A few random thoughts…

Hi everyone,

This could become a bit of a ramble, sorry if it does and gets boring to read, but my blog is for a number of purposes: to update you on what’s going on, to educate you on another culture and for me to get my personal thoughts and feelings out. I’ve done a couple of wishy washy emotional posts before and it seemed to get good feedback, so I’m going to give it another crack.

People here know I’m here for one semester. I know I’m here for one semester and I can’t extend due to stupidly not getting a visa before I left Australia as I ran out of time. I wish I did, to have that option. Some of the experiences here are truly once in a lifetime and I’m beyond glad I chose UofC to do my exchange. I’ve met some wonderful people – which sounds a little clichè but it’s so true. A few people have asked me, “hey Courtney, we’re going to stay in contact when you’re not here, right?” and the answer is yes. I don’t want to think about the “L word” – something which will happen at the end of the year. So as something all of you can please do for me: please do not ask me about the “L” word, or returning to the “A” place in the southern hemisphere. I accidentally thought about it last night and I ended up having an awful sleep because of it.  Calgary feels like home, Canada feels like home, UofC feels like home. I know about 100 more people at UofC than I do Flinders. While this is probably because of rez, I genuinely feel like there’s a reason why it feels more like home, and I feel like there’s genuinely a reason as to why I couldn’t get accepted anywhere else, yet it was so easy here. The travel plans worked, my aunty is from this city, and everything feels so comfortable here.

The city of Calgary is about the same size of Adelaide, but it’s kind of an Adelaide on drugs, yet the same size. There’s better infrastucture such as roads etc and the downtown area is bigger too. I like and agree with Canada more than I do Australia at times. I know more about Canada than I do Australia due to to taking two Canadian Studies classes this semester. The incredible Rocky Mountains are the equivalent of Renmark or Victor Harbor away and they’re world famous, incredible mountains. Calgary is a wonderful, expanding city due to the oil and gas industry of Alberta – one of the richest provinces in Canada.

I love how polite Canadians are – they actually hold the door when you’re approaching and don’t slam it in your face cause they’re lazy. I think it’s sad and pathetic that I’m not used to normal thing such as holding a door for someone as they’re approaching, or people being nice to cashiers, helping someone with their stuff if you can see they’re struggling, asking how someone’s morning is going, letting someone know their outfit isn’t sitting straight, letting your friend borrow something without hesitation if they need it. People genuinely like spending time in other people’s presence and getting to know someone well. There’s about  5 doors in rez I can knock on at any point in the day to say hey and hang out, for no particular reason whatsoever. People are easy to talk to and get to know – I don’t know if this has anything to do with being “the Australian with blonde curly hair” but I find it easy.

While I miss a good proper meat pie, or a sausage roll, or Iced Coffee or schnitzel, I’ve found that a good poutine, among other foods does make up for these losses. ( FYI I don’t miss Vegemite because Mum sent me some, thanks Mum) Pretty much anything I miss in Aus (except human beings) can be replaced here with something just as good, if not better. I thought I’d feel homesick more than I do, I didn’t think I’d cope as well as I have but I surprised myself. Calgary is just a good place all around I think. I’ll have to travel a bit more to tell you about more of Canada but so far, I haven’t had many negative experiences. I feel so much sense of belonging, I have so many friends here who have welcomed me, and so much happiness when I wake up in the morning, knowing I’m in Canada and I get to live at least another day here.  I feel so content when I go to bed at night and things just click. I can’t really say “hey how’re you?!” in an Aussie accent anymore, nor can I pick an Aussie accent when I hear it in a crowd; it just sounds weird and foreign.

I think this got a bit wishy washy but I stopped before I got to 1000 words, so that’s an effort, right?

I’ll leave you with this though: Calgary feels like the home I wasn’t born in, I understand Canada more than I understand Australia and sorry, but Australia, I think you’ve lost me to Canada.

♥ Courtney