It's been a long time since updated and that's because been insanely busy! Firstly had the joys of finals so had a lot of work to do! While the finals weren't worth more than 30% of each module, it's still pretty stressful! I was lucky in that I only had 3 finals and one term paper. Unlike in Glasgow where exams all seem to be pretty strict and we have to sit far away from each other, no talking, special exam rooms etc. in Calgary it's pretty chilled. In fact in my first final (which was at 8am, unacceptably early!) we got given chocolate before the exam, chocolate in the middle of the exam and an extra 15 minutes of time because we looked stressed! Very different, but in a good way!
I had all my finals in the first week of the two possible weeks so on the Friday at the end of my exams with a few others who'd finished exams (and some who hadn't) we went to mine to watch movies, eat brownies and drink wine - lovely! The next day was Matt's birthday, so me, Steph, Kate and Matt's friends went to Twisted. I have to say it's probably one of best nights out in Calgary. The day after was the day Steph was leaving for Christmas and even though we were only going to be parted for a week and a half we had to have an emotional goodbye at the airport.
Then spent the next few days going to bars with friends, saying goodbye to multiple people and putting off packing. While saying goodbye to those who are coming back for the next semester was traumatic, saying goodbye to those who were leaving for good was really hard. Luckily I managed to make it through all the goodbyes without crying, but it was a definite possibility at certain times! By my final night most people had left, and me and Hannah went to meet Matt and Kate for drinks. Unfortunately we got a phone call on the way from Fliss telling us that she had not made her connecting flight due to leaving her passport and boarding pass on the previous plane but she couldn't get in touch with her boyfriend who was supposed to be picking her up the next morning English time from the airport. Fortunately we did manage to get in touch with him and then Fliss ended up on my flight home, which I rather enjoyed. Me, her and Pete had a great flight home, including some sleep which I was rather impressed at, and getting through Heathrow security only took me 5 minutes - what madness is this?! My mum and brother met me at Heathrow with a sign (as requested) and it was a true Love Actually airport moment! Perfect.
I was only home for a week and spent most of it (if not all of it) mildly jetlagged and a bit out of it! But it was great seeing family and getting back to British things like squash (and no for all you Canadians reading this I don't mean the vegetable!) However I greatly missed Canadian politeness, especially while sale shopping - no-one said sorry when they banged into me, ridiculous!
A few days back I flew back to Canada and coming into land all you could see was snow! Jetlag hasn't been too bad, it's almost as though my body was just waiting to return to Canada! Sarah's out visiting for a bit which is lovely, it's nice that one of my friend's back home will understand when I start talking about Canada stuff! We went to see Les Mis yesterday, I cried excessively, in fact I couldn't even stop crying once the film had ended - pathetic perhaps but it was just so sob-worthy! Right now I'm writing this from a hostel in Banff as me, Steph, Sarah and Lise are spending a few days here for New Years, chilling out, skiing and soaking in general mountain atmosphere! Lush! Shall give you an update in a few weeks on all the fun things we get up to!
Sunday 30 December 2012
Sunday 9 December 2012
Staying in? Not a chance!
Okay, so yes, I have a lot of work to do, but like a true trooper I have been doing my work and finding time to do fun stuff too! Who would have thought that you could do both?! As it's been such a busy week you're going to get a day by day account of my life, I'm sure you'll enjoy it highly!
Sunday - Woke up early on Sunday morning to go and take photos in the snow with Hannah, Fay and Julia. It was absolutely stunning, even if rather cold! But well worth the effort of waking up early! Then Jess drove me to church which was also great. Did some work before curling up with Steph and Claire to watch Miracle on 34th Street, beautiful day!
Monday - Now we all remember that on the plane over here me and Steph sat next to a lovely person called Kate? Well the 8 hour flight with us obviously didn't scare her too much and so we've been out lots since getting here (think they've all been mentioned in previous blogs!) The exciting thing is that even though Kate is a vegetarian, she works for Alberta Beef. For those people who don't know, Alberta is like the beef province, and Calgary is like the beef capital of Canada. And I love beef. So when Kate invited me and Steph to go along to a free buffet dinner of course we said yes (after some brief questions as to whether she really wanted her work colleagues to meet us!) We got dressed up business-casual and got a cab to the Sheraton Cavalier hotel. Once there and with a glass of free wine in our hands we met a lot of Kate's colleagues who were all lovely, and also met quite a few cowboys (very exciting!) The food was absolutely amazing, the beef was cooked in the style of four different countries - there was a carvery for Canada, fajitas for Mexico, some amazing thing for Korea and then beef pie for England. Although the fact the gravy was separate to the pie made it a little less British, like all the rest of the food it was amazing! Already feeling rather stuffed after all of that food there was then the joy of an ice cream sundae station for dessert! AMAZING! All in all it was a lovely night and I still felt full the next day which is always good!
Tuesday - Me and Claire went to see Silver Linings Playbook on Tuesday, honestly I recommend you all go and see it, I would happily see it again and again. Firstly Bradley Cooper is just amazing, and even though he is in a binbag for the majority of the film he still looks fantastic, and then Jennifer Lawrence is just perfect in this role. I could not recommend this highly enough. Then as it was Fay's last night here this semester we all went over to hers and made Christmas decorations (with varying levels of success it has t be admitted!) but now all our rooms look at least semi-festive which is lovely!
Wednesday - This week seemed to be the week for putting in extra effort to my appearance as to celebrate Fliss' 21st birthday we headed to River Cafe, a posh restaurant on Prince Edward Island (a small island in the Bow River which runs through Calgary). While the walk there from the C-train was absolutely freezing there were lots of gorgeous Christmas lights outside which made up for it. The food was amazing; after the slight disaster when five of us had ordered duck and they only had two ducks left, we all managed to get some delicious food. I had a steak and it even came with yorkshire puddings! How homely! For dessert I shared an apple upside down cake with Tilda which filled me up nicely. After deciding it was too cold to get the C-train home we piled into a taxi instead, much warmer!
Thursday - As this was Fliss' actual birthday, after bible study I went home and got ready to head out to the Den. We got to skip the queue which was good (even though for once the queue wasn't too long) . As we danced the night away (getting very amused with Tilda's ghetto moves and open mouthed faces) we kept checking the time until at midnight we could finally say happy birthday to Lucy! I headed home not long after that, knowing I had a lot of work to do and unfortunately after I left it seemed a thief went on a bit of a spree and 11 people got their phones and/or wallets stolen. Even Anna's cheapy flip phone went to the thief, much to the security's amusement. Losses aside everyone had a great night though!
Friday - So now for big Luce's birthday celebrations! While original plans had been to have a few drinks on 17th a few sore heads put paid to that idea so we headed up the Calgary Tower. The views were amazing and watching Steph and Lucy freak out over the height was equally beautiful. After multiple photos including a 'family' photo we headed down to the outdoor ice rink we'd noticed. None of us had skates but it was beautifully lit up and felt kind of film like. Gorgeous! Then we got the c-train home before curling up and watching Love Actually.
Saturday - Did you honestly think that I would have burnt out after 5 days of doing things? No, not me! On Saturday Lucy, Fliss, Tilda, Julia and me went to watch the Calgary Hitmen vs the Edmonton Oil Kings. Now firstly can I just state that while Edmonton is technically the capital of Alberta, everyone knows that Calgary should be as it's a much better city. So yes, there is quite a bit of rivalry. We were all given a box of macaroni and cheese to shake for 'Shake up the Stadium' and then to donate afterwards for the Food Bank Drive which is really nice (kudos to the Co-op for providing 10,000 boxes!) I have a wee bit of a crush on Spencer Humphries (one of the Hitmen) so of course was cheering him on loudly! Unfortunately by the end of the first period we were 2-0 down. The second period stayed the same. Things were looking pretty dire, especially when with 10 minutes to go the Oil Kings scored another goal! People were leaving the stadium, never a good sign! With 4 minutes to go, we scored...then pretty much 30 seconds later we scored again! For a brief glorious minute I actually thought we could do it! Unfortunately the Oil Kings then scored once more, but it certainly was an intense end to the game and I was very much on the edge of my seat!
Sunday - Not much to report today, been doing a lot of revision! However we did all exchange our Secret Santa gifts! A $5 we discovered was a lot harder to shop for than we thought it would be but I got some gorgeous Urban Outfitters socks from Lucy, wrapped in a magazine page which had Ryan Gosling on - beautiful! Then been revising most of the rest of today, but taking a break to write this blog post, aren't you guys happy I did? So that's that, my hectic but amazing week!
Sunday - Woke up early on Sunday morning to go and take photos in the snow with Hannah, Fay and Julia. It was absolutely stunning, even if rather cold! But well worth the effort of waking up early! Then Jess drove me to church which was also great. Did some work before curling up with Steph and Claire to watch Miracle on 34th Street, beautiful day!
Monday - Now we all remember that on the plane over here me and Steph sat next to a lovely person called Kate? Well the 8 hour flight with us obviously didn't scare her too much and so we've been out lots since getting here (think they've all been mentioned in previous blogs!) The exciting thing is that even though Kate is a vegetarian, she works for Alberta Beef. For those people who don't know, Alberta is like the beef province, and Calgary is like the beef capital of Canada. And I love beef. So when Kate invited me and Steph to go along to a free buffet dinner of course we said yes (after some brief questions as to whether she really wanted her work colleagues to meet us!) We got dressed up business-casual and got a cab to the Sheraton Cavalier hotel. Once there and with a glass of free wine in our hands we met a lot of Kate's colleagues who were all lovely, and also met quite a few cowboys (very exciting!) The food was absolutely amazing, the beef was cooked in the style of four different countries - there was a carvery for Canada, fajitas for Mexico, some amazing thing for Korea and then beef pie for England. Although the fact the gravy was separate to the pie made it a little less British, like all the rest of the food it was amazing! Already feeling rather stuffed after all of that food there was then the joy of an ice cream sundae station for dessert! AMAZING! All in all it was a lovely night and I still felt full the next day which is always good!
Tuesday - Me and Claire went to see Silver Linings Playbook on Tuesday, honestly I recommend you all go and see it, I would happily see it again and again. Firstly Bradley Cooper is just amazing, and even though he is in a binbag for the majority of the film he still looks fantastic, and then Jennifer Lawrence is just perfect in this role. I could not recommend this highly enough. Then as it was Fay's last night here this semester we all went over to hers and made Christmas decorations (with varying levels of success it has t be admitted!) but now all our rooms look at least semi-festive which is lovely!
Wednesday - This week seemed to be the week for putting in extra effort to my appearance as to celebrate Fliss' 21st birthday we headed to River Cafe, a posh restaurant on Prince Edward Island (a small island in the Bow River which runs through Calgary). While the walk there from the C-train was absolutely freezing there were lots of gorgeous Christmas lights outside which made up for it. The food was amazing; after the slight disaster when five of us had ordered duck and they only had two ducks left, we all managed to get some delicious food. I had a steak and it even came with yorkshire puddings! How homely! For dessert I shared an apple upside down cake with Tilda which filled me up nicely. After deciding it was too cold to get the C-train home we piled into a taxi instead, much warmer!
Thursday - As this was Fliss' actual birthday, after bible study I went home and got ready to head out to the Den. We got to skip the queue which was good (even though for once the queue wasn't too long) . As we danced the night away (getting very amused with Tilda's ghetto moves and open mouthed faces) we kept checking the time until at midnight we could finally say happy birthday to Lucy! I headed home not long after that, knowing I had a lot of work to do and unfortunately after I left it seemed a thief went on a bit of a spree and 11 people got their phones and/or wallets stolen. Even Anna's cheapy flip phone went to the thief, much to the security's amusement. Losses aside everyone had a great night though!
Friday - So now for big Luce's birthday celebrations! While original plans had been to have a few drinks on 17th a few sore heads put paid to that idea so we headed up the Calgary Tower. The views were amazing and watching Steph and Lucy freak out over the height was equally beautiful. After multiple photos including a 'family' photo we headed down to the outdoor ice rink we'd noticed. None of us had skates but it was beautifully lit up and felt kind of film like. Gorgeous! Then we got the c-train home before curling up and watching Love Actually.
Saturday - Did you honestly think that I would have burnt out after 5 days of doing things? No, not me! On Saturday Lucy, Fliss, Tilda, Julia and me went to watch the Calgary Hitmen vs the Edmonton Oil Kings. Now firstly can I just state that while Edmonton is technically the capital of Alberta, everyone knows that Calgary should be as it's a much better city. So yes, there is quite a bit of rivalry. We were all given a box of macaroni and cheese to shake for 'Shake up the Stadium' and then to donate afterwards for the Food Bank Drive which is really nice (kudos to the Co-op for providing 10,000 boxes!) I have a wee bit of a crush on Spencer Humphries (one of the Hitmen) so of course was cheering him on loudly! Unfortunately by the end of the first period we were 2-0 down. The second period stayed the same. Things were looking pretty dire, especially when with 10 minutes to go the Oil Kings scored another goal! People were leaving the stadium, never a good sign! With 4 minutes to go, we scored...then pretty much 30 seconds later we scored again! For a brief glorious minute I actually thought we could do it! Unfortunately the Oil Kings then scored once more, but it certainly was an intense end to the game and I was very much on the edge of my seat!
Sunday - Not much to report today, been doing a lot of revision! However we did all exchange our Secret Santa gifts! A $5 we discovered was a lot harder to shop for than we thought it would be but I got some gorgeous Urban Outfitters socks from Lucy, wrapped in a magazine page which had Ryan Gosling on - beautiful! Then been revising most of the rest of today, but taking a break to write this blog post, aren't you guys happy I did? So that's that, my hectic but amazing week!
Snuggled up to watch Miracle on 34th Street
All smart for Alberta Beef
Christmas Decorations
Posh at River Cafe
Good times at the Den
Moose at the top of Calgary Tower
Calgary at night
Saturday 1 December 2012
Work hard, play hard!
So it's December and work is piling up...yet the end is in sight with only the hurdles of two assignments, a term paper and three finals to go...how hard can it be really? You may think that with all this work I surely wouldn't have much to update you on...but this is where you would be wrong! Apart from a wonderful trip to Chinook Mall on Black Friday to scoop up some bargains (I would talk about them but they were mainly Christmas presents so I feel I can't...however I did get a lovely pair of leather shorts), I've also been to the cinema to see Breaking Dawn (don't judge me!) and to see Life of Pi (HIGHLY recommend it when you get it out there!) Like all good friends, important as work is, birthdays are equally if not more important! So since last talking to you there have been two birthday celebrations!
Firstly Brittany! She turned 21 (very exciting!) and with my new leather shorts on we headed out to Cowboys! Cowboys is kind of like Ranchmans, but in a casino and much larger. Plus it plays a mix of country and chart stuff. I think I'm finally understanding Canadian line dancing and even managed to show a Canadian how to do it! I was very impressed with myself!
Then the next day was the birthday of excessive amounts of people, also known as Project Cascade or Project X. With over 170 people attending on FB the party was spread over two flats, and even then it was pretty rammed. By half 9 the CAs had come to shut down the parties and apparently the flats were completely trashed. The party buses that had been organised arrived at 10 so everyone just chilled about in smaller groups till then. Waiting for the party buses was possibly one of the coldest experiences of my life but as soon as we were on the bus (after the police slowing down to question why there were over 100 uni students waiting outside on the side of the road) it warmed up quickly enough! We headed to Exchange (which was where the Ski Club party had been held) and we pretty much were 90% of the people there that night which was awesome! After claiming our free drink we danced the night away then at 2am (clubs shut at 2 here) got on the party bus to go home. I have to say it's probably been one of, if not the best night out I've had since being here. Just all round good times and great to have so many friends out!
Aside from birthdays went out for catch up drinks with Steph and Kate and her friend Matt last night which was lovely. I absolutely love Julios, such a great bar so that was great! Also nice to have quite a chilled evening. Then today besides doing some work me and Claire headed off to Market Mall to do a bit of Christmas shopping including shopping for the Secret Santa us girls are doing! We may have got slightly over excited about the presents which we've found but I can't say anymore here because that would ruin the surprise!! Also apart from the normal bible study, this week had Unite the Light where all the Christian groups on campus come together to worship and pray together, was a really lovely time!
All in all it's been a great few weeks since last wrote! Probably will update in a week's time as a LOT going on this week, then it's finals, then a week of freedom then coming home! How time flies eh?
Firstly Brittany! She turned 21 (very exciting!) and with my new leather shorts on we headed out to Cowboys! Cowboys is kind of like Ranchmans, but in a casino and much larger. Plus it plays a mix of country and chart stuff. I think I'm finally understanding Canadian line dancing and even managed to show a Canadian how to do it! I was very impressed with myself!
Then the next day was the birthday of excessive amounts of people, also known as Project Cascade or Project X. With over 170 people attending on FB the party was spread over two flats, and even then it was pretty rammed. By half 9 the CAs had come to shut down the parties and apparently the flats were completely trashed. The party buses that had been organised arrived at 10 so everyone just chilled about in smaller groups till then. Waiting for the party buses was possibly one of the coldest experiences of my life but as soon as we were on the bus (after the police slowing down to question why there were over 100 uni students waiting outside on the side of the road) it warmed up quickly enough! We headed to Exchange (which was where the Ski Club party had been held) and we pretty much were 90% of the people there that night which was awesome! After claiming our free drink we danced the night away then at 2am (clubs shut at 2 here) got on the party bus to go home. I have to say it's probably been one of, if not the best night out I've had since being here. Just all round good times and great to have so many friends out!
Aside from birthdays went out for catch up drinks with Steph and Kate and her friend Matt last night which was lovely. I absolutely love Julios, such a great bar so that was great! Also nice to have quite a chilled evening. Then today besides doing some work me and Claire headed off to Market Mall to do a bit of Christmas shopping including shopping for the Secret Santa us girls are doing! We may have got slightly over excited about the presents which we've found but I can't say anymore here because that would ruin the surprise!! Also apart from the normal bible study, this week had Unite the Light where all the Christian groups on campus come together to worship and pray together, was a really lovely time!
All in all it's been a great few weeks since last wrote! Probably will update in a week's time as a LOT going on this week, then it's finals, then a week of freedom then coming home! How time flies eh?
Cowboys (loook how lovely my shorts are!)
Waiting for the bus!
Me and Claire at Exhange
Monday 19 November 2012
Halfway through November already!
So it's mid November...time is truly flying! For those unfortunate enough to be only doing a semester abroad they don't have long left! In fact in a month and a day I'll be flying back to the UK to spend a jetlagged Christmas with the family! But even though finals are approaching super quickly, it's only just now that I've finished my midterms! CRAZY! Still loads of work to do but hopefully will get through it all without too many mental breakdowns! Few minor things to update on then the major thing of the ski trip!!
For actual halloween just went to a flat party at Claire's flat dressed as some kind of creepy dead doll thing. Very good fun, especially as Steph refused to look at me all evening as I creeped her out too much. I now have excessive amounts of fake blood left over so guessing I'll use that up next halloween.
Had a few reading days (they tell you that you have four but really they are lying, it's Saturday, Sunday, Monday (which we would have off for Remembrance Day anyway), and then the Tuesday) but it was still VERY nice to have a bit of down time! The week before had been super hectic with two midterms, plus a presentation and two assignments so I greatly enjoyed the extra sleep. Also went downtown and explored a few more bars so that was lovely. Also made use of cheap Tuesday cinema (that's a thing over here too!) to go see the new James Bond. Very good and all us Brits were very happy to hear some true British sarcasm and hear British accents (not that we're lacking that in our friendship group really!)
Then the major thing: SKI TRIP! As you all know I came to Canada to ski so even though it's always risky this early in the season (only second weekend of Lake Louise being open), I couldn't pass up the chance to go skiing. The trip was from Friday evening till Sunday evening, with two full days skiing. There were 3 buses full of us 162 ski club members keen to hit the slopes! Theme was cowboys, indians and aliens so with feathers in my hair and war paint on we partied away on the bus to Banff where we would be staying. The hotel was quite nice although apparently rated as the worst hotel in Banff.
Now, you'd think nothing too eventful would manage to happen within a few hours of getting off the bus, but once we reached a bar we found out that Anna had possibly had her purse stolen. After a lot of panicked phone calls to her (she'd gone back to the hotel with Matilda) me and Julia headed back to get an early night. Once back we called in to see Anna who being sensible had got in touch with the police, the reception desk and cancelled all her cards. Then came the awkward moment when she walked to the bathroom and found her purse. However, at least this meant she had her purse so me and Julia and Matilda went back to our room to sleep. After some interesting chats and a lot of laughter we got to sleep.
The next morning the alarm went off at 6:30 and we groggily started getting ready. Luckily my excitement to get skiing outweighed the sleepiness I was feeling. After a breakfast at the hotel (and making sandwiches to take with us) we were in the bus at 8. It was a bit of a struggle to get Julia's boots on but I have to admit we all looked pretty professional - even if there were hints of feat in the eyes of some of the girls who'd never skied before. Everyone apart from me, Flis and Cooper had booked lessons that morning (either to get ski legs back after only skiing once or twice or just to see if they could actually ski) so the three of us headed up in the gondola. While at first me and Flis were trying desperately to remember how to ski we soon got into our stride again. It was a little bit icy but we carried on up, getting chair lift to the other side of the mountain. There we encountered some major rocks and (fearing for our hired skis) proceeded down. Once past the rocks the run was super nice though! Got a few really good runs in before meeting the girls for lunch. Unlike the Alps there were no nice bars and cafes on the slope, just back at the bottom, but still that food was much appreciated.
In the afternoon I spent a bit of time on the baby slope trying to get Steph skiing, although this did end in her saying she hated skiing, was going home and never skiing again. Luckily her mood brightened up again. Me and Pete took Claire and Lucy up the shortest run there was. Although it was classified a green I really think it should have been at least a blue. While there were a few dramatic tumbles I felt like a very proud parent when we reached the end without any major injuries and just a few bruises. We headed back to Banff but by now the playlist which had been on every bus journey so far was getting rather boring, especially as the songs were awful and it seemed like there were a maximum of fifteen songs just on a loop. However this was not going to get us down. Once back we booked a table at a nice Mexican, showered, applied liberal amounts of deep heat, watched A Cinderella Story which we found on the TV then headed to eat. Luckily one of the benefits of skiing is you can eat a lot as you've earned is so we fully used that privilege. At that point a few of us were just too sleepy to stay out so headed home, got into pjs then watched some very bizarre TV before retiring to bed.
The next morning we were aching but excited as it was supposed to have snowed some more and as we were driving we could see it getting snowier! Upon arrival there was definitely more snow so me, Cooper, Flis, Phil and Henry got the gondola up and enjoyed the gorgeous ski down in fresh powder. Truly perfect skiing! Then we got a call from some of the girls (who had never skied before) wanting to do a run so we met them at the top of the chair lift. It was a wee bit of a traumatic experience with a lot of tumbles (including Jackie fully wiping me out!) but everyone got down without broken bones so I'm counting that as a success. After a quick lunch we headed out again. Me and Phil went up in the gondola and skied down. It was getting a bit icy again but half way down started to snow so that was lush. We decided not to do the Martini run (topless skiing, in that cold, no thank you) so got the chair lift and did one more run before standing at the bottom to watch the martini runners arrive. They looked very cold (unsurprisingly) but said it had been good. I'll take their word for it.
So, very sleepily we headed back to the buses for the journey back. While most of us wanted to just sleep thecarefully selected dire and awful playlist was on again. I feel we will all be hearing those songs in our dreams. After the walk back to rez carrying all our stuff we were ready to collapse. Me, Lucy and Fay ordered a chinese then I got on with revision for today's midterm. Smothering myself in deep heat before sleep again I was very glad to be in my own bed, although sad that couldn't ski the next day. Woke up this morning very achey and sore but truly excited for the other opportunities to ski and tempted to try and get a few more weekends/day trips in than just the ski club ones.
There it is, a VERY long update on my life. I apologise for the length of it and thanks for sticking to the end (if anyone did!) Just one more wee thing to say because I'm British and haven't mentioned it yet, I think I'm actually becoming adjusted to the weather. Anything above -6 feels quite pleasant, and the fact it's above 0 today means it is positively hot! Just you wait, soon I'll be one of those people who never wears a coat in the UK!
For actual halloween just went to a flat party at Claire's flat dressed as some kind of creepy dead doll thing. Very good fun, especially as Steph refused to look at me all evening as I creeped her out too much. I now have excessive amounts of fake blood left over so guessing I'll use that up next halloween.
Had a few reading days (they tell you that you have four but really they are lying, it's Saturday, Sunday, Monday (which we would have off for Remembrance Day anyway), and then the Tuesday) but it was still VERY nice to have a bit of down time! The week before had been super hectic with two midterms, plus a presentation and two assignments so I greatly enjoyed the extra sleep. Also went downtown and explored a few more bars so that was lovely. Also made use of cheap Tuesday cinema (that's a thing over here too!) to go see the new James Bond. Very good and all us Brits were very happy to hear some true British sarcasm and hear British accents (not that we're lacking that in our friendship group really!)
Then the major thing: SKI TRIP! As you all know I came to Canada to ski so even though it's always risky this early in the season (only second weekend of Lake Louise being open), I couldn't pass up the chance to go skiing. The trip was from Friday evening till Sunday evening, with two full days skiing. There were 3 buses full of us 162 ski club members keen to hit the slopes! Theme was cowboys, indians and aliens so with feathers in my hair and war paint on we partied away on the bus to Banff where we would be staying. The hotel was quite nice although apparently rated as the worst hotel in Banff.
Now, you'd think nothing too eventful would manage to happen within a few hours of getting off the bus, but once we reached a bar we found out that Anna had possibly had her purse stolen. After a lot of panicked phone calls to her (she'd gone back to the hotel with Matilda) me and Julia headed back to get an early night. Once back we called in to see Anna who being sensible had got in touch with the police, the reception desk and cancelled all her cards. Then came the awkward moment when she walked to the bathroom and found her purse. However, at least this meant she had her purse so me and Julia and Matilda went back to our room to sleep. After some interesting chats and a lot of laughter we got to sleep.
The next morning the alarm went off at 6:30 and we groggily started getting ready. Luckily my excitement to get skiing outweighed the sleepiness I was feeling. After a breakfast at the hotel (and making sandwiches to take with us) we were in the bus at 8. It was a bit of a struggle to get Julia's boots on but I have to admit we all looked pretty professional - even if there were hints of feat in the eyes of some of the girls who'd never skied before. Everyone apart from me, Flis and Cooper had booked lessons that morning (either to get ski legs back after only skiing once or twice or just to see if they could actually ski) so the three of us headed up in the gondola. While at first me and Flis were trying desperately to remember how to ski we soon got into our stride again. It was a little bit icy but we carried on up, getting chair lift to the other side of the mountain. There we encountered some major rocks and (fearing for our hired skis) proceeded down. Once past the rocks the run was super nice though! Got a few really good runs in before meeting the girls for lunch. Unlike the Alps there were no nice bars and cafes on the slope, just back at the bottom, but still that food was much appreciated.
In the afternoon I spent a bit of time on the baby slope trying to get Steph skiing, although this did end in her saying she hated skiing, was going home and never skiing again. Luckily her mood brightened up again. Me and Pete took Claire and Lucy up the shortest run there was. Although it was classified a green I really think it should have been at least a blue. While there were a few dramatic tumbles I felt like a very proud parent when we reached the end without any major injuries and just a few bruises. We headed back to Banff but by now the playlist which had been on every bus journey so far was getting rather boring, especially as the songs were awful and it seemed like there were a maximum of fifteen songs just on a loop. However this was not going to get us down. Once back we booked a table at a nice Mexican, showered, applied liberal amounts of deep heat, watched A Cinderella Story which we found on the TV then headed to eat. Luckily one of the benefits of skiing is you can eat a lot as you've earned is so we fully used that privilege. At that point a few of us were just too sleepy to stay out so headed home, got into pjs then watched some very bizarre TV before retiring to bed.
The next morning we were aching but excited as it was supposed to have snowed some more and as we were driving we could see it getting snowier! Upon arrival there was definitely more snow so me, Cooper, Flis, Phil and Henry got the gondola up and enjoyed the gorgeous ski down in fresh powder. Truly perfect skiing! Then we got a call from some of the girls (who had never skied before) wanting to do a run so we met them at the top of the chair lift. It was a wee bit of a traumatic experience with a lot of tumbles (including Jackie fully wiping me out!) but everyone got down without broken bones so I'm counting that as a success. After a quick lunch we headed out again. Me and Phil went up in the gondola and skied down. It was getting a bit icy again but half way down started to snow so that was lush. We decided not to do the Martini run (topless skiing, in that cold, no thank you) so got the chair lift and did one more run before standing at the bottom to watch the martini runners arrive. They looked very cold (unsurprisingly) but said it had been good. I'll take their word for it.
So, very sleepily we headed back to the buses for the journey back. While most of us wanted to just sleep the
There it is, a VERY long update on my life. I apologise for the length of it and thanks for sticking to the end (if anyone did!) Just one more wee thing to say because I'm British and haven't mentioned it yet, I think I'm actually becoming adjusted to the weather. Anything above -6 feels quite pleasant, and the fact it's above 0 today means it is positively hot! Just you wait, soon I'll be one of those people who never wears a coat in the UK!
On the bus
Me and Flis excited to get skiing
Me and Phil at top of Gondola
Saturday 27 October 2012
A wee update on life in Canada
Okay so it's been a while since I last posted but I've just been so insanely busy with midterms and assignments that actually finding a spare minute to do anything is tricky!
So what have I done since last posting? Went horseback riding which was great, it was an absolutely amazing experience especially as it's just so peaceful and serene and there's literally no-one around you. While my horse was very like me in it's stubbornness which meant it quite often decided to go through bushes and trees rather than around them it was still fantastic, and very different riding Western style rather than British style. Also we were very lucky because it seemed we went on the last weekend on nice weather!
Now being British I'm sure you'll all understand I have to talk about the weather...in fact as you may have noticed from facebook statuses the weather is hot topic (or rather cold topic) of conversation amongst us Brits at the minute! While I've heard that some of you guys have had snow I feel like a true Canadian in judging your snow to not even count as snow! While we had a brief day of snow last week, it snowed again on Tuesday and this looks set to stay! It's been snowing on and off since Tuesday and temperatures have been -8 with windchill making it feel like -16...not exactly the gorgeous mid to high 20s we'd been having at the start! But it's okay because been on shopping spree and am now the proud owner of a hat, gloves, and snow boots (which are Uggs so filled with warm sheepskin!) I've never felt so toasty in my life! The paths are pretty okay now but still certain areas of them are icey death traps. I saw a Canadian run up and slide along on of these patches and just looked oh so casual and cool - I however resemble bambi. There have also been multiple observations of Canadians in shorts. This is not a valid life choice and they should rethink it.
Weather dealt with I can talk about all the other things I've been getting up to! It was Fay (one of the British girls)'s birthday so we went out to a lovely little Thai place called Delicious Thai (and it truly was delicious) then to Molly Malones where we squished more people into a booth than you really should! Booked onto the ski trip which'll be great fun, so excited to get out skiing! Went to see Perks of Being a Wallflower and cried excessively (such a good movie though!)
However, what I've spent a lot of my time doing is sewing my tardis dress. This weekend is halloween weekend so went out last night dressed as a tardis. I'm not going to lie it was an eventful night. First of all me, Hannah and Steph managed to get on the snowboard club party bus rather than the ski club party bus which was taking us to Roadhouse rather than Exchange! Awkward! Luckily the snowboard club people were very nice for boarders and gave us a free ticket which got us a free drink in Roadhouse. After that we got in a taxi to get to Exchange, luckily it was only a few blocks. Got there and reunited with the others. It's true that North America really does go all out on costumes for halloween! Got another halloween party on Wednesday (actual halloween) which'll be great!
I've probably done lots of other little things which I can't think of right now, shall try and update more regularly so no-one worries that I've fallen in the snow and become an ice cube!
So what have I done since last posting? Went horseback riding which was great, it was an absolutely amazing experience especially as it's just so peaceful and serene and there's literally no-one around you. While my horse was very like me in it's stubbornness which meant it quite often decided to go through bushes and trees rather than around them it was still fantastic, and very different riding Western style rather than British style. Also we were very lucky because it seemed we went on the last weekend on nice weather!
Now being British I'm sure you'll all understand I have to talk about the weather...in fact as you may have noticed from facebook statuses the weather is hot topic (or rather cold topic) of conversation amongst us Brits at the minute! While I've heard that some of you guys have had snow I feel like a true Canadian in judging your snow to not even count as snow! While we had a brief day of snow last week, it snowed again on Tuesday and this looks set to stay! It's been snowing on and off since Tuesday and temperatures have been -8 with windchill making it feel like -16...not exactly the gorgeous mid to high 20s we'd been having at the start! But it's okay because been on shopping spree and am now the proud owner of a hat, gloves, and snow boots (which are Uggs so filled with warm sheepskin!) I've never felt so toasty in my life! The paths are pretty okay now but still certain areas of them are icey death traps. I saw a Canadian run up and slide along on of these patches and just looked oh so casual and cool - I however resemble bambi. There have also been multiple observations of Canadians in shorts. This is not a valid life choice and they should rethink it.
Weather dealt with I can talk about all the other things I've been getting up to! It was Fay (one of the British girls)'s birthday so we went out to a lovely little Thai place called Delicious Thai (and it truly was delicious) then to Molly Malones where we squished more people into a booth than you really should! Booked onto the ski trip which'll be great fun, so excited to get out skiing! Went to see Perks of Being a Wallflower and cried excessively (such a good movie though!)
However, what I've spent a lot of my time doing is sewing my tardis dress. This weekend is halloween weekend so went out last night dressed as a tardis. I'm not going to lie it was an eventful night. First of all me, Hannah and Steph managed to get on the snowboard club party bus rather than the ski club party bus which was taking us to Roadhouse rather than Exchange! Awkward! Luckily the snowboard club people were very nice for boarders and gave us a free ticket which got us a free drink in Roadhouse. After that we got in a taxi to get to Exchange, luckily it was only a few blocks. Got there and reunited with the others. It's true that North America really does go all out on costumes for halloween! Got another halloween party on Wednesday (actual halloween) which'll be great!
I've probably done lots of other little things which I can't think of right now, shall try and update more regularly so no-one worries that I've fallen in the snow and become an ice cube!
Horse riding
So much snow!
Squished into a booth!
I wish I could actually travel in time and space!
Friday 12 October 2012
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Now I promise you I still have access to a calendar and am well aware that it is not even the middle of October yet but I've certainly been feeling rather festive recently. What is the reason for all this festive feeling I hear you asking? Well it's pretty simple. Canadians have this thing where they don't want to seem American, however they also like food. So they wanted Thanksgiving but didn't want to seem American, so as opposed to it being the third Thursday in November it's the second Monday in October. (They say it's that date because that's when the harvest is done up here, but really it's the American hating thing.) For those who have been living under a rock and don't know what Thanksgiving is, it's basically an excuse to visit your family and eat large quantities of food. I could tell this was a celebration I was going to get along well with!
Steph's lovely relatives had invited us over for Thanksgiving so I got to experience the full on Canadian version and I have to say it's amazing. Turkey and all the trimmings, plus bread rolls (apparently a tradition). I have to say as a student free food is always good, but free, home cooked food is even more amazing! Then came the moment of truth. Everyone talks about pumpkin pie, coffee shops start doing pumpkin spiced lattes, Dairy Queen does a pumpkin pie blizzard, Canadians are shocked and appalled that not only do we not celebrate Thanksgiving, but in fact we put pumpkin in soups rather than in pies... so it was with a little bit of in-trepidation that I bit into my first even pumpkin pie - would I like it? Would I have to leave Canada if I didn't like it? Why does everyone say it tastes sweet? However all my fears were put to rest. Pumpkin pie is amazing, so tasty! Slightly odd texture but just tastes sweet and cinnamon-y (I love the fact that cinnamon is so prevalent over here, so good!) Aside from the food it was also so lovely just sitting and chatting and feeling like part of the family. We were given multiple vouchers for money off things which they thought as students we might need, we were recommended places to go etc. and just once again Canadian hospitality shone through. Plus who can forget the hilarious moment when Finnegan the dog was discovered to have eaten through the cardboard box and eaten part of the apple pie!
But it's not just Thanksgiving which is making me feel all festive. We've had snow...twice! The first time didn't settle but the second time did! In fact it was kind of equivalent to the amount of snowfall we normally get in the south of England! I might have got ever so slightly over-excited about it! But it really is exciting to wake up and see snow! (Although my Canadian friends inform me that the amount we had does NOT count as snow...)
Aside from all the fun times the workload has really rocketed; lots of assignments and also done three midterms so far which is just crazy! All seem to have gone well but hard to tell before getting results! Still loving my time over here and trying to really make the most of it! Went to church for first time last Sunday and it was amazing, great service and really felt like St Silas (my church in Glasgow) so that was lush. Bible study group still going well, in fact we're all going for dinner on Monday which'll be great and tomorrow I'm off horseback riding in the foothills! EXCITING!
Steph's lovely relatives had invited us over for Thanksgiving so I got to experience the full on Canadian version and I have to say it's amazing. Turkey and all the trimmings, plus bread rolls (apparently a tradition). I have to say as a student free food is always good, but free, home cooked food is even more amazing! Then came the moment of truth. Everyone talks about pumpkin pie, coffee shops start doing pumpkin spiced lattes, Dairy Queen does a pumpkin pie blizzard, Canadians are shocked and appalled that not only do we not celebrate Thanksgiving, but in fact we put pumpkin in soups rather than in pies... so it was with a little bit of in-trepidation that I bit into my first even pumpkin pie - would I like it? Would I have to leave Canada if I didn't like it? Why does everyone say it tastes sweet? However all my fears were put to rest. Pumpkin pie is amazing, so tasty! Slightly odd texture but just tastes sweet and cinnamon-y (I love the fact that cinnamon is so prevalent over here, so good!) Aside from the food it was also so lovely just sitting and chatting and feeling like part of the family. We were given multiple vouchers for money off things which they thought as students we might need, we were recommended places to go etc. and just once again Canadian hospitality shone through. Plus who can forget the hilarious moment when Finnegan the dog was discovered to have eaten through the cardboard box and eaten part of the apple pie!
But it's not just Thanksgiving which is making me feel all festive. We've had snow...twice! The first time didn't settle but the second time did! In fact it was kind of equivalent to the amount of snowfall we normally get in the south of England! I might have got ever so slightly over-excited about it! But it really is exciting to wake up and see snow! (Although my Canadian friends inform me that the amount we had does NOT count as snow...)
Aside from all the fun times the workload has really rocketed; lots of assignments and also done three midterms so far which is just crazy! All seem to have gone well but hard to tell before getting results! Still loving my time over here and trying to really make the most of it! Went to church for first time last Sunday and it was amazing, great service and really felt like St Silas (my church in Glasgow) so that was lush. Bible study group still going well, in fact we're all going for dinner on Monday which'll be great and tomorrow I'm off horseback riding in the foothills! EXCITING!
view of snow from my window
Sunday 30 September 2012
One month in...
In under 24 hours I will have successfully made it through a month in Canada! It's odd to think that those who are just here for a term have already done 4 weeks out of 13...not a thought I'd want to be facing...there's so much more I want to do! But as I sit here writing this really I'm just procrastinating from the assignments that seem to be constantly looming over me at the minute! It really is true what people tell you, your year abroad is not a doss year and actually if you come to Canada your workload will greatly increase! However that's not to say I haven't done lots of things this week...the work ethic over here really does seem to be to work hard so that you can play hard so that's what we've been doing...when in Calgary and all that jazz!
On Tuesday we had our first flatmate meal, the student essential of pasta with tomato sauce! Very good however and nice to all sit down together for a meal. On Wednesday me and some of the British girls had pancakes...being Canadian and all that we tried Maple Syrup but as we'd bought the cheap version it really didn't taste great and I switched back to lemon and sugar pretty swiftly!
Now, last blog I totally left you on a cliffhanger as to why I had bought cowboy boots...well apart from their insane comfort and awesome fashion points we went to Ranchmans a proper cowboy bar on Thursday night! Got a party bus down there, realised we actually quite enjoyed the country music, attempted to copy people and do some line dancing (unlike at ceilidh's there's no caller) and rode a mechanical bull! All in all a great night! Then walked to the C-train stop to catch last train home, which worryingly was running 15 minutes late and made us all rather nervous that we've missed it! But saved us taxi fare so that's good.
On Friday it was the ski club toga party so we got our togas on and partied it up! There were interesting ranges of togas including some really nice spotty bed sheets which I would not risk taking into the Den because they would never come out the same again!
Saturday saw us head downtown for a meal out on 17th Ave. Found a lovely pub called the Ship and Anchor which served amazing burgers at cheap prices. It was nice sitting outside and soaking up some more sunshine! 17th Ave is just amazing, so many good places to eat so will definitely be heading back there! Then walked to the Saddledome in order to see our first hockey (I'm talking ice hockey) game. Now normally the Calgary Flames are the team who play in the Saddledome but the NHL is on lockout at the minute so no NHL games unless they sort stuff out. Instead we saw the Calgary Hitmen play the Red Deer Rebels as part of the WHL (Western Hockey League). Unlike the American Football where I had no idea what was going on I actually understood it and properly enjoyed it! Even though we lost 3-2 on overtime it was a great game with fantastic atmosphere and a lot less stopping and starting than the football! Shall definitely be going back to watch other games as it was great fun!
Had first bible study this week and it was a really nice cosy wee group, then IVCF (the Christian group) also cooked us free dinner tonight which was greatly appreciated! Also have said "eh"in conversation for the first time so really feel like I'm pretty fully settled in now! Very glad I decided to come on a year abroad, and super happy I ended up in Calgary! Anyway, that's enough procrastination for me, I should get back to my assignments now! Probably update you in a week's time again!
Pancake and maple syrup
Everyone wants to be a cowgirl really!
TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!
Ice spray at the hockey game
Intense hockey players!
Monday 24 September 2012
Banff, buses and busy busy busy!
Well I certainly can't believe it's been three weeks since I got here...it feels much longer, yet also as though I've barely been here at all! Once again I've been pretty busy since my last blog but I enjoy the fact that there's a lot going on here. On Monday night we went skating but this time on the actual Olympic Oval! It was very exciting but terrifying because there are no sides to hold onto if you think you're going to fall! On Wednesday went to the Den for wings night, where wings are just 25cents. 6 of us went and they serve 7 flavours of wings, so we got everything apart from the hot. Shockingly though the medium was still bringing tears to some of our eyes. I think my favourite was definitely the honey and lemon! We then had poptarts which was very exciting and I can see why they are a favourite of so many people, though I'm still a little confused about how they are breakfast appropriate!
On Thursday one of my friend's flatmate's friends was throwing a party at my friend's flat for her birthday so went along to that...totally rocking the 80s theme (although fancy dress is much harder when you don't have all your usual fancy dress stuff at home). Then on the Friday I went to a bbq one of the Christian groups put on. It's cool seeing how students live in they're not in rez, they have gardens and all! It's lush! After that us brits did a really exciting thing, we got a party bus downtown. Now a party bus is basically a cross between a limo and a school bus...school bus interior but seats around the edge and room to dance. You can get some really high tech ones but this was old school and I liked it! The downtown we went to a club called Roadmans and it was really great. There were poles which was rather odd, and a lot of the Calgarians looked like they'd clearly had pole dancing lessons, bizarre! However it is definitely my best night out so far, the music was fab, there was more space than in the den and it was generally just interesting being off campus. Getting a taxi back was really easy too but it still feels weird having to tip taxi drivers...
Then on the Saturday went to Value Village. Imagine a shop the size of Primark but it is all second hand stuff...it was basically like a massive jungle sale! I managed to resist buying the turkey shaped salt and pepper shakers but did find oven gloves, some ribbon which will be useful for some fancy dress things I've got coming up and a really nice jumper! Then went to Chinook Mall to stock up on more warm weather stuff and also some cowboy boots (you'll see why I need them next blog probably!)
That evening, me and Steph (the other girl from Glasgow) went to her relatives for dinner. She's not quite sure how they are related to her but as they picked us up from the airport and were now offering us food we're very glad that they are related to her! Even more distant relations came to dinner, some even travelling from Edmonton (the capital of Alberta) and it was lovely to be in a family home and all of them were really nice people. We watched some Canadian Football and didn't understand it again, watched some actually football which we did understand, got told how ice hockey works, ate lots of lovely lovely food and generally had a really good time. Erin bought us each a book of pictures of the Rocky Mountains so we can remember our time here and also plan where else we want to go and we've been invited for Thanksgiving in a few weeks which is really touching and very exciting because it means more food!
The next day was a very early start. CISSA (the Centre for International Students and Study Abroad) put on four buses to take us to Banff for the day. So bleary eyed we got on an actual school bus (with posters reminding you to tell the bus driver if you were being bullied) and set off. After a wee nap on the way there we arrived semi refreshed and looked round the big luxury hotel in Banff, then got the gondola up to the mountains where we walked to a great view point. The best quote goes to "The Rocky Mountains are really rocky" but it is true...as far as the eye could see in any direction were just more and more stony mountains. We saw some mountain goats which were possibly sheep but still exciting and then after a lovely lunch up the mountains descended in the gondolas again to go have a soak in the natural hot springs. I was a little disappointed that it was a swimming pool rather than a rock pool but considering they have to cool the water from 47 to 40 degrees and had seats it was actually probably for the best. It was very relaxing and warm and one of those places we need to revisit when it's snowing just so we appreciate the warmth even more! We then headed to downtown Banff where we had a quick peek in the shops before heading to a rooftop bar where we had more wings and relaxed. After another nap on the bus back home we all headed off to do the work we desperately needed to do!
On Thursday one of my friend's flatmate's friends was throwing a party at my friend's flat for her birthday so went along to that...totally rocking the 80s theme (although fancy dress is much harder when you don't have all your usual fancy dress stuff at home). Then on the Friday I went to a bbq one of the Christian groups put on. It's cool seeing how students live in they're not in rez, they have gardens and all! It's lush! After that us brits did a really exciting thing, we got a party bus downtown. Now a party bus is basically a cross between a limo and a school bus...school bus interior but seats around the edge and room to dance. You can get some really high tech ones but this was old school and I liked it! The downtown we went to a club called Roadmans and it was really great. There were poles which was rather odd, and a lot of the Calgarians looked like they'd clearly had pole dancing lessons, bizarre! However it is definitely my best night out so far, the music was fab, there was more space than in the den and it was generally just interesting being off campus. Getting a taxi back was really easy too but it still feels weird having to tip taxi drivers...
Then on the Saturday went to Value Village. Imagine a shop the size of Primark but it is all second hand stuff...it was basically like a massive jungle sale! I managed to resist buying the turkey shaped salt and pepper shakers but did find oven gloves, some ribbon which will be useful for some fancy dress things I've got coming up and a really nice jumper! Then went to Chinook Mall to stock up on more warm weather stuff and also some cowboy boots (you'll see why I need them next blog probably!)
That evening, me and Steph (the other girl from Glasgow) went to her relatives for dinner. She's not quite sure how they are related to her but as they picked us up from the airport and were now offering us food we're very glad that they are related to her! Even more distant relations came to dinner, some even travelling from Edmonton (the capital of Alberta) and it was lovely to be in a family home and all of them were really nice people. We watched some Canadian Football and didn't understand it again, watched some actually football which we did understand, got told how ice hockey works, ate lots of lovely lovely food and generally had a really good time. Erin bought us each a book of pictures of the Rocky Mountains so we can remember our time here and also plan where else we want to go and we've been invited for Thanksgiving in a few weeks which is really touching and very exciting because it means more food!
The next day was a very early start. CISSA (the Centre for International Students and Study Abroad) put on four buses to take us to Banff for the day. So bleary eyed we got on an actual school bus (with posters reminding you to tell the bus driver if you were being bullied) and set off. After a wee nap on the way there we arrived semi refreshed and looked round the big luxury hotel in Banff, then got the gondola up to the mountains where we walked to a great view point. The best quote goes to "The Rocky Mountains are really rocky" but it is true...as far as the eye could see in any direction were just more and more stony mountains. We saw some mountain goats which were possibly sheep but still exciting and then after a lovely lunch up the mountains descended in the gondolas again to go have a soak in the natural hot springs. I was a little disappointed that it was a swimming pool rather than a rock pool but considering they have to cool the water from 47 to 40 degrees and had seats it was actually probably for the best. It was very relaxing and warm and one of those places we need to revisit when it's snowing just so we appreciate the warmth even more! We then headed to downtown Banff where we had a quick peek in the shops before heading to a rooftop bar where we had more wings and relaxed. After another nap on the bus back home we all headed off to do the work we desperately needed to do!
60 wings...that's a lot of wings!
80s is totally a good look
Hot spring
Gondola
Goat/Sheep/Animal
View from the top, click to make bigger please
Relaxing in hot springs
Enjoying a nice relaxing drink
Everyone loves school buses
Monday 17 September 2012
Year abroad means seizing opportunities.
I'm sure all of you reading this can sympathise when I say that I have a list of things I want to do in Glasgow but I've just never got round to doing, even though I've studied there for two years. I think one of the things about doing a year abroad is that you feel like as you're only here for a year that you should make the most of every little opportunity that comes your way. So that's what I've been doing! It's been pretty non-stop, especially as the work load over here is much higher but I almost feel that if I didn't go out and do all these things I may as well have just stayed in Glasgow.
One of the great things about Calgary is the Olympic Oval (the Ice Skating rink which was used in the Winter Olympics of 1988). The Oval is actually situated on campus and my room overlooks it, plus as students we get free skating and just have to pay $5.50 for hire of skates. I've been skating on it twice now, once on one of the two ice hockey sized rinks and once on the actual speed skating loop. It truly does seem to live up to it's reputation of being the fastest ice in the world and it's insane seeing the little children skating around so quickly. Also there are a large amount of people who clearly have been skating since a young age as they can do all manner of different skating techniques, go backwards, spin around, do jumps...unfortunately I'm not one of those people but who knows, by the end of the year I may be!
While just like when you choose the uni you want to attend for your degree the city is majorly important, I've discovered that really it's so much more than just the city which matters! One of the things I really liked about Calgary was it's proximity to the Rockies for skiing. Yet when my friends suggested a weekend trip to Lake Louise (a village in Banff National Park in the Rockies) I jumped at the chance to see it before the snow. We stayed in a gorgeous little hostel which really could be a hotel apart from the fact there are multiple people in the room, but as there were so many of us it was just us in our room! Because the Greyhound (Canadian equivalent of Megabus) we only saw the outline of the Rockies as the sunset and by the time we arrived it was pitch black (made even more scary by the fact the cheerier Greyhound driver warned us to be careful of bears on the two minute walk to the hostel), but this meant in the morning when we woke up and opened the curtains the view was literally breath taking.
We had a massive breakfast at the hostel (possibly one of the most tasty breakfasts I've ever had) before getting the shuttle bus to the actual lake. Now Lake Louise is one of those places you see in guide books and on postcards and think that it actually can't look that good...well it really does. The lake is made of water from the many glaciers that are nearby and is bright turquoise due to rock flour that mixes with it. After recommendations from some seasoned hikers we met at the hostel we did the Plain of Six Glaciers walk, which takes you around the lake then up one of the mountains. On the way you're supposed to see six glaciers, but as I'm not really sure what a glacier looks like I only noticed four...still awesome though. It was a very long walk but the views on the way were so spectacular and the view from the top just so stunning that it was very much worth it. On the way we met a few lovely chipmunks and also took excessive amounts of photographs (which really don't even do it justice). When we got back to the hostel we had a well deserved sauna and then another massive meal (which we had thoroughly earned).
The next day we went back to Lake Louise and hired canoes to go out onto the lake itself. It gave a completely different perspective on the lake and also was a lot less effort than walking. Even though it may seem a bit expensive ($40 for a canoe for an hour) it was completely worth every cent. On the way back we saw the Rockies and it's really amazing just how pretty they are (and how many have snow on already...you almost forget how you're higher above sea level to start off with). Although we were all exhausted by the end of the weekend it was truly great to get away and add even more things to the list of experiences. I'd love to go back there when the lake is frozen over and all the skiing starts up just to see the complete difference. For now though I'll leave you with some photos of it in the glorious sunshine (click to make them bigger!)
One of the great things about Calgary is the Olympic Oval (the Ice Skating rink which was used in the Winter Olympics of 1988). The Oval is actually situated on campus and my room overlooks it, plus as students we get free skating and just have to pay $5.50 for hire of skates. I've been skating on it twice now, once on one of the two ice hockey sized rinks and once on the actual speed skating loop. It truly does seem to live up to it's reputation of being the fastest ice in the world and it's insane seeing the little children skating around so quickly. Also there are a large amount of people who clearly have been skating since a young age as they can do all manner of different skating techniques, go backwards, spin around, do jumps...unfortunately I'm not one of those people but who knows, by the end of the year I may be!
While just like when you choose the uni you want to attend for your degree the city is majorly important, I've discovered that really it's so much more than just the city which matters! One of the things I really liked about Calgary was it's proximity to the Rockies for skiing. Yet when my friends suggested a weekend trip to Lake Louise (a village in Banff National Park in the Rockies) I jumped at the chance to see it before the snow. We stayed in a gorgeous little hostel which really could be a hotel apart from the fact there are multiple people in the room, but as there were so many of us it was just us in our room! Because the Greyhound (Canadian equivalent of Megabus) we only saw the outline of the Rockies as the sunset and by the time we arrived it was pitch black (made even more scary by the fact the cheerier Greyhound driver warned us to be careful of bears on the two minute walk to the hostel), but this meant in the morning when we woke up and opened the curtains the view was literally breath taking.
We had a massive breakfast at the hostel (possibly one of the most tasty breakfasts I've ever had) before getting the shuttle bus to the actual lake. Now Lake Louise is one of those places you see in guide books and on postcards and think that it actually can't look that good...well it really does. The lake is made of water from the many glaciers that are nearby and is bright turquoise due to rock flour that mixes with it. After recommendations from some seasoned hikers we met at the hostel we did the Plain of Six Glaciers walk, which takes you around the lake then up one of the mountains. On the way you're supposed to see six glaciers, but as I'm not really sure what a glacier looks like I only noticed four...still awesome though. It was a very long walk but the views on the way were so spectacular and the view from the top just so stunning that it was very much worth it. On the way we met a few lovely chipmunks and also took excessive amounts of photographs (which really don't even do it justice). When we got back to the hostel we had a well deserved sauna and then another massive meal (which we had thoroughly earned).
The next day we went back to Lake Louise and hired canoes to go out onto the lake itself. It gave a completely different perspective on the lake and also was a lot less effort than walking. Even though it may seem a bit expensive ($40 for a canoe for an hour) it was completely worth every cent. On the way back we saw the Rockies and it's really amazing just how pretty they are (and how many have snow on already...you almost forget how you're higher above sea level to start off with). Although we were all exhausted by the end of the weekend it was truly great to get away and add even more things to the list of experiences. I'd love to go back there when the lake is frozen over and all the skiing starts up just to see the complete difference. For now though I'll leave you with some photos of it in the glorious sunshine (click to make them bigger!)
View from hostel
Lake Louise
Chipmunk
Tired but enthusiastic after a long climb
Avalanche!
Lake Louise reflections
The water (actual colour, no editing!)
Mountain!
Monday 10 September 2012
Practically a Canadian already!
Well I may not actually be a Canadian or even close yet, but I have spent a lot of time doing typical Canadian things. University here reminds me of the kind of things you see in American high school movies, lots of pep and enthusiasm and organised events.
The first thing that I did since last time I updated this however was very typically British! After meeting a group of British girls at international orientation day we all headed to the Student Union (The Den) for ThursDen, the night which everyone goes to every week! No differences there from back home apart from some guys wear backwards caps without even a hint of irony and people seem to go out earlier and come back later as opposed to only leaving pre-drinks at 11 or later.
The next day we went to see the Dinos play the University of Alberta Golden Bears at American Football. This involved wearing red (apparently on Fridays the majority of people wear red to show team pride) chants such as "Get stuffed" (oh the witty-ness!) a lot of cheering even though we had no idea what was going on and more stopping and starting and advertising announcements than there is on the X factor...however it was great fun and definitely an experience to tick off the list of things to do! We also won 65-6 so that was great!
I've been Downtown (albeit briefly), been to Chinook shopping mall (which is massive and amazing), gone to Peter's Drive Thru (which is an institution in Calgary and to be fair was a very good burger), bought a rucksack (well backpack, they don't know what a rucksack is!) as everyone at uni seems to use them, bought excessive amounts of textbooks which it transpires actually get used in Calgary and today I booked a trip with a large group of British people to go to Lake Louise next weekend which'll be lush! So all in all it's been hectic but seem to be getting into my stride now!
Here's a few photos which kind of sum up life so far:
The first thing that I did since last time I updated this however was very typically British! After meeting a group of British girls at international orientation day we all headed to the Student Union (The Den) for ThursDen, the night which everyone goes to every week! No differences there from back home apart from some guys wear backwards caps without even a hint of irony and people seem to go out earlier and come back later as opposed to only leaving pre-drinks at 11 or later.
The next day we went to see the Dinos play the University of Alberta Golden Bears at American Football. This involved wearing red (apparently on Fridays the majority of people wear red to show team pride) chants such as "Get stuffed" (oh the witty-ness!) a lot of cheering even though we had no idea what was going on and more stopping and starting and advertising announcements than there is on the X factor...however it was great fun and definitely an experience to tick off the list of things to do! We also won 65-6 so that was great!
I've been Downtown (albeit briefly), been to Chinook shopping mall (which is massive and amazing), gone to Peter's Drive Thru (which is an institution in Calgary and to be fair was a very good burger), bought a rucksack (well backpack, they don't know what a rucksack is!) as everyone at uni seems to use them, bought excessive amounts of textbooks which it transpires actually get used in Calgary and today I booked a trip with a large group of British people to go to Lake Louise next weekend which'll be lush! So all in all it's been hectic but seem to be getting into my stride now!
Here's a few photos which kind of sum up life so far:
Us with Rex, the mascot
The stone which gets painted for different messages
International students are clearly the best!
American Football just seems to involve running and hitting people
Dorm room
Walk in wardrobe
Beautiful view
Wednesday 5 September 2012
First impressions!
So first impressions...Canada is big, like BIG! And Calgary is super big and spread out too, not like Glasgow where I could walk everywhere I needed to go! The horizon here just looks really far away and the sky seems really big. But that's just one of many differences. Some of these differences are good (Tim Hortons, the fact it's a campus uni and I can walk to lectures in around 10 minutes, walk in wardrobe in halls etc.) some are not so good (even when there's a red light traffic can turn right...clearly a bad idea for road safety, supermarket food is expensive) and some are just random (you flick light switches up to turn them on rather than down).
One difference I'm quickly adapting to is the language, while I'm still saying lift not elevator and will never call trousers pants, I'm at least pretty aware of which words I need to avoid saying due to different meaning and confusion with Canadians.
So all in all a pretty good first 48 hours, got a lot of stuff done, but warning for anyone considering a year abroad, jetlag is horrific, only really today (3rd day here) have I been feeling okay and if I was doing it again I'd have arrived a couple of days before move in and stayed in a hotel, rested, got over jetlag so I could really make the most of this week.
Shall keep you updated and hopefully put some pictures up at some point soon!
One difference I'm quickly adapting to is the language, while I'm still saying lift not elevator and will never call trousers pants, I'm at least pretty aware of which words I need to avoid saying due to different meaning and confusion with Canadians.
So all in all a pretty good first 48 hours, got a lot of stuff done, but warning for anyone considering a year abroad, jetlag is horrific, only really today (3rd day here) have I been feeling okay and if I was doing it again I'd have arrived a couple of days before move in and stayed in a hotel, rested, got over jetlag so I could really make the most of this week.
Shall keep you updated and hopefully put some pictures up at some point soon!
Saturday 1 September 2012
Final few days...
With me jetting off on Monday I'm doing final minute preparations! This includes printing off lots of photos to take with me (so when I get sad and miss my family and friends I can still have them with me), getting t-shirts printed (well any excuse for more t-shirts), printing out my insurance, study visa, flight details etc. and the dreaded packing.
Now I'm not a great packer at the best of times so trying to limit myself weight wise is going to be a huge struggle, but I've got some luggage scales to try and keep me under! Hard to tell just what to pack, I know Calgary is still pretty sunny and nice in September but it's the only sunshine we'll really have and then just months of snow, so need some warm stuff but not too much! One of my main things is to try and leave some room in my bag, because I'm sure I'll be bringing more stuff home then I'm taking so having that space set aside already will probably be helpful!
Anyway I should stop procrastinating from packing and get on with it! Wish me luck!
Now I'm not a great packer at the best of times so trying to limit myself weight wise is going to be a huge struggle, but I've got some luggage scales to try and keep me under! Hard to tell just what to pack, I know Calgary is still pretty sunny and nice in September but it's the only sunshine we'll really have and then just months of snow, so need some warm stuff but not too much! One of my main things is to try and leave some room in my bag, because I'm sure I'll be bringing more stuff home then I'm taking so having that space set aside already will probably be helpful!
Anyway I should stop procrastinating from packing and get on with it! Wish me luck!
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Less than three weeks to go...
So with two and a half weeks to go until I'm boarding the plane I've started thinking about practical things. I've sorted out insurance (I would suggest searching around but I ended up going to Endsleigh for mine as it is geared for people who take year abroads due to it's student nature). Then my next challenge was finding a suitcase that would be big enough to fit the kitchen sink in (not literally) but lightweight enough to not ruin the 20kg limit too much! After a wee bit of searching I settled on this bag because it is so light and large! I will still probably have trouble packing, especially as I want to take my ski boots and everything...but that's a challenge for another day.
Still feeling pretty happy about going abroad, especially as one of my closest friends is coming out for New Years with me so that'll be amazing! My next task is to make a list of everything I want to achieve while I'm out there so I don't get out there and get too absorbed in other stuff and forget all my previous goals.
Don't think there's anything else to update on apart from just general excitement about year abroad, it's really starting to feel real now!
Still feeling pretty happy about going abroad, especially as one of my closest friends is coming out for New Years with me so that'll be amazing! My next task is to make a list of everything I want to achieve while I'm out there so I don't get out there and get too absorbed in other stuff and forget all my previous goals.
Don't think there's anything else to update on apart from just general excitement about year abroad, it's really starting to feel real now!
Friday 29 June 2012
Preparing for Calgary...
Okay so a lot has happened since last posted.
- I got my results meaning I passed the year and can go abroad.
- I booked my flights (a return cost me just over £700, no stops)
- My visa/study permit came through.
- My mentor got in touch with me
- I managed to sign up for courses...mainly...
So a few things to expand on that brief list. Firstly flights get more expensive the closer you get to travelling (pretty basic I know) but that means BOOK EARLY! Especially if like me you want to come home for Christmas because those flights get super expensive. Search around, use a flight checker to see where you can get them cheapest. While there are some with extra stops for cheaper when it's 3 stops for only £20 less think to yourself if it really is worth the hassle! Also think about arrival times: I'm getting in at half 3 in the afternoon because then it gives me time to move into my halls and go shopping for pots/pans and all the other stuff I'm going to need. There is no point arriving at 11 at night if you're then going to be struggling to get stuff.
Second, the study permit came through in just 20 days which I think is pretty impressive. It's just an email which you then print off and take with you. I'm going to take all my supporting documents with me too as apparently it gets you through quicker.
Third, I decided to sign up for the mentoring programme as what have you got to lose? Even if I don't get on with her it'll be nice knowing there's someone I can contact with any questions/queries I may have.
Finally courses. The head of linguistics contacted me asking to talk through my course choices with me. Now of course the issue is when you've chosen your courses to apply you're often looking at last year's schedule. This was the case for me. A couple of courses had been dropped and a few give majors priorities. However after a few emails (all responded to very promptly) the linguistics department agreed on my course choices. I then signed up online for them all (it's quick and easy, and you're emailed all the information on how to do it). Only problem with signing up online is while I've agreed with the department I can do it, the computer sees that I don't have pre-requisites because I haven't taken any of my degree there etc. However I've been assured that this will all get sorted out.
So all in all a successful few weeks! Next job is insurance and then I think I'm ready to go!
Sunday 10 June 2012
Visa - Very Important Stressful Application
Okay in all honesty the application for a visa is a lot easier than the title makes it seem. For Canada unless you are studying for more than 6 months you don't even need to do anything (unless you're coming from a country which needs a temporary resident visa in order to get into the country). For those studying for more than 6 months you need to apply for a Study Permit.
This website is the place to go to start visa applications: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/study.asp
I applied online (because my laptop refused to load the file to print off!) and actually it was pretty straightforward. I had a minor issue as typed in passport number incorrectly (DON'T do this...it doesn't help things!) but once I got over that it was all good. You need a scanner if you do it online as you have to scan documents in. Hopefully I scanned everything in correctly and filled everything in fine and in 33 days I should be getting my visa through.
Now just to do insurance and book flights and then I'll be in Canada! SCARY! In my next blog I'll try and cover some general stuff about the Uni of Calgary and just how fantastic they've been even in this short time!
This website is the place to go to start visa applications: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/study.asp
I applied online (because my laptop refused to load the file to print off!) and actually it was pretty straightforward. I had a minor issue as typed in passport number incorrectly (DON'T do this...it doesn't help things!) but once I got over that it was all good. You need a scanner if you do it online as you have to scan documents in. Hopefully I scanned everything in correctly and filled everything in fine and in 33 days I should be getting my visa through.
Now just to do insurance and book flights and then I'll be in Canada! SCARY! In my next blog I'll try and cover some general stuff about the Uni of Calgary and just how fantastic they've been even in this short time!
Saturday 19 May 2012
Application process...
Now obviously this will vary uni by uni so I can only talk about my experience at Glasgow uni although I'm sure there will be similarities.
I decided to apply for a year abroad quite suddenly to be honest, I had thought about one before coming to uni but it never re-crossed my mind until my lecturer suddenly mentioned that she was the person who we would need to contact if we were planning one. After an evening where I didn't do any work and instead just searched all the pages I had decided I wanted to do it. Then came the tricky process of applying.
In order to apply I had to fill in a form with references from two lecturers, a personal statement, my choice of universities (minimum 3, maximum 5) and the courses I would take if I went there (we have to do a full course load over there and it must be approved by our subject so there will be no clash in our final year). It took me a very long time and a whole lot of emails between myself and multiple different people in my subject in order to get everything finalised. In comparison, the personal statement was easy especially as we were given the scheme of how they would mark it and what they were looking for.
One of the funnest parts of the applications was looking at all the universities we were paired with and deciding if I'd want to go there (this also involved watching a lot of lipdubs and random videos on youtube about them)! I had already decided I wanted to go to an English speaking country, not really for any particular reason but I guess I didn't want to learn another language. I also didn't want to go to a southern hemisphere university as I don't like the term times there, plus as I have already travelled round a lot of Australia I would feel like I wasn't maximising my year as I'd be going to places I'd been before. So this pretty much left me with USA and Canada. While I did look at American universities none of them had very good linguistics courses and in fact it was pretty impossible to find a full course load for linguistics. Also, while this may not matter and I would have been fine, the drinking age being 21 in the States could put people some people off.
In the end I applied for UBC (looked like a fantastic uni), Toronto (had amazing courses) and Calgary (perfect combination of courses/uni and being close to the mountains). After handing in my application there was the nervous wait to hear about whether we had got in and if so where. Unfortunately the offers were given out slightly staggered, so while some people got them at 9am on Thursday, I didn't get mine till 4pmish on the Friday, and others had to wait the weekend. Horrific does not cover the tension that was felt! When I got the email and saw I was going to Calgary I just sat in shock till my flatmate burst into my room asking if I'd heard yet! And then was the lengthy process of texting/calling everyone who needed to be informed and updating facebook. (Over 50 likes later I started to get a bit paranoid that perhaps people were liking it because it meant I would be out of the country, but hopefully at least the majority will be sad to see me go!)
So that is the application process up until the offer, I'll cover the next things that are necessary in my next blog. Hope this helps and please do feel free to ask if there's any points you want clarified.
I decided to apply for a year abroad quite suddenly to be honest, I had thought about one before coming to uni but it never re-crossed my mind until my lecturer suddenly mentioned that she was the person who we would need to contact if we were planning one. After an evening where I didn't do any work and instead just searched all the pages I had decided I wanted to do it. Then came the tricky process of applying.
In order to apply I had to fill in a form with references from two lecturers, a personal statement, my choice of universities (minimum 3, maximum 5) and the courses I would take if I went there (we have to do a full course load over there and it must be approved by our subject so there will be no clash in our final year). It took me a very long time and a whole lot of emails between myself and multiple different people in my subject in order to get everything finalised. In comparison, the personal statement was easy especially as we were given the scheme of how they would mark it and what they were looking for.
One of the funnest parts of the applications was looking at all the universities we were paired with and deciding if I'd want to go there (this also involved watching a lot of lipdubs and random videos on youtube about them)! I had already decided I wanted to go to an English speaking country, not really for any particular reason but I guess I didn't want to learn another language. I also didn't want to go to a southern hemisphere university as I don't like the term times there, plus as I have already travelled round a lot of Australia I would feel like I wasn't maximising my year as I'd be going to places I'd been before. So this pretty much left me with USA and Canada. While I did look at American universities none of them had very good linguistics courses and in fact it was pretty impossible to find a full course load for linguistics. Also, while this may not matter and I would have been fine, the drinking age being 21 in the States could put people some people off.
In the end I applied for UBC (looked like a fantastic uni), Toronto (had amazing courses) and Calgary (perfect combination of courses/uni and being close to the mountains). After handing in my application there was the nervous wait to hear about whether we had got in and if so where. Unfortunately the offers were given out slightly staggered, so while some people got them at 9am on Thursday, I didn't get mine till 4pmish on the Friday, and others had to wait the weekend. Horrific does not cover the tension that was felt! When I got the email and saw I was going to Calgary I just sat in shock till my flatmate burst into my room asking if I'd heard yet! And then was the lengthy process of texting/calling everyone who needed to be informed and updating facebook. (Over 50 likes later I started to get a bit paranoid that perhaps people were liking it because it meant I would be out of the country, but hopefully at least the majority will be sad to see me go!)
So that is the application process up until the offer, I'll cover the next things that are necessary in my next blog. Hope this helps and please do feel free to ask if there's any points you want clarified.
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Introduction
Mark Twain once said that “twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” This attitude is probably one of the reasons I decided to take a year abroad. Yes it was stressful applying, and yes I'm nervous about leaving the UK...but I know in twenty years I will definitely look back on this with pride, because I had the guts to leave my comfort zone and see what life outside it is like.
This blog is going to cover my preparation leading up to going to Calgary, my time at Calgary and my travels while I'm out there (I certainly plan to visit a lot of Canada and some of the States while I'm out there...because I may as well!) and also just general information about the exchange. If you want to find out a bit more about me click on the "about me" tab at the top of this page. The tabs for "University of Glasgow" and "University of Calgary" give a bit of information about each uni and links showing where to look if you want more information about the exchanges.
My first proper blog will probably go up in next few weeks after pre-departure meeting and it'll cover all the application process so far.
This blog is going to cover my preparation leading up to going to Calgary, my time at Calgary and my travels while I'm out there (I certainly plan to visit a lot of Canada and some of the States while I'm out there...because I may as well!) and also just general information about the exchange. If you want to find out a bit more about me click on the "about me" tab at the top of this page. The tabs for "University of Glasgow" and "University of Calgary" give a bit of information about each uni and links showing where to look if you want more information about the exchanges.
My first proper blog will probably go up in next few weeks after pre-departure meeting and it'll cover all the application process so far.
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