Sep 2006

Howdy!

So I've arrived and ensconced in my little apartment here in Vancouver.

What am I doing here, I hear you ask? Well, I'm here on exchange, studying mostly Political Science (aka Government to us USyd'ers) and History units. I'm staying on campus at a residence known as Gage. It's a huge tower complex, but it's really social, friendly, and definitely the most central of all residences. The longest walk I'll have to one of my classes is just under 10 minutes - and that's if I walk slowly!

This past week we've had our own little International Student Orientation - known as GALA. GALA, I learned, is so named because of the Gala apples that are native to BC. Nifty, huh? It's essentially a chance for all incoming exchange- and new full-degree international-students to meet, greet, learn a bit about Canada and UBC and have fun! It's all very contrived (we even have little getting-to-know you sessions), but done with a bit dose of tongue-in-cheek which makes it far easier to swallow. Regardless, I'm a firm believer in the "ask stupid questions to get to know people" school.

Well, we started off with a breakfast of crepes with the funniest waiter in Canada! Every time he came to serve us he adopted a new accent - very odd, but a great way to start the day. If it wasn't for the half-full mochas, I'd go there all the time! From there we went to the Residence Welcome at Gage, which basically read the riot act for all of us, then had lunch before going to the GALA Community Welcome at the shaped-like-a-violin Chan Centre. UBC like to build buildings in various shapes, the new library looks like an open, up-ended book (not so good for the spine though!).

The welcome itself was quite good - we heard from the AMS (Student Union) President as well as some Deans etc. The highlight for me was the so-tacky-it-was-funny Canadian folk band and the Welcome to Country. The W2C was so well done, and actually gave us an idea of how far the First Nations peoples have come in Canada over the last 50 years. Australia - take note!

Then it was onto the Meet-and-Greet with out GALA group. Mine wasn't such a talkative group, but we get along quite well, and it served as a nifty springboard to meet others. And before long it was time to board the yellow school buses (!) to the Picnic at the Beach. The picnic itself was fairly mediocre, especially for $10, but the socialising was nice and the setting (Spanish Banks Beach) was beautiful - just very cold by the time the sun started setting. So we retired, in traditional style, to the Pit for more shenanigans. Now if only I could get away from all these Aussies ... !

Day 2 was more of the same, with the daytime highlight being the BBQ lunch - oh so nice - and the Canada 101 session. To be honest, we all expected this to be a basic "Welcome to Canada" session, but it turned out to be quite a comprehensive political, social and historical background to Canada. Kinda boring to non-history/poli-sci students, but fascinating to me! I'm so glad I went as I was getting all cranky that I couldn't study Canadian history whilst I was here. Oh, and we all formed to write 2010 in people - because Vancouver is hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics with Whistler.

We all went back to get changed and ready for the Boat Cruise. We were contemplating having a few pre-party drinks, but none of us ended up having time so we boarded hoping there'd be at least some alcohol... but no Not that we need alcohol, it just would be nice! The cruise itself though was great - Vancouver really doesn't need to do anything to sell itself - the snow-capped mountains, lakes, sea, harbour and forests do it for them! After the cruise, a large group of us ended up on Granville St (Vancouver's George St) for drinks at the Roxy Burger Bar ... quite nice really, given it was supposedly a burger bar!

The final day of GALA was spent with our final meeting and trip down to watch the T-Birds play Canadian Football (aka Grid Iron). It was an exercise in audience tolerance for most of us, as it proceeds SO slowly. What I couldn't get past was how many players they had! They have 2 teams - one entire one for defence, and another for offence. And they keep on swapping depending on the tactics. I'm sure if I understood it, I'd love it, but given that it look almost two hours to get through the first 45min half, with all the stoppages, I just didn't get into it. The atmosphere was great though! Can't wait for the Shrum Bowl!

I also got to meet my rez mates today - because they all moved in! So it's now Clayton, Rob and Craig (who lived together last year); Isaac; Sebastian and myself. And guess what, we all get along! yay!! My biggest fear overcome

After a BBQ dinner at Gage (how I love free welcome BBQs), a small group of us headed downtown to grab dinner. We ended up in that quintessential Canadian shop - Tim Hortons (Canadian for coffee) and had a great time high on caffeine and lack of sleep! Remember Amanda, keep on talking to that door! Then we headed back to campus and decided to check on the frat party that was supposedly happening. It clearly wasn't, and within 30 seconds we all felt uncomfortable and the two non-Aryans amongst us were insulted because they 'spoke English and were Asian'. Classy guys! And so it was back to the pit! No surprises there

Oh, and this is my 100th post! Yay! Go me for actually doing this semi-properly. I hope it's been interesting and at least slightly informative! My travels are always going to be more interesting to be than everyone else, but I'm hoping some of my excitement is conveyed in my writing.

For more photos of GALA, click here.