Winter is Coming

From leaving the Sydney summer on a nice 30 degree day to arriving in the snowy, -15 degree Canadian winter the next, this semester has been so different to my usual life back home but that’s what’s made it so amazing.

For the last four months I’ve been living in the uni town of Waterloo and studying at the University of Waterloo. Waterloo is a fairly small town about an hour and a half out of Toronto. The town contains two universities, the prestigious University of Waterloo and the infamous Wilfred Laurier University. With the majority of the town being students, you can always found something to do and people out and about. It’s been great to get a feel of the North American university town vibe.

Before I came to Canada I’d only seen snow twice but now I can definitely say I’ve seen my fair share of it. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been able to experience snowboarding and skiing for the first time, miss class due to a ‘snow day’, had a chance to dive face first into a big pile of snow and have a few good snowball fights with some of the lads. After a while it gets a bit annoying putting on thermals, big boots, a huge jacket and a beanie every time you go outside into the -30 degree weather but I don’t think I’d have had it any other way. It’s all part of the Canadian experience!

I’ve had the opportunity to checkout Montreal and Toronto, two amazing cities, see a half frozen over Niagara Falls, go just south of Buffalo for a bit of skiing, and my favorite of all, spend a week in Cuba over reading week. Reading week in Canada is the equivalent of the US spring break. Staying at a resort along the beautiful beaches of Varadero with all you can eat food and unlimited alcohol, as you can imagine it was a very messy week. Those unlimited drinks were definitely taken advantage of. While I was over here I also celebrated my 21^st birthday. It was a great night filled with a lot of shots, a lot of sculling, a lot of throwing up and some great mates. I’m sure I’ll remember it for years to come.

This semester has been amazing, the University of Waterloo is great and has awesome facilities, and I’d recommend anyone to travel around and check out Canada. The snows melting and it’s getting into spring and I’m getting excited for the post-semester travelling to come!

Luke Graham
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