Jorian during his internship in Toronto, Canada

Jorian in Canada: “I plan on staying in Toronto.”

I remember the journey from the airport to downtown Toronto. My first thought was that it looked like the United States as we know it from the movies; big highways, big cars, friendly people.

Culture wise I would say the biggest difference is the respect that people have for each other. Not necessarily to friends, but more to strangers. Another big difference is the weather, contrary to the Netherlands it can get really cold here during the winter. During the summers it can get really hot.

Like a big town

Me personally I don’t feel homesick. Nowadays there is WhatsApp and Skype to constantly keep in touch with the people at the home front. I can imagine that the decision to go abroad ten years ago was much bigger.

Toronto feels like home to me. It doesn’t really feel like a big city, more like a big town. Everything is very accessible and that makes it very similar to the Netherlands. Other than that I made some good friends here and there are plenty of nice places to hang out and have a drink.

I really enjoy living in Canada. Even though there aren’t that many differences between living here and in The Netherlands, the environment is still different. I always find it exciting to explore new places. Furthermore, it is a perfect opportunity to travel to new places.

A typical work day

A typical work day consists of monitoring the advertisement performance that we run on Facebook and Google, posting content to various social media channels but also thinking of ways how to enhance our brand performance and create new strategies to generate more leads. Ours is a relatively small company, which makes it very personal, for the employees but also for the clients. This also means that employees get involved in many areas of the business which makes it very educational and interesting.

I really enjoy developing strategies for clients and our company. It involves a creative aspect of creating campaigns and ideas to promote or launch a brand but also a tactical aspect by finding ways how to spend the budget as efficient as possible.

The Spanish speaking

My friends mainly consist of Latin American and Spanish people. They are very welcoming and helpful. I even got invited to spend Christmas with their family. I am not sure whether everyone would do that.

What I learned

The world of digital marketing was relatively new to me. Over a short amount of time I learned how to write articles and press releases. This not only allowed the company to test my English proficiency but also showed my level of creativity, work ethics etc. After a couple of months, we agreed on extending my stay in Canada. In January I was made responsible for all marketing activities for the company and the Digital Marketing Academy of Canada (DMAC). It is challenging, but at the same time a very fun project. This could have never been realized if there was mutual confidence and trust between the company and me and I see it as a huge compliment that they made me responsible. This really goes to show that good things come from unexpected places as long as you work hard for it. I definitely did not expect this when I came to Canada for an internship.

Looking back on the months I have resided in Toronto I can highly recommend going abroad. This is my second time I interned abroad and it only provided me great experiences that brought me further in life. From a learning perspective it is very valuable but it is also very fun! That is what it makes a very attractive proposition.

Now that I have found this company, I plan on staying in Toronto for as long as my visa allows. If everything works out well I even might apply for a Permanent Resident card!

Canadians in 3 words

Friendly, polite and modest