Only finals still to go...

So classes are over. It's odd to think I may never have another lecture at U of C again, and much as I've complained about the work load I have to say I've had some amazing profs and will really miss some of the courses I've taken and people I've got to enjoy studying Linguistics with.

But before end of classes I had the excitement of getting to go see the Flames play the Canucks with Claire. For those of you who don't know, these are NHL (National Hockey League) teams: the Flames are Calgary's team and aren't that good, whereas the Canucks are Vancouver's team and are very good. There's quite a bit of rivalry and although we knew we would lose, until the last 15 minutes we were drawing 1-1. Okay so maybe the end score wasn't quite the same but let's not mention that. It was a great evening, me and Claire got all geared up in the Flames clothes and had great times dancing along to the cheesy songs.

On Thursday me and the IVCF group went to Peter's Drive Thru and then went 5 pin bowling. It's like 10 pin bowling, but with 5 pins...crazy Canadian things. Turns out I'm actually pretty good, came 3rd overall, mega win (not that I'm over competitive or anything). We had one round of normal bowling, the a round of crazy bowling...definitely not so good at that! But it was hugely hilarious and a great way to round off the bible study which has just been such a massive and amazing part of my time here.

Thursday was also the final Den of the year (well it wasn't there was one the week after but no-one cared about that one) so went out with the usual crowd. The Den was as sweaty and nightmare inducing as ever, but everyone getting home in one piece is always good! Friday was Phil's birthday so we went to a nice bar in Kensington and had some lovely cocktails. Claire managed to come down on her crutches which was great, even if we did get a mildly moody bus driver!

That Saturday some of the British girls had decorated their flat for a Midsummer Night's Dream party so we got all fairy-ed up and had a lovely time. A massive snow storm meant that going out wasn't really tempting so I had an early night instead. The Tuesday was the final official day of classes which is also known as Bermuda Shorts Day (BSD). I worked in the morning, then in the afternoon had pizza while watching Made in Chelsea before heading out to Cowboys for the party. It was crammed full of people but nice to have a dance, especially with some of the girls who I've not seen in a while.

Since then I've pretty much been writing my term paper, then doing Dance Fest shifts...oh dance mums, my favourite type of people. This Saturday went to Jamesons with the work crowd (well deserved after Dance Fest) and Jeff which was lush. I had an amazing steak sandwich, it was so super tasty. Then we chilled out and just generally had a great time. Now I've got a lot of studying to do what with finals coming up etc. but I've got so many great things to look forward to that it's okay!

Fun at Flames

Magical Fairies

Work crew

From snow to spring to snow...

I think for once I'm actually going to be writing a blog post where I don't have ridiculous amounts to tell you, in fact you might be able to read this all in one easy sitting! Shocking I know!

So first things first, boring things - it's getting to the end of the semester, term officially ends on the 16th of April, so the amount of assignments and stuff has been building up and I've been doing a lot of work. I finally finished all my midterms on 28th of March (how that is MIDterm I've no idea, but ah well) and now I'm left with 5 assignments, 1 term paper and 3 finals to go. Crazy how in my final few weeks here I'm still doing more than I would be in a whole term back in Glasgow! Although for anyone ever considering a year abroad do NOT let the work put you off. Somehow working doesn't seem anywhere near as bad when you're abroad because you're abroad and you've always got fun things planned too!

Now onto the more exciting things! After my last update, the sun decided to come and warm Calgary...we reached 17 degrees and it was generally lovely! Spent a lot of time lounging about in the sun. On the Wednesday Jeff took me to Moxie's for the awesome brownie (I would recommend it to anyone!) and then we just chilled at mine for a bit. Thursday brought my final midterm (I will NOT miss having midterms when I'm back at Glasgow, yes it takes pressure off for final exam and does help you study, but even so, lots of extra stress!) The Friday was my first taste of dance shows at work...well dance mums are kinda crazy and it's definitely hectic, luckily I'm only working 3 shifts of it so I won't kill anyone or have a mental break down (in theory!)

For Easter Sunday I went to Steph's family's for dinner. It was so lovely to see all her family and meet her parents who were visiting. The food was also good, home cooked meals are lush, and I've been eating leftovers all week! Perfection!

On Wednesday went to Value Village with Jeff and got some gorgeous new heels, Steve Madden, original price tag $125, bargain price of $20! Win at life! Then we got some fantastic dinner, pulled pork is really one of my favourite things to eat! Afterwards we saw Rocky Horror Show at Mount Royal, it was nice to be able to see Mount Royal uni (although Calgary Uni is definitely nicer) and the show was hilarious. Thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Friday went shopping at Market Mall with Claire and bought a few dresses, as you know summer is well on the way and a girl can never have too many dresses. Then Jeff came over and we just chilled out with a movie. Saturday was going to be a productive day but the trip to change our NHL tickets took a lot longer than expected. At least now, me and Claire have better seats than before and her knee will be comfortable during the match. Then sat and ate a lot of popcorn and watched Iron Man, perfect evening!

Unfortunately it's been snowing all weekend so the short patch of sunshine was perhaps a false alarm and spring may not have really started.  But with travelling coming up soon I can at least look forward to some sunshine then! I think that's all the updates for now, the rest of the time has just been assignments, assignments and more assignments unfortunately! 

March: Finally the month I got to see the workings of a Canadian hospital

Did I honestly last update you in February? Well that just shows how crazy busy March has been! The first thing which really happened in March was Chris' birthday, so me, Steph and Hannah all headed downtown to the Rhino for a few drinks and a dance. It was a great night, not least because the barman gave me my orange juice for free (no alcohol for lent!)

On the 7th of March, William Lane Craig came to talk at Calgary uni about "Is the Physical World All There Is?" Not only was it a great speech but it was so encouraging seeing so many people turn out and people seeming open to hearing about God and how the existence of God is fully logical.

The Friday of that week had a games night with loads of the people from work. Was so lovely, and discovered an interesting version of Articulate which has a fun little machine with buttons and stuff! Very over exciting and fun. Also once more, Randall turned out to be evil in Werewolves and Villagers! She has been tainted for life, but we still all love her anyway!

That weekend we went skiing. It was an early start but started to get excited as saw the mountains. Had some gorgeous runs and even got Claire and Phil down a black without any broken bones. However unfortunately our luck on no injuries was not to last as Claire had a "high speed fall" (medical terminology!) and ended up going first to the doctors at the bottom of the slope, before being left with me and Steph and instructions to get her to hospital. Now you may think this would be a relatively easy task, however while the gondola ride down to the carpark was fine (if a little bit squished), lifting her from her wheelchair into the taxi without bending or hitting her damaged leg was a wee bit harder. Once at the hospital we waited around for a long time and amused ourselves and unfortunately were once again tempting fate by saying that we didn't think it was broken and was probably just a sprained knee or something. Turns out she'd fractured her tibia at the top and needed surgery. Oops! At least we got a ride back with Claire's friend Dev's parents rather than a $200 taxi to Calgary - it's the small things in life!

Spent the next few days in a blur of hospital visits and studying. Luckily the hospital is super close to campus and we could get a bus so that was easy. Claire had her surgery on the Monday and got out later that week. We had a curry and watched Bring it On to celebrate. It was beautiful. She has 24 staples in her leg, plus multiple pins and plates, very exciting and she now gets to be one of the people who sets off airport security machines, what a perk eh!

That Friday had a coffee with Jeff, was supposed to do some studying but epically failed at that. Showed him the TFDL (library) and he concluded it was much better than Mount Royal (another uni in Calgary)'s library. WIN. Then pushed Claire in her fancy wheelchair to see a prof who didn't seem to quite believe that she had injured herself until Claire was actually in front of her. It was a bit of an adventure, but we worked out the step free access route, and there is a little elevator which we're pretty sure only Claire uses, therefore it's exclusively hers.

The weekend was pretty much fully work and studying, however did go out with a few work people after work on Friday which was really nice, plus managers bought me dinner on Wed, Fri and Saturday: my job is infinitely more awesome than yours! Went to see 'Oz the Great and Powerful' on Tuesday, which was okay, but definitely not a film I'd go to see again. On Thursday I cooked for Jeff which was really lovely, not least because it gave me an excuse to cook chocolate and raspberry brownies (I'm not sure I really need an excuse, but it's good to have one anyway!) Then Friday bought around the IVCF (Christian group)'s Games Night...but not just any Games Night...Japanese Games Show Night. Now if you haven't seen any Japanese Game Show, they are crazy and insane and ridiculous but also hilarious, and the night definitely followed suit. After some amazingly well spiced chicken the games began: blindfolded musical chairs, who can lick most ritz cheese crackers off a window in 30 seconds and silent library... All had moments where you worried about the health and safety risks but were definitely great fun, and not least because my team won. Then we had a quick game of Dutch Blitz, me and Victoria nearly beat Taylor and Lucas (which is very impressive) before I headed home for some much needed sleep.

I think that's you all up to date now, feel free to prod me if I don't update soon enough please!!

Chris' birthday celebrations

I love the nutters I work with

Claire and Steph, both excited to see the Canadian medical system in action...

Post work night out

Getting ready for blindfolded musical chairs

This is just Victoria's normal look!