In some sense, it feels like there is no way it's already been a week since I got back to Vancouver, but in another I feel like way too much has happened to only constitute seven days. Second semester classes started up on Monday, and with that began the whirlwind that was this week. I only had one class on Monday, math, and not long after that I realized that I would be dropping math because I got off the waitlist for a different course. If you've been following this blog for a while you probably know that I am currently a student in the faculty of science, but that I wasn't loving the direction I was headed in with that. This semester, I'm lucky enough to be able to try out a different path without completely giving up my spot in science, so I am taking a bunch of design courses in an attempt to get into a very competitive program here through the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. While I won't know if I get in or not until April, I'm trying out that sort of course load to see if it's something I could see myself doing longer-term. The course I got off the waitlist for was one of three design courses I'm taking this term, and I was over the moon to find out that I had been given a spot, as I was pretty sure that was going to be impossible.
Tuesday I had my English class, and spent most of the afternoon the same way I had spent Monday afternoon—getting everything ready for term 2 and making sure I had everything I needed to be back in the dorm. Wednesday I had my first geographical science lecture, followed by my architectural drafting course. Thursday brought another English class, then my other two design lectures. Friday was another geo lecture, and a tutorial for one of my design courses. So far I'm really happy with all of my classes, and am especially excited about the design ones. While I, of course, hope to get into the design program, I'll still be glad I took the time to try out another potential path if I don't.
Most of the evenings (and basically all my meals) this week were spent catching up with friends about their breaks, and just enjoying the time we have before the rigor ramps up over the next few weeks. The workload I have this term is very different from what I'm used to from last term and most of high school, in that I have a lot more projects and readings than "concrete" assignments and exams. I'll probably end up going into more depth about all my classes over the course of the semester, but right now I'm a little too tired and my bed is a little too tempting...
Yesterday morning I went over to the Writers' Exchange headquarters for a training session, and I'm really excited to start volunteering with them this week. Keeping with the theme I've encountered so far, everyone involved with WE has been amazing, and I can't wait to get to know some of them better over the next few months. After the training I spent some time downtown picking up supplies for my drafting course, then came back and did some work so I'd have time for today's fun!
This morning, Amy, myself, and our friends Esther and Mia met up to drive up to Cypress, one of the local ski mountains, to spend the day cross country skiing. I've spent a lot more time on downhill skis than xc skis, but I'm always drawn to cross country, and I was itching to get out into the winter that we (or at least the mountains) are having. On Friday we got a nice snow storm, but by Saturday morning almost all of it was gone. Up in the mountains, however, the snow has been accumulating for several weeks now, and the conditions were great. Not necessarily for driving a Prius without snow tires, but great for skiing. For about the first half of the time we were there, it was snowing hard, and it was breathtaking to look at the trees covered in snow, and watch the mounds on the branches get bigger by the minute. Once the snow stopped, the sun came out and we were able to look out over the city as we drove back to school from West Van. This was, of course, after three of the four of us getting out of the car to push it when it got stuck in the snow at the top of the mountain... It was definitely an adventure, but that's what makes days like this the best:) I'm hoping to get out on downhill skis some weekend soon, too, but I can definitely see myself going back to Cypress to xc ski this winter.
I'm going to sign off for now with some pictures of the ephemeral Vancouver winter, and the more perpetual West Van winter.
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| Me and Amy trying to find a non-awkward way to pose and failing |
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| Rest of the crew |
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| It's nice to be out during a snow storm that isn't slushy |
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| Pretty trees:) |
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| More pretty trees |
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| Youuuu guessed it (although the sun also did make a slight appearance here) |
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| UBC's first real snow of the year... the grass is green again though |
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| Mountains from the Granville St Bridge on Saturday |
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| Lions Gate bridge this morning (the snow in the mountains was rain down here) |
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