The last two weeks have been a blur...
A whirlwind of figuring out class rooms, socialising, subjects, phones, emails, furnishing the apartment, socialising, buying extra warm clothes, understanding classes, organising weekend/future travel, socialising, grocery shopping, trying new foods, seeing new places...just to mention a few.
Being "aussie" is pretty fun in Canada... Everyone loves us.
We are pointed out almost every class by the prof, offered help and friendship by everyone.
We are in a 3 level apartment building with a Frenchman and Italian man above us, and above them are two girls; a Swede and another Frenchie.
We were invited upstairs on one of the first nights. Where all of our neighbours and a couple more Frenchies were drinking and being merry... I think it was one of the first times where the most common language being spoke wasn't english (despite being in a primarly english speaking country). So it was quite weird trying to interpret what was being spoken with the little French I remember from the 5 years I learnt at Fintona.
Em has made quite the effort to make sure we are included and feel loved. She got all the girls together for a night out on the town the day after my birthday; beforehand we met at Ems for some drinks where I was suprised with a smartie-covered cake with candles.
We went to one of the local countrybars; "Dallas". Everyone loves country music here, Keith Urban is definately a favourite and we being his fellow Australians are looked at weird for not knowing/liking his music.
We took the bus and arrived at the bar to find a line of 700+ people. Lisa (Em's friend) had booked us a guest list earlier in order to allow us free entry and no waiting in line. The bouncer didn't want to hear it though, aparently everyone in line was on the guest list....
So after Em was shoo-ed away for whinging, I jumped in with my Aussie accent pleading that it was my birthday and my first night out in town etc. Which somehow managed to get the 15+ of us in past the 700+ line without paying for entry! (my thoughts "schweeeeet, I love being australian right now").
Dallas is two levels, the second being a balcony over looking the main floor below at the front of which is a stage with a mechanical bull...
Of course, me being the birthday girl and a exchange student was told I had to have a turn... 20ish seconds later, I very unspectacularly and lame-ly slid off the bull. Pat made a more impressive effort with 84 seconds.
The Canadian certainly are hospitable people....I paid for one drink that night. The rest of that weekend was spent recovering....
Last Thursday was Lisa's birthday. We were invited out to join the gang at the local Bricker Brewery, where they have "bricker tours"... aka- pay $15 for 2 hours of all you can drink beer.
It was a good night, I held back just enough to enjoy the antics of many others around me. Joelle (another of Em's close friends) confessed her love to me before telling me that her and the 6 other girls jokingly call themselves the 7 days of the weeks, and the other night she had a dream that everyone was a particular day of the week, and I as their new edition to the week was the 8th holiday! So I've recently been given the new nickname "holiday". So no shortage of love coming my way!
Language differences can be quite funny. Apart from obvious differences like biscuits/crackers, ALuminIum foil/aLoooominum foil, I reckon/eh?, about/aboot, beanie/tuque(pronounced took...and we get the weird looks saying beanie?!); the canadians are so polite that they must think we have the dirtiest mouths ever.
I think Australian swearing to Canadians is like the Irish are to Australians. I don't swear that much compared to most people at home, but over here I must have such a sailor mouth! We either get laughs for swearing or a little girly jump from the unexpected expletive.
I think Im also seen as a bit special, for some reason I've developed this constant habit of pulling doors when they should be pushed and pushing doors when they should be pulled; Pat finds it hilarious and gives me a patronizing cheer on the few occasions I get it right. As well as this we both keep walking through hallways and on stairs on the left side and almost hitting people...
I'm also highly likely (and hoping not to be) to be hit by a car at any moment. Every morning we leave the apartment for an 8.30am class; in Melbourne 8.30 isn't that bad... This morning in waterloo it was -20C before windchill. The cold hits you so hard that sometimes you forget to breathe... It's like the automatic reaction you get when you first dive into cold water and hold your breath, except every now and then I do it as I walk outside. So when you're struggling to concentrate on breathing, it's really hard to remember to look in the opposite direction when you cross the main road at 8.15 in the morning.
Hockey....is (to understate it) an obsession. I don't think there has been a class without a famous game, or player, or shot being talked about. Nutrition, Ethics, Physiology, Psychology all mention ice hockey at least half a dozen times or so in an hour long class. Everytime it's mentioned though, the prof usually then pauses, turns to the rest of the class and says... "can some please explain it for people who don't know what we're talking aboot?" as they gesture in the aussies general direction.
The profs are also really nice and complement on cool things that the Australians have going for them. Such as the nutrition prof talking about our Glycemic Index labeling on foods; or the physiology prof asking about Tasmania or the Ethics teacher saying he loves our national rugby team "the all blacks"....errr yes... It felt to mean to correct his intended complement...
Living on campus is like living in a bubble, theres a convience store, a starbucks, pub, club etc... I mentioned them all to you last time. But basically there is enough to get by living on campus and not leaving. So without a TV, we don't really get to hear much news and the campus life bubble begins to grow....
That's why Pat and I took ourselves off to Toronto last weekend to actually start seeing some of Canada. I love Toronto. It's not that different to Melbourne. Very multicultural, very friendly, not too touristy, great little areas within and all over the city.
Our first stop was the St Lawrence markets where we had a highly recommended (and deservingly so) parmigana sandwich. We then walked along the harbor front which looks across to the Toronto Islands. Half of the water surrounding Toronto is frozen. I've seen frozen water and lakes before, but its quite strange to see a city functioning around it; boats driving through it, ducks popping up from underneath it...
After a pitstop in a local favourite "Tim Hortons" (basically a cheaper version of starbucks, very average coffee and yummy but regretful doughnuts) to defrost we continued walking through the town.
After 30mins under the doona at the hostel, followed by a scortching hot 20min shower my body was still freezing cold; it took over a good hour to warm up. That night we spent a bit more money than a backpacker would normally, and had dinner at the revolving restaurant up the CN tower; which for 30years was the tallest construction in the world, so as you can imagine the view was pretty amazing. Luckily for the price we paid, the food was pretty amazing too!
The next morning I had one of my first ever sleep ins... and in a bed with springs....ahhhhh!
Back into the cold we explored the Yonge district, lots of shopping, none done by me though. I will admit to briefly entering one store for 5 mins, did a quick lap looking for shoes asked for directions from a staff member before making an emergency exit as I could see Pats mood rapidly plummeting.
A very cold walk via Toronto University to China Town followed. (I feel like you only need to see China town in one or two countries other than your own, and you've seen them all).
Before heading home we had a late lunch and coffee in Kensington Markets, which aren't really markets at all. Its a lot of small fruit stores, cafes, lunch spots etc filled with dreadlock embracing, hippy-ish, alternative hardcores. The food and coffee was amazing. It reminded me a lot of North Melbourne.
Infact most of Toronto reminded me a little bit of different areas within and around Melbourne... except with snow.
Waterloo though...
Waterloo is the town my University is in; and while being very pretty and with a couple of shops, it doesn't really have that much to it... A little bit like Launceston cross aspen...
Not this weekend but the next one we have a 3 day camping trip. It's organised for international/exchange students where we get to go polar dipping (cut a hole in the ice and jump in), sit around camp fires, snow shoeing, sledding and use the sauna. We do stay in a lodge though, so it's not quite cold as the rec trips at home staying in igloos! Can't wait! Hoping to see a moose or two!
Love me! xo
