where the foothills meet the prairies: 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!