Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Post nigh.

Well. The end is no longer nigh. The end has come. I am currently sitting in ottawa airport alone as Jess had to go through US customs/check in and my first flight is in Canada, so I thought I would write something. I have books to read, but I have had sooo much to read this year that I'm kind of looking forward to a few days of mindlessness. I think I will most likely pass out on my flight with my Moose pillow (Thanks Alyson!) pretty early on..or that's the plan anyway. I'm exhausted. I slept possibly about 3 hours in total last night. Not through choice. I was woken up at regular intervals throughout the night, many times by Eli, but as it was people's last night in res I decided to lie in bed and bear the burden like the martyr that I am. There was talk of all night raging and whatnot, but in true Grenville fashion people drank fast and hard, screamed for an hour or two, kicked over some rice and some beer and crashed by about 1am Unfortunately, those who avoided this early exit from consciousness found a vuvuzuela and gave the floor occasional concerts. I wish I could say that I am going to miss residence life...but that would be a lie. I do like the social aspect to some extent, but I'm so old and decrepit and after two years I'm just like...I NEED SLEEP. I was also 3 years older than some of the people and have been legally allowed to drink for 5 years so I guess it makes sense. I probably sound arrogant and think I'm more mature than I am, but pah. Who cares. I think I'm cool. I nearly wrote "super" arrogant. I haven't picked up too much North American additions to my vocabulary but super has been trying to make its way in for a LONG time. It has failed. I might find out that I do have a few more when I get home and I am among my people. It is going to be so weird to hear everyone speak in a British accent. I'm not even close to home yet and I am suffering from reverse culture shock.

The last day or two have been pretty hectic. We spent an awful lot of time packing, throwing things out, cleaning, getting paranoid about suitcases being overweight when actually we were both underweight by a good few kilos. Good old paranoia. Paranoia took Jess's rucksack and frisbee from her. It was cruel. Yesterday we had our final exam and successfully woke up early and went to our first caff breakfast in eons. I was pretty spaced. I looked at the stands and noticed that the all day breakfast bar wasn't running which I thought was weird, then I remembered my plebbishness as EVERYTHING was breakfast but I kept it to myself...until now. The Renaissance exam was...meh. I wrote things, but as we had 6 mini essays to write I barely had time to think and blabbed and blabbed probably without any purpose. My first answer was WEAK, because I'd lost 10 minutes going through the questions and choosing so I panicked and wrote a selection of LIES about why I think this course was a valuable university course. It was a bit of a weird question to have on the exam - "Is this a good university course?" I felt I had to lie and back up the subject which he had dedicated his life too. Also, the only reason I had to dislike the course was that it bored me right down to my core of being, but I didn't really have too many supporting arguments. I feel quite tense writing this, a big sniffer dog keeps coming over. Well, I assume he is a sniffer dog, but he seems to be a  sniffer dog with some form of ADD. He has come and sniffed my stuff like a million times, panting like a maniac to the point where I think I might be a drug baron, but because I'm so tired and spaced right now I have forgotten about it.

After our exam we went to Haven to get rid of books..well all of them that they would take. 4/5 of my American Lit anthologies were gone, but one of them was randomly blacklisted. Oh well. I hope the Canadian Diabetic charity like Sylvia Plath,, Tom Sawyer and Balzac which are a few of the authors which I shoved in a plastic bag and ditched it in a pile of bedding. Jess and I also ditched our cheap Canadian phones, but I'm pretty sure that free is too high a price to pay for them really. Ottawa was crying on our last day as it poured down in Downtown and we could barely get our final view of parliement with the rain blowing in our eyes, but I'm pretty sure it is still there. We had a rain doused beaver tail and bought a celebration cupcake with enough icing to decorate a whole cake, but after 3 hours of straight writing it felt deserved. The rest of the evening was mainly packing and saying our goodbyes to Cathy in the caff. I went and socialised a bit during the Carleton festivities, but being sober made it all seem rather loud. I didn't participate in the water fight as I only had one outfit left and I was not re-arranging my case for anyone. Also, as I've said - I'm old, mature and possibly God. I shared a dance with Meredith to the sweet melodies of One Direction which was probably the highlight for me. After that it was mainly lowlights as I tried to sleep as people had a fight in front of my room. The guy told the girl to be quiet, but she was so determined that she was in the right that she didn't care - "I don't care if people hear! You hurt my bitch!"
I wanted to hurt her, but again..didn't fancy getting arrested for assault on my final night, and I didn't know who it was so if I was going to assault someone she wasn't top of my list.

So yes. Now I am at the airport, all moved out and my room empty. I left my bust up ethernet cable and I hid an owl somewhere in my room so that my spirit (or probably lack thereof) shall live on in Carleton well after I am gone. I can go and check in pretty soon so I will bring this all to a close. I don't know how I feel right now. Mainly exhausted, but this is just the beginning :( Someone just weighed themselves on the airport scales and wandered on. He i wearing a bandana and biker gear. He is my hero. I am really excited to go home and see Charles, and his bath and his dog (when I have energy to play which could take some time). I won't miss Carleton itself that much. I liked some of my profs, but I prefer the Exeter workload and the Exeter campus and 50 people in res is like water torture at time. I did meet some nice people, but I know myself and I am terrible at keeping in contact and as many of the people I spoke to were guys the chances of staying in contact are heavily reduced. But as the old saying goes, who needs life long friends when you have a hat in the shape of a maple leaf and a double bed waiting for you at home.

Goodbye Canada for the final time.
See you on the other side.

Kate - Ottawa Airport. 25/04/2012


AIR CANADA - AC 461
WED 25APR      OTTAWA ON           TORONTO ON             1700     1803
               OTTAWA INTL         PEARSON INTL
NON STOP                           TERMINAL 1             DURATION 1:03
               RESERVATION CONFIRMED- W ECONOMY
               EQUIPMENT:AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A319
 
 
ICELANDAIR - FI 602
WED 25APR      TORONTO ON          REYKJAVIK IS           2110     0625
               PEARSON INTL        KEFLAVIK INTL                   26APR
NON STOP       TERMINAL 3                                 DURATION 5:15
                                                        NON SMOKING
               RESERVATION CONFIRMED- S ECONOMY
               ON BOARD: FOOD FOR PURCHASE
               EQUIPMENT:BOEING 757-200
 
 
ICELANDAIR - FI 450
THU 26APR      REYKJAVIK IS        LONDON GB              0740     1145
               KEFLAVIK INTL       HEATHROW
NON STOP                           TERMINAL 1             DURATION 3:05
                                                        NON SMOKING
               RESERVATION CONFIRMED- S ECONOMY
               ON BOARD: FOOD FOR PURCHASE
               EQUIPMENT:BOEING 757-200



WATCH ME FLY.


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