Canada film tour offers new perspectives for UC students

She’s a seasoned traveler who was already pursuing her study abroad dreams on her own. An individual vetting procedure made long-term, solo travel possible for UC students earlier than group travel, though last-minute cancellations due to COVID repeatedly left Hedges juggling her schedule to finish her studies.

“The summer of 2021 was supposed to be in Cameroon. I did an internship with the State Department. I was supposed to be at their embassy — that ended up being remote. I was supposed to do the fall in Amsterdam for study abroad for Planning, and then I was going to do my spring as a co-op in France.” The Amsterdam semester exchange was rescheduled.

“I switched Amsterdam and France, and then Amsterdam got cancelled, so it was just France.”

She was finally able to do a co-op in tourism management near Poitiers, even under strict EU COVID protocols.

Fortunately, this fall’s cinema study tour fit her schedule, plugged credit hours into her French minor and matched her academic and personal interests.

Hedges said she was surprised by how much she enjoyed engaging with the film directors and touring a Montreal animation studio.

“I chose Planning because it’s interdisciplinary,” Hedges said. “I really like seeing what other people do, how other people work, how other people think. So this was a good trip for me.”

Hedges explained that as an urban planning major, “Every time I go somewhere, I’m mentally categorizing things for planning. I’m noting how systems are functioning, I’m noting good ideas, bad ideas, how something’s working, how something’s not working. And so it all gets added to a body of knowledge. It’s important data for the future.”

A double major in film studies and creative writing, Hendrix especially enjoyed the discussions with Chouinard, Pelletier and Bensaddek, since she hopes to continue to grad school and ultimately pursue a career in screenwriting.

On a personal level, she liked the connections she made as she explored the cities with the other students in the class.

“The highlight for me, just in general, was the people I met, because I didn’t know anybody going on this trip. And I came out with some close friends. The small community of people that went on the trip—I couldn’t have asked for anything better. It was amazing. I was scared that I was going to be lonely, but no, everyone was nice, and now I know more people on campus.”

Her suggestion to anyone thinking about study abroad is to talk to their support system. Her own friends and family encouraged her to go.

“I would just say apply for it. Just do it!”

Kaur too mentioned the people from all around the world she met on the trip, and how important a part they were of the experience. But it was one particular kind of encounter that meant the most to her.

“This trip was very important to me on a cultural level because of the Indian population in Canada. I'm Punjabi, and my religion is Sikhism. So many people from my culture live in Canada as immigrants.

“In America, I'm not recognized as often. And when I tell people I'm a Sikh, they have no idea what that means. That’s just something I've dealt with my entire life.

“Religiously, we wear bracelets, steel bracelets. And one of the directors, Denis, he was like, ‘Oh, I see you have this, you're a Sikh.’ And I almost started crying.

“It was a very personal experience. Especially because we went to Parc-Extension [one of the neighborhoods the group explored in Montreal]. Parc-Ex used to be Algerian, but now it’s Punjabi. It was funny, funny and exciting and emotional. I got to see everybody, and, I don't know—It was like seeing a dual side of my own immigrant experience as a child of immigrants. That was really important to me.”