The light at the end

It’s officially the last week of classes, which basically translates into: HELP!! By this I mean deadlines galore, both currently as well as ones looming in the imminent future. However, it’s not all dread and drudgery. In fact, I outright refuse to make this post about that! 

This time of term also gives students a glimmer of hope with regards to the nearing of the end of term and the beginning of holidays (also known as: the-time-I’m-gonna-spend-in-pjs-all-day-everyday-not-doing-anything-whilst-eating-my-body-weight-in-chocolate). There is a certain buzz that can be felt around campus with regards to exciting holiday plans, finishing up final essays (for those arts majors) and presentations (grouped to this final week for seemingly EVERYONE in business) and getting ready to have some well deserved R&R. I feel it too; when I’m not freaking out and scrambling to meet all my deadlines, I’m grinning away imagining and planning all the holiday activities ahead. I’ve even managed to get a head start by visiting the “European” Christmas market downtown (though I’ve never encountered ‘rotatoes’ in my 20 years of living in Europe…), confusing myself by singing some Christmas carols in Swedish that I've sung in Finnish all my life with our Swedish class, and spending a fantastic few days in Whistler during its opening weekend! Having never been to the Alps or anywhere with really big mountains (Lapland, you're great, but it's really not the same) I was stoked to go skiing in this former Olympic village! Although they only had four runs open during that first weekend, we managed to ski/board down some of the unopened ones too and each one was so much longer than the ones I’m used to which meant that it didn’t feel like I spent the majority of my time waiting in the lifts to be brought back up. The whole weekend was a blast – totally worth hobbling around like a duck for a few days afterwards with my tensed up calves.

              Market times                                  Pow pow and sun in Whistler

Besides all this merriment and excitement for the holidays, it is strangely sad that classes are coming to an end. Classmates with whom you’ve developed friendships and professors you’ve established bonds with over freaking out about essay questions have been instrumental in creating this place a home away from home and provided a sense of normalcy and structure to the otherwise often hectic exchange life- so on behalf of all of us, thank you to all you guys. <3 It’s also sad to think that some of the beautiful people I’ve met this term will be leaving in the next month or so. 

But before this gets too sappy, I would like to point out that fortunately (yes, I said it), we still have exams to take our minds off this for the next few weeks. Also, I believe everyone’s social calendars are slowly filling up with a myriad of end-of-term activities and events, which will allow us to have some more great times together before this term comes to an end!

Just a quickie update with regards to Halloween, Bowen Island and “the party thingie on the boat”

So the past month or so has been FULL of all sorts of fun non-scholastic activities, I don’t even know where to begin! Halloween was super fun, and super spontaneous in many ways. During the week leading up to it, I carved pumpkins with friends, was spoiled with chocolates and donuts given by our professors, and discovered that people here show up to class in full costume (special mention to the teenage mutant ninja turtles in marketing), which is considered totally normal… (I don’t care what you say I still think that, Halloween or not, that guy sitting in class with a motorcycle helmet on is kinda creepy…). Halloween evening I had no plans, but unexpectedly ended up with tickets to a party thrown in the “fancy” bit of downtown -Yaletown - and with no costume in mind, ended up literally sewing on leaves I gathered from outside and pinning twigs onto my clothes and hair, claiming I was some sort of a troll, before heading out with friends and dancing the night away.

The result of some expert pumpkin carving

 The hippie and the troll

Besides Halloween, one of the bigger events of the past few weeks was an impromptu day trip I took to Bowen Island. This turned out to be one of the best trips I’ve done so far on my exchange, because the people I met (only one of whom I’d met before) turned out to be such a great group that kept me laughing all throughout the day! We took the ferry out from Horseshoe Bay and explored the island; found the “waterfall”, ambled in the seemingly magical forests, and toured around the island’s lake taking in (and photographing) the scenery. It was the perfect way to procrastinate on that extra day off, whilst making great new friends.

Finally, I’d also like to add a few thoughts on this “party thingie on the boat” (as a friend put it) I went to last week. This was essentially, the end of term boat party/dinner/cruise organized by the Exchange Club here at UBC. We filed into a boat which cruised just between Granville Island and downtown, allowing us to admire the Vancouver skyline from the water whilst dancing to some (albeit very questionable) music with other exchange friends made during the past term. The evening also contained some drama involving Santa getting thrown overboard (don't worry, turns out it was just a decorative figurine, not the real guy!) and the party almost being called off, but luckily someone took the fall for it allowing the night to continue on, relatively smoothly afterwards. Overall then, the night was a fun experience which I'm sure most of us won't forget anytime soon, and a great excuse to break out the more fancy attire we'd all hauled over halfway across the world for the first time this year.