End of 1st Full Week

The week is over, and it’s been a pretty good week. Tuesday I started to have a little bit of doubt again taking 6 classes this semester, but then I went to my Sociology class that night, and 5 out of the 12 of us in class are high school students, they are taking the class for duo credit. I don’t really know what that means, but my thought was “if they can do this, so can I!”  

Wednesday the Student Government Association, Student Activities Board and Student Life sponsored a mini Carnival for all the students. There were free burgers and chips, drinks, a money machine, snow cones, obstacle courses, photo booth, and Limbo. Was a nice way to spend the lunch hour.

 O'Brian won the Limbo!

Yesterday I had no classes, and didn’t have to go to the school for anything, so I just took my books outside and did a bunch of reading in the sunshine. It was about 28C, but felt like 37C, at least there was a little bit of a breeze. Got a nice burn too!  Aaron played ball again, so I went and watched. We were supposed to go to this Sugar Rush event after, but the boys decided to scrimmage against this other team that was there for their game, but the other team didn’t show up.

Today I had a chance to speak with my World Civilization Professor, and in our discussion I found out that he was born in Canada, in Kingston, Ontario, and that he has family still in the Peterborough, ON area. He became a US Citizen when he turned 18, and he is a huge hockey fan, the Buffalo Sabres are his favourite team. I also attended my first meeting with the International Student Society, which was interesting as I’m not exactly sure what they do. The meeting jumped around a lot, but it sounds like we will celebrate International Week in November, and sponsor a presenter who will speak about going around the world in 80 minutes. I will have to speak with Elizabeth, she is the Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator at the school, to get further details on what it is this group does and get a bit more of the history on it. We have our next meeting in a couple of weeks, so I will update everyone on that when I find out.

As I sat in class all week, I couldn’t help but think about how different everything is down here. Just being that person in class when most examples are provided by an instructor and you don’t really know what they are talking about, as you aren’t an American, and you didn’t grow up learning this stuff or just weren’t exposed to all of it. Sure we learnt a bit about American History, iconic figures and even their geography growing up, but really, how many of us really remember a lot of it, and/or thought that you’d maybe need it someday. I sure didn’t. I’ve said this before, but I really wish I knew what I know now about education and that I would have went for a Degree when I was right out of high school, not just my Diploma. And, I wish that I knew so much more about the different options out there and would have made a better choice on what I perhaps thought my primary focus would have been on. Maybe then it wouldn’t feel like I wasted some time going for Accounting when I really enjoy being around and working with people in the Human Resources Field. But, if I did know all that, would I be where I am at today? Nope, not at all. I might have never moved out to Edmonton and met so many fantastic people who became a big family to me, and I most definitely probably would have never met Aaron. Interesting how life works.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend! Be safe! We have plans to go for dollar tacos tonight and then over to Caleb and Brittany’s place for a Fantasy Football draft, I’ll be hanging out with Brittany and baby Tyson while everyone else focuses on that. Then a few of us have plans to hit up the Night Owl Market. Some of you who I work with will enjoy this, it is in downtown Cincinnati, and lined with food trucks, food booths, and artisans selling their diverse goods. Tomorrow is a big celebration day! We are celebrating my coming to America, along with my starting school at Thomas More, my graduation from Grant MacEwan (convocation isn’t until December, but I’m done, so that’s all that matters), and one of the most important things to Aaron and I, our 1 year anniversary. As for Sunday, that’s WEBN Fireworks day, and I will tell you more about that next week. Again, have a great long weekend!