By YUKI KAJI
Staff Writer

Traveling to three cities, Quebec, Montreal and Ottawa, camping and a wine tour; these are school trips organized by  Niagara College for international students.

A group of international students heads to Long Beach for a day in the sun swimming and playing sports.

Chang Woojeon, an English as a Second Language (ESL) student in level two, from South Korea, says "It [school trips] is very good because I don't know Canada. I can learn Canadian culture."

Here for eight weeks, he came to Niagara College from a Korean university.  School trips give many nice chances for such international students who live here for a short term.

On July 10, two near-capacity buses with students went to Toronto. Vos says the most popular activity is the Toronto trip.

The trip gives only transportation. Each of students can enjoy freely such as shopping and sightseeing.  

Vincent Garcia, 39, from Venezuela, in the first year of Construction says, "I enjoyed it so much. I love this city." He says he enjoyed taking pictures of the town and he is happy with the school trip's fees.

"It's cheap. Good for students."

The college keeps fees cheap. For example, the return fare between Welland and Toronto by Coach Canada is about $31. When students go to Toronto by school trip, the fee is $10.

Vos says a regular ticket to Canada's Wonderland is about $50. In the case of school trip, the ticket is $35 and $5 for transportation, $40 in total.

On July 12, international students visited the Niagara-on- the- Lake campus for a wine tour for $10 per person.

International students learned how Winery and Viticulture Technician students make wines and tried the wines.

Gerry Davies, 49, a tour guide and a first year student of Winery and Viticulture Technician says "It's interesting. Many international students visit here."

He says he doesn't know how many international students have seen a winery before. It's good chance to see it.

He says private companies' bus tours visit the Niagara College's winery.

"It is unique because only the Niagara College teaches wine making in Canada. I hope they like here."

At the end of this activity, students bought wine.

Kyunglin Lee, 22, an ESL student in the level three, from South Korea, says, "I'm happy. I bought a wine. It is a present for my cousin."

A schedule of activities comes up monthly. There are seasonal activities such as camping and going ski and snowboarding.

International students should check the schedule.

Vos says she likes to take experience. It's nice to push them to exciting.

On some trips, Canadian students who are friends of international students can join too.

 "I welcome them," says Vos.

If you are interested in ESL trips or have any questions, please go to S100 in the Welland campus, or please contact Vos.  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it