiwan

“What” – Program info

CICCC Digital Marketing Co-op: program length, tuition, class hours, work hours and more

Length 6+6 (one year), tuition 200,000–250,000, classes five days a week, 4 hours a day (morning, afternoon or evening sessions), 480 internship hours

What does the application process look like? Do you need any documents or language tests?

They look at TOEIC or IELTS scores, but it's fine if you don't have one. The school has its own online placement test, and if you don't pass, you just take language school classes first

Documents include proof of funds, a police clearance certificate, travel records, a household registration transcript and other personal documents. I just had a study-abroad agency handle it.

“How” – Study experience & life abroad

Can you tell us about studying at CICCC (classes, classmates, after-class activities)?

As far as I know, CICCC has the most class hours of any co-op school here, so we get to learn more.

Every day after class the school runs all kinds of activities: sports, sightseeing, music events, yacht parties and more.

If you're going to language school, I strongly recommend not staying in Taiwan and taking classes online to save money. Lots of my friends regret not coming here sooner to meet people.

How do you split your time between studying and working? Do you still have time to travel or do other things you want to do?

This has to be the question everyone asks me XD

Classes, work, running the page, and going out too. Just how busy is that?

But honestly, I'm very self-disciplined. I'm the real time management master (?

I do everything pretty fast, so even this busy, I still have time to go out.

Then again, going out costs money, and that's when having shifts to work feels like a blessing XD

Does the money from your job cover living costs (or even travel or tuition)?

Pay here is biweekly, and I get a lot of hours, around 30 a week, so breaking even on living costs is basically no problem (I net about 2000 CAD a month, and living costs are about 1500)

To earn back your tuition, you'd probably need to work full time (40 hours).

But I've also heard that many people can't get that many hours, so they work two or three jobs.

Besides working at Starbucks, you also used your experience running your own channel to become a Social Media Assistant at the Vancouver Visual Art Foundation. How did you land that job? What's the work like, and what does it pay?

It's actually a volunteer position, so there's no pay. It's mainly about experience and learning.

I got it through a volunteer fair the school held. At first I was just a part-time helper at the event, but after chatting with the managers, they found out I ran a page and invited me to join the marketing team.

So put yourself out there. You might get something very different out of it.

Marketing here is very different from Taiwan. Traditional methods are really popular (paper flyers, email marketing and so on), and I'm still learning~

What was your English like before you came to Vancouver? Did you run into any difficulties talking with locals?

Something I've always wanted to tell everyone: compared with a lot of study-abroad or English accounts, my English wasn't this good from the start. Before college, English was my least favorite subject, and my English score on the GSAT was terrible.

It wasn't until I joined language exchange events that I got interested in English, and I started learning it through speaking.

I think my biggest problem was my limited vocabulary. Back in Taiwan I often couldn't understand people or didn't know how to say things, but my strength is that I'm not afraid to speak up, so I'd always ask or try saying it a different way.

That's one of the ways my English improved so much. Everyone learns English differently, and what matters most is finding the method that works for you.

Nobody says your English has to be great before you can go abroad, and nobody says you can't find a job if your English isn't good. Language is for communicating. What matters is not being afraid of challenges and continuing to learn.

How do you get along with your host family? Any tips for living with a host family?

I think they really like me (says me). When you're living under someone else's roof, just be as polite as you can and follow the rules.

The secret is probably reading the room and figuring out what they like and dislike, so they don't end up disliking you XD

But I know some host families are weird. If it feels bad, leave as soon as you can~

“Why” – Reasons and plans

You studied science and engineering in Taiwan and already have a master's degree. Why go to Canada to study and work?

Even though I studied science and engineering, that's not where my interests are. I'd wanted to work in marketing for a while, but without the background or experience, I decided to go abroad and study marketing and intern there directly, to build experience and my English.

Any plans after your time in Canada?

I'll go back to Taiwan in November, think it over for a month and then decide~

Bad luck abroad

Going abroad, you're bound to run into lots of surprises and unpredictable things. I have friends who got scammed right after arriving, had their suitcase taken by someone else, couldn't connect to the dorm Wi-Fi, or had their computer just die.

As for me, my passport was stolen on my fifth day here, along with my driver's license and SIM card QQ

When that happens, staying calm and quickly figuring out what to do is really important, and it trains you to handle all kinds of problems on your own. So don't think "why is going abroad so unlucky." Honestly, I'd be more scared if nothing went wrong XD

Finally, if you get the chance, I encourage you to live somewhere different for a while. You'll find your mindset and your life are different from your old comfort zone, and maybe you'll find a place that suits you too~