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Family Visit
By Andrew Mortimer, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada Having not gone home at Christmas, or at any other time, it was exciting to have my family visit in early March. None of my mum, dad, brother or sister had been to Canada before, and as they were only staying for 4 days, we had to make a busy itinerary. This could only begin on the Saturday once they had attempted to sleep having arrived on Friday night, though, by going up the CN Tower. As I had had dinner up there months before, I suggested we have lunch for different views and a different menu. Standing on the glass panels…
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Winter at UTM
By Andrew Mortimer, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada As nice as it would be to skip them, whilst doing a year abroad, you still have to take and pass your exams. At UofT this can be pretty challenging, because the standards of the other students are very high, and their near-total focus on academics and maintaining a high GPA has the obvious benefits and drawbacks. Building up to those then, I was spending more time in the various libraries, but I still managed to enjoy the lectures and all the extra activities outside of university. For example, I was lucky enough to have a fancy meal at the top of…
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Toronto & UTM Arrival
By Andrew Mortimer, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada After I had landed, and tried poutine in the airport, my first challenge was getting successfully picked up by one of my new housemates and his girlfriend. Although they only lived 20 minutes away, in neighbouring Brampton, it had been a tricky journey for them due to her faulty car. Despite breaking down three times driving back, I was fortunately unsuperstitious and pleased to get the opportunity to speak to them more (primarily by the sides of various roads), having had to rush out of the rammed terminal queue. They were great and generous company, as well as stereotypically polite Canadians. Luckily…
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Reflecting On My Exchange Year: Why Studying Abroad Is Worth It
By Zarina Patel, University of Toronto, Canada I could go on FOREVER about why studying abroad is worth it. From making friends across the world to accessing learning opportunities you might not have had the chance to have otherwise. For the sake of this blog, I will break down some broad reasons as to why I believe studying abroad is simply too incredible of an opportunity to not take up. Disclaimer. There are sacrifices which have to be made when doing a year abroad. You will inevitably graduate a year after some of your first and second year course or housemates. You might spend a Christmas away from home. But…
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How to survive a Torontonian winter
By Zarina Patel, University of Toronto, Canada Here is a practical guide on how to survive and embrace the crazy Canadian winter as a Brit.
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Ultimate Toronto Checklist
By Zarina Patel, University of Toronto, Canada Are you studying in Toronto? Or maybe just visiting the city from a North American university? You’ve come to the right place. I spent my year abroad slowly compiling this list of things to do in Toronto…
A study abroad journal by students, for students.
