Lives of International Students: Saskia Yumna — Qatar

When Saskia Yumna tumbled down a ski hill and tore her ACL and MCL, her father flew from Qatar for two weeks to help her adjust.

Yumna, a third-year Business student, is from Indonesia but grew up in Qatar, where her family moved for work in the oil industry. She decided to come to school in Alberta because she loves the mountains. It was only her second time skiing when she injured herself but she won’t be able to run or hike again for a year and a half.

“I think I really needed my father to come,” she said. “It took me half an hour to get from International House to the Business building. It really mattered that he was there.”

Yumna first moved to the Augustana campus but she hadn’t realized it was so far from Edmonton. She had assumed all the university’s campuses were close together.

“When you look at the word ‘campus’ you think, ‘Oh, it must be 10 minutes away from the main campus,’” she said. “I actually had no idea Augustana was an hour away from the city.”

Regardless, Yumna said she loved it in Camrose. She still visits her friends there for Christmas.

“I don’t think I could have stayed (at Augustana) another year,” she said. “But I loved it for my first time being exposed to Canadian culture. Anybody that attends Augustana is from rural Alberta so I made really good friends, it was like a family.”

Augustana doesn’t have an outdoors club, but its program for orienting international students involves outdoor excursions. On one trip Yumna canoed the North Saskatchewan River for five days. When she transferred to Edmonton for her second year, she became incredibly involved. She joined the outdoors club, Campus Unicef, the accounting club, the business exchange association, and Jeux du Commerce West undergraduate competition.

“You already pay a lot to be here as an international student,” she said. “You should get the most value out of your degree as possible. I don’t believe in graduating without doing the most you can and finding the most out about yourself as possible.”

Yumna considers herself privileged in many ways. For one, her parents have saved for her education since she was six; allowing her to not have to work even with the high cost of international tuition.

“I haven’t had that challenge,” she said. “I’ve been lucky enough to just think about immersing myself in the culture and getting the most out of my degree.”

Yumna also doesn’t have an accent, so people often don’t realize she’s an international student.

“I’ve been told several times ‘Oh, I never would have guessed you’re an international student,’” she said. “At first I thought it was a compliment but it really isn’t … I don’t think I had to fight to get anyone’s respect, which I know a lot of other international students struggle with just because of something like an accent.”

Yumna said she doesn’t know how many international friends she has because she doesn’t distinguish between international and domestic students.

“I don’t even think that way,” she said. “I just make friends and I can’t tell you off the top of my head how many are international and how many are domestic.”

Though Yumna’s sister was born last winter, they had to wait until summer to meet face-to-face. Now she doesn’t go more than a couple days without videocalling her family.

“At the end of the day it’s not that hard because you’re really busy here,” she said. “You keep busy and you just look forward to the reward at the end, that’s how I think of it.”

This is the first summer Yumna will be staying in Canada. She said she’s excited to try living off-campus and getting a job. It’s hard to be away from her family, but she’s been preparing to go away all her life.

“I never wanted to go back to Indonesia for university,” she said. “I can speak the language but I’m a clear foreigner there. I’m more comfortable in a Western culture. I wouldn’t mind going back to Qatar but when I came to Canada I was invested in the entire journey, not just the university degree.”

Yumna plans to stay in Canada after she graduates, though she doesn’t know if she’ll stay in Edmonton.

“I’m very flexible,” she said. “I’m still at the age where I should be as uncomfortable as I can be, do anything, try anything.”