The technicalities of blogging seem to be getting to me; this is about the 5th time I’ve tried to post my weekly waffle and my attempts are continually rejected. Sixth time is always a charm?! You’ll have to excuse all my news being a little out of date!
Halloween for most females on the UBC campus seemed to involve wearing as few clothes as possible. However, I saw this as an opportunity to wear my pyjamas on a night out and incorporated this in to a clown costume. Definitely one of my finer moments of decision making; I had so much fun dancing away in the student union and then not having to get changed when I trundled off to bed was genius. Having said that…. it did take about half an hour to get the clown make up off my face.
De-clowned, I spent my Saturday afternoon downtown; shopping and munching on the best toffee/caramel apples in the world. Back on campus I went to my first Basketball match where the UBC Thunderbirds were victorious over Trinity Western Spartans. With national anthems, cheerleaders and dance troops it was a very entertaining evening and I can now claim to know a little of the rules and regulations of the game. Comparative to the UK University sport is a relatively big deal over here; however I think if I were to cross the border in to the states the differences would be even greater.
Sunday morning I participated in a smaller scale version of university sport as I hauled myself out of bed to play in a rugby match for the first time in six months. I think it’s fair to say I wasn’t the most useful person on the pitch! I frequently thought about shouting calls that would only be recognisable to my Edinburgh team mates but hopefully with a bit more training I can rectify those things. My Tuesday and Thursday evenings on a rugby field are getting muddier and muddier as it now resembles a marsh thanks to an excess of rain. My housemate delighted in telling me: I looked like the “before” part of a laundry detergent commercial. Whilst my washing powder supply may be depleting rapidly I think joining UBC thunderbirds is probably $300 well spent.
On Tuesday I was one of the millions of people following the American Presidential election. Five hours of television watching while attempting to write a lab report was probably not a particularly good combination but they were certainly hours that I will remember for a long time to come. The election has been a primary topic of conversation for the remainder of the week and I haven’t met a single person who isn’t delighted with the results regardless of their nationality.
I’ve found that being on exchange hasn’t just been about experiencing the Canadian culture. It’s inevitable that you meet other international students; on Wednesday we celebrated a friend’s birthday with Belgian beer and chocolates that had travelled across the Atlantic in honour of the occasion.
Next week I’m starting my own little countdown until the end of term (14 days of classes left!) This also means I need to get my head around the deadlines and lab exams between now and then. Busy times ahead!
