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 the carefully 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!

On the bus

Me and Flis excited to get skiing

Me and Phil at top of Gondola

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!

Horse riding

So much snow!

Squished into a booth!

I wish I could actually travel in time and space!

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!

view of snow from my window