The first challenge of setting up a blog?
It’s really not as simple as it sounds. You
want something snappy and catchy, enticing readers in not something cheesy and
cliché, cringing people out. I’m unsure how successful I was with this but I
like to think I managed somewhere roughly in between.
My line of attack was to think of one
stereotypically British item and one stereotypically Canadian one… and ideally connect
them with some aspect of alliteration.
Teacups and totem poles were the result of my brainstorms. Teacups: the central part of any
quintessential English tea party and totem poles: the charismatic centerpiece
of indigenous Canadian culture. Although usually sweeping generalizations,
these initial stereotypes and preconceived notions of a place are often
interesting to think about before you actually arrive. In addition to totem
poles, I knew that Canada was home to maple syrup, beavers, bears, big trees
and ice hockey fans… other than that, I had no clue.
I have been in Canada for just under a
month now and felt I needed to put pen to paper to record my first impressions
of the people and the place before I get so settled in that I forget what the
differences are and start to take them as a given.
So first… the place:
For those of you who are not geography students
(and therefore do not have flawless locational knowledge), British Columbia is
the westernmost province in Canada sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the
Rocky Mountains.
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| Map showing Canada's different provinces. British Columbia is the westernmost province, shown in red (Source: www.wikipedia.org) |
95% of British Columbia looks as if it is
straight out of one of those National Geographic calendars that your mum has
hung up in the kitchen. Everything is BIG – take everything in England and
double its size: the mountains are bigger, the trees are bigger, the distances
are bigger. And everything is beautiful: the lakes are electric blue, the peaks
are covered in snow and the forests are impressive and eerie.
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| Photo I took last weekend of Garibaldi Lake, just outside of Whistler |
However, I am by no means living in pristine
Canadian wilderness. UBC is situated a 30-minute bus ride from the center of BC’s
provincial capital: Vancouver. Vancouver is home to around 2.5 million people,
which although not quite up to London’s 8.5 million, still qualifies it as
large and urban. It is a modern city with a skyline characterized by huge glass
skyscrapers, not authentic snow covered log cabins. In many ways I was
surprised by this, I had forgotten that even Canada had big cities. Yet, the
vibe in Vancouver is totally different to the vibe in London. The whole area feels
more open, less hassled and exceptionally clean. The roads are wider, the
pavements less busy and everyone is travelling by bike!
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| The Vancouver skyline: a plethora of modern skyscrapers, with a mountainous backdrop and Pacific seafront (Source: www.afewgoodminds.ca) |
The UBC campus
itself is situated on a peninsula that juts out into the Pacific Ocean.
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| The UBC campus: situated on a peninsula jutting out into the Pacific Ocean. Wreck beach is depicted in the foreground and 'downtown' Vancouver in the background (Source: www.ubc.ca) |
The coastal edge of
the campus is bounded by a series of beautiful beaches (perfect for watching
the sunset after a busy day of learning!!!) while the inland boundary is
surrounded by the Pacific Spirit Regional Park (basically a massive evergreen forest).
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| Photo I took of the Pacific Spirit Regional park just behind my residences |
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| Photo taken on Wreck Beach whilst watching the sunset |
In addition to
simply being a beautiful and well-equipped university campus it has a number of
features that make it stand out (in my eyes) – it has its own sustainable farm,
its own botanical garden, its own Japanese garden, its own biodiversity center
and its own Museum of Anthropology. All granting free access to students, and
all a 5 minute walk from my lectures. Not bad huh?!
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| The UBC farm. Photo taken during their annual 'Farmade' event. |
Secondly ... the
people:
If I had to generically
describe Canadians in 3 words it would be:
1.
Friendly
2.
Outdoorsy
3.
Environmentally aware… (OK, 4
words)
If you smiled at someone
and enthusiastically asked them how they were doing on a tube in rush hour London
you would instantly be categorized as weird, strange and even a bit creepy. In
Vancouver, that’s just not the case. Everyone is friendly, from the bus drivers
to the bartenders.
People are also so
outdoorsy. Both in town and around campus, ‘active wear’ is the clothing type of
choice. No one seems to be overweight, everyone looks fit and everyone loves
adventuring on the weekends. Camping, hiking, biking and skiing are just part
of the weekly schedule. They aren’t some added extras that you dabble in for
a day or two once a year.
Finally, people are
environmentally aware. Sustainability isn’t an abstract concept aspired to by
eco warriors and irritating ‘greenies’; it is just a way of life. In fact
Vancouver is aiming to be the greenest city in the world by 2020. For example,
recycling isn’t something faddy that you do every now and then to make yourself
feel good about yourself or because your school teacher told you to – it’s just
part of the routine. At UBC, for example, you never come across a simple
‘rubbish bin’… there is always an array of different recycling bins that you throw your coffee cups or pizza smeared napkins into
without any extra effort.
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| Example of one of the UBC recycling bins |
In summary, therefore, both Canada and Canadians have so far had a impressively good first impression on me. Whether I will maintain this attitude towards them for the duration of my time here I don't know.... watch this space.