2
Despite different home cultures and countries, international students' main
overall motivation is the desire get out on their own, to carve out a new direction
in their lives. "Foreign students" do not casually abandon the comforts of family
and cultural ties; they have done their homework on Canadian schools. All their
preparation, though, cannot prepare them for the loneliness and ongoing difficul-
ties they face, from cold winters to financial issues related to the higher tuition
fees they must pay. Some students, though, emigrate to escape those same tight-
knit families and bonds that others find so painful to leave behind. A Macleans "On
Campus" report notes that family expectations may be opposed to students' visions
for themselves and lead them to reject accepted values and career paths in their
hometowns and countries. Csilla, a web-design student at Waterloo admits, "I was
always supposed to enter my family's restaurant business in Budapest, but I felt suf-
focated even working part-time as a server. Web design is my passion, and I wanted
12: CAUSE OR EFFECT [-
a completely fresh start, something that is completely my own ("International Stu-
dents"). Finding independent paths to their own dreams is the key here, whether
students choose those paths as a result of personal ideals or as a reaction to pre-set
future plans.
