Hello again fabulous readers!

As the semester is coming to a close (it’s the last week, where has the time gone?!) I thought it would be nice to go through my highlights of the semester. There is an unreal amount of great moments but I miraculously managed to narrow it down to 10 so you won’t get overwhelmed by how much fun I’ve had. Here goes…don’t forget to scroll over images!

10. Wings Night.

Now for a girl that literally eats non-stop, this night had to be mentioned in my Top 10. Our Canadian cliff-jumping friends decided it was a must to take us Brits to Seanachie, a magical restaurant/bar that serves chicken wings for 9 cents on Mondays! We had a competition and I won out of the girls with a solid score of 29. Don’t think I can keep up with the guys though, some can eat 70!!)  I have been trying to reach 50 ever since. Not managed it yet but I promise I will one day!

9. The Girliest Sleepover Ever

Not a particularly cultured night but it was so cute it had to make my Top 10. After a stressful week of avoiding deadlines, our flat and our Aussie friends felt a girls night was definitely needed. So we gathered all our mattresses together in our living room and made pancakes (with maple syrup obviously), ate a scary amount of popcorn and watched awfully cheesy chick flicks. A perfect night for such a hectic week.

8.  The Halloween Weekend

I’m not usually too fussed about Halloween but this year, with the zombie parades down 17th Avenue and the ridiculous amount of pumpkins outside of every house, the Canadian enthusiasm certainly did rub off on me. We celebrated Halloween three nights in a row and had different costumes for each. Our favourite was definitely the Spice Girls, us British girls rocked it.

7. Thanksgiving

Finally getting a little more Canadian. Thanksgiving was a blast, although admittedly because we basically made it like Christmas Day. We had a 28-pound turkey (that we named Sandra- RIP) and I made paper snowflakes (because I’m useless in the kitchen). Us Brits weren’t entirely sure how to celebrate Thanksgiving but one of Canadian friends said we did it better than his family back home, so we were happy with that!

6. Trip to Banff and British Columbia

This was a weekend trip where we visited Lake Moraine and went on some beautiful hikes, stayed in an awesome wooden cottage and had a bonfire and marshmallows. It also must be mentioned that our sing-a-longs throughout the car journeys were on point. Pretty perfect weekend really. And the people weren’t too bad either.

5. Lake Louise

This was a trip organised by the university for International students. At an ungodly hour for a Saturday morning, three coaches headed off on the 2 hour journey to Lake Louise. Even though I’d been to Lake Louise before (many years ago with my family), it was still incredible to see the beautifully blue water. What was even more incredible was the amount of photos everyone took…

4. Trip to Jasper

Much like the trip to Banff and BC, we rented out two cars (was hilarious being in the car with Lydia driving- “oops I’m on the wrong side again”) and had an awesome weekend hiking, seeing possibly the most spectacular views I have ever seen in my life. There was a lot of snow and, with the sun shining, Lake Peyto was something else.

3. Cliff Jumping

Even though this happened in the first week of term it’s still one of my favourite memories because it was so crazily spontaneous and we got to know some really fun Canadians. We went to a place called Seebe, which is on the way to Banff, and couldn’t quite believe how the Canadians didn’t feel the cold. Admittedly it took us about two hours to pluck up the courage and jump in the freezing water, but we did it!

2. Ski Trip

The U of C Ski and Board Club organises a whole bunch of ski trips for students throughout the year so of course, we had to go! Literally every international student I know went which made it even more fun. Before the trip I hadn’t been skiing in ten years so I was slightly worried that I’d basically be a beginner, but thankfully it all came back to me and I managed to keep up with my Canadian and French friends (that are all amazing at skiing!). This was essentially a weekend of races down the mountain, some spectacular wipe outs, and non-stop giggling. Yet another perfect weekend.

1.Home

OK here comes the cheese. I really struggled to choose my favourite moment because honestly there have just been so many incredible days that I know I will never forget. A few other memories that didn’t make the cut include; Ellie ice skating, dancing on stage in The Den (the student night here on campus), carving pumpkins, my second Psychology exam, thrift shopping, watching Lydia’s choir concert, and covering our flat in wrapping paper for Christmas! But I must say that my favourite moment (or moments because it happens very regularly) is simply singing and dancing around our flat with the three best flatmates anyone could ever ask for. They somehow make the most average of days the funniest and craziest ever. This whole semester has been incredible but it’s the people that have honestly made these past few months some of the best months of my life.

So there you have it, my Top 10 Moments (so far)! It’s all gone by so fast and I can’t really comprehend that this term is basically over. Luckily I’m here for Christmas too!

Missing all you lovely folks in England. Please send pictures of the Christmas lights around Durham and Oxford Street. It’s not quite the same here in Calgary.

Hope you’re all getting in the Christmas spirit!

Love you all,

Sonia xx

P.S. If anyone back in England wants to send over a months supply of mince pies that’d be fab, they are seriously lacking over here.