Nimisha Grover

Alumni, Faculty of Science

I still remember when I was landing in Nova Scotia. I could see more water than land. I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m excited.’

I am a really family minded person. I really missed having a paternal grandpa. He passed away when my dad was in high school because of blood cancer. That was a long, long time ago. The 1970s or something, and they didn’t even know what they could do. So, I was deprived of having a paternal grandfather and back home they say that granddaughters are closer to grandfathers and grandsons are closer to grandmothers. I really wished I’d had his presence. I heard that when I when I was a kid, and I’ve always wanted to be a doctor ever since. I want to be an oncologist and do research on cancer, blood cancer specifically.

You know, in Delhi you don’t see any water bodies around. You are right in the middle of India and there are so many people. I love the vibe and everything, but there’s no water around. I’m more of a hilly, mountainside person or a quiet-city person. That’s why I wanted to be in Halifax because I like the area and there’s water everywhere. I still remember when I was landing in Nova Scotia. I could see more water than land. I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m excited.’

The thing that broke me the first time was about five or six days in. My mom came to drop me in Canada, but she could only stay for five days because my sister had exams. I still remember it was the day that she was going to leave for her flight back to India. We called a cab, and I took a nap before that was going to come. She woke me up and said, ‘You know I think the cab is gonna be here.’ We were standing outside, and I saw her sit in the car and it drove away. I think that’s when I felt the ball drop and I just couldn’t come out of it for like a week. You know, seeing the moment when you think you have everything in Canada. You’re all settled in and happy, and then she’s sitting in the car. She’s all teary eyed and crying and I’m crying. I just can’t get that picture out of my head ever. That was the day I realized, ‘Okay, I am by myself here. I’ve got to be at home here.’

In India, me and my mom, sister and friends would be out until 8 or 8:30 playing at the playground or talking to each other and telling stories and running around. My mom would start cooking at 8:30, sometimes 9. We wouldn’t have dinner until 11:30 or 12. My dad would come home late from his business at 11 at night. So, we were more used to staying up late than waking up early. That was huge. Like, ‘Oh my god, I have 8:30 classes.’ My mom can’t wake me up here, so I have to set an alarm and that’s not a good feeling.

I grew up with a lot of financial crises at home. I remember when our family was really well off. It was a good time, I thought, but my sister didn’t think so because by the time she was born it was going down. Back home, businesses are not stable. It just never came back up. This was my dad’s business. My mom is a housewife. Basically, my dad’s income was supporting all six of us. I think what I want from life is financial stability for sure.

I worked at the Holiday Inn Express in Halifax at the front desk. You get to meet so many people. All these part-time jobs, you learn something bigger about work ethics or just what you are. There was the sweetest thing. There was this really old couple. They were 80 plus and one of their sons booked a room at the hotel for them. He decorated the room with 84 flowers because they were both 84. There was a bottle of wine and everything. I was like ‘Oh my god, I didn’t know they were so close to their family.’ They checked in and they were the sweetest people you’d ever meet. Working at hotels you meet so many different people. They are always curious and ask what do you want to be or what do you want to do after your biology degree. It’s good to talk.

The most surprising thing I learned during the transition to the working world this year was that it’s actually hard to implement the theoretical knowledge you learn at school into practical life. You can cram at the last minute and get good grades but to implement what you learned is the tricky part. You have to be invested in what you’re studying to know how to use the methodologies in the practical world. Courses at Dalhousie are taught in such a way that you get the most out of them. Everything you do in a professional lab is very much controlled by federal policies and Dalhousie played a very important role in my knowledge of such lab practices. The lab and research courses strengthened my core principles, which have helped me succeed at BioVectra, where I work now.

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