Tag Archives: Vancouver

Canada: The Beginning

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Hello, for the first time, and welcome to my section of the study abroad blog!

Although my first term at the University of British Columbia does not start until the 6th of September with Imagine Day (a kind of freshers-week-in-a-day affair), my mum and brother have decided to holiday with me all around the West Coast of Canada for the two weeks before term starts. As I am writing this I am sitting in the car going through the beautiful Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on the way back to Vancouver from Tofino, so I thought it would be a great time to tell you all about the wonderful adventures that I have had so far in my magical first week in Canada.

If you would like to hear and see more about my adventures throughout the year, I post daily on my Instagram, BeautyByKat08, and post twice a week on my YouTube channel www.youtube.com/beautybykat08. Happy viewing/watching!

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Almost a Fairytale

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“The idea of a girl cloaked in red weaving her way through the woods, being watched carefully by a big bad wolf, seemed far from fantasy.”

Reading Week in February positively leaped out at us from the dark corner it had been lurking behind, providing a terrifying reminder of the inevitability of time itself, and thrust upon us a welcome opportunity for adventure. After drawing up a lengthy plan (perusing and pointing at spots on Google Maps) and a challenging game of tetris involving the car boot and our suitcases, we took to the road.

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Festive Farewells and Rainy Reflections

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“I walk across campus, my freshly washed hair turning to literal icicles, fingertips close to frostbite, hands lizard-like from the dry air.”

These days in Canada have a habit of running away from me, and it is only as I sit down and recollect happenings from since I last wrote that I discover that an entire month has crept past. I boldly claimed in my previous post that the semester had been an emotional roller coaster yet this month may have topped it.

It has been abundant with trips to the mountains for snowboarding and sightseeing, final exams, departures of dear friends, a Christmas excursion to Vancouver, and a week of reflection and board games in rainy old Albion. Continue reading

Vancouver’s top 7….

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Vancouver’s Top 7….

Over the last two semesters at UBC I have been lucky enough to explore Vancouver – and what a place it is to explore! But instead of pursuing the usual cliches of the ‘breath taking views’ and ‘friendly Canadian atmosphere’ I thought I’d attempt to put together a quick bucket list of things to see and do in and around the city for anyone who’s heading over here, and hopefully include some things we’ve stumbled upon which are slightly off the beaten track and not in the Lonely Planet guide!   Continue reading

Preparing for Winter in North America!

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The last month has flown by so quickly I’ve hardly had time to sit down and write my blog! FIlled with assignments, more quizzes, and the dreaded Midterms, it has definitely been the hardest month since arriving here, and right up here with anything I’ve experienced at Durham. The sheer volume of work has been difficult to manage, made much harder by living in such a amazing part of the world, with uncountable distractions wherever you look – It has never been easier to procrastinate! With the continual assessment it has quickly become apparent that staying on top of your work is key – no more cruising through 2 terms preparing yourself for the mad last term like back in Durham. Of the two completely different systems however, I’m still not sure which I prefer. Maybe I will have a better idea when my results start coming back in, but it certainly takes time to adjust between the two. The system here forces you to keep constantly reviewing your work, which actually really helps to remain engaged with the content – for the first time in a long while I actually understand what is going on in lectures….to some degree anyway, which makes a refreshing change.

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