And so begins my last four-month summer as an undergrad!
I’m in a slightly different part of the world than I have been in past summers, and while public transit is more reliable and coffee is more expensive, I’m still wearing sandals every day.
Twelve months from now, I’ll have a degree, which is a somewhat disconcerting prospect faced by many twenty-somethings. So I’ve decided to switch from TravelBlog as I’m not really travelling, and share some general musings and stories from my stint in the nation’s capital. While there will be fewer anecdotes involving cows and marriage proposals (bittersweet, really), you can look forward to more pictures (and proofreading), and I’ve kept a bit of Tanzania in my Swahili title.
I’m not sure how writing will fit in with my ten hour work days, but as a first post, here are some lists I wrote in the back of my notebook during coffee breaks.
Things I learned while driving across a country the size of Europe:
- I have a mean and nagging caffeine addiction.
- Rural Canada does not believe in “skim milk”…let alone soy.
- Life sometimes unexpectedly resembles the first 20 minutes of a slasher film – night-driving and fog are common. Fortunately axe murderers are not.
- Ontario is big.
- “Muskeg” is a word.
- “Nipigon” is not only a word, but a place.
- Birkenstocks are versatile and can go everywhere (ex. through the muskeg in Nipigon).
- Canada is cold, the ground is hard, and camping in Saskatchewan is amazing.
- Men in large trucks may be compensating for something, and probably have a complex about it.
- “If we hadn’t broken any laws, we’d still be in Manitoba.”
Things I have learned as an intern/student employee (over the years):
- “Business casual” can be a fluid concept, or, “These are my classy flip-flops.”
- “9am” is also a fluid concept. Sometimes it means 8am. On better days…it doesn’t.
- “Toner” is a mystical substance that runs out frequently.
- Be equipped for sunburns, frostbite, and bleeding – commuting, AC, and paper-cuts make for risky business.
- Glasses can balance blonde hair when people are making visual judgments about one’s cognitive ability/moral fibre.
- The most character-building and valuable work experience usually involves little (if any) pay and high levels of cortisol.
Things I have learned from student housing:
- Famous last words: “Oh cool, the guys moving in next door are musicians!”
- Closets hold promising and infinite possibilities, including but not limited to bedrooms and patios.
- Climate control is for the weak.
- Moths trump rats on the hierarchy of gross-ness. You can trap rats. No one likes moth balls.
- If you are resourceful, most things are free – primarily toilet paper and coffee tables.
- Once acquiring said free coffee table, walk swiftly.
- Toques contribute positively to most situations.
- ‘90s dance music is an immediate upper.
Other:
- Russian people are in my destiny.
