4 weeks. One month. I guess that’s all it took. If you’d have told me on move in day that by the beginning of October I could call UBC home, I would’ve thought you were having a laugh. I still would’ve expected to be complaining about all the positivity and the fact that everyone appears to be asleep by 9pm and out for a jog at 6am.
Turns out Vancouver-ites are not crazy robot people programmed only to eat kale and do sun salutations on a beach. They’re just people, like me and you. And granted, I may not be spending every other night stumbling out of a club at 5am, with my shoes stuck to the dance floor, still singing along to “Summer of 69” and sprinting to the nearest takeaway. But that doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying every day I spend on this beautiful campus. In fact, there’s a slight chance I may be turning into a Vancouver-ite myself. I actually found myself saying to a friend this week:
“I’m in a rush, I’ve got to do a wholefoods shop and then I’ve got a yoga class”.
What happened to me? Don’t fear though Edinburgh friends, it’s not all change. I still drink far too many tequila shorts on a night out and last night thought it would be a good idea to go for a “paddle” in a fountain outside an apartment building. Perhaps not the smartest move.
Bad drunk stories aside, UBC is unreal. I’ve never experienced a University life before where hoards of students pile onto buses on Saturday mornings in gym gear to either go for a bike ride across Stanley Park Seawall, trek up a mountain to take in the sea views or have a kayak along Jericho Beach. Every second I spend reading a Political article for class in my room, I get an immediate fear of missing out on some adventure that will definitely be happening somewh
ere nearby. Which perhaps explains the lack of writing in my notebooks, and the masses of panorama shots of landscapes that are currently blocking up my Iphone’s memory.
I may not be 100% Canadian for a while – after another visit to a Thunderbirds football match I’m still puzzled as to why there’s around 300 people on a team. And I may never be as at ease on the wee stenched number 4 bus back from Granville Street as the locals appear to be. But none of that matters. Because I get to spend my weekends watching 12 orca whales roam around in the wild, playing beer pong at the pub on campus, and participating in the peculiar “Day of the Longboat” in which buses of UBC students are dumped on a beach and thrown into a “Longboat” in teams, in an attempt to paddle as hard as you can around a choppy sea course while trying not to capsize.
<<<<<< Casual Killer Whale
I think I’ve realised the key to exchange is acknowledging that comparing your experiences abroad to University life at home will never end well. You have to acknowledge that you’re on this year for a reason. To explore a new and amazing place, to meet people from across the globe, but most importantly, to embrace it. And as I look at my calendar at the planned trip to Whistler for a hike, a “Thanksgiving” home cooked meal with the British girls, and a Sunshine Coast camping trip – I know I’m doing just that.