Hi, I’m Hugo - the one on the left (from Diploma in Cyber Security & Forensics) and this is my partner Qin Yong (from Diploma in Information Technology). This blog will document our whole Canada Overseas Internship Programme (OITP) journey. We take turns to write and hope that you enjoy reading our blog. :)
We are the inaugural batch of students from NYP to do a 3-month internship at the IBM Center for Advanced Studies in Canada. It felt very surreal for me as I was originally going to do my internship in Germany, but I was given an opportunity to go to Canada instead, given that I have been to Germany for a 2 weeks summer school programme in March 2019.
We flew off on 28th August 1 am flight, but we had to be at the airport on 27th night, the day that Qin Yong finished his last paper. We didn’t manage to find any direct flight, hence we did a layover at London Heathrow Airport. It took us almost 25 hours to reach Toronto, Canada. Our return flight will see us stopping over in San Francisco and Hong Kong.
After many hours of travelling, we finally arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
We used the ride-sharing app Lyft to get to our host’s house. We live with the host. The host warmly welcomed us and she even prepared dinner for us. It was indeed heart-warming. After dinner, we quickly unpacked a little, shower and went to rest. (something to note, we left Changi Airport at 1am 28th August, arrived at Host’s place at 6pm 29th August; but it’s 6am 30 August in Singapore!! This is due to the fact that Toronto is 12 hours behind Singapore)
The next day we met up with the teachers and had lunch at Wonton Hut shop which is 10 minutes walk from our accommodation, at Markham Town Square. We also purchased the public transport card, PRESTO here for travel to Downtown Toronto. The public transport here is a little confusing, we live in the York region which is operated by Viva, and the Toronto area is operated by TTC. There is also a TTC bus which serves the York Region and to avoid paying for multiple trips due to transfer from one system to the other, we usually take Bus 68, and transfer to 53 which brings us to Finch Station (Line 1/Yellow Line). If you are travelling around alot in Downtown Toronto, I recommend getting a day pass which costs CAD$13. Do note it only works for TTC services, which covers the metro, streetcars in downtown Toronto and certain buses serving the Downtown Toronto.
We headed towards Downtown Toronto by train and along the way, we passed by a church, St James Church. We went in to admire the architecture. Next, we proceeded to the St Lawrence Market and spent an hour there. There’s a wide variety of stalls here, some of them are selling exotic meats of camel, kangaroo, buffalo and rabbit.
We then headed to the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). The CNE is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during the 18 days leading up to and including Canadian Labour Day, the first Monday in September, which also marks the end of Summer. With 1.5 million visitors each year, the CNE is Canada's largest annual fair. The first Canadian National Exhibition took place in 1879, to promote agriculture and technology in Canada.
We spent our evening here, visiting farming technology, took some rides, and had a go at some of the food at the fair. (Tip: Ticket costs CAD$9 instead of the usual CAD$19 if entry is after 5pm.)
The first day of work 30 Aug (Friday), we were given a short tour around IBM. There’s a section of the building which is stocked up with fruits, snacks and drinks for the employees. There’s also a canteen too.
The teachers also brought us to a place nearby called First Markham Place for lunch. My first impression when I stepped in was that it feels more like in Singapore than in Canada (Similar to People’s Park Center). There are many tour agencies as well as Chinese herbs shops here.
The first weekend in Canada, Qin Yong and I decided to walk around and explore the Markham area.
Stay tuned to the next post to find out where we went on Canada Labour Day Holiday. ;)