Christmas and New Year: The BC Edition

Hello and welcome to 2018! The blog has been silent for the last month, and there is no other reason than that I have been doing some extensive (and well-deserved) holidaying. The last month has been hectic to say the least. Between December 15^th and January 15th I finished my exams, moved house into East Vancouver, travelled up to Whistler for 10 days of skiing, welcomed my boyfriend to Vancouver, spent two weeks sightseeing and skiing with him, and also began a whole new range of classes. It has been an incredibly busy time, but definitely the most enjoyable of my exchange so far.

I suppose the place that I have spent the majority of my last 4 weeks is Whistler. The skiing in Whistler Blackcomb is truly amazing. The last time I went skiing was in Switzerland around 6 or 7 years ago, and while I remember the holiday well, I wasn’t convinced I could remember how to ski. But what they say is true, and it is just like riding a bike – after just one day I was already back into the swing of things. And boy, I sure have been spoilt by having my re-introduction to skiing take place in Whistler. The resort is massive. With two mountains side by side and connected by the famous Peak to Peak Gondola, and over 200 runs, Whistler Blackcomb is huge. I spent the Christmas period in Whistler celebrating with a group of exchange friends, featuring a very international Christmas Roast with Brits, Scots, Australians, Chinese, Swedes and Austrians. Spending Christmas morning drinking prosecco whilst overlooking the mountains, followed by a whole day of skiing and then a celebratory visit to the hot tub afterwards was pretty spectacular. I am so glad that I made the decision to stay in Canada for Christmas as the trip to Whistler has definitely been the highlight of my exchange so far. I feel so lucky to be living so close to the largest ski resort in Canada, and I am definitely planning on using and abusing that privilege. I have a season pass, and as the journey is only a mere two hours from Vancouver, I intend to go up as much as possible. Hopefully by the end of the year I will be a half-decent skier!

Other than skiing in Whistler, the other most exciting aspect of this Christmas break was Jamie arriving in Vancouver! Jamie visited for just over two weeks, and we had the most amazing time. We took our role as tourists very seriously and explored all the major tourist sites in Vancouver and its wider parameters. Whatever you can think of, we did it: Gastown, Lynn Canyon, the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Granville Island, biking around Stanley Park, ice skating in Robson Square, visiting various breweries and the Vancouver Aquarium and watching the New Years Polar Bear swim. We even made it up to Whistler for 3 days of skiing and snowboarding! 
I hadn’t seen Jamie for four months and it was so refreshing and delightful to be able to hang out together again.  

And now I am back into the full flow of classes! Jamie left this weekend, which brought me rather brutally crashing back down to the reality of uni. Although it is always sad to say goodbye, I will be flying out to visit him in Copenhagen in March, so it won’t be too long until we see each other again! But for now, I just have a lot of uni work to catch up on. This isn’t too daunting, though, as luckily all of my classes this semester are incredibly interesting. I am studying the Creation and Recreation of the Downtown Eastside, the History of Aboriginal People in North America from 1850 onwards, Crime Noir and Film Noir, and also undergoing a Directed Study focusing on the theme of residential schools in Indigenous literature. Each of the areas are extremely fascinating, and I am actually incredibly excited to see where they take me.

And that is everything that I have been up to up until now! I am sorry that this was a bit of a “catch-up” blog post, but now that I am back into the swing of things I will be updating the blog more frequently again. I am currently undergoing Veganuary (Vegan January) with my friend Uschi and I have actually found this relatively easy in Vancouver - touch wood - so expect a post on that to follow soon!

Adios for now, and I will see you soon for new adventures and thoughts. 

Carrie x