Hello world :)
It's been awhile since I've blogged. I have to figure out where I'm up to so I can keep you all up to date!
Last Friday night we went to Wreck Beach for a bonfire. There was a pretty big group of us! We went down at about 9:30pm and luckily Mum told me to take my torch (Canadian version of the word: flashlight) because it was so dark going down those 500 stairs! It took us awhile to start a fire, but once we did we sat around and talked and roasted marshmallows :) It was a lot of fun
That afternoon I had skyped Mum, then Nan, then my friend Mitch. I think that contributed to my homesickness when I got back from the beach that night :( Homesickness is so random, it just comes and goes. The girls on my floor made me feel a lot better though. I love hugs :)
On Sunday we competed in Day of the Longboat! We woke up super early, put on our TweedSL house shirts, and went to catch the bus. Our team name was Fourth Floor Force. It's a tongue twister and I came up with it :) On the bus we put on facepaint in the shape of 4s!
Look how pretty it looked :) Downtown Vancouver in the distance again
We started the race, but Abby, who ran when the siren went off and pushed us off, couldn't get in because we had started paddling too early! We had to go back and wait for her to get in, and by then all the other teams had left the shore. The race was so crazy and funny. We were all screaming at each other! We had some trouble steering through the race but we got round the first buoy and Nichole jumped out, ran onto the beach, and grabbed the baton. We then went around a 2nd and 3rd buoy, before heading into the finish line on the beach. Raven jumped out with the baton and hit the gong. Our time was 20 minutes and 12 seconds, and we ended up coming 4th out of 6 teams. Pretty good effort for a team that was coming last at the very start! It was pretty much destiny that the Fourth Floor Force team came 4th :)
We caught the bus back to UBC and stopped at Blue Chip Cookies, which apparently sell the best cookies ever. I got a marbelous (milk chocolate and white chocolate) cookie and a hot chocolate. The cookie was sooo good!!! They have so many different kinds. I want to try a different cookie every time I go there!
That night, as I was studying for my first mid-term exam the next day, Clara was using my hairdryer in my room. Because her hair is so long and ravishing, she was there for about half an hour, and ended up blowing the fuse in my room!!! I had no power. We had to go down with our RA (Residence Advisor) to the front desk and get the key to the fuse box to switch it back on.
Then later that night, after I came out of the shower, my razor was sticking out of my shower caddy, and I accidently cut the side of my finger on it and it took about two layers of skin off of it. It was bleeding so badly and I had no idea what to do. Luckily my neighbour Naiomi went into full-on nurse mode, and helped me clean it and bandage it up. She put on 3 bandaids so the blood wouldn't seep out. When I woke up in the morning, however, the blood had gone through all 3 bandaids. I took them off, and my finger was still bleeding pretty bad about 10 hours later. I went to the front desk and I got gauze pads and tape. They told me if it bleeds for over 24 hours I have to see a doctor. Then I was freaking out about whether it would be covered by my medical insurance and where should I go. There was some frantic emails sent to my exchange advisor and to Mum. Mum would have been freaking out so bad when she woke up to those messages! Sorry Mum!!
The cut was on my right hand and I was worried about writing my exam that day. I left my first class 5 minutes early so I would make it to my mid-term exam on time, but I was the last person to arrive! Everyone stared at me when I walked in. The exam went alright. The multiple choice was pretty easy but the essay was confusing. UBC marks things so quickly here. I got my marks back 3 days later! I got 78 which I'm happy with :) At Sydney Uni I usually have to wait about a month to get marks back. The afternoon after my exam I checked my finger and it was no longer bleeding. Biggest sigh of relief ever! It's alright now, I just need to let it heal itself. But it's like I have a massive dent in my finger! Ew!
That night I checked my mail after dinner and I had a letter from Nan and Pop, and a package from Mum and Dad. I was so excited!! It had a letter, photos, and clothes in it. Mum must have been listening to my complaints about having practically no clothes and wearing the same things all the time. The clothes she sent smelt like home :) Reading both letters made me cry. I put the new photos up in my room
I watched the first episodes of Dexter season 7 and Hart of Dixie season 2 this week! Both were so good!!
Yesterday morning I got tickets to a charity ice hockey game between the UBC Thunderbirds and the Vancouver Canucks. The National Hockey League is currently on lockout, which means no games are playing until they sort it out. This could be my only chance to see the Canucks play, and it's right on campus! So exciting! It's on the 17th of October :)
This weekend is a long weekend for Thanksgiving. On Friday night our RA had rented out the kitchen in the commonsblock for us to cook a thanksgiving dinner. Since most people on our floor have gone home for the weekend, there's not that many of us left! There was 5 of us from our floor, and 3 girls from Tweeds house who came to the dinner. Since our RA is vegetarian, and is the one who bought all the food, we had vegetarian food. We had vegetable pastaless lasagne, salads, sweet potato mash, and roasted vegetables. Unfortunately, no traditional turkey :(
For dessert we had black bean brownies, which tasted like chocolate but had a really weird texture. Then we had pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It was store bought, and the only thing we didn't cook, but it was traditional! It was the first time I've ever tried it and it was really nice :) We were there cooking and eating for about 5 hours!
Yesterday Clara, Abby and I decided to get out of the UBC bubble and go to Metrotown for some shopping at the mall! It took a bus ride, then a skytrain to get there. It took about an hour and 20 minutes. You all know how much I love shopping and retail therapy. We got there at about 1pm, and we didn't get back to residence until 9:30pm!! The shops stay open until 9pm here. I bought some cheap black rain boots (for when the Vancouver rain hits), face paint for Halloween, Halloween decorations to put on my door, a winter coat, and perfume, fragrance mists, and body lotions from Bath & Body Works. Australia doesn't have Bath & Body Works, but it should! We spent so long in that store. They were having a buy 3 get 3 free sale, so I went a bit crazy in there. Before we left we went to the supermarket to get snacks for our room and something for dinner. On weekends the dining hall at residence closes at 7:30pm, and by then it was about 8pm! In our lounge we only have a fridge, a sink, and microwave, so we had to find something microwaveable, which was so hard to find! We ended up getting mini pizza bagel bites and marble cake. We sat in the lounge with our food watching a movie. It was really nice spending the day with the girls and not having to worry about uni work :) Here's a photo of us waiting for the bus at 9 o'clock at night with all of our shopping!
Coming up at the end of this month is Halloween. I'm so excited to celebrate my very first Halloween! It's a very North American tradition so I've never had the chance to celebrate it before. I think there will be a dance and trick-or-treating in Vanier. I already bought my costume online! I'm going to be a zombie prom queen haha!
I have become known as the Mother Hen on my floor. The girls come to me when they need to talk or need a hug :) I love being needed!
I've been studying a lot since it's now mid-term exam time! My next one isn't until next Friday though. Abby and I had a random dance party in my room the other day as a study break. It was so much fun :)
I've found out when my final exams are. I have 2 exams on one day, and the last one doesn't finish until 9:30pm that night, one exam in the middle of the exam period, and one on the very last day. This means I'm going to be late for my Contiki tour around the Southern states of the USA :( But I've been talking to Contiki and they're trying to work something out for me. Fingers crossed I can meet up with my tour group easily!
Today, Abby and I are heading downtown! We're planning on visiting Granville Island, Robson St, the waterfront, and the Vancouver lookout! Time for a touristy day!
I miss you all incredibly!!
Love,
Emily
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