starting school

hokay, so...
Last sunday we had the tail end of Irene, it was just really windy and bucketed down for 24 hours...pretty much an english summer! Max and I ran to an all-you-can-eat sushi place to eat large amounts of blooming good sushi complete with intermittent dramatic powercuts, before rolling home to watch almost an entire series of How I met Your Mother with Marie - very Canadian I know. The weather is just extreme England - hotter with bluer skies for a few days, followed by greyer and rainier for a few days.

Orientation on Monday was horrific: 9.30 am on a sunny Monday morning, the ominous gates of McGill's football stadium eventually opened to the tune of Katy Perry's 'Firework' at club-level of noise, and our 'frosh masters' in matching t-shirts expected us to dance around. Now that is a tune, but I am never going to be able to listen to it again without reliving that terrible feeling of awkwardness. Eurgh. This went on for about an hour, us froshers just standing clumped in the middle of an enormous football stadium, in the sun, on a Monday morning, unable to talk to anyone because the music was so loud, every now and again a 'frosh master' would just run up and yell in your face, with nothing to start off a conversation with other than the classic 'What's your name where are you from what are you studying'. Maybe I should have tried 'So do you believe in God?' I went for the classic 'Well this is awkward'...

Eventually we were made to sit on the floor to listen to some supposedly inspiring speeches from various chairs and presidents. Absolute cringe. One of them actually said 'You! Are going! To change! The world!' while pumping the air with her fist, before everyone cheered. I resisted putting my head in my hands until another hour later, when we, all 4500 of us, were supposed to be playing various getting-to-know-each-other games. Now I'm always up for silly games, but what is the point of trying to learn the NAMES of 4499 people? I went along with it for a while of course, I didn't want to be the grumpy one in the corner, and besides you never know what can happen...nothing. Other than me beginning to feel sick with uncomfortable-ness. We play similar sorts of games at Beauchamp with the kids, but I dearly hope we don't make it that bad. I like to think that we recognise that not everyone has the confidence/wants to just go and jump around with random people while wearing a backpack.

Well eventually, 3 hours later of going up down the bleachers (tiered seats) because noone knew what we were supposed to be doing, we were free to go...and play more getting-to-know-you games with a group of 50-odd science faculty froshers and frosh masters (frosh masters? really!?). I stuck around for the 'campus tour' - we just walked back to campus - before running away to open a bank account with a swiss guy I'd been chatting to. All in all, I spoke to a lot of nice people, none of whom I have spoken to since. Freaking love freshers. We all know how I feel about Sheffield freshers, and I think this was worse. I spent the afternoon with 2 people I met when wandering back from the bank, and we have been out together since. THAT's the way I like it, meeting people while doing things I like doing. Like walking away from banks.

Rant over! I went home and ranted away to the others, was given a delicious canadian beer, and calmed down. Phew. Classes started on Thursday but my courses were still all up in the air. Registration is just ridiculously complicated, but, as always, the advisors I have spoken to have all been uber nice and helpful. I should officially get on to my final class tonight; I'm taking insect biology and control, human genetics applied, methods in biology of organisms, ecological dynamics and medical anthropology (well I find them all interesting!). They all have various mid-terms, papers, reports, presentations, write ups and conferences, but as long as I keep my head down I should still have hair on my head by Christmas...I hope. The general atmosphere here seems alot more competitive and workaholic than Shefshef, as explained to me by my very lovely 'buddy' who I met through the international welcoming scheme. Tara is in her second year at McGill and is going to take me shopping for winter boots and be my library friend, woop!

I also have my supportive fellow english buddies on Rue Hutchinson! I am pretty much the 11th housemate of Nick's house, it's amazebeans. I love where I live for many reasons, but I also love going to Nick's for a bit of englishness and more people :) There are 6 english, 2 french, 1 german and 1 colombian, all students, all nice, all (currently) putting up with me just knocking on their door, or even just walking straight on in when their crazy landlord lets me in.

Other than starting on the paper (essay) I have already been set, I haven't really done anything crazy. Firmin took us to a bar with a gorgeous terrace outside, all lit up and full of trees. I queued for an hour to buy one expensive textbook, then for 2 hours to buy my travel card. Since I've been here I have eaten, for the first time, shrimp, eel, acorn squash, bison, and smoked veal. Max and I found an amazing second hand clothes shop where they give you a free shot, you can buy samosas, and it has an actual swimming pool of clothes, where you dive in and anything is $1. I am now the proud owner of some purple jeans. Vegetable shopping is fun; I live near a huge farmer's market where you can taste the fruit, and there are yellow and purple cauliflowers and white aubergines and unidentifiable veggies. Jay-walking is only jay-walking if you get caught. People don't understand if I say 'half eight'; it has to be 'eight thirty'. I live right near a restaurant that does The Best breakfast ever - think of a fry up, make it pretty, add more meat, exotic fruit, a crepe, weird-but-nice pate stuff and unlimited coffee, and boom, $10. I took the lightly named 'french toast with fresh fruit'; I couldn't see the wonderful french toast underneath the astoundingly constructed tower of strawbs, papaya, mango, blueberries etc and an artfully placed banana. Amazebeans.

Please send tea bags. And newsie gossip.

Lots of love