The differences between Australia and Canada, part two: climate.

Canada's token animal, the terrifying beaver. I reckon that tail could do some damage to a shark...

The most obvious difference between Australia and Canada is the climate. Australia is hot, shark infested, and full of palm trees and deserts. Canada is cold, beaver infested, and full of maples and snow.

Being on opposite ends of the Earth, seasons are at opposite times. It’s summer in Canada right now while it’s “winter” in Australia. However, on any given day you could look at the forecast in certain areas of both countries and the temperature could be the same.

In Canada there are four definite seasons with all sorts of cues to signal change:

Summer is during June, July and August. It’s hot no matter where you are, but weather is different depending on which province you’re in. For example, it’s very humid in Ontario and so dry in the Okanagan that forest fires are rampant. Wardrobe includes breezy summer dresses, sunscreen, shorts and tanks, strappy sandals, and flip flops (also know as “thongs” in Australia). In Ontario, it’s also key to always have an umbrella at your disposal because a thunderstorm could surprise you at any time.

Up next is autumn, which is my favourite season. It lasts from September to about mid-November. It’s the slow transition from summer to winter, with visual cues such as pumpkins for sale on the side of the road, leaves changing from green to orange, yellow, and red, and cute boots, scarves, and layers. It’s the perfect time to wear suede! The air feels clean and crisp and it’s not too hot or cold. It’s also the season that holds Thanksgiving, which means turkey and pumpkin pie for everyone!

Winter is on deck after autumn, lasting from mid-November to March, which to me feels like a lifetime. On the plus side I can’t get enough of hockey season, and I’ll admit that the first snowfall is exciting. After the clouds open up and snow is sprinkled over dead grass and bare

Snowmageddon hits London, Ontario! December 2010.

branches, the landscape around you completely changes. When the sun is shining everything sparkles and radiates cleanliness. I tend to enjoy this view from the comfort of my home in front of my fireplace with a hot tea and heavy sweater. Unfortunately, the beauty doesn’t last in the city: snow gets covered in gravel, salt, and mud. It piles up on the side of roads and driveways, and starts to melt and turn to slush. However, a fresh snowfall always cleans up the ugliness. In terms of dress, it’s time to bust out the heavy winter coat, wool socks and scarf, mitts, toque, and water resistant thermal boots. A word for the wise: beware of the slush! There’s nothing worse than wearing boots that are fashionable but impractical: slush will attack your feet, numb your toes, and it always leave a salt stain (a helpful reminder that the cute boots always lose — that is, lose warmth and cuteness.)

Thankfully, just as you think you can’t handle another day of winter (although this moment normally happens to me on January 2), spring swoops in to save the day! Rain starts to fall in April and melts the snow away. Tree leaves start budding and grass begins to grow. The temperature only creeps up to around +10 at first, but everyone ditches their clothes anyways. Hey, after -25, +15 feels balmy. People wear bright colors, matching the new growth surrounding them. The sun isn’t hot enough to get a tan, but it’s enough to keep you warm (and still try to tan…)

Delicious pumpkin pie.

There are definite changes in each season, with all sorts of cues to signal you: visual, temperature, and scent. Each season smells different, and I associate these smells with particular months of the year — fall smells like pumpkin, apple, and mud. Winter literally smells cold — everything is frozen. On the flip side, spring smells like the ground is defrosting. Summer smells like grass and sunscreen. I associate tastes with months as well — winter tastes like gingerbread lattes, spring tastes like strawberry shortcake and ice tea, summer tastes like crisp salads with fresh tomatoes, and autumn tastes like pie (ALL PIE. Pumpkin, apple, raisin, rhubarb…etc.)

I often forget what month I’m in because I’m used to all of the cues I mentioned before to signal me of the time of year, and it’s all opposite here. According to the fashion industry, Australia has four seasons as well. However, without the cues from the magazine aisle, I would forget that we’re entering into spring. To me, it’s just winter and summer. Officially though, summer is from December to February, autumn is March to May, winter is June to August, and spring is September to November. Temperatures range from 50 degrees Celsius to below zero, but it never gets as cold as Canada’s extreme weather, partially because Australia lacks very high mountains and is lucky enough to have warming oceans around its coastal regions. I’m living in Queensland (lovingly referred to as the “Sunshine State”). In Brisbane the average low is around +15, and the average high is around +26. I haven’t experienced an entire summer here yet, but apparently it gets very hot and humid.

It’s fascinating because when winter began here, Canadian’s were experiencing spring and temperatures were about the same in both countries. However, as I wrapped a wool scarf around me and put my sandals in storage, my friends back home were running around in shorts and summer dresses.

Feeling cold is relative: when you’re used to it being really hot, as soon as the temperature drops your body starts freaking out. Symptoms include goosebumps, chattering teeth, and freezing hands that make other people jump when you touch them. However, when you’re used to it being freezing cold, once it warms up a little bit your body is ready to party!

Great Ocean Road, VIC, July 2011. In Australia, this is appropriate winter wear. Coat, scarf, boots. My mom saw pictures and said "nice sweater".

Even though it was only around +18 at the beginning of winter, I felt really cold. Some Canadians may look at me and say, “Grace, you’ve gone soft.” That’s where they’re wrong. To them I say, “I was born soft!” I’ve always hated the cold. People often make the mistake of assuming that since I’m from Canada I shouldn’t mind when it’s cold here. However, I came to Australia because I really dislike being cold. Also, once you’re cold, you’re cold. Because of many factors, I would argue that it’s possible for your body to feel the same as it does in +10 here and below zero in Canada. In Canada we are prepared for the cold: we put on more quality layers and our buildings have heaters and good insulation. Australia is not as prepared so even though it’s not nearly as cold, it still feels cold. Even though I have felt cold in Australia, there is still nothing like the cold in Ottawa that penetrates straight through your skin and chills your bones, shaking you to the core.

With all of that said, I have come to this conclusion: I, Grace Davis, love Australian winter. I never would’ve thought I would put “love” and “winter” in the same sentence, but to me Brisbane winter is like permanent autumn. It’s the most perfect, pleasant weather!

The differences between Australia and Canada, part one: food.

I was originally going to write about what I have observed to be the  general differences between Australia and Canada, but ended up having so much to say about food that I’m going to have to write about social differences next time. Show’s where my priorities are..

Cheese:

Orange cheddar does not exist here. If that doesn’t throw you for a loop, cheddar tastes very different as well. Dairy products in general do not taste the same. Different agriculture, different cows, different product!

Milk:

Okay, this is confusing, but stay with me. In Canada, we have 2%, 1%, 3.25%, skim, half and half (for coffee) and cream (also for coffee). I would say 2% is the most common with 1% skim running a close second. They don’t bag milk here – it’s all cartons. I asked someone about it once and recieved a confused look and a “Canada is weird” response. In Australia, there is full cream (I believe it’s 4%, and this is their most common milk), “lite” (2%), skim, and thickened cream (for desserts). I was pretty confused the first time I went to the grocery store for milk: “But what are the percentages?!”

Coffee:

Percolated coffee doesn’t exist in Australia. It’s all about the espresso here (although it’s not commonly called espresso… It’s just called coffee.) People drink cappuccinos (espresso, steamed milk with a decent amount of foam and chocolate sprinkled on top), flat whites (espresso, steamed milk, and a thin layer of foam in the same mug used for cappuccinos), lattes (same amount of foam as a cappuccino but it’s in a clear glass without a handle), long blacks (shot of coffee and hot water), and short blacks (espresso shot). On the plus side, coffee is more of an art here — people become skilled at making coffee. I’m constantly impressed with the pretty designs – a treat for your eyes and your taste buds! On the downside, coffee is incredibly inconsistent. I’m pretty sure I’ve had more bad coffee than good here. I’m always nervous taking the first sip of coffee at a place I haven’t tried, or even a place that’s normally good but a different barista. There are many factors involved: the coffee roast, properly rinsing the machine in between coffees so that bits don’t get burned, running the water through the shot immediately so as not to burn the coffee, steaming the milk appropriately, and the list goes on. Needless to say, there’s a lot of potential to mess it up. In Canada, percolated coffee is pretty consistent. Once you find a place with a good roast, you’re good to go. However, I think that percolated coffee is mediocre at best, whereas a good espresso based coffee is delightful. Depends on if you want to play the risk or go for the sure thing.

Eggs:

The eggs from the grocery store are more orange here. There are a lot more options with free range, caged, grain fed, farm, and so forth. Also, in Woolworths eggs aren’t stored in a fridge. Eggs are always refrigerated in Canada.

Biscuits:

I have had the privilege of eating Tim Tams, and believe me, they are a gift from the cookie masters. A Tim Tam is an Australian “biscuit”, or in Canadian terms, a chocolate cookie. In the grocery store there is an aisle for biscuits, which are essentially cookies and crackers.

Meat:

Lamb and veal are incredibly popular here. They are not that common in Canada. That’s that.

Bananas:

Banana’s are so expensive here! I haven’t bought any bananas since I’ve been here because one single banana could cost almost $3! The banana fields got wiped out in the floods back in January, and ever since they’ve been too expensive.  Sad.

Restaurants:

Mc Donald’s has many a nickname in North America. One that I hadn’t hear till I arrived down under was Maccas. There’s also a place called Hungry Jacks, which has the exact same logo as Burger King. Speaking of burgers, it’s hard to find a good one here. As for restaurants, you can always find lots of Italian, Indian, Thai, and “Australian.” Also, there’s a kebab (shawarma) place on every corner. Oh, and fries are called chips.

Bacon most commonly used at North American restaurants.

Breakfast:

Australian’s are better at portion control. In Canada, if you see “eggs on toast” on a menu for $12, you’d assume it also comes with hash browns, meat, and maybe some tomato or fruit. Here, it literally means, eggs on toast (gasp!).  Also, over easy eggs don’t exist here. You can have eggs fried (sunny side up), scrambled, or most commonly, poached. Bacon is a lot more thick here. It kind of looks like long strips of peameal bacon.

Food health and safety:

The type of bacon commonly used in Australia.

I’ve worked at two restaurants in Australia and we’ve never been randomly tested for health and safety. In Canada it’s very common for  someone to come and do tests to make sure cleanliness is up to snuff. Also, I know in Toronto and London there are grading systems outside of restaurants so that patrons can see how a restaurant did on testing (red, yellow, green, etc). I haven’t seen anything like that in Australia. This definitely speaks to the differences in cultures. North America is a lot more legalistic and Australia is much more laid back. However, this doesn’t mean that restaurants here are unsafe. The places I’ve worked at are incredibly clean and I haven’t walked into any super sketchy places.

Chocolate:

Let me tell you about Max Brenner, also known as a glimpse of heaven. It’s this glorious restaurant that serves chocolate fondue, chocolate brownies, waffles with chocolate drizzled on top, chocolate smoothies… So. Much. Chocolate.

MAX BRENNER!

Need I say more?

Overall, there are a lot of a food differences between Australia and Canada, with positives and negatives in both countries.

Dear education: thanks for the brain workout.

This is the first semester that I haven’t been in school. After a lifetime of education, I finished my university degree in June. Even though my excitement to be done was tangible, the last day I walked around campus I thought about all of the things I would miss.

University is a place where people come together to think, create, and stretch their brains in uncomfortable ways.There’s something about walking around campus and being surrounded by people in different disciplines. While standing in line for a much needed caffeine fix, in front of me is an engineer crunching numbers that mean nothing to me, behind me is a medical student who knows exactly what that fifth coffee is doing to her body but orders it anyways because she’s running on little sleep, and at the front is a couple of philosopher’s arguing over who summed up human sexuality the best: Freud or Foucault. And then there’s me – a journalist whose time spent observing people standing in line for coffee is every bit a part of my education as the news writing and ethics class that I’m running late for.

Sure, I went to unversity to get a degree that will hopefully help me get the career that I want one day. However, the part of school that I loved the most isn’t the paper I received at the end. It’s the way different topics open your eyes up to parts of the world you never knew existed. It’s that teacher that is so passionate about what they’re teaching that they can inspire you to change journalism for the better, get you excited about fonts, or burn into your memory how different chemicals affect your brain. It’s that person you roll your eyes at because it’s the seventh time they’ve raised their hand in the past hour and they’re sharing another story about what their boyfriend thinks about an unrelated topic, like soup. It’s the sports teams, friends, Tim Hortons, early mornings and late nights.

During my last weeks I was excited at the thought of being done assessment and starting “real life.” However, I am going to miss being on campus because  of its unique atmosphere. There’s always more learning to do. After all, I never did sit in on an engineer class.

I love you, coffee.

Karen and I love coffee. It’s always such a joyous moment when get coffee, so we decided to capture a little bit of that happiness on film. Yes, the emotions you will see in these pictures are real. We love coffee that much.

It all began the first time Karen and I hung out.  We got up at the early hour of 7am to travel to Coolangatta to watch the Quicksilver Surf Competition. After stumbling around half asleep, we made our way to the bus stop not knowing which bus to take and where Coolangatta was located. We asked the bus driver of the first bus we saw if we could get to the surf competition by taking that bus, and she informed us we could. We asked her what stop to get off at and she said “Twin Towns, right after New South Wales.” Not understanding her accent neither of knew she said “Twin Towns” but we did here the second part. Although this was when I first got to Australia and I didn’t know much about anything, I knew that New South Wales is a different state from Queensland.

Needless to say we were very confused and still didn’t know how we would know where to get off, and to make matters worse, I had to top up my Go Card and couldn’t find money. As I rummaged through my bag looking for cash, all of the contents of my purse crashed to the floor. My makeup compact smashed into pieces as the lady bus driver looked at us in disgust. Karen and I, still without coffee, looked at each other in slow motion and said a very unenthusiastic “oh.” After a solid four minutes from when we got on the bus we finally took our seats, leaving a trail of makeup behind us. An hour and a half later we passed a sign for New South Wales and went looking for the surf competition. We followed some guys with surf boards but were faced with a dilemma when they went in different directions. Eventually we managed to find the beach and followed a path. “So, those waves are tiny. Almost non-existent,” I said, “Maybe once we go around this corner they will be huge!” Karen replied. The waves did not get any bigger and we were informed that the competition was canceled. Everything was better as soon as we got our coffee.

Gloria Jeans, Coolangatta

This picture was taken at the Starbucks in Broadbeach. It was a beautiful day and we were about to go to Blues Fest. Combine coffee with sunshine, harmonicas, and good friends, and life does not get any better.

Starbucks, Broadbeach

This picture was taken right before we road tripped to Byron Bay. First Avenue is a cafe right in Surfers, and its coffee is really hit or miss. This wasn’t the best coffee we’ve ever had, but considering it was 9:00am, we were still thrilled just to have coffee.

First Avenue, Surfers Paradise Blvd

This coffee was from Max Brenner, which is essentially a chocolate heaven. Luba, Karen and I went out to Main Beach for a delicious steak meal which we followed up with dessert at Max Brenner. We had chocolate fondue, a huge waffle with ice cream, fruit, and chocolate drizzled all over, and a couple of decaf skinny lattes. Yes we are fully aware of the irony of drinking decaf skinny lattes after copious amounts of dessert.

Max Brenner, Main Beach

This picture was taken at Starbucks in downtown Brisbane. We had just finished a day of shopping and were ready to warm up and relax.

Starbucks, Brisbane

Yep, we love coffee that much.

Coffee, journal, and ocean. Can it get any better?

I love Byron Bay

Byron Bay and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary…

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So good.

Hello, Gold Coast.

So I live in Australia. Crazy.

Right now I’m living in Surfers Paradise, which is in the Gold Coast, Queensland. It’s like Australia’s version of Miami. The beach goes on for miles! The contrast between the natural environment and human development is wild. There is nothing more natural than the ocean, but at the same time you’re surrounded by skyscrapers.

First day on the beach!

It took a week to find a place to live. I looked at some awful places. The first one was right on the beach and had a great view, but was really dirty and small. And the middle aged man that was showing me the room failed to mention in the ad that he lives there as well. It was one of those sketchy places where this guy lived with all these young international girls that couldn’t speak English very well. So needless to say, we booked it out of there. When I got here I was staying with my friends Luba and Mo, who are both from Ontario. They are so great to me and have helped me out so much! It’s nice having some Canadian friends because it feels like family.

The places I looked at got better after that first one. My flat is pretty much right on the beach. I can actually hear the ocean waves crashing on the beach from my apartment. I live on the 21^st floor and the view is amazing! You can see the ocean, the river, and the city. My flat mates are all great. I live with two Brazilian guys that are studying English here, and my roommate is a Korean girl who’s lived in Vancouver, the States, and Korea. It’s fascinating learning about their cultures and listening to their language.

The view from my balcony. I'm actually sitting here right now while writing this.

I’m also working at this place called Nicolini’s, which is a popular Italian restaurant in town. It’s run very differently than restaurants in Canada (there isn’t even a point of sale computer system!) It’s just a lot more laid back in general. The expectations from staff and customers are much lower, so when Canadians serve like we do in Canada, people are normally pretty impressed. There are a couple of Canadians, Italians, and Brazilians that work there. There are actually only a few Aussies on staff.

It’s not customary to tip in Australia, so servers actually get paid more. The average is around $16/hour on weekdays, $19 or $20 on Saturdays, and then $25 on Sundays. It’s nice because you’re guaranteed the money, whereas in Canada you never know how much you’ll make in tips because it depends on if it’s busy. However, in Canada you have the potential to make a hundred or couple hundred a night in tips. I still get some tips too. Not as much as back home, but it’s still some extra cash. I’m SO lucky I got this job cause no one is hiring right now. My friend Luba already worked at Nicolini’s and they had three people leaving, so she managed to get me a trial shift. I printed off 17 resumes and was all ready to paper the town with them, and I didn’t end up having to drop off one. I’m so grateful.

I’ve been spending as much time as I can on the beach, which still isn’t as much time as I’d like. The amount of times people have asked me why I’m so white is ridiculous. Uh, hello, it’s cause I just came from Canada! Last time I checked, winter jackets don’t help in the tanning department.

Stay tuned for a posting on the differences I’ve noticed between Australia and Canada (the accent isn’t the only difference!) , and a posting on my trip to Byron Bay (which was AMAZING!)

Vancouver and LAX

Having breakfast at Granville Island

The adventure has begun! I left Vancouver this morning after a great visit with my sisters friend Pam (you’re the best Pam!). I haven’t been to Vancouver since I was 15, so I was seeing the city with a fresh perspective. Vancouver is great! From what I saw, the downtown is a little glitzy with lights and fashion, but it’s clean and not as chaotic as Toronto. There seemed to be a lot of organic food shops and yoga studios, so it seems like the people here are pretty health conscious. The scenery was also amazing. There are mountains and the ocean — hello! What’s not to like?! You may answer with “rain,” but it wasn’t raining when I was there.

I am currently in LAX.  First of all, it is a balmy 17 degrees, and when I got here I just sat happily outside on a bench and enjoyed the beautiful breeze. I was in Ottawa only a week ago where it was a solid -25; so needless to say, I love my life.

This is my first time in California, and even though I won’t get to do any sightseeing, I feel like I got a little taste of the culture from the view from the plane. The first thing I really noticed was the ocean and the beach. After that it felt like

Vancouver

we were flying over the most intense game of monopoly ever. LA is HUGE! Houses are lined up side by side, street after street, for as far as I could see. There were also tons of different sports stadiums — football, soccer, baseball, and tennis courts. Once we got closer to the ground you could see little patches of green grass acting as people’s lawns, and there are a lot of pools.

I was fascinated because from the sky, the view is a direct reflection of America — power in numbers, wealth, and entertainment.  I took a class in third year called “The Culture of Containment: Post Cold War America,” and my teacher was obsessed with how consumerism acted (or acts) as a container for America. It was interesting because from the view from the sky, everything does look perfectly contained in LA. Each subdivision seemed to have a block of maybe 16 houses, and each house had a perfect square lot with a perfect square lawn. My prof used to talk about how Americans would demonstrate their wealth and power through their lawns and houses, so from an outside view, they would look wealthy (AKA, conspicuous consumption.) The other thing I found really interesting was the amount of stadiums. American’s are definitely into their sports and entertainment.

LA

I know that this view isn’t a direct reflection of LA or California in general — once you get up close I’m sure you’d see poverty as well as wealth. I just find it fascinating that from the sky all it looks like is wealth, power, and masses of people. The airport is also huge. I had to take a five-minute shuttle ride through runways and whatnot from one terminal to the next during my layover. Pretty cool stuff.

Now I’m waiting for the big time flight. It should take about 12 hours from here to Brisbane. Wish me luck!

Back to the Okanagan!

A week ago I left Ottawa and started my big adventure! Saying goodbye to my family is always tough, but I’m so grateful I got to spend about a month with them before I left. They’re all so important to me and I really value the time we spend together.

Robyn and I workin' it in our '80s gear

From Ottawa I went to the Okanagan Valley. After living there this past year, visiting my sister Robyn and her husband Chris felt like coming to my home away  from home. The mountains are so beautiful when they’re covered in snow. Our week was filled with good chats, great food, some movies, and a little bit of work.

The weekend was a different story. I was gearing up for a Zumba packed couple of days. On the Friday there was a Zumbathon in Vernon, which was an hour and a half class that cost $20, and the proceeds went to charity. There was a whole bunch of local instructors as well as my sister Robyn and her friend Tamara, who are both Zumba Education Specialists. I got to help lead the warm up with Robyn and Tamara, which was a really fun and cool experience. After I got over the blinding spotlight that was shining in my face, I eased into “Im’ma Be” and things got a little groovy (or gangsta. Little bit of both.)

On Saturday Robyn had a full B1 training that I helped out with, and on Sunday Tamara had an Aqua Zumba training. I got to participate in the Aqua master class, which was sweet. In one of my first blog posts ever I talked about my first encounter with Zumba and my awkward hips. Now I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with the program, so I was like “oh yeah, Aqua Zumba should be great. I love Zumba.” It was definitely a ton of fun, but so different than regular Zumba. It’s a good thing my legs were underwater because otherwise everyone would’ve seen how much I struggled with getting my feet going in the right direction. Nevertheless, it was a great workout and so much fun. Tip: if all else fails, flail your arms and splash around.

Sunday night is when things went awry. We were all exhausted from the weekend and just stopped making sense.  After a little debate, we decided to get coffee for our ride home from Kelowna, cause let’s face it — life is just to short. However, the first time we went through the drive through we literally just drove through. We missed the speaker and there was a car behind us so we couldn’t back out, so after a quick hello wave to the counter person we looped around and finally got our coffee.

Little Barkley!

Once we got back to Armstrong I had to run into the store to pick up some sour cream. Let’s just say I was a little self conscious of my appearance. To put it lightly, it looked like a tired girl with crazy hair who had walked straight out the 80s. To make matters worse, when I came out of the store I beelined for the first truck

I saw and swung open the back door right away. Surprisingly enough, after seeing the startled driver I thought to myself “that isn’t Robyn” — it was a startled young girl. I don’t know what’s worse: this poor girl going through the shock of some

random person opening her car door, or having to look at my appearance. Meanwhile, Robyn and Tamara were parked a good 5 or 6 car parking spots away. I blame the high intensity aqua workout.

Overall, it was a very good week.

the end of a chapter/my friends are the best!

My going away party. Time to bust out the sassy hats!

Warning: The following posting contains severe traces of sentimentalism. Reader discretion is advised.

My time at UWO has officially come to a close.

I had been avoiding even talking about leaving London for months. I also proved to be quite skillful at avoiding saying goodbye to people. Let’s just say, if procrastination were my job, I would’ve gotten a raise.

Even though I tried to avoid thinking about it all, my body was a constant reminder. For the days leading up to my departure my stomach was in knots, and I had so much nervous energy I felt sick. It’s not even that I’m nervous about going somewhere new, but I guess the anticipation of leaving my friends behind was making me pretty anxious.

My brain was like “oh hey Grace, you should probably get ready to say goodbye,” and I was like “la la la.” So, to get my attention my body slapped me in the face. Awesome.

The beginning of a legacy. Sasha Fierce!

Even though I couldn’t sleep and I felt sick, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Now you’re probably thinking “uh Grace, that’s weird.” Don’t get me wrong — I’m no masochist. I hate being sick as much as the next guy, but if I hadn’t been sad about leaving, it would’ve meant I wasn’t leaving anything special behind.

I have had the most amazing past four years. When I reflect on them, I only have hilarious, good memories. I’m not exaggerating when I say I can’t think of anything bad. There’s Saugeen in first year, March Madness, late night DQ runs, drinking tea, the Master Plan, Gazette shenanigans, purple pride, Ceeps, shopping downtown, fondue for two, Christmas in October, Rupal, dance parties, and non-stop laughing. Not to mention ridiculous amounts of food.

Maddie is the second person I met at Western. This was at O-week in first year. Best buds!

My friends are actually the best. They are the most hilarious, fun, caring, talented people, and I am so happy and grateful that I know them. I know that there’s no way I could count my blessings. There’s far too many, and it would be out of my mathematical league (and yes, I passed calculus in high school.)

C.S. Lewis once said: “The pain I feel now is the happiness I felt before.”  First of all, C.S. Lewis is a genius. This pretty much sums up everything I feel about leaving Western. Yeah, it hurts now, but it’s so worth it. My experiences at Western have been amazing, and even though the circumstances are changing, I’m counting on these friendships to last.

I had, as the Black Eyed Peas would say, the time of my life. (WOO DANCE PARTY!)

Good times UWO. It was epic.

 

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ps… Sorry about getting so sentimental… there was no avoiding it!