Midterms: Good or Bad?

Studying for Theology midterm

I will be cutting in between each post to give you a quick update on uni/school life.

Reading week arrived and marked the half way point to the end of the second semester as well as the arrival of midterm exams. As one exchanger noted, "Why are they not called mid semesters?", considering they do not use the word 'Term'. They can be a bit of an annoyance when you are also overcome with essays, debates and presentations at the same time. Experiencing midterm exams last semester enabled me to be more organised and prepared for them this time round. Although, it does seem odd that many students get tested 5 or 6 weeks into their semester as what could you have possibly learnt in such a short amount of time? However, I have come to realise that the extra revision allows you to be more prepared for the finals and you learn a lot more than you think.

The value of midterms can vary from 10%-40% so it's always a struggle trying to figure out how much revision you need to do for a test/what you'll be MSAFing - basically a form that exempts you from handing in an assignment below 30% without a doc note but with only one a semester, you have to be selective! Im happy to say that i did not use one last term and i hopefully will not be using one this term either. On the plus side - if you fail to hand in an assignment and use your MSAF they simply add the percentage onto your final exam or give you a new deadline. This is something that wouldn't happen back in the Uk unless you have a very serious reason, such as a medical reason. Many students here in Canada  have used it due to having 3 assignments due in on the same day, so in a way it can be seen as a good thing or a maybe a sign that a person should be more organised. One other strange thing is that midterms can stretch from the beginning of February to the middle of March. This can be annoying as people would probably prefer not to worry about revising for a small midterm percentage two weeks before their final. Overall, I'd say that yes midterms can be annoying but they do allow you to bag marks towards your final grade!

New York New Year

Coach Trip Into New York

New York was the next stop after Washington. I think it had taken around 5 hours to get to NY from DC,  but it was no hassle as we managed to get the front seats of the coach. We had the best view all the way to NY and managed to get some great shots. We arrived and of course when we exchangers travel nothing seems to go smoothly and so we are always running around. The first issue was getting into the apartment. After reading bad reviews of the person who rents the apartments we were already worried that we might not have no where to stay and that we just wasted money by paying a deposit. Upon arrival the landlord messaged us saying that he was waiting for us at the accom. Of course it had taken us longer than expected to get to the apartment and so we had missed the landlord. We eventually found the accom but couldn't get in, so the first thoughts were that we have been conned: "it was too good to be true". Basically, whatever was happening to us was what we had read on the bad reviews; "you will arrive and the landlord will not be there......etc". I don't know about the others but i started to panic as we had no way of contacting him apart from through wifi and we cannot ring from our Canadian phones in the US. So we eventually decided that i should run to his office which on the map seemed to be a couple of blocks away. So I'm running around, dodging a lot of people, dropping things on the way and then i decide to quickly check my emails to see if he has contacted us. Luckily he had sent us the code to the building as well as leaving the keys for us to collect! Panic over! The apartment was exactly as it was advertised, it practically looked newly furnished, it was small but that didn't really matter, and to be able to have accom for New Year period was a miracle in itself! as we booked it so late. Also the landord turned out to be an alright guy, he was originally from Ireland and now lives in NY. One of the best things was that we were a 5 minute walk into Soho and we were surrounded by a lot of wicked restaurants in a nice area!

Front view of the Apartment

Pancakes, Waffles and Egg sandwiches

One word to sum up this trip is "Food". I cannot even remember half the places we went to but one thing should be noted; anything can be found. One particular favourite of ours was a restaurant called "Stage Door" located in Madison Square Gardens. They served all day breakfast and really nice deli sandwiches. The food was so good and the prices were also really reasonable and so you had to order more than what was needed. The portions were huge. Do not fret nothing was wasted! Being in New York this time round allowed me to explore areas that i previously hadn't seen as well to visit a few museums that i didn't get a chance to do before! One cool thing that i got to see was the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition. It was interesting to see something that i had been studying in the previous semester. It was something not to be missed as they were only in NY for a few weeks as they were on loan to the US by Israel. 

Catching some Rays            Chelsea Market

If you are ever in New York, I recommend you go to Chelsea Market! It is basically this indoor food market! Me and Mairi went from shop to shop trying everything, from brownies, pastries, pies, cupcakes etc... It was food heaven! It's also the place where the cookies are made for the Grammy's or the Oscar's, can't remember which one. But yeah this place is wicked! And whilst you're in the area take a walk down the high line! You will meet some odd characters on your way, we did! 

The  Highline

The most exciting thing that i expirienced in NY  was celebrating the New Year! News Years Eve arrived and the scramble to be in the centre was chaotic. Getting onto 7th Avenue was tiring, we walked from 42nd all the way to 59th street because every time we tried to turn into a street the guards would say the next the street is closed and that the next one is open! So this went on for a while until we found ourselves walking in central park in order to get back round to 7th avenue! At this stage we started running and so were many other people! it's funny now that i look back but at the time it was pretty stressful as we were worried that we might not see anything at all! And to spend New Years Eve in a bar would be pretty crap as that can be done anywhere! With determination we managed to get onto 7th avenue. We could see time square in the distance, we were neither too far or close! A couple of other exchangers decided to go to Time square at 1pm in order to be in the centre! They made the right decision as they had the full view of the performers! But waiting around for 9 hours didn't really sound appealing. Nonetheless, we got a good spot and waited! People were buying full pizzas and then selling slices to the crowd! People were sitting on the floor and every so often a barrier would open and we would dart to the next block in order to get closer! It was funny because everyone would just race to the front and get squished whilst trying to get through the barriers! It was all good fun! So we waited, joked around and watched the big screens for a couple of hours. It was a bit annoying that they didn't provide big speakers for us to hear the performers, so although we could see Lady gaga, Drake and Santana perform we couldn't hear them! luckily for us this women came onto a balcony and music started to play the closer we got to 2012! Of course Alicia Keys' Empire state of mind was played whilst everyone sang along. The women seemed like she was having too much fun as she started to swing her head around while holding her microphone in the air! The countdown started and The New Year arrived with fireworks and people singing in the street! It was a wicked experience that i will not forget!!

Time Square Clean Up

I Quote, "Not So Busy Washington"

Getting Inaugurated at Capitol Hill

The journey to Washington begun with a funny experience whilst we were about to cross the boarder into America. Basically there were three of us going to Washington, Nic had a minor issue with boarder control as she did not have her study permit paper! So we laughed for a couple of minutes up until the coach doors shut and Nic still wasn't on the coach. So we got prepared to let the driver know that our friend was still at boarder control. Luckily he went back and Nic made it back onto the coach...along with a new study permit paper! But yes she was one of those that held the entire coach behind! haha! After 15 hours on the coach, crossing through 3 states and a women talking so loud on the phone that a couple of people told her to keep it down, we made it into DC. 

First initial thoughts when driving into DC were....well lets just say a bit run down. It was only until we got to our accommodation that we were told to keep away from the area we arrived in, basically the whole East side of the city. When dropping off our luggage we met possibly one of the funniest Asian women i have ever met. She was from Hong Kong, most likely to be in her 50s and she cracked out the funniest one liners. Her main feature was to rate locations around the world according to how busy they were and according to her "Washington was not so busy and boring". She was a character and she also went to mexico for 2 months, you get the idea; she gave us a lot of info on where to go as well as what she has done and what she also wants to do when she returns back to Hong Kong, which is to become a translator for those who wanted to know.

So we made our way around Washington seeing all the landmarks it had to offer. Surprisingly the city itself is pretty small as we managed to walk everywhere. My favourite landmark was definitely the Lincoln Memorial where we were able to read the Gettysburg address. I feel it is also worth mentioning that the Supreme Court of the United States is also a pretty cool building as everything was made from Marble, including inside. One thing i have realised since crossing the pond is that poverty is definitely more apparent. Whilst visiting the White House there were people sleeping outside the gates on the floor in their sleeping bags. Pretty surreal considering the President is living life in luxury while temperatures outside plummet below zero.

             
     

lincoln Memorial

One thing i loved about Washington was the fact that the majority of the Museums were free! We spent at least 4-5 hours in each one. The national air and space Museum and the Natural History museum are definitely ones to visit, we spent around 4 hours in each and could of spent much longer if we had the time. Overall, there is a lot too see and i can imagine it being even better in the Summer as you can hire paddle boats near the Cherry Blossom trees. So we headed back on the late night to get ready to depart in the morning. I also have to mention the Asian lady was a very light traveller, she would wash her clothes each night and hang them in the bathroom to dry, we stumbled into her spiderman pants quite often haha!!! I felt it was worth a mention.

Overall, I really enjoyed Washington and i definitely recommend taking a visit when you are given the chance! After Washington we headed to New York to celebrate the arrival of the New Year! More on that on the upcoming post.

Washington Memorial in the distance

Winter Break Catch Up

First of all...Happy New Year. As i gradually get older i've realised that the years seem to be passing by a lot faster, (No I'm not 50 years old). The same thing can be said about my winter holiday! It only seems like we broke up yesterday and here i am already nearly half way through the winter semester in Canada. The winter break was very fun and memorable! The next couple of post will be catching up on what i did over the winter holiday as well as well as what the second semester has brought so far.

The Ski-Chalet!

After completing our exams last term, a big group of us exchangers rented a Ski-Chalet in the Blue Mountains, Collingwood. Upon arrival the snow had set the scene to what was going to be a very enjoyable xmas. Our time was spent in the Chalet's hot tub, around a burning log fire, playing table tennis in the basement, walk/sliding in the snow and ski-ing! It was the perfect antidote for the long semester that we all just completed. It was odd being able to wake up and not think about what needed to be completed during the day! The first day was spent relaxing, followed by Ski-ing the next day! Once we got fitted and after Seline was done 'chirpsing' with the middle aged guy who provided our ski gear, we headed off to the slopes. Ski-ing itself was wicked, when is it ever rubbish?....NEVER! Xmas arrived and the exchangers did a wicked job cooking Xmas dinner! We then continued to Ski and chill for the rest of the time in the Blue Mountains. Here are some pictures! Hope you enjoy!

Good Times!

Time Flies

Home Cooked Meal

Buffet

This blog entry is going to be reflective. Today was the first time we had to say bye to a exchange friend as she is here just for the first term. It was a kind of punch in the face that this whole experience will one day come to an end, which i'm avoiding. The whole experience so far has been possibly the best thing i've done up to this point in my life and so i'd highly recommend that you study abroad if you are given the chance. I've met so many great people and made great friends from all over the world! It's crazy to think that I've been here four months already and the first term is over. One thing for sure is that I'm going to appreciate my time here even more than i am already and to continue enjoying myself and working hard. I find myself looking back at my pictures and finding it very surreal and hard to believe the things that i have seen and done, it will be even more shocking when i look back next year. So far I've realised that there is more to life than what it seems and that we get caught up in everyday issues causing us to forget to enjoy ourselves. On the other hand, time to focus on the next 5 months i have in Canada! With regards to university work i've promised myself that i will be far more prepared for the beginning of term 2. First term allowed me to get my head around the differences here at university in Canada. I feel that hopefully next term i will be more mentally prepared for the constant assessments as well as the work load that second year entails. But before second term begins it is time to enjoy our holiday break and to add further memories to the ever-growing list.

Oh The Weather Outside Is EXTREMELY Frightful!

Toronto's German Market

       Not long now until term one is finished! The weekend consisted of Xmas related events that seems to be on everyone's to do list at this time of the year. You may have guessed it, the Christmas German markets have made their appearance. I spent the afternoon in Toronto with fellow exchangers exploring what the market had to offer. It was hard restraining myself from buying everything that included anything sweet, ranging from thick fudge chocolate sticks to a waffle lollipops! With real student style we managed to grab a couple of freebies on the way, including free garlic bread, Forrero Rochers and Amy cleverly asking for 'samples' of the Chocolate slabs that were on offer. This of course being a trick that i will continue to use!
     
This market was pretty cool as it involved live soulful music. One thing that was not as enjoyable was the freezing weather; maybe it's time for me to invest in a winter coat that will not only keep me warm outside, but also in my room. The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting around a fire and then searching around Lawrence Market before we made our way back home to continue with exam preparation.

The following day involved baking Gingerbread houses, something that I've never done before. I'm not usually a fan of the taste of gingerbread, but Molly's recipe was spot on and it taste gooooood! We each decorated a house and i must say mine and B's was the bomb! It's the one on the left, I'll let you be the judge! 

Overall the weekend has been wicked and I am now looking forward to the upcoming weeks!

Christmas on Broadway Ave

December Has Arrived

The amount of deadlines are reducing, revision has started and exams are quickly approaching. This could only mean one thing, December has arrived and i do not know whether i should feel excited or stressed. But with various trips planned for the two week holiday, i can assure you that December is going to be wicked! Before these plans take place, it was time for the international winter ball. We all donned our formal wear in anticipation for the event! Ok I'm not going to lie, the buffet alone got me excited. After waiting in the cold, for what seemed to be a long time, we made our way to the venue. The event itself was good as various international/exchange students showcased their talents for all to see. My personal favourite was the Mexican folk dance, which brought back memories of Turkish school! Those of you from Turkish school reading this will probably laugh as you recall the events that happened during our time practising, if that's what you call it haha!

Anyway, the food was great and the dessert was even better!