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My Trip to Montreal!
By Essence Aikman, Queen’s University, Canada. Hello all! Classes are nearly over and my time abroad is quickly coming to a close sadly. With my finals approaching, I thought it was a great time to go over one of my favorite trips while living here in Canada!
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How To Survive Your Midterms: Canada Edition
By Essence Aikman, Queen’s University, Canada Hello! I am writing around the middle of my studies here in Canada. My “midterms” have just finished nearly two weeks ago and I am now preparing for my final assignments all due in the first two weeks of April. Time truly does fly by when you’re having fun. I thought it would be helpful to reflect back on the past two months being here and discuss how best to prepare for the month of March where reading week and your midterms will take place.
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Breaking out of the comfort zone: A reflection
Salma Rana, Queen’s University I want to start off by thanking God for all the opportunities I have had. I am incredibly grateful for everything that has come my way, through His will. * When I was leaving Manchester last year, although I was excited about my upcoming journey, I was equally hesitant. I wondered if I was making the right choice, if it was worth finishing university a year later than everyone else, and missing out on so much time with my friends and family at home. I had so many “what if’s?” in my head, to the point where I was thinking of backing out in the last…
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Fitting In
Salma Rana, Queen’s University During my year at Queen’s, there was a huge variety of ways to get involved with both the University community and the larger Kingston community. THE MSA I am very much involved with the Muslim community at University of Manchester (shout to Manchester ISOC!). However, I quickly realized that Muslims are a true minority in Kingston, Ontario. Even more than any place I have been to in England. There is only one mosque. Nevertheless, I quickly realized something else: the love in this community is one of a kind. The transport links to the mosque aren’t too good, so it can be difficult to get there,…
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Expect the Unexpected
Ailsa Jones ♦ Queen’s University, Canada Since my exchange has finished and I’ve come home, I’ve been attempting to answer my family and friends’ inevitable and well-intentioned questions about my semester abroad. Even though my generic response is something as brief as ‘amazing, thanks,’ I don’t think it does justice to both the best and difficult aspects of my exchange. As much of a cliché as it is, my semester abroad was easily one of the best things I’ve ever done, but I think it’s also important to be honest about the harder parts of studying abroad that are rarely discussed.
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One Semester Down! Any differences between Queen’s and Manchester?
[By Emily Privett, Queen’s University, Canada] Before I get started about all the of the academic differences between Queen’s University and Manchester, I would just like to express my incredulity that I am already half way through my year abroad…I am struggling to understand how time has gone that quickly, but I guess as the well known saying goes; ‘time flies when you’re having fun!’
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Arrival Reflections: 43 days later…
By Emily Privett, Queen’s University, Canada Today marks the 43rd day of my being in Canada(!) and although I’ve only had two weeks of classes, so much has been going on. First, I would like to apologise for my blog being so late. I thought that the first week of classes would be a perfect time to catch up on my blogging as there wouldn’t be too much work. Safe to say, I was wrong about the ‘not much work’, but that’s a topic for another blog! So what has been going? So much! To stop this blog from being an un-structured mind-dump of everything that’s been happening since I arrived,…
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The Final Countdown (Pre-departure reflections)
By Emily Privett (Queen’s University, Canada) It’s weird how I’ve been planning for tomorrow for months and the flight has been booked since June yet I still don’t feel like it’s actually real. I mean, tomorrow I’m going to be getting onto a plane and fly thousands of miles away from my house, friends and family, to set up camp in Canada for the year..?! Although it is crazy to think that I will be living nearly 3,500 miles away from home, I cannot wait to starting building a life out there for a year; finding a house, meeting other students and even getting stuck into my academics (although on…
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Manchester beanie takes on North America
By Ros Harwood (Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada) To finish up my blog posts about my year abroad, I have some photos to share giving a snapshot of the five weeks I spent travelling to mark the end of my year abroad. It was a fantastic trip and I ticked off a lot of places I have always wanted to visit! I attempted to mark each place with a Manchester beanie picture. Travel is such a key part of study abroad, make the most of the opportunities! Canada Toronto > Rocky Mountains (Banff and Jasper) > Vancouver USA: Seattle > Portland > Yosemite & Sierra National Parks > Death Valley >…
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The Rocky Mountains
By Ros Harwood (Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada) After sad goodbyes with Kingston and Queen’s, my friend and I made a short one day stop in Toronto before taking a Greyhound bus across four provinces for two and half days to Banff, Alberta. A couple of beanie snaps: one on Moraine Lake at Lake Louise (still frozen at end of April) and the other at Johnson Canyon, where walking and wearing the Manchester beanie caused two girls to tell us they had graduated from Manchester the previous year and also studied Geography! A small world.
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Cha Gheill!
By Ros Harwood (Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada) I literally can’t believe I am writing this post, where has the time gone?! The year abroad has flown by and I am unbelievably sad to have to leave this place. I am really looking forward to travelling and going home; it’s been a while since I’ve been there, but I have made some amazing memories at this fantastic university. Despite the long, hard Canadian winter, the hardest thing right now is that we are finally rewarded with beautiful sunshine, blue skies and a lot of positive temperatures which makes Kingston an absolutely stunning place to be. Being on one of the Great…
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Second Semester Experiences at Queen’s
By Ros Harwood (Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada) Having just finished classes at Queen’s forever, I cannot believe that second semester and the year has finished. I have one week of exams and then I am completely finished and will be off on my travels to the west coast of Canada and the States. This semester has been as busy and fun as the last one. Mont-Tremblant This semester I have made two weekend visits to Mont Tremblant, Quebec – best described as a skiing ‘hill’, but the best skiing in Eastern Canada. It is a kind of place where families have chalets and come up for the weekend from the…
A study abroad journal by students, for students.
