Raining and Skiing

Today.....

This:



looks like this:



It's absolutely pissing down. This is what they mean when they talk about the rain.
On the bright side, today i joined the UBC Ski and Board Club. It's going to be a great year! They have some amazing trips planned, heaps of activites and a truck load of deals and discounts. Now all we need is some snow.
I am definitely coming home with no money!

Party Weekend

In the last week it has become noticably cooler, it has been cloudy and it has been raining, and apparently it will only get worse. All that is green is slowly turning red and yellow, and will soon fall to the ground. This kind of weather seems to be enjoyed by the people here in Vancouver - it gives them an excuse to stay at the pub longer!
Anyways, it appears the season of outdoor parties is over, and what better way to celebrate the incoming shitty weather than throw a party! Winter weather does mean snow, and thats something definitely worth celebrating :)

Last Friday, we had around 40 people (of which i knew about 10) at our place, and we did our best to bring in the rain with style.
Good times.
Then saturday night, me and a few other Aussie exchange students, and a few random internationals headed out to another house party, of a friend of a friend. Anyways when we got there around 10.30 the cops were already there and weren't letting anyone in. They really crack down on parties here, its very lame compared to home. So we just found the nearest pub and made the most of the night!
It was quite a big weekend - i did manage to get my homework done on sunday too!

My first Canadian hangover

Not that a Canadian hangover is different to any other hangover, anywhere in the world.
This one however, originated exclusively from Canadian beer, and it's my first here in Canada. I've been out plenty of times since i arrived, but didn't have memorably large nights!

A quiet meeting at International House between current Aus and NZ exchange students, and UBC students who just returned from Aus and NZ, turned into a massive night down at Koerner's Pub here on campus. 16 different BC and Canadian beers on tap, bbq in the beer garden, pool, shuffleboard (more on that later). What a night. What a hangover. It's a gem!
Trust me....

First Week

So the first week of uni is over. It wasn't too stressfull, i found my way around campus ok and made it to all my classes!
I have what i think will be some really interesting subjects, and the lecturers are so much better than at home. They are willing/keen/eager to help you out with anything, and the lectures they give are not boring (so far!). I heard that students here can 'grade' their lecturers, and the grade reflects, to some extent, how much they are paid. Fantastic system i think - we should have it implemented back home.

Downtown??

The way they say it: "Lets go downtown" or "It's downtown" or just "Downtown" is enough to confuse any Aussie who is used to "the city" and "the country".

When i first arrived i thought "downtown" was applied this way: "we are going downtown to ........." or "It's downtown in ......." but its actually a place. Downtown is Downtown Vancouver. I guess its roughly equivalent to the Melbourne CBD. But in Australia you don't say "Lets go CBD" or "It's City".

Anyways, i went downtown the other day. One of my room mates took me to Robson St which is the main street here in Vancouver - kinda like Bourke St in Melbourne. We had some lunch at a korean restaurant, it was delicious. For $20CAN ($24AU) we had enough food for the two of us for lunch, and we took half of it home with us for dinner! Whats more, my room mate was complaining about how expensive it was! You can get a good meal here for $6 ($7AU).

Robson St is nothing special really, just shops and malls etc, except i hardly recognise any of the brand names.
Stanley park however, our next stop, is something else. 1000 acres of pristine park and forest right next to the city. It's amazing. So big that i'm sure it will take several trips there to see all the cool stuff. We went to the Vancouver Aquarium which is in Stanley Park. Saw all the local marine life, and dolphins, otters, seals and the white Beluga whales. They are the fat bastards of the ocean! You can see the blubber sloshing around as they swim!
I haven't been downtown since then - been busy with international orientation and all that, but there is heaps to do downtown.
Here are a few pics of my first trip downtown. Two from the sea wall at Stanley Park, and one at the Aquarium. Downtown.....