where the foothills meet the prairies: 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!)