Natasha studied abroad at the University of Ottawa in Canada for a semester as part of her Geography degree at Reading. THis blog post covers the latter part of her semester abroad!
I am now mid-way through my semester abroad in Canada and its safe to say I’m still loving every minute of it! The week after reading week, my boyfriend came to visit me for a week, so we used that time to drive (6 hours) to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Most of my friends had already been to Niagara Falls and hearing all their stories from visiting, I was so excited to actually go and see it myself. The sheer size of the waterfalls were just insane, like nothing I had ever seen before! Toronto as a city was amazing and definitely one of my favourite cities that I have ever visited. We managed squeeze so much into a short weekend visit, as I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss any classes at ottawaU. Going up the CN Tower and seeing the entirety of Toronto over sunset was so beautiful, and really put into perspective just how spread out the city is! Visiting the St. Lawrence Market, which has been recognised as the number one food market in the world, was so much fun and we tried so many different foods in a relatively small area.
Niagara Falls
In November, the cold weather had finally hit Ottawa, with temperatures going down to negative twenty-eight, so we were staying inside a lot more. Despite this, a group of international students, with the help of a guide, had arranged a weekend stay with a First Nations family in the North-Western Territories. Needless to stay, it was of the most humbling experiences of my life. Being able to experience the way they live completely off the land, understand the struggles they go through and staying in such a beautiful place.
I am still experiencing new things in relation to the Canadian culture, by visiting copious amounts so University sports matches, particularly ice hockey.
The workload has increased recently, with final papers needing to be handed in – all four within one week! On top of this, final exams were only weeks away so the going out had slowed down. However, before my time to go home came, I wanted to go to New York City and experience their Christmas extravaganzas. It’s safe to say that I was not disappointed. I visited ‘SantaLand’ at Macys, visited Central Park and watched the light show on Saks 5th Ave. During my time in Canada, I have travelled to so many amazing places, making me realise how little I have travelled around the U.K. This has made we want to explore the country I live in more.
Natasha
Missed Natasha’s last blog post? Catch up here: http://bit.ly/2kvLD8L