This blog post was written by Brook during his 3rd year in the Urban and Regional Environments stream.

 

 

 

My name is Brook and I am a third year international student in the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES). I am from Ethiopia, which is a country located in the eastern part of Africa. I lived there for the first 13 years of my life until I moved to Tanzania, another country in Eastern Africa, for high school. I’m currently in my third year of the Urban and Regional Environments stream in the BES program. I chose this area of concentration because I’ve always been interested in understanding cities and how they grow and develop, as well as ensuring they become more sustainable, resilient, and have a minimal impact on their surrounding environment. I’m also working towards a certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing. This certificate will help me understand the mapping and spatial planning aspect of cities, since I learn about the process of map design and analysis as well as project planning and management.

I hope to one day work with an international organization such as the World Bank or United Nations and contribute to bettering the urban environments of developing nations such as my home country. I’ve lived on residence for all three years of my university experience.  I’m very involved in the residence community at York including sitting on Residence Council as well as working as a Residence Night Porter for the past two years.

During my free time, I like to watch and play football or “soccer” as it’s known here in North America. This summer, I went to my first ever professional soccer game between the teams Arsenal and Real Madrid in America and it was one of the most thrilling experiences ever. I also like to go out and explore different places to eat with my friends. York University has a pretty diverse student body with students from different backgrounds and cultures. Since my friends come from all over the world, we like to go and try different exotic cuisines from each other’s home countries.

I am really looking forward to this academic year and the all the opportunities it presents.