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.