PAM BAL
LIFE REPORTER

Humber exchange student Tomona Haneda, 21, said she didn’t know anyone in Canada and was nervous when she arrived in Toronto from Japan last August.
The first people she met were two international ambassadors from Humber.

Tomona Haneda, 21, exchange student from Japan. (Pam Bal)

They picked her up at the airport and took her to her residence.
Haneda, a hospitality and tourism management student, said this was very helpful because it made her feel more comfortable.
“Before I came here I thought I could adjust to another culture, but after I came here I found many difficulties to adjust, to make friends, even to eat western food everyday,” said Haneda.
“I was shocked by the culture. I was homesick. I would go to the International Centre and they gave me advice.”
Haneda said speaking with international ambassadors helped her adjust to life in a new country.
Amit Chhabra, 26, an international ambassador at Humber’s International Centre, was also on his own when he came here from India.
The second-year computer and network support technician student, said the International Centre helped him make friends and the students he met were also feeling lonely and homesick.
“It was easy to connect with them,” said Chhabra.
Director of the International Centre Wanda Buote said student ambassadors “show leadership examples and help support students.
“We hire them from different countries, so that we have more resources to help us.”
Buote said the centre offers airport pickups for students moving straight into residence.
“We pick them up and take them to their accommodation and help them settle in, so that they’re not totally stressed out,” she said.
Chhabra is one of the ambassadors who meets students at the airport and shows them around residence.
An estimated 300 new international students will join Humber in May, some of which will likely get picked up by international ambassadors.
Chhabra said the ambassadors are there for the international students.
“We’re a connection between Canada and them.”