Approximately 95 percent of Queen’s students come from an area outside of Kingston, with more than 90 percent of first-year students living in residence.
Based on these statistics, Queen’s is more than an academic center of learning; it functions as a transitional home for students, parents and those who support them.
However, the transition to a university setting creates a peak period for the potential onset of mental illness, and most present within early adulthood. The most common illnesses experienced by 16-25 year olds are anxiety and depression, typified as internal disorders, which can arise from feelings of sadness, loneliness and stress.
U-Flourish, a student well-being research resource, conducted a study in 2020 on the academic success and well-being of first-year students after entering Queen’s.
The survey found that, of the 58 percent of students who completed the study, 28 percent reported a lifetime mental disorder, and only 8.5 percent of those students were receiving treatment. It also found that a third of students reported having significant depressive symptoms and 18 percent reported significant sleep problems.
With students’ mental health being affected during this transitional period, they need to find support systems and places to go for comfort. One way to mediate this stressful period is Orientation Week and the spirit of Queen’s O Week leaders.
Orientation Week has just ended.
The Gael’s have taken off their crowns, the Frecs have endured the endless grease poll and the Bosses are thankfully back in the office. Now, students are winding down from the high of Orientation Week and preparing for academic activities.
This sudden lack of stimulation can become a space where students begin to feel isolated from their environment and support systems.
newspapers interviewed four students from different academic, national and cultural backgrounds to find out where and how they coped with isolation at Queen’s.
First year experience
Matthew Wax, CompSci ’26, is a freshman from Toronto.
After leaving home and completing Orientation, he has started his classes and is reflecting on his first few weeks at Queen’s. In an interview with newspaper, he mentioned the differences between Kingston and Toronto, explaining how Kingston is “a nice break from the city.”
“It’s kind of weird because Kingston is a lot smaller, quieter,” Wax said.
He commented on his experience living in a big city like Toronto and adjusting to his new environment in a smaller city. Kingston has a large concentration of students in a field that requires an adjustment period. He does not see this as a negative, but as another area in which one can experience living away from home for the first time.
Until now, Wax has felt isolated at Queen’s because it’s challenging to understand your surroundings when everything is new.
“Because it’s like, oh, a new thing, and I’ve never really been away from home like this before.”
Unfamiliar places and people can be overwhelming at times, but there are people on campus who have made him feel welcome at Queen’s.
“My Don made me feel very welcome when I first walked in. I am [in Jean Royce Hall] in the West [campus]which not everyone likes, so the good thing is that my don is very good.”
The wax don made a big impression on him when he first arrived. It also made him feel more comfortable in his residence hall, which has a negative reputation on campus.
West Campus is a 20-minute walk from the main campus, so it can be difficult for first-year students who live there to travel to and from class. Instead, Wax has started exploring the campus and finding areas where he can relax between his lectures.
He has found solace in the William R. Lederman Law Library located on Union Street. The quiet and small environment of the library gives him a place to focus on his classes.
“Every time I’m in one of those buildings, I find a quiet place. I can do my work and stuff like that, because coming home to do work and then coming back from the next class is not very good.”
Wax also commented on the sense of community he feels on West Campus as an area of shared understanding.
“The advantages of living in the West are that everyone is in the same boat. So the West is a community.”
The international student experience
Mia Haqq, ArtSci ’25, is a global development major with a minor in Psychology who explained her experience at Queen’s as an international student from Trinidad and Tobago.
Haqq described her first memory on campus after moving in her freshman year. She was walking with some friends when she came across a group of people who she assumed were of the second age.
“You know sometimes […] many people like them [upper years], they’re like, oh, your fresh. And it is not necessary to talk to you, but let us be welcome. These people didn’t really care,” she said in an interview with Newspaper.
Despite their initial teasing about being in first year, she said they were really friendly and invited her to join their picnic. This memory changed her opinion of Queen’s stereotypes in a positive way: Queen’s students were very welcoming despite “different stereotypes or different things about the faculty.
When asked who influenced Haqq’s life the most, she answered her roommate.
Since she is an international student, Haqq didn’t know anyone from her hometown coming to Queen’s and found the cultural differences a bit difficult to adjust to without someone to help her. Her roommate was the one who guided her through the nuances of life in Canada while she was still trying to understand the culture and language.
“It was really fun because she taught me so many things.”
When she hung out with her roommate, she was taught new slang terms and their usage because Haqq didn’t always know what they meant.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, what terms? And we’d talk about the importance and just, yeah, oh, well, I got it. Let’s put it in my book.”
One of her favorite things about student life is the diversity of the campus itself. She enjoys meeting other international students because they share a level of connection and understanding.
“Like, for me, a lot of my classes are mostly done with similar local students, so I get along with them. But if I definitely meet another international student, I’m like, oh my god, where are you from? Like, who are you? Tell me about yourself?”
She said she feels a certain level of connection with students in a similar circumstance that she doesn’t always feel when interacting with local students. Other international students can appreciate the challenges of being so far from home, which allows Haqq to bond easily with like-minded people on campus.
Haqq was thrilled when she realized another girl in her class was an exchange student from Trinidad and Tobago. At the time, Haqq didn’t even know you could make an exchange between two countries.
“And so I kind of, like, showed her around. I was like, yeah, this is the Queen’s. That’s all. And I introduced her to other people as well. So, you know, I helped her.”
She said that when she feels overwhelmed, she sits by the lake. The water is an area to relax in – the calm and nostalgic feeling it evokes reminds her of home.
“I’m from the Caribbean, so I grew up pretty close to a body of water. So I associate every body of water with home, which is why I chose Queen’s.”
Semester abroad
A European exchange student born in Vienna, Georg Maderbacher, Comm ’24, spoke about his time integrating into the Queen’s community and how it differs from home.
He said Queen’s was well organized in terms of Orientation events and the activities offered here. He also explained the ease he felt when entering his first day of classes and meeting fellow exchange students from Vienna.
Maderbacher emphasized the influence his housemates had on him as a freshman at Queen’s. He met his housemates through Facebook and lives with three daughters and two sons, all of whom are exchange students.
“We just clicked right away and it feels like we’ve known each other for years,” Maderbadcher said in an interview with Newspaper.
He said his relationship with his housemates has made his experience at Queen’s much more enjoyable and made it easier to connect with people. He felt comfortable going out with his housemates because he was with people he could trust as he wandered around a new city and a foreign country.
Maderbacher said he hasn’t felt isolated at Queen’s, but has found it difficult to connect with Canadians. He has formed a close bond with the other exchange students because they have a “common ground,” but he has not felt the same way with the Canadian students.
He has noticed differences, including how Canadians celebrate versus Europeans. He believes the most obvious differences between Canada and Europe are the lack of club dancing and the number of street parties he’s seen here in Kingston.
He further commented on the difficulty of finding connections when going out to bars and the lack of a police force to regulate street parties.
“Canadians just dance to the music” and “The police would never allow anything [street parties] so at home.”
However, he went on to say that he has only been here for a short time and knows that adjusting to a new country like Canada will come with time.
“But I still have to like to know and adapt to the Canadian kind of style.”
Describing comfort
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, comfort is “that which or that which strengthens or supports; a support, a source of strength.” Comfort is an emotion usually associated with a noun – it is a person, place or thing that people use as a source of support.
When asked what comfort means to him, Wax said it’s “a place where you’re going to feel safe [and] a place where you feel accepted.”
He said it is an undefined space where there is no judgment from others and where you can exist without fear of being rejected by them.
Haqq also talked about her definition of comfort.
“I mean something cool,” she said. “I associate comfort with something cool and soft. So yeah, like a nice smoothie, like sitting around watching a movie, like talking to friends – like socializing, but not where you have to talk. […] Where it’s, oh, I’ll sit next to you, and that’s it.”
Carissa Graham, ArtSci ’23, spoke to her mom’s comfort.
She said that comfort is not a thing or a place, but how some people make you feel. Her mother’s ability to foster this sense of security is similar to how she feels when she visits Bracken Library, her favorite place on campus.
“Once you have people in your life who make you feel comfortable, then you generally feel comfortable and therefore less stressed and less anxious. You are able to deal with stressful situations because you know there are people in your life who are there for you if you need them.”
Maderbacher is a social person and, like Graham, said he finds comfort in the people around him.
When surrounded by individuals who know who he is, he feels a sense of connection that lifts his spirits. This ability to talk openly with another person creates a safe space that breaks down barriers—real conversation is where Maderbacher feels most like herself.
“Some people are more important than where you are. After all, it’s the people who make you feel comfortable.”
