What Other People Say!

I can’t believe that there are less than 3 weeks until I land back in England! I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. I’ve finished exams, left UofC and said goodbyes. I’ve loved this year so much, but I I’ve said that quite a lot over these blogs, so I thought I’d give some other people the chance to share own their experiences!

BEA (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

Most Canadian Thing You’ve Done:
Buying a Tim Hortons every time I started a roadtrip

Biggest Mistake You’ve Made: 
Every time I’ve lost my UCID over the year – I’ve lost it at least 5 times!

Best Thing You’ve Done: 
Every road trip to the mountains I’ve done with the amazing people I’ve met, but especially driving through the Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper

Advice for Someone Else Coming Abroad: 
Don’t have expectation for your year abroad; your exchange will surprise you

FLORA (Durham University) 

Best Thing You’ve Done: 
Hiking up Ha Ling Peak (just outside Canmore) and being rewarded with one of the most incredible views I’ve ever encountered

Hardest Thing You’ve Experienced: 
The conflict between wanting to stay here forever and wanting to go home and see my friends and family

Advice for Someone Else Coming Abroad:
Bring lots of hand cream and moisturiser – it’s very dry in Calgary

Something You’ve Learned: 
You can learn a lot about yourself and your country by travelling, and you can learn new and different ways of being just by being in the company of foreigners

DECLAN (University of Kent)

Most Canadian Moment:
Going back country camping in the snow in mid-winter

Favourite Memory You’ll Take Home: 
Standing at the viewpoint in Banff

Advice to Someone Else Coming Abroad: 
Explore as much as you can and take every opportunity you can

Something You’ve Learnt: 
I’ve realised I don’t like the cold

ANNA (Durham University) 

Hardest Thing You’ve Experienced:
Saying goodbye to the people who only stayed for one semester at Christmastime

Favourite Thing You’ve Done: 
Learning to ski properly and the Sulphur Mountain Gondola in Banff

Biggest Mistake You’ve Made:
Spending $140 on non-refundable bus tickets for the wrong day and sleeping through my exam!

Something You’ve Learned:
This year has made me stress less; things go wrong but there’s nearly always a solution

CATHY (University of South Australia, Adelaide)

Most Canadian Thing You’ve Done:
Going to Denny’s at ridiculous hours of the night and eating poutine

Hardest Thing You’ve Done: 
Saying goodbye to everyone, but especially my housemates – you don’t realise how much you get used to people being there until one by one they start leaving

Favourite Memory: 
There are so many that come to mind… winter camping, experiencing -20 degrees and staying out all night to see the Northern Lights in Yellowknife, skiing in the Rocky Mountains (although a near death experience, not many people, especially from Australia, can say they learnt to ski in the Canadian Rockies)

Advice You’d Give to Someone Else Going Abroad: 
Say yes to everything and don’t worry about the study side so much. Go on weekend trips even if they might cost more than you think you can afford, because I know it’s cliche but experiences are priceless and in the end you’ll regret the missed experiences.

BEN (University of Exeter) 

Most Canadian Thing You’ve Done 
Making maple syrup taffy after snowshoeing in the backcountry of Kootenay National Park, BC at -32^oC. Even though it was stupidly cold, it was an amazing bright blue day and I’d do it again tomorrow.

Biggest Mistake You’ve Made
Not getting to Canadians sooner! I’d highly recommend getting to know people from the country you are studying in – if nothing else they will probably have a car! Another regret is not finding out about the once a month $2 lift pass at Mount Norquay until February!

Favourite Memory You’ll Take Away
The best thing about Calgary is being 90 minutes away from some of the best and biggest ski hills in Western Canada. Even though I’d never skied before, being so close meant I could go regularly and now I can ski black diamonds.

Advice for Someone Else Coming Abroad 
If you can, take electives – I’ve been able to take Business and Philosophy classes, which took me outside of my comfort zone but turned out to be more fun than my degree classes.

100 Days Left

It feels like I’ve only just got here, but I can’t believe that I’ve actually been here almost exactly 6 months. I’m getting used to seeing snow on the ground almost constantly, living in negative temperatures and constantly hoping for a Chinook wind so that it’s -5 degrees instead of -25. I’m not here for that much longer, but I’ve decided not to think about that, and instead try to do as much as I possibly can to make the most of my last few months.

The start of a new semester means new courses, which is a little strange, seeing that at Durham we have the same courses throughout the year, but I think is great for a year abroad because it means I get to study a wider range of tropics. I’m only doing three classes this semester (the least I can do), because I chose almost completely science and maths courses, which I’m finding pretty different and difficult as I haven’t done pure science for over four years. I’m still really enjoying the opportunity to study new things, especially this semester where I’m doing biomechanics for the first time, and I have a two hour cadaver lab every week – where we find anatomical landmarks on donor

One of my Favourite Sculptures

bodies. This is one of the things that has led to me finding my classes difficult, since it’s something I’ve never done before and is pretty daunting, but such an amazing opportunity I felt like I couldn’t really pass it up. Since post Christmas means that Canada is officially in winter, I thought I’d write this blog about the winter activities you can do here in Calgary.

Lake Louise Magic Ice Festival

Lake Louise held an ice carving competition in January, and Banff had some snow sculptures. It was pretty amazing to see how intricate ice carving can be, and it was crazy to see Lake Louise again in winter. The last time I’d been had been in summer, but now the lake was completely frozen and covered in snow, so it looked completely different. Unfortunately it was really cold the weekend we went, so we watched people skating on the frozen lake but didn’t actually do it ourselves. We did walk on it, which has become a relatively normal activity here, despite all of the ‘danger, thin ice’ signs. The Ice Festival also included an ice bar, which was pretty awesome.

Calgary Hot Chocolate Festival

All the Hot Chocolates we tried

Throughout February Calgary has been holding a Hot Chocolate Festival, where loads of cafes around Calgary each have a speciality hot chocolate and you vote for your favourite. They have some amazing flavours, like Honey Lavender, Thai Chilli, Coconut, Gingerbread etc., and each purchase goes towards a charity that provides meals to those in need in and around Calgary. Me and a couple of friend went on a hot chocolate crawl recently to try as many flavours as we could – even though we only got through four places. My favourite that I tried was a dark chocolate base with vanilla, cinnamon and almond flavours.

Snowboarding next to the Eddie the Eagle ski jump

Snowports

With all the snow we get it makes sense there are a lot of ski hills in the nearby Rocky Mountains. Before coming to Canada I’d never skied before, and my first proper skiing trip last semester didn’t exactly go amazingly, so I’ve been quite apprehensive about going again. Setting out skiing again was pretty daunting, but luckily I went with amazing people who helped me and we also went to a much better hill than my first trip (in my opinion at least), so I had an amazing time and am already planning more trips. I also gave snowboarding a go with a couple of friends which was so much fun, even though we were only on a small hill. A lot of the days here are amazingly sunny, even if they’re ridiculously cold, so the views from the top of the ski hills are absolutely incredible!! I also want to try out cross country skiing, and ice skating on one of the many frozen lakes and rivers that surround us.

A kitten at the cat cafe

Hiding Inside

January and February seems to be the coldest months in Canada, with constant negative temperatures and snow on the ground, even though it doesn’t actually snow that often, it’s just so cold that it never melts. Therefore a great way to be entertained while staying warm is finding activities to do indoors. We went to the Cat Cafe, where you can play with rescue cats are kept before they are adopted, and the Rec Room, which is a kind of arcade centre. And of course because the Winter Olympics are on its quite fun to be able to cheer on a country that can actually do quite well (however much I love Team GB).

Flat 209

Rez Gala and Crowchild Classic

Me and my flatmates were intrigued and excited about the Residence Gala event, which seemed to be similar to Durham formals and balls. Even though it wasn’t as fun as the events I’ve been to at Durham, it was fun to experience a similar event across the pond, and really nice to dress up with my flat and have a 3 course dinner cooked for us. UofC also held the Crowchild Classic in January, an ice hockey varsity match against Mount Royal University. It was really fun to go down to the ice

The face of someone who’s just been presented with a surprise birthday sundae

hockey arena and watch the match, with everyone dressed up in red and gold and cheering for UofC – I love how big university sport is here, there’s some university sport to watch most weeks and it gives a real sense of pride to UofC.

Celebrating my birthday abroad

My 21st birthday also came in January, which wasn’t my first birthday away from home, but it was my first so far from home. It was definitely a pretty strange birthday, not having seen my family or friends for 5 months. Fortunately I have made some pretty awesome friends in Canada who gave me a great day. I never imagined I’d be celebrating my 21st birthday in Canada,

Great birthday decoartions by Bea, Flora and Anna

but it’s definitely one one I’m going to remember. Since it was a weekday most of the day was filled with classes as usual, but I had a great lunch (with a few surprises) and $5 wings for dinner, followed by homemade birthday cake, presents and card games with my flat. It was also really nice to receive cards and presents from friends and family back home, although Canada Post doesn’t seem to be very efficient, as I am still waiting for one parcel to arrive almost a month after my birthday.

At this point in the year I’m feeling pretty confused – all the things I’m missing back home are adding up and after 6 months away I can’t wait to see all my friends and family again. But at the same time I’m aware that I’m not here for that much longer and I want to do as much as I can out here, and I definitely am not ready to leave!

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Christmas in NYC

Canadian Pacific Holiday Train

 

Christmas is probably my favourite time of the year. I love the Christmas vibe that lasts the whole month, decorating, Christmas carols, concerts and all the other things that happen. I obviously also love the food and laziness of the holiday, meaning all I have to do is sit around drinking tea and eating mince pies for at least a week. I also know that it’s guaranteed that all my siblings (who are in the country) will come home, meaning I’ll have at least a couple of days with all my close family.

This all meant that one of the things I was most worried about when coming out to Canada was what to do about Christmas. Since

Christmas Celebrations in Calgary

we only had 2 weeks break I didn’t think it was worth the money and time spent flying, waiting around in the airport and getting over jet lag to go home, so I had decided from August that I wouldn’t be coming home. I expected to stay in Calgary with my flatmates for Christmas, but I was extremely lucky and am incredibly grateful that I was able to stay with some relatives in Boston and New York over the holidays. Until now, I seemed to be one of a few people who didn’t really care about ever going to America, but I was definitely excited to spend Christmas in New York City.

Flat 209 Secret Santa

This led to me doing ‘adulting’ – I successfully sorted out my flights, transport from Boston to NYC, travel insurance and visa myself, which may seem pretty standard but there’s a first time for everything. After successfully getting through customs in Calgary (where I declared my sweets, chocolate and tea, making the border agent laugh) I survived my first solo flight (managing to get stuck in the window seat for 4 hours while my two neighbours fell asleep) and promptly started panicking because everything I had read online about coming into the US hadn’t happened – I wasn’t given a blue customs form on the plane and no one checked my passport again until I

First Solo Flight

boarded my second flight, so I spent my first night in America stressing that I wasn’t there legally (in case anyone doesn’t know me, I stress easily). Turns out when flying from Canada to the US you do border control in Canada and then it gets treated as a domestic flight, and don’t go through customs when you land.

Boston 

I stayed with my cousins in Boston for a couple of days between finishing my exams and Christmas Eve, which had terrible weather but was still great. Here are a couple of things I did:

Boston Common

• Seeing Harvard University
• Walked around Cambridge: It still creeps me out a bit seeing British names in North America, so going to Cambridge was a little confusing. I loved walking round a small, old, red brick town, which made me feel nostalgic and very similar to home, especially after 4 months of living in a city
• Boston Common: This was beautiful, even in the pouring rain, with statues, trees and an ice skating rink
• Chinatown

Transatlantic Family Skype

Christmas in Brooklyn

I moved over to Brooklyn to stay with some more relatives on the 23rd. I really enjoyed getting to know different sides of my family (obviously as they live in the US it’s hard to see them, and until now I’ve spent a grand total of one afternoon with them) and they knew everywhere to show me around. We did a lot of Christmassy stuff (lots of tea, films and late mornings), and also went to a lot of cafes, restaurants and ice cream places, which suited me perfectly, as well as doing some sightseeing. I spent Christmas here, with loads of my extended family, which made it a really nice first Christmas away from home. Some of my favourite food I tried include:

• 10 Below Ice Cream: Rolled ice cream with unlimited topping
• Grilled Cheese at an American diner: This is basically a fried cheese toastie, but seems to be a must have in America
• New York Bagels: They’re basically big bagels, but again a must
• Frozen Yoghurt: My cousins were baffled that I’d never tried this, and I have to say it was pretty awesome
• Cake Pop: I don’t know if this is an American wide thing, but cake pops to me mean a small ball of cake on a stick, but I experienced three layers of cake, ‘frosting’ and topping, which was also incredible

NYE Fireworks 

New Year in Manhattan

After spending nearly a week in Brooklyn, I moved to my Great Aunt and Uncle’s in Manhattan. It was really cool to be able to stay in different areas of New York, and I was staying next to Central Park and with easy access to basically all the sights in Manhattan, which was awesome. I mostly spent my time here going to museums and sightseeing, and being fed extremely well by my aunt and uncle. I managed to meet up with a friend from home who is studying in America this year, which was so much fun. I spent New Year with Mary and a couple of her friends watching the fireworks in Central Park, which was incredible but extremely cold. Some of my favourite things I did (other than the fireworks) were:

This felt like a very NYC view

• Seeing and going over the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges
• Taking the Staten Island Ferry to look at the Statue of Liberty and the amazing view of downtown Manhattan from the water (and pretending I was in Spiderman: Homecoming)
• The view of Manhattan from the top of the Freedom Tower, and the 9/11 Memorial, both of which were extremely humbling
• Ridiculous Christmas lights in Dyker Heights
• Wandering through Central Park
• The Cooper-Hewitt, The Met and The Guggenheim

Overall, my break was pretty incredible, and something I definitely did not expect when I decided to come on a year abroad. It was quite tough being so far away from home and seeing all my friends meeting up back home, but I am so glad I came out of my comfort zone and decided to do something different, and I’m especially so glad I managed to meet some more of my family. As well as doing my first solo travelling, it was also the most amount of time I’ve lived in the centre of a city (other than Durham, which is quite an anomaly) and I absolutely loved exploring on my own and at my own pace. New York at Christmastime was pretty awesome, but spending time with family (even if they were different family to those I’d normally spend it with) was my highlight of Christmas for sure.

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100 Days Down

It’s the last week of term, Christmas decorations are everywhere and finals are looming, so I thought I’d reflect on my time so far – which has flown by. I can’t really believe that I’ve almost finished my first term (‘semester’) which means that I’m almost halfway through my year abroad. As I write this I’ve been away for exactly 100 days and I can’t really believe that either. There have definitely been days when I just want to sit in my room and not talk to anyone, but at the same time I’ve made fab memories and had amazing opportunities that I wouldn’t have had back home in Durham, which outweigh the bad times.

Making fun memories (in typical British weather) in the summer

Hardest Moments

1. Saying goodbye to everyone/making new friends

For me this was in two parts, where I left my dad and stepmum (and everyone else) in the UK but had 10 days with my mum out here in Canada. Before I left we made sure I had good memories to leave with, which made it a bit easier. I really loved having my mum with me, because it meant that I could get used to money, terms, looking the wrong way when crossing the road etc. with someone before being thrown in to uni work. What this did mean though was it was pretty hard to let her

Making New Friends

get on a plane and abandon me in this new country. I also had a bit of a rough time in the first couple of months when I’d go somewhere and remember being there with my mum and homesickness would hit me out of the blue. But each day gets easier and after a while you get used to only seeing everyone through a computer screen – and Facebook messenger filters make things extremely entertaining. And once you’ve got over saying goodbye you’re immediately thrown into a new environment where you’re also trying to make new friends – which for me has been ridiculously hard and it took me quite a long time before I felt comfortable, but again in time things get better and now I’m feeling happy and settled.

2. Getting used to a new school system

Flat study session in the library (because we do actually work as well)

I think I’ve said this before, but I’ve both enjoyed and hated experiencing a new system. Here I only have 4 modules each semester (instead of 6 at Durham), but I have more hours and generally the workload is a bit more. I had to completely change my working style (which was not easy for me), and getting used to different referencing and essay styles was difficult, but again once you’ve settled into a routine and worked out how to make it work everything gets easier

3. Language barriers

This is clearly a bit of a joke, seeing as Calgary speaks English, but its complicated to hear a term or word and have no idea what it is to only be explained that its something completely different in the UK. And then comes the inevitable debate about which term or word makes more sense. This also happens within the internationals (Aussies I’m looking at you), and at times even with the other exchanges from the UK. I’m torn between being stubborn and sticking to what I normally say and changing to Canadian terms so that people don’t always ask what I’m on about when I’m talking to them (e.g. when I say I like someone’s jumper and they have no idea what I mean because a UK jumper is a sweater in Canada).

Combing Canadian Thanksgiving with Australian Delicacies…

4. Adapting to Canadian style food

Obviously the worst part for me was when I ran out of Yorkshire tea and had to buy Orange Pekoe tea from the supermarket (this seems to be the Canadian equivalent of ‘English Breakfast’). The bread also tastes weird because it has sugar in it and there’s no brown pasta or Wensleydale cheese, which if you know me is a literal disaster. I’m a fussy eater so the first few weeks were pretty hit and miss. Especially

Emergency Food Parcels

trying to find something to try and replace Wensleydale (which could never happen). Most food is more expensive here than in the UK, so in the first few weeks I had to change my eating habits and what I usually buy regularly. But it’s also strange because some things are much cheaper – just a small tip, don’t get the cheapest fish possible purely because it’s cheap – it probably won’t be very nice…

Best/Most Satisfying Moments

1. The First time you find you way to all your lectures on time without getting lost

This has been easier for me seeing as my Mondays, Wednesdays + Fridays and Tuesdays + Thursdays are exactly the same, but the feeling when you realise you know your way around campus (including short cuts, best ways to stay out of the cold etc.) is really satisfying, and for me was one of the first moments when I realised I was settled in and ready to stay for a year.

After standing on 3 separate frozen lakes we needed to come up with interesting poses for our photos…

2. Going on trips with friends

A good thing about a year abroad is that, in a way, you can concentrate on the fun things and (slightly) less on the academic side (don’t completely ignore your classes…). This has meant that over the last 100 days I’ve gone on numerous weekends away and day trips to a wide range of places, some utterly ridiculous (e.g. back country camping halfway up a mountain in the snow) but all so much fun. I’ve walked on frozen lakes, seen elk up close (because we nearly ran over it…), climbed mountains, gone snowshoeing and gone skiing, along with other trips.

3. New Experiences

Smiling at the top of our first proper run because we didn’t realise what a massive mistake we were making

There are so many things I can do out here that I’ve not been able to do back home. The obvious example is to do with snow, like snowshoeing, and skiing, which is something I’ve always wanted to do but never been able to, and I’ve now managed to struggle my way down a green run (which I’m very proud of), I can get on and off a chair lift without falling off (mostly), and now I want to ski as much as possible. There are smaller opportunities as well – UofC is very sport orientated, Kinesiology is pretty big and everyday there’s some kind of sport to get involved with. Elite athletes also train at the Olympic Oval and the Speed Skating World Cup was held there over the weekend, so walking to and from class and passing athletes in national team kit is pretty exciting.

Autumnal Viewpoint over the City

4. Exploring a New Country

I have loved (and sometimes not liked so much) living in a completely new country. Seeing different landscapes, architecture, lifestyles, culture etc. has been fabulous, and made me appreciate the things I love most about home, but also I see bits that I prefer over here. The landscape is so different from what I’m used to in Yorkshire, it’s so flat and all the roads are completely straight while I’m used to rolling green hills and ridiculously wiggly roads. I loved seeing the Hoodoos which were completely different to anything I’ve ever seen, I noticed the trees turning orange in Autumn (for a brief period before the snow) which I take for granted

The Frozen Waterfalls were Amazing

back home, and the views from the top of Sulphur Mountain and at Lake Louise were like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Seeing Elk and Wild Sheep (which are completely different to our sheep) and the threat of being attacked by bears is exciting, and seeing a city full of modern office blocks and buildings threw me first, being used to old brick buildings everywhere. Snow staying on the ground for two weeks or more, and everyone continuing about their day as usual, which is something that would just not happen in the UK. There have been many similarities, but more differences, and I’ve loved living in a completely new culture.

One of numerous Dinos games I’ve been to

 

5. Living on Campus

Compared to Durham, living on campus at UofC has been completely different, but something I’ve loved, which is also strange because when I was choosing universities when I was 18 I was adamant that I didn’t want a campus uni. It makes going to 9ams pretty easy (although I still dread them anyway, as I am doing with my three 8am exams next week) and it means everything is within reaching distance. UofC has a tunnel system connecting most buildings, so when the snow hits I can make my

Skiing next to the Olympic Ski Jump

way to classes and be outside for as minimal amount of time as possible. As a kines student and a sport lover it’s great to be able to walk 5 minutes to watch Dinos matches in volleyball, basketball, ice hockey etc. and the same distance to amazing sport facilities (which are also mostly free to use). The fact that everyday I walk through buildings left over from the 1988 Winter Olympics is incredible – I’ve skated on the ‘fastest ice in the world’ at the Olympic Oval, skied next to the ski jump that made Eddie the Eagle famous, walked and skated in the Olympic Plaza where the Olympic medals were handed out and been in the stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies were held.

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One Month In

So the title is a bit of a lie because I’ve been in Canada almost 7 weeks

Campus covered in snow (on the 1st October!)

now, but 1.5 months in didn’t sound as good… but there are still situations that take my breath away. A couple of weeks ago we woke up to a covering of snow, and walking to my 9am was actually enjoyable, wrapped up in loads of layers with fresh white snow on the ground but the trees were still autumnal, bright orange with some green.

The International Centre have put on a couple of trips and events, and the Greyhound Buses are pretty good for exploring by yourself. We’ve visited Banff, Canmore and Lake Louise in the Rocky Mountains, which as an area is just amazing. The scenery, lakes surrounded by huge mountains with the tops covered in snow with forests all around is incredible – and having the opportunity to explore this place is awesome.

Lake Louise

Lake Louise

We planned this trip ourselves to go out and explore the Rockies a bit – it involved waking up stupidly early to get a taxi to the Greyhound bus station, where we were all pretty blurry eyed (understandably). The bus journey was about 2.5 hours, stopping in a couple of places along the way. This was my first look at an area of Canada outside a city and it was pretty cool! We basically drove in a straight line for an hour or so, and once we got out of the city we were in the ‘plains’, where it’s almost

Waterfall at the top of Lake Louise

completely flat and on either side it just goes on until the horizon. Once we got a bit further out of town you could start to see snow capped mountains in the distance, which was an amazing view.

Lake Louise itself is a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains and forests and other smaller lakes. We took the regular tourist photos at Lake Louise before hiking up to Lake Agnes. This was our first experience of going up and we’re at altitude here so it was pretty tough going, but eating our lunch by the side of a lake looking out over the valley with chipmunks (potentially) was running around next to us made it worth it!

Banff

Flat 209 on Sulphur Mountain

This was a trip put on by the International Student Service. Banff is about two hours outside Calgary in the Rockies, most buildings are wood and the aesthetics are cool. We walked down to some pretty cool rapids before taking the (extremely wobbly) Cable Car (confusingly called a Gondola) up Sulphur Mountain. The views from the top were absolutely incredible and the Aussies got very excited by the snow at the top which was fun to watch, especially when

Aussies + Bea intrigued by Snow

you encourage them to hold the snow with no gloves for a photo. We decided it would be good to walk down instead of taking the cable car, which led to an extremely precarious though hilarious couple of hours – we’d seen the snow on the paths on the way up but didn’t register that by 2pm a lot of people would have walked on it, meaning it was very packed down and practically ice, on a very steep and tall mountain, and only one of us was wearing appropriate shoes. Overall it was on one of my highlights so far!

Canmore

Lunch with a View

This was another outing that a couple of us arranged ourselves (ie we booked a Greyhound bus). Another ridiculously early morning was rewarded again with the views over the Plains and the rockies – we drove past the 1988 Olympic Park and seeing the ski jump (think Eddie the Eagle) was pretty cool!

When we arrived we spent a while trying to work out where to go (Canmore is like Banff but ‘less touristy’ – meaning the tourist office is a 40 minute walk outside the centre of town, which we weren’t that keen on… we eventually found

#floating

our bearing and got a bus to the start of a hike up to Grassi Lakes, which was my favourite walk I’ve done so far. We walked through the forest (amid bear warnings) and every so often got a view through the trees over the valley and Canmore town, and as we got higher the view got better each time. We were following a waterfall the whole way up and the lakes at the top were incredible – the colour was pretty unbelieavable, and sitting on a rock with mates looking over the best view I’ve had so far was a definite highlight of my 6 weeks here. What made it great as well was almost constant snow flurries throughout the day – it’s like drizzle back home, just constantly there but not bothering your day – but snow drizzle is much more fun than rain drizzle, and again it got the Aussies excited!

Drumheller

View from the World’s Largest Dinosaur

This was another ISS planned trip, and it was pretty cool, but not really what we expected. First stop was the dinosaur museum, which had certain fun bits (e.g. the interactive children’s activities) but wasn’t really what we’d signed up for and it was a really sunny day outside so it felt a bit annoying to be stuck inside. We walked a little bit through the hoodoos outside the museum before we all got take back into town to climb the World’s Largest Dinosaur which was again cool but a little weird. Walking round town was strange as well – apparently it was a typical Albertan town, and it was pretty small and quiet – though there were 22+ dinosaur statues dotted around the town (including a batman one). We then got

Hoodoos

taken to a suspension bridge above an old mine before going to the main Hoodoo area, which were my favourite bit. These are some kind of tall rock, and basically we were let loose on them and climbed/ scrambled up to the top which showed Hoodoos stretching on for pretty long way! Coming down was pretty exciting… it was basically lose dirt, meaning we pretty much just slid down the entire thing. The bus journey back was basically the Brits trying to wind up the Aussies as much as possible and arguing about whether British or Australian things were better (e.g. vegetate vs marmite, weetabix vs weetbix etc.) which I think made every single other person on the bus hate us.

Obviously I’ve been working as well – I’ve been able to do subjects that I wouldn’t be able to do at Durham, so I’m studying some history modules as well some Kinesiology subjects that can link in to my degree which is a real benefit to being on a year abroad, since you can explore things you can’t necessarily learn at Durham to expand your degree programme, but you can also do some electives (though it obviously depends on your faculty)! I’ve also done a couple of little things, like ice skating, incredibly tense bingo games and watched Canadian Football, Ice Hockey and Field Hockey matches. I’ve seen the weather turn from 25 degrees and sunny to -6 in 3 days, and I’ve eaten way too much pizza. It definitely hasn’t been plain sailing for the last 7 months, but it has been pretty awesome.

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Surviving Week 1

I’ve now come to the end of my first week living in ‘Rez’ (Calgary equivalent of halls) and the end of Orientation Week (or O Week), so I thought it was time to update everyone. O Week is basically like Durham’s Freshers Week, but a bit more substantial. There were sessions with your department (or faculty as they call it here), sessions for being on exchange and fun activities throughout the week.

After unpacking on the first day I discovered, again, that I had packed extremely poorly. Due to my desire to have a beautiful holdall (which I seem to be mentioning every blog), instead of a giant suitcase, I couldn’t pack everything I wanted to, meaning my cupboards and walls are quite bare. I’m planning on collecting things throughout the year, but at the minute my rooms pretty empty. I’ve also discovered my new favourite shop of Dollarama (similar to Poundland surprisingly, but with so much stuff and such a variety that it’s incredible, and I’m finding things in there to decorate. I also packed mostly winter clothes, but no one told me that it was actually 25-30 degrees until about September – Tip: bring stuff for your room that reminds you of home – I’ve got some photos, but not enough, bring posters, cushions, bedspread etc., just to help you settle in. This stuff is pretty important so take out that fifth jumper and don’t skimp out on decor.

The first day of O Week started by meeting your faculty and learning chants for the Pep Rally (my first real North American ‘school’ experience). This was an extremely bizarre experience of sitting in a giant gym on bleachers and having a faculty cheer off… basically we all learnt chants about our subject and had to shout them as loudly as possible at all the other faculties. It was pretty strange but also strangely fun (the Kinesiology faculty was obviously the best, with our three part chant). This was followed by speeches by a number of people, including the president of UofC, the students union, and the keynote speaker of Sheldon Kennedy, a former NHL player. We also met all the ‘profs’ (not lecturers) – it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the Durham and Calgary departments – I’m starting to think that part of the training to become a physiology lecturer is how to talk extremely fast.

There were lots of activities throughout the week, and  at the end was Kick Off, the UofC Dino’s first American Football match of

Had to get a photo with the Dinos mascot!

the season, with a carnival type build up with face painting, inflatables etc. called Tailgate. With a Canadian near me I actually understood some of how it was played and enjoyed it a surprising amount.

Here are some differences I’ve found about Calgary vs Durham as well as some things about Canada in my first week on campus:

#1 A lot of things have different names – aside from Rez, O Week, jumpers and Foobtall/Soccer, lectures are called classes, lecturers called professors (or profs), essays are called papers etc.

#2 Jumpers are not a thing. I’ve confused numerous people by calling jumpers jumpers – here they are called sweaters, which encompasses jumpers, hoodies, wool jumpers etc.

#3 Stash is called swag and there is soooooo much of it. I don’t know whether this is just at UofC or it’s a North American thing but it’s pretty excessive. So far I’ve got a scarf, water bottle, lunchbox, universal plug converter, two t shirts, two pairs of sunglasses and numerous stationary with the UofC crest on. To buy you can get jumpers, hoodys, shirts, t shirts, wool jumpers, bags, cropped jumpers, hats etc. I’m a little overwhelmed, and am having to restrain myself spending my entire student loan on stash.

#4 Kinesiology (Sport Science) is really big here. It has it’s own faculty instead of being put with science or social sciences, there are two giant KNES buildings and everyone knows what it is when you tell them what you’re doing

#5 Canadian money is confusing! There aren’t any 1 or 2 cent coins, so everything gets rounded up or down. The $1 coin is called a loonie and the $2 a toonie. The 5 cent is bigger than the 10 cent coin. Plus the price everything is isn’t actually the full price – you have to add on taxes! 

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I’m going on an adventure!

I am now waking up to my fifth day half way round the world in Vancouver, Canada. The last few days have been great, so I just thought I would update you about my journey and how I’ve felt in my first few days here.

The journey itself involved a train down to London, an overnight stay at Heathrow, over 9 hours in a tin box (plane) and an hour at immigration on the other side. During this time I discovered that my beautiful new holdall/duffle was quite hard to carry over long distances, due to it being pretty heavy and resting purely on my shoulders… The plane journey itself I spent mostly watching films (my favourite was Guardians of the Galaxy 2), napping and eating fairly standard plane food. Immigration was annoying since I was basically just stood in a line for forty minutes, then sat down for another 20 while someone checked my documents, but eventually I was cleared and we left, just 3 hours after we had arrived at the airport. Cue more lugging around of my duffle and we arrived at our hotel, checked in and started to wander round the city.

Since arriving I’ve done a lot of walking – one day we walked around Stanley Park, a huge temperate rainforesty park thing surrounded on 3 sides by the sea. with lots of wildlife (apparently – we saw 1 squirrel), beaches, trails, lakes and the like. We swam in the Pacific, which was quite exciting, though I have swam in clearer seas in Scotland… and it was still quite cold! We visited a giant public market on Granville Island which had a huge variety of goods, and wandered round Chinatown and the Classical Chinese Gardens (the first built outside of China). We’ve seen a steam clock in Gastown, and spent an afternoon at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, where there’s a massive suspension bridge (137m across and 70m above the
Capilano River) and raised wooden walkways through another temperature rainforest, which, as anyone who knows me knows, was right up my tree (sorry) and extremely fun. I’ve really enjoyed exploring this new city, but it does feel strange and like a holiday since it’s not where I’ll be studying and my mum’s still here with me. In Vancouver I’ve found strange and wonderful things, some new and some familiar, so here follows my list of discoveries:

#1 There are some strangely familiar things – I heard Ed Sheeran in a mall and there are familiar shops and brands in supermarkets

#2 The familiar food is often expensive – I found Yorkshire Tea and got very excited, until I realised it was $7.99 (i.e. About £5.50 for 36 teabags); the really cheap biscuits you get in corner shops for 39p are $2.99

#3 There are some familiar yet slightly different things – The green man to help you cross the road is in fact white, and almost everyone waits for it to come on when crossing the road, and they only cross at crossings – jaywalking (crossing not on the ‘white’ man or at a legit crossing) is illegal here, and can come with a fine

#4 You find some familiar things that you just don’t expect – There’s a statue of Robbie Burns in Stanley Park! I found Waitrose tea alongside the other brands

#5 And there are some just weird things! – There’s something called the Seawall around most of Downtown Vancouver, which is basically a sea barrier and walkway – but it has two lanes, one for pedestrians and one for bikes/skateboards/rollerblades – and there are quite a lot of people who rollerblade around!

Today I fly from Vancouver to Calgary, which is where I’m actually going to study. Vancouver was incredible and I’m definitely going to miss it, but I’m excited to start exploring where I’m going to live for the next 8 months, so watch for the next blog coming from Calgary!

Chinese Gardens

Totem Poles at Brockton Point

Steam powered clock in Gastown

I found Wensleydale (the only cheese I like!!!) unfortunately it was mega expensive

Finding a fellow Durhamite!

Sunsets were incredible

Almost There…

It’s now less than one week until I leave for my year abroad in Canada. It’s finally starting to sink in, after a busy summer where I didn’t really have time to think about it. I am now in the middle of a two week period of attempting to make sure I have everything done on time – before I left to do my various summer activities I was pretty sure I was on top of preparations, but now I’m not so sure…

I’m currently making sure I have all the documents I need, making last minute dentist and doctors appointments, trying to see everyone I want to before I leave and of course the actual packing. I’ve been given strict instructions not to pack too much (let’s just say I’m not the world’s lightest packer), but I’m struggling, especially with the weather – betweennow and December the weather will turn from mid 20s to -20s – how do you pack for that?! I’m glad I’m going out a week early, so I have a few days to discover what I’ve inevitably forgotten and a chance to sort it out before classes start. I’ve bought a new duffle bag, which to me is extremely exciting, but I am now having trouble actually fitting everything into it…

Along with panicking to make sure I have everything I need for next week, I’m trying to appreciate and take advantage of all the things I’ll miss while I’m away. I’ve been meeting up with my friends, watching films with my family, going on walks in the Yorkshire Dales in the beautiful English summer weather (it was chucking it down with rain), eating my favourite British food (do they do roast dinners in Canada??) and of course having numerous cuddles with my cats. I’ve baked cakes, gingerbread and pancakes, although not with maple syrup and bacon. 

I’m still not really sure what to expect when I arrive, but I’m getting pretty excited, and I can’t wait to get stuck into a completely new country.