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!

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!

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

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!)

View from hostel

Lake Louise

Chipmunk

Tired but enthusiastic after a long climb

Avalanche!

Lake Louise reflections

The water (actual colour, no editing!)

Mountain!

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:

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

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!

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!