Well, as so many before, I’m quoting the probably most famous white black singer ever who put it that way: this is it! Well, it’s by far not over yet concerning my travels, however, as I’m leaving Kingston and Queen’s University, I can say that this is it concerning the place I spent most time in the last four months. So this marks also the point to look back about my time here in this micro cosmos called Queen’s University. To do so, I write this blog in English for once – so that all you crazy people can share the viewpoint of a Swiss exchange student who had the privilege to spend a semester here with you :)
I want to begin my look back on my time in Kingston at the place where I spent most time – 278 University Avenue, Apartment #2. And well, although the apartment is not the most exciting, newest and nicest I’ve ever seen – the people living in there are pretty amazing! And I can’t tell how grateful I am to having had the luck to live these four months together with my two housemates, Julia and Amit. I think we had a truly nice time together and I’m so glad to “have” them because that’s where it all starts – feeling home or not at a place. And I can say, I definitely felt home! And yes, we had some funny moments together for sure… and sometimes even I was the one responsible for these moments, haha. As I remember the time when coming home pretty wasted at 3am or so and normally, one would expect that everybody’s out or sleeping – but no, not so in our apartment, the whole living room was full with people. Haha, not a good idea to kind of trying sneak by with the Burger King bag in the hand – will never forget that, and I guess Jacob neither :)
me and my housemates, Julia and Amit
And when writing about all the amazing and charming people, there are a couple more I want to mention and who I like to describe as the “extended family”, as there’s e.g. Jacob, a very frequent guest at our house, or also Iñigo, a truly great friend I met during my time here and I hope he and Julia will make it one day to Switzerland! But there are also the other friends of Julia, who are truly great, as Laura, Elizabeth, Carli and Camille to name a few of them – and of course Catherine! And then, just a couple blocks away on University Ave lives a Canadian girl with Islandic roots (how amazing?!? :)) called Soley with her friends who all introduced me to the true spirit of the Shotlluck party and with whom I had many funny moments at Alfie’s!
And then, of course, all the great exchange guys! We truly had a lot of fun during these four months and great moments while being awesome, haha. Will definitely never forget our Oktoberfest-Party that made me a very proud party host, haha. And from a business point of view, my leadership style "leading by example" worked pretty well :) Furthermore, when looking back, I’m really glad that I was attending NEWTS week as well because next to having a funny week and awesome Geckos (thanks to Sara, Meagan and Kaila) I got to know so many people!
A further very special thanks belongs to my friend Guillaume in Montreal who was an excellent host and showed me the truth face of his city as well as all the traditional dishes one has to have when in Montreal – it was truly a great Poutine! And I even had the luxury being able to take pictures out of the car, seeing the City from Mont Royal by night thanks to my driver! And of course, to wrap up the Montreal trip a big thank you to Yannick and Florence for all the fun and the possibility to attend the Habs games!
And as my recent blogs show, travelling was also a very welcome activity! And except of Quebec, I guess I saw more or less all the places I wanted to go to as they are Niagara Falls, Niagara on the Lake, Toronto, Kingston :), Ottawa, Montreal, Rhode Island, Boston – and Washington D.C. as well as New York in the next days before flying back home to Switzerland!
But of course, while living together with so many Canadians for a couple of months, you observe some things about them… and thus, I would like to define “THE” Canadian… (based on what I’ve seen here at Queen’s):
· Very welcoming, open and charming and helpful
· On his/her scale, there exists only “good”, “great”, “really great”, “awesome” and “sooo excited”! Which means that a “not bad” is actually pretty bad.
· He/she likes to wear sweat pants
· He/she doesn’t like to be compared to the American (well guess what, being named a Swedish all the time is also not fun ;)
· The thing to feel the temperature doesn’t exist in some of its models as some are still wearing shorts and flip flops when it’s below 5° :)
· Knows, in contrast to the American, that there exist other languages than English (and other countries as well!)
· Loves beer and alcohol in general
· Canada Goose is quite popular
· For some, going to Stauffer and being there is more important than actually do something productive there
Something about fashion…
Well, while observing all these things, there is one point I really have to talk about and that’s fashion. Well, I’m definitely not a very fashionable person and I'm not up to date what the most recent fashion trends are, however, I have at least a little sense of what is wearable in public and what not… I know, this now totally from the view of a European but please, dear Canadians and Americans, let me make some things clear here…
· First of all, NO, NO, NO, NO and NO – white socks: never ever (except for sports)! However, it seems like white socks are quite fashionable here, as so many people are wearing them here. There was hardly any class I was sitting in where I didn’t see someone wearing white socks. Personally, I don’t care if you wear white socks – as long as I don’t see them! :)
· A second big “no go” concerns wearing a suit. I’m totally aware of that Barney Stinson could refer about this point for hours but I’m keeping it short: It’s not only about having a suit, it’s also about how you wear it and especially what kind of shoes you're wearing. So let me keep it straight: Think about the length of your tie (no, the middle of your upper-body is too short), NEVER ever wear running shoes while wearing a suit (damn, I seriously had to laugh when I saw this guy in a brown suit with worn-out running shoes) and think about your shoes and if they’re appropriate before leaving the house as well make sure you’re wearing the right size of your suit – no, baggy pants are something else!
· Next to that, I was impressed how people can wear sweat pants all day long. And it seems like the model from “the roots” (yeah, this grey one) is a very special one as you see it veeeery often on campus.
· But not only sweat pants, also pyjama pants are absolutely not uncommon in public. Was quite funny when I saw a guy in the pyjama pants I bought the day before (to wear them in bed) wearing them on campus.
· However, I totally don’t want to only complain about the North American fashion because there are certainly also positive points and fashion highlights. And to put it short: LULULEMON! In the view of the straight male guy, this brand can definitely seen as a good invention – so thank you for all this happy hours at the ARC, in the library or in the line in front of Tim Hortons you provided!
· And when talking about girls' fashion, one has to make a compliment about their commitment: Wearing not tooo much clothes (to put it formal) even when it’s about -5° or colder outside – chapeau!
To sum up, here my personal top ten list about the things I’m going to miss about Kingston and Queen’s University and the things I probably won’t miss…
10 things I’m gonna miss…
· My housemates and the “extended family”
· Alfie’s Classic Rock
· Watching NHL at “normal” hours
· 24/7 Metro
· Tim Hortons
· My 1000ml beer bottle (that never gets empty, true story!)
· Students from all over the world singing and dancing German songs at the Oktoberfest-party
· Pancake and Kegger
· The ARC and all the Lululemons in there
· Saying high to Julia in the morning
10 things I’m NOT gonna miss…
· The huuuuuge line up at Alfie’s everytime (for half empty club btw)
· Stauffer Library
· The Econ teacher who writes everything on the blackboard
· The light on my desk I’ve never had
· Freezing in my room because the guys downstairs turned off the heating
· People wearing white socks
· Monkeybar :)
· The line up at Tim Hortons
· Loosing against Chris in Squash
· Not having a dishwasher at home
To end up, I just want to thank you all who made this semester so great! I really hope I’ll have the chance to catch up with as many of you as possible! So I hope a lot of you will make it once to Switzerland or at least close to it! Till then, all the best to you and take care,
Simon
