Goodbyes and new beginnings

I’m baaaack! So it’s already the second week of term two (when did that happen??) which means that I’ve surpassed the midway point of my time here (but I don’t want to  think about that). Since the past month or so was such a whirlwind of emotions and activities it’s hard (maybe even impossible) to fully articulate all that went on in these weeks, but I’ll give it a try to catch you up.

Exams came and went; everyone was busy at different times, but ultimately trying to dig deep for those final strands of motivation for the last push. Slowly but surely with each exam one more course was brought to a close and we were that much closer to freedom. Finally, when it was all over, there was about a week of tea meet-ups, lunches, Christmas dinners and ice skating sessions with friends before parting our ways for the holidays – and though these were all incredibly lovely, they did also mark the saying of good byes to some dear friends who either went on to continue their adventures back to their home universities, or graduated and moved on to new exciting places and stages in their lives. So it was a bittersweet time balancing the joy and excitement of the holidays with the knowledge that I would really miss this eclectic bunch of people that had come to make the first part of my exchange as crazy, wonderful, and exciting of a journey as it was. To all you guys- my most humble and heart-felt thank you.

A very orange Christmas dinner <3

Once all the tearful good byes had been said and done, campus became virtually deserted in a matter of days. It was such a stark contrast to exam season, when every available study space (read as: anywhere with something to sit on and with wifi) was crammed with people who frankly looked like they hadn’t paid too much attention to personal hygiene in a few days and were living off of cheap ice tea, Chinese take out and any number of snacks they could scavenge from somewhere nearby (it’s ok, I too, was one of them). Suddenly there was no one in sight, and as people flocked to go enjoy their holidays, I joined my parents who had come to visit for a couple of weeks. It was great having a break from campus; feeling like a local (well, almost anyway) when being able to show others around Vancouver, eating lots of great food, visiting Victoria for a couple days over New Years, and going skiing in Whistler (it never gets old). Time flew past, and after two weeks of basically running around from morning til night with my family, I could’ve used another vacation before the start of second term. Nevertheless, I rallied myself as well as I could (i.e. checked where my- no, WHAT my classes for this term were) during that one Sunday, and then started it all over again.

And now here we are. It’s week two of term two and I just know that this second term will be jam-packed with new adventures, new friends, (unfortunately) school work, and all around insanity from trying to fit in everything I’ve yet to have done/seen/experienced into the coming 4 months… BC, you better watch out- cause this term I’m gonna be all over you!