Category Archives: Travel

snow is falling

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Whistler

Lower Olympic run, Whistler

So I can ski, now.

I skied once before, when I was eleven, and I was truly awful, so when, over reading week, me and a couple of friends decided to head up to Whistler, I assumed I’d be awful again. I actually assumed that I would have forgotten everything, and that I’d fall over ten thousand times over the three days me and my friend Chris got.

Turns out skiing is a bit like riding a bike, and I, though I have never in my life been good at a sport, was pretty good at skiing. I was sort of top of the class. Which is insane. Turned out that I was really good at the parts of skiing that involved being on skies and hurtling down hills (at a very slow speed; I am still learning), but still really really bad at the parts of skiing that didn’t involve being on skies. Like walking in ski boots (which are the worst inventions ever) and not falling over when I was supposed to be standing still.

It was a trade I was willing to take, though. Whistler is such an expensive but wonderful place, and unlike anywhere else I’ve visited so far in North America.

 

32 things i did at ubc that you can totally do too : thing #5

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THING #5: HOPPED ON OVER THE BOARDER TO SEATTLE

The Seattle Skyline plus my face. (And my friend’s arm – oops!)

It takes just four hours to get from downtown Vancouver to downtown Seattle, and that’s only if it’s pretty busy at the boarder. And so why not do it? I know that for me, part of the appeal of Vancouver (and it is only a little part) is the opportunity for travel. And Seattle is so very very close! (And so very very cheap! My ticket down on Bolt Bus was only $15, and you can get them cheaper.)

The Original Starbucks (just about) plus my face (again). Look at that line!

Seattle is full of things to do even on a rainy day. Which, statistically, it’s likely to be. But we live in Vancouver, however temporarily. We are used to this, right? Some things I would recommend include checking out Pike Place Market, where you can find all kinds of fresh produce as well as some fantastic gifts and pretty things. It’s where the original Starbucks is located, too, though the lineup outside is insane.

After that, there’s the EMP – a museum for music, sci-fi and pop culture. Love Nirvana? There’s an exhibition on their influence on music. Sci-fi geek? There’s another exhibition on great influences in sci-fi. (Also, they have an awesome sci-fi gift shop. I bought a t-shirt with ‘Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!’ on it – anyone who can tell me what show it’s from is my new best friend.) I would highly recommend the EMP.

The Crab Pot, plus my friends’ faces and my own.

If you’re looking for somewhere to eat some fantastic Seattle seafood, I cannot recommend The Crab Pot highly enough. Man vs. Food went there once! It’s incredible. They dump a bucket of seafood in front of you, give you a small mallet, and let you have at it. (Or you can get a nice, safe salmon burger or a plate of ribs, but the seafood! Man!)

A rainy view from the Space Needle, plus my friends’ and my faces. Getting a bit pose-y, there.

Then there’s the Space Needle. It’s the icon of Seattle, and it’s such an oddly futuristic and yet stuck back in time kind of place. It’s very odd, but definitely must be experienced. You can go up it at night, too.

Seattle is an incredible place, and I am proud to say that I got myself across the American boarder without accidentally doing something wrong! All by myself! I am very proud, and I had a fantastic time.

32 things i did at ubc that you can totally do too : thing #3

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THING #3: TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE LONG THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

Polite reminder that turkeys are the most hilarious looking animal ever.

The midterms are rolling on in, the work is getting harder, and the free time you get is just getting less and less free. Must be October.

But then, as though called by a collective moaning of students, magically, a long weekend appears! There is pie to be eaten and turkey to be cooked (and hopefully not burnt) and lazing around to do! It’s fantastic.

This Thanksgiving weekend was my first (and possibly only ever) Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and I am not alone. In my res there were plenty of people for whom the same was true. Maybe it was their first Thanksgiving, or maybe it was their first Canadian Thanksgiving. For some people it was the first Thanksgiving away from home, or the first Thanksgiving where they’d had to go home to get to it. For a lot of people it was their first Thanksgiving since they became college students. There’s a lot of firsts, is what I’m saying. And I think that’s kinda cool.

Everything is better when there is pie.

There’s also a ton of different things you can do for Thanksgiving. A lot of people on my floor went home for the weekend. I traveled to Vancouver Island and stayed with some relatives I’ve got there – I was spoiled pretty thoroughly and it was wonderful. Other friends took advantage of the extra day off by traveling somewhere for a hike or for some shopping over the border. And a fair few people on my floor stayed at UBC and had a turkey dinner together.

What I’m trying to say is that, well… you don’t get a lot of breaks in the school year, and Thanksgiving weekend is one to really take advantage of. If it’s anything like this year, the weather might even still be good!